CD
A BRIEF SUMMARY
A BRIEF SUMMARY
MARTIN HALL
LP/CD/MC
MAY 2018
PANOPTIKON (OPTIK 50)
In relation to his 40th anniversary as a musician Martin Hall released the double album A Brief Summary on the 4th of May 2018, a retrospective release featuring several new recordings such as the digital single and video track ”Lesser Gods”. Another newly recorded track is ”Semi”.
Quite surprisingly the album went directly in as #2 on the official Danish vinyl hitlist in week 19 (2018), giving Hall his highest chart ranking ever.
1. P.O. (2:36)
2. St. Petersburg Notes (4:04)
3. Lesser Gods (4:11)
4. A.S.A.P. (1:51)
5. 40 Versions Of The Time Before (2:41)
6. Semi (3:46)
7. Minor Frame (2:42)
8. Ash And Lemon Water (3:09)
9. Tu Es Mon Image (7:00)
10. Tout Le Monde (1:32)
11. Plaza Flesh (2:33)
12. Muted Cries (4:17)
13. Interim (1.46)
14. Cue (3:20)
15. Emblematic (2:21)
16. Exit Signs (4:55)
17. Sob Story (3: 39)
18. Pantomime (3:38)
19. Schwund (1:46)
20. Meth (8:20)
21. Mimic (4:28)
22. Replicator (2:46)
P.O.
I’ve seen your face a thousand times
I’ve seen you hide in the crowd
I feel you run within my blood
But dreams are never quite enough
Not enough
All I want to believe in is the look in your eyes
All I want to believe in is your sigh
Let me stay here forever, let me stay here tonight
Let us stay here together for a while
No one knows you better than me
ST. PETERSBURG NOTES
The cigarette smoke in the air
The smouldering waves everywhere
Full of eyes
Prune-coloured eyes
In Moscow and St. Petersburg
The places turn into a blur
In your mind
A violent sigh
The salt water traces that burn on your skin
The words that you hid in letters never sent
Your heartbeat’s a rage never tamed, never shown
Wherever you go, you’re never alone
The alcohol glows for a while
It’s shining like gold in the light
Like a trace
Of halcyon days
Like ghosts in their circuits of loss
You carry your own little cross
As a shield
Against any need
Wherever you go, you leave something behind
The parts of yourself you’ve been trying to find
The smell of the night seems to stick to your skin
All locked in a cage, the journey begins
LESSER GODS
Suddenly
Came to see
Everything so differently
Children of lesser gods
Haunt my mind
All the time
Strangers inside of me
All distant memories
Turning another page
In the book of days
Rain falling in the night
Like teardrops from the sky
Falls like my imagery
Falling inside of me
Seemingly endless
Pauses inside of me
Empty of memory
All of the whys and hows
Coming full circle now
Rain falling in the night
Falls from an empty sky
Seemingly
A.S.A.P.
She’s turning away to lie still for a while
Just watching the clouds drifting by on the night sky
The skin of a girl and the face of a child
She touches my hand and suggests that we go out
She’s checking her face in the mirror
Adjusting her hair endlessly
The hard light of the elevator
Follows her out in the street
It’s too hot to sleep
40 VERSIONS OF THE TIME BEFORE
Falling asleep on a long distance flight
The images in the still of the night
A scent of waste
The sight of your face
A flicker of uneasiness
Will I be able to forget now?
Nurses and young girls in a row
How can I ever let you go now?
Like 40 versions of the time before
The ballerinas at my feet
The connoisseurs out in the street
You mean nothing to me
Just try to tell yourself the tale again
You tell yourself it’s all the same again
The city lights that came alive
The stars that fell down from the sky
You turned around within the light
Your skin so frail and lily-white
The centre of the Western world
A glamorous confusion zipped
Upon the parting of your lips
Intangible as every breath
As inescapable as death
It means nothing to me
SEMI
Hey baby
Let’s go out tonight
I don’t want to feel this way
Forget all your troubles
Forget them tonight
MINOR FRAME
Crowded Saturdays
Guest among ghosts
A girl made of shivers
Girls on their own
Rolled down shades
Sweet, harsh sweat
It’s the choked laughter
The unmade bed
All the things you might remember
Things you might forget
Looking young and old
In the same glance
Nervous tenderness
But steady at hand
Curly hair
And vinyl sounds
Guess it’s carved in the faces
Carved and painted down
A cigarette that’s burning
Along the line
I guess that she’s the one you won’t forget
ASH AND LEMON WATER
Ash and lemon water
Shining on your lips
Whatever you do
Don’t try to resist
It’s the kind of understanding that makes you feel uncomfortable
It’s the kind of circumstances that make you feel so old
You’re all immune
To crowded rooms
Your heart’s made of air
It’s easy to share
You’re sliding down
The open sky
A handle that breaks
Excitement’s a rage
TU ES MON IMAGE
Les rails de la nuit noire
Ils brillent comme lumière
Le monde ne dort jamais
Nourrit nos rêves
Mon image de toi
Est tombée du ciel
Les rêves paraissent continuer
Les chants intérieurs
Murmure des mots inouïs
Tu es mon image
Enfourche la lumière comme une vague
Les yeux d’océan, d’amant ne mentent jamais
Détournons nous comme des étrangers
Tout ce que je veux, c’est tout
Tout ce que je veux, c’est toi
Tu es mon image, c’est toi
Les rails de la nuit noire
Ils brillent comme lumière
Le monde ne dort jamais
Nourrit nos rêves
Mon image de toi
Est tombée du ciel
Tombée du ciel
Tu es mon image
Plus bleus que toute raison
Timides comme tout mensonge
Des yeux d’amants jamais secs
Tu es mon image
TOUT LE MONDE
April 4 turning 9.25
Writing words in the air
Lovers left with a cool rainy day
Places no longer there
Cardboard letters and manners that fail
Paris Odéon girls
Doors are closing
Lights still glowing with a weak innocence
PLAZA FLESH
Show me your true desires
Show me your plaza flesh
Pictures of people dying
Seem to have no effect anymore
I don’t really give as much as a toss anymore
I just want to hide away, never beg anymore
I don’t really count the days or the hours anymore
‘Cause she’s gone
Come now
Inject the daylight
Come here
Each little girl
At first
Just want to kiss you
But then I want it all
I want excess
Your plaza flesh
MUTED CRIES
The clouds in her eyes
A whispering need
Shedding her light all over me
Try recall the cities in twilight
The clubbing
The cigarette sky
As you notice the silence
The carvings
The memory lines
The muted cries
A jaded desire
A comforting need
Walls coming down
On callous beliefs
Try recall the cities in twilight
The clubbing
The cigarette sky
As you notice the silence
The carvings
The memory lines
The muted cries
CUE
The cities of light, the mirrors beneath the stars
In all of my life I’ve followed my untamed heart
It burns like a fever in the sleepless nights
Behind closed doors and behind closed eyes
The sea of the sky keeps shining a world of gold
The sweeter the song, the sadder the tale that’s told
Like a secret that I’ll never know
There’s a feeling that will follow me anywhere I go
I’ll walk on the waters
I’ll quiet the storms
With you as my reason
With you as my calm
EMBLEMATIC
I felt a sigh pass your lips
I saw the weight on your eyelids
Yet there you swagger and there you go
The mise-en-scène of your mercy drome
Too many images at play
Too many faces in a day’s work
Your sweet incentive, it’s so relentless
My grief’s been waiting for this day
No easy answers, only hard choices
I guess we came to the end of the road
Your random gender, my desolate needs
The splintered voices of lost beliefs
Trading commodities with no fixed presets
No traces left of a long gone starlet
Pornographers and secondhand consumer rights
All sons and lovers of 70’s delight
EXIT SIGNS
Cheekbones made of light
Somewhere it’s morning
The languid grey of night
Leaving the fragrance of a cry
Guess you’re sliding back into your life
The pressure on your eyelids
Patterns of waiting
Of suffocating
Replaying the same scene
Recalling the same dream
Cover any feeling
Cover any reason now
You’re breathing the same air
The same hysteria
Like a mirrorball that shines
Just another flash of light
Deteriorating
Forgetting the details
Rewriting the scene in your mind
The exit signs of light
She’s lying beside me
She’s hidden in a sigh
In the changes of a room
Guess she’s sliding back into her life
The pressure on her eyelids
The time that it’s taking
Before she awakens
It feels like a lifetime
A memory rewind
SOB STORY
Hide away
With somebody else by my side
It could have been anyone
It could have been you
A moment ago
Whatever you do
Whatever you say
It won’t be the same
Just won’t be the same
For someone like you
It’s all just a game
I guess it’s always the same
Whatever the stakes
It’s a reason to fail
A reason to hate
PANTOMIME
Feeling like Berlin 1929
So many feelings all caught up inside
Falling like cities seen through lovers’ eyes
Shaking with fever as they say goodbye
Each time you look
Somebody hides
All of the world
Up in the clouds
Feeling so stupid in this pantomime
All that I need is a pair of starry eyes
SCHWUND
Metaphysische Diskussionen in einer Bierstube: nichts ist, nichts wird, nichts ist nicht. Wir fassen uns selbst als rationale Wesen auf, die Tatsachen akzeptieren und Argumente respektieren, in Wirklichkeit jedoch glauben wir nur an das, an das zu glauben wir gelernt haben. Unsere Spiritualität ist eine mechanische Konstruktion.
Niemand kann gegen Vermutungen aufbegehren, die nicht formuliert worden sind. Weder sie noch ich. Wir sind an unsere Vermutungen gebunden. Gebunden an das gegenseitige fehlende Verständnis von uns selbst. Mutige Feiglinge sind wir, Gespenster aus dem Spanischen Bürgerkrieg, Fetzen von Erinnerungen an etwas, das einst geschah.
Wir sind das Geschehene. Wir sind Schwund.
METH
Wide eyes, swollen lips
She examines herself like she’s about to fade
Into air
Into all she disbelieves
Skin engraved with burns
Like a jaded belief about to disappear
There’s no need
To enact this line of ways
Trace the fading needs
The ebbing desirability
You’re turning away
Still hiding your face
Don’t you know your name?
Through all of these years it stayed the same
It’s always been you
I just couldn’t choose
Lines
She wets her lips
Leaning back with her arms wrapped around her knees
To adjust
To recalibrate the need
Words in pantomime
Eyes like shimmering marble
Pressure veiled by grace
Once again
Seems to settle for reserves
Don’t you feel the weight?
The slight hesitation, the delay
Aesthetic beliefs
Won’t cover this need
Don’t you know your name?
Through all of these years it stayed the same
Whatever I do
It’s always been you
Try to hold back the dawn
Try to hold back the morning
Hold back the night
If just for a while
MIMIC
The midnight music from a distant room
The morning light, it always comes too soon
Lick your tongue now
Against my desires
Late at night
Even the sounds, they shine
Winter tales that last forever
Summer rites that taste so sweet
Just another chance encounter
Of lines that meet
Of mimic needs
“Once again Martin Hall proves that he belongs in the same realm as mythological figures such as Brian Eno and David Bowie … With A Brief Summary Martin Hall molds the foundation of his own mausoleum, a place where you can come to recall fallen musical legends, but where there’s obviously also plenty of room for future generations to have a party.”
Information – Sophia Handler (May 18, 2018)
(Danish equivalent to The Independent)
Martin Hall: Vocals and instruments
The Vista Dome Ensemble: Orchestra
Else Marie Pade: Electronics
Efterklang: Instruments
Konsort: Choir
Claus Beck-Nielsen Memorial: Choir
Herbert Zeichner: Voice
Katja Andersson: Vocals
Biljana Stojkoska: Vocals
Marcel de Sade: Piano
Mikkel Meyer: Electronics
Miss Fish: Vocals
Othon: Piano
Linus Carlsen: Piano
Johnny Stage: Guitar, mandolin and glockenspiel
Henriette Groth: Piano
Ida Bach Jensen: String bass
Eskild Winding: Harmonium
Christian Skeel: Keyboards and string arrangements
Sara Wallevik: Violin
Iben Teilmann: Viola
Henrik Marstal: Cello
Ole Hansen: Keyboards, trumpet and french horn
Jens Albrectsen: Piano
Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen: Double bass
Jonas Johansen: Drums
Karoliina Koivisto: Violin
Hélianne Blais: Violin
Anette Slaatto: Viola
Gry Vester-Andersen: Cello
James Crabb: Accordion
Mimi Kjær: Piano
Dennis Jørgensen: Timpani
Mads Strandgaard: Piano
Thomas Li: Networks and treatments
Design: Kenneth Schultz
Photo: Maiken Kildegaard
A Brief Summary features remakes and alternative versions of material mainly selected from Hall’s 21st century catalogue.
The title was released as a double vinyl album, a digipak-cd and a music cassette – all formats in limited editions. Although the design and colour code remains the same on all three versions of the album, the front cover image varies, forming its own visual entirety when compiled as a whole.
Among the guests on the album you’ll find the Danish electronica pioneer Else Marie Pade (1924–2016), the 4AD band Efterklang, the British pianist Othon and the world famous jazz musician Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (1946-2005). The latter performs on the partly re-recorded track ”Lesser Gods” that was released as a digital single on March 30th 2018.
The record is released with support from The Danish Arts Foundation, Koda, Danish Artist Union (DAF), DJBFA (Composer and Songwriters’ Production Pool and Koda’s Cultural Funds) and Danish Actors’ Association (DSF).
EFTERLADT
EFTERLADT
JANINA KATZ/MARTIN HALL
LP/CD
JANUARY 2015
PANOPTIKON (OPTIK 45)
Efterladt – a Danish word that means both “abandoned” and “left behind” – is a posthumously released spoken word album featuring the Polish-Danish author Janina Katz’ last readings made shortly before her death in October 2013. The record is produced by Martin Hall.
At the time of the recordings no one knew how ill Katz actually was. During 2014 Hall continued to work on the project, assisted by the project’s original initiator, journalist and writer Søren E. Jensen, and the final album was released in January 2015.
1. I (0:55)
2. II (1:41)
3. III (3:50)
4. IV (1:21)
5. V (1:01)
6. VI (2:35)
7. VII (0:54)
8. VIII (1:27)
9. IX (1:59)
10. X (2:44)
11. XI (2:22)
12. XII (2:42)
13. XIII (0:21)
14. XIV (2:38)
15. XV (0:32)
16. XVI (2:10)
17. XVII (1:32)
18. XVIII (1:13)
19. XIX (0:44)
20. XX (3:33)
JANINA KATZ (1939–2013)
Janina Katz was born in Krakow. She lost most of her relatives in the Plaszow concentration camp in Poland from which she was smuggled out in 1943, three years old. As an adult Janina Katz studied Polish literature and sociology at the Jagielloński University in Krakow. Then she worked for several years as an assistant at the Department of Sociology and Polish philology. She left Poland in 1969 for to live in Germany for a short while, but just one year later she moved to Denmark where she worked as a literary critic and translated Polish literature into Danish. For 13 years she worked at the Royal Library in Copenhagen. In addition, she worked for Radio Free Europe and later the BBC.
Janina Katz made her debut as a writer at the age of 52 with the poetry collection My Mother’s Daughter (1991), 22 years after she had come to Denmark. During her authorship she has released 18 books, novels as well as poetry. Her writing especially reflects her Polish Jewish origin and experiences during World War II. Janina Katz has mainly written in Danish despite her Polish mother tongue.
In 1993 she received the National Arts Foundation prize for best novel, My Life as a Barbarian. In 1998 she received the Beatrice Award and in 2002 she was awarded the National Arts Foundation grant for life. In 2012 she was nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize for his poetry collection Written in Polish.
Janina Katz died on the 18th of October 2013.
Martin Hall: Electronics, keyboards, environmental recordings and tape material
Linus Carlsen: Mandolin, e-bow, guitar, melodica, piano, bass and glockenspiel
Christian Skeel: Orchestration
Othon Mataragas: Piano
Johnny Stage: Ring modulator and keyboards
Tag Brass Band: Brass band
The Vista Dome Ensemble: Strings
Design: Kenneth Schultz
Photo: Johnny Stage
Janina Katz was born in Krakow. She lost most of her relatives in the Plaszow concentration camp in Poland from which she was smuggled out in 1943, three years old. As an adult Katz studied Polish literature and sociology at the Jagielloński University in Krakow, but left Poland in 1969. After a short stay in Germany she moved to Denmark where she made her debut as a writer at the age of 52 – 22 years after her arrival. During her authorship she released 18 books, novels as well as poetry. Her writing especially reflects her Polish Jewish origin and experiences during World War II.
In 1993 she received the National Arts Foundation prize for best novel, My Life as a Barbarian. In 1998 she received the Beatrice Award and in 2002 she was awarded the National Arts Foundation grant for life. In 2012 she was nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize for his poetry collection Written in Polish.
Janina Katz died on October 18, 2013, at the age of 74.
Among the musicians on Efterladt you’ll find Greek-English pianist Othon Mataragas (probably best known from his works with names such as Marc Almond, Current 93 and Peter Christopherson from Coil and Throbbing Gristle), the young Danish musician Linus Carlsen, producer and visual artist Christian Skeel as well as The Vista Dome Ensemble.
The release is funded by grants from Danish Arts Foundation (Statens Kunstfonds Projektstøtteudvalg for litteratur), Andreas Harboes’ Foundation, Danish Artists Union and DJBFA. Apart from the cd and download versions of the album, a limited edition of 100 vinyl copies were made available in relation to Martin Hall’s and Søren E. Jensen’s presentation of the project at Bogforum 2014 (a yearly Danish bookfair in Copenhagen in November).
Special thanks need to be credited Jytte Nordholt and Den2Radio in regards to the recordings. Acknowledgements also go to the publishing agencies Gyldendal, Rosinante and Lindhardt & Ringhof.
The portrait of Janina Katz is taken by Piotr Topperzer.
Written and read aloud by Janina Katz. The record’s musical staging is produced, composed and arranged by Martin Hall – track 3, 10 and 20 in collaboration with Linus Carlsen, track 6 with Othon Mataragas and track 16 and 18 with Christian Skeel. The album is mixed by Martin Hall. Final mastering made by Johnny Stage.
PHASEWIDE, EXIT SIGNS
PHASEWIDE, EXIT SIGNS
MARTIN HALL
LP/CD
APRIL 2013 (EUROPEAN RELEASE OCTOBER 2013)
PANOPTIKON (OPTIK 40)
Phasewide, Exit Signs is a Martin Hall solo album – at its release his first in seven years – a musical log book recorded in cities such as Montreal, London and Brussels.
On the record Hall works with several international collaborators, one being the Greek-English pianist Othon Mataragas (probably best known from his works with names such as Marc Almond, Current 93 and Peter Christopherson from Coil and Throbbing Gristle).
1. Emblematic (2:23)
2. Muted Cries (4:18)
3. L (1:49)
4. Tin Music (6:55)
5. Meth (8:29)
6. Retrograde (3:44)
7. Forgetting the Details (5:11)
8. Red Lips, Marble Eyes (4:29)
9. Site Specific (2:36)
10. Phasewide (5:45)
EMBLEMATIC
I felt a sigh pass your lips
I saw the weight on your eyelids
Yet there you swagger and there you go
The mise-en-scène of your mercy drome
Too many images at play
Too many faces in a day’s work
Your sweet incentive, it’s so relentless
My grief’s been waiting for this day
No easy answers, only hard choices
I guess we came to the end of the road
Your random gender, my desolate needs
The splintered voices of lost beliefs
Trading commodities with no fixed presets
No traces left of a long gone starlet
Pornographers and secondhand consumer rights
All sons and lovers of 70’s delight
MUTED CRIES
The clouds in her eyes
A whispering need
Shedding her light all over me
Try recall the cities in twilight
The clubbing
The cigarette sky
As you notice the silence
The carvings
The memory lines
The muted cries
A jaded desire
A comforting need
Walls coming down
On callous beliefs
Try recall the cities in twilight
The clubbing
The cigarette sky
As you notice the silence
The carvings
The memory lines
The muted cries
TIN MUSIC
Tin music
Seeping out into the street
Jasmine scented, stagnant air
Hatching any need
While the summer lingers on you tell the tale
Still hiding
Just a face within the crowd
Running ‘round
Falling down
Guess it’s all the same
So embarrassed by the loss of all this weight
The intimacy of casual ease
It’s no relief
METH
Wide eyes, swollen lips
She examines herself like she’s about to fade
Into air
Into all she disbelieves
Skin engraved with burns
Like a jaded belief about to disappear
There’s no need
To enact this line of ways
Trace the fading needs
The ebbing desirability
You’re turning away
Still hiding your face
Don’t you know your name?
Through all of these years it stayed the same
It’s always been you
I just couldn’t choose
Lines
She wets her lips
Leaning back with her arms wrapped around her knees
To adjust
To recalibrate the need
Words in pantomime
Eyes like shimmering marble
Pressure veiled by grace
Once again
Seems to settle for reserves
Don’t you feel the weight?
The slight hesitation, the delay
Aesthetic beliefs
Won’t cover this need
Don’t you know your name?
Through all of these years it stayed the same
Whatever I do
It’s always been you
Try to hold back the dawn
Try to hold back the morning
Hold back the night
If just for a while
RETROGRADE
Still lying wide awake
Imagining your face
A cool, white offering
Caught in this retrograde
Lips drawn and quivering
Veins faintly shimmering
All pierrots in rags
Spastics and acrobats
Discredit every move
Condolences to prove
The friction and the heat
Your genuine belief
A gravitational pull that never seems to decrease
FORGETTING THE DETAILS
Cheekbones made of light
Somewhere it’s morning
The languid grey of night
Leaving the fragrance of a cry
Guess you’re sliding back into your life
The pressure on your eyelids
Patterns of waiting
Of suffocating
Replaying the same scene
Recalling the same dream
Cover any feeling
Cover any reason now
You’re breathing the same air
The same hysteria
Like a mirrorball that shines
Just another flash of light
Deteriorating
Forgetting the details
Rewriting the scene in your mind
The exit signs of light
She’s lying beside me
She’s hidden in a sigh
In the changes of a room
Guess she’s sliding back into her life
The pressure on her eyelids
The time that it’s taking
Before she wakens
It feels like a lifetime
A memory rewind
RED LIPS, MARBLE EYES
Lights from cars slowly driving by
Her eyes reflecting a desert sky
Lover’s rental
Sentimental child
Guess you’re hiding
Down along the line
Dresses in fields
Shirts on the sea
Imagine yourself then
Imagining yourself now
Red lips and marble eyes
Bourgeois bohemia high
They say nobility grows out of contained emotion
Well she feels a bit bloated right now
Skin like alabaster
Swollen like a plaster
I guess she’d rather look like somebody else
It’s like a seal
A heap of needs
Imagine yourself then
Imagining yourself now
Another poster girl
Fake fur and high-heel spurs
All of these sons of Cain and girls with wings
Still staring at the ceiling
The illegitimate desires never fade
SITE SPECIFIC
Incestuous needs
A tender display on your pillow
Diverging beliefs
Written all over your face
The look in your eyes
A desolate kingdom of reason
The crown that you hide
Revealing a pagan belief
Enemy
Find the key
Anomaly
PHASEWIDE
Look at us now
This is what we’ve become
She can’t recognize anyone
Her arms ‘round her knees
Her eyes closed to see
Don’t expect too much
This is what we’ve got
Let’s just lie here
Watch the lights appear
Cosmetic disapproval
Descending like snow
The residue of daylight
Flickers in the street
Flickers in the heat
Don’t expect too much
This is all we’ve got
Let’s just lie here
Watch the lights appear
”Haunting beauty and a delicate, melancholic desperation.”
Rating: 4 out of 6 stars
Jyllands-Posten – Anders Houmøller (March 27, 2013)
(Denmark’s biggest newspaper)
”The ever changeable Hall in disturbingly good shape.”
Rating: 5 out of 6 stars
Gaffa – Finn P. Madsen (March 31, 2013)
(Denmark’s biggest music magazine)
”This album is a delight to listen to.”
Rating: 5 out of 6 stars
BT – Henning Høeg (April 1, 2013)
(Denmark’s equivalent to The Daily Mirror)
”Breathtakingly beautiful.”
Rating: 5 out of 6 stars
Lydtapet – Peter Krogh (April 3, 2013)
(Danish site for independent music)
“Beautiful and unique.”
Politiken – Kim Skotte (April 3, 2013)
(The Danish equivalent to The Guardian)
”An altogether stunning experience.”
Rating: 5 out of 6 stars
Aarhus Stiftstidende – Thomas Nygaard (April 4, 2013)
(Danish daily newspaper)
”Extremely present.”
Information – Anna Ullman (April 8, 2013)
(Denmark’s equivalent to The Independent)
”One of the most important records of 2013. Outstanding.”
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Nowamuzyka – Łukasz Komła (April 15, 2013)
(Polish site for independent music)
”Quite simply an aesthetic experience.”
Rating: 5 out of 6 stars
Undertoner – Thor Penthin Grumløse (May 1, 2013)
(Danish site for independent music)
“A very positive surprise … impressive.”
Rating: 11 out of 15 points
Baby Blaue – Siggy Zielinski (August 23, 2013)
(German site for independent music)
”To bow before such an artist is a duty, to enjoy his art a pleasure not to be denied.”
Rating: 8 out of 10 points
Darkroom Magazine – Roberto Alessandro Filippozzi (September 14, 2013)
(Italian site and magazine covering independent music)
“Intoxicating … be sure to check it out.”
Orkus Magazine – Manuela Ausserhofer (September 25, 2013)
(Major German music magazine)
“A quiet, thoughtful and spherical album.”
Rating: 7 out of 10 points
Der Hörspiegel – Michael Brinkschulte (September 29, 2013)
(German site for independent music)
“A testament to creativity and sovereignty that allows deep insights into what a brilliant artist Hall is.”
Alternativ Musik – Tristan Osterfeld (October 1, 2013)
(German site for alternative music)
“A rousing album.”
Music Scan – Daniel A. Rabl (October 3, 2013)
(German music site)
“Dark and hypnotic: Hall understands the award of forging strong tension.”
Rating: 12 out of 15 points
Musik Reviews – Jochen König (October 17, 2013)
(German site for alternative music)
“A poignant, but obscure experimental album that comes in a kind of cabaret format making it more accessible.”
Rating: 6 out of 7 points
Side-Line Music Magazine – D.P. (December 17, 2013)
(Belgian music site)
Martin Hall: Vocals, dobro, guitar, tapes and keyboards
Othon Mataragas: Piano
Linus Carlsen: Piano
Johnny Stage: Guitar, mandolin, glockenspiel and ring modulator
Henriette Groth: Piano
Ida Bach Jensen: String bass
Eskild Winding: Harmonium
Peter Marott: Trumpet
Mads Mathias: Alto saxophone
Vincent Nilsson: Trombone
Jakob Munck: Sousaphone
Esben Duus: Snare drum and percussion
Søren “Blackfoot” Frost: Bass drum and percussion
Christian Skeel: Piano, string arrangements
The Vista Dome Ensemble: Orchestra
Karoliina Koivisto: Solo violin
Cathérine: Speak
Nele Devillé: Televox
Design: Kenneth Schultz
Photo: Territorium
Phasewide, Exit Signs is recorded on a series of different locations around the world. It’s characterized by an occasional almost sketch-like production where methods of recording include the application of dictaphones and old-fashioned cassette machines (as an example one lead vocal is recorded in a hotel room in Białystok in Poland). Although the album both musically and lyrically remains soaked by a strong sense of isolation, the many different places used during the recordings have obviously all had an impact on the final sound and style of the title.
Martin Hall didn’t give any Danish interviews in relation to the release of the album, but wrote the following notes for the Danish music magazine GAFFA:
In October 2013 the album was released in Germany, Austria and Switzerland where it received excellent reviews. In relation to the European launch Hall gave one of his rare interviews to the German music magazine Orkus. You can read the English translation of the interview here.
At the end of the year Martin Hall was nominated for two GAFFA awards (in the categories “Danish album of the year” and “best Danish male artist”). Furthermore Phasewide, Exit Signs was elected “album of the year” by the Polish site Nowamuzyka (top 10 featured artists such as Flaming Lips and Mazzy Star).
”The ever changeable Hall in disturbingly good shape.”
( * * * * * )
Gaffa (Denmark’s biggest music magazine)”Haunting beauty and a delicate, melancholic desperation.”
( * * * * )
Jyllands-Posten (Denmark’s biggest newspaper)”To listen to Phasewide, Exit Signs is quite simply an aesthetic experience.”
( * * * * * )
Undertoner (Danish site for independent music)“Breathtakingly beautiful.”
( * * * * * )
Lydtapet (Danish site for independent music)”An altogether stunning experience.” ( * * * * * )
Aarhus Stiftstidende (Danish daily newspaper)“Beautiful and unique.”
Politiken (The Danish equivalent to The Guardian)“Extremely present.”
Information (Denmark’s equivalent to The Independent)”This album is a delight to listen to.”
( * * * * * )
BT (Denmark’s equivalent to The Daily Mirror)“One of the most important records of 2013. Outstanding.”
( * * * * * )
Nowamuzyka (Polish site for independent music)“Intoxicating.”
Orkus Magazine (major German music magazine)
IF POWER ASKS WHY
IF POWER ASKS WHY
ANDREA PELLEGRINI/TANJA ZAPOLSKI/MARTIN HALL
LP/CD
OCTOBER 2012
PANOPTIKON (OPTIK 25)
If Power Asks Why features a line of (at the time newly written) Martin Hall songs performed by the mezzo-soprano Andrea Pellegrini and the classical pianist Tanja Zapolski. The Danish avant-garde ensemble Lydenskab also appears on the recordings.
The album is produced by Martin Hall and the greater part of the songs is arranged by the internationally acclaimed violinist Alexander Zapolski.
1. Dead Horses on a Beach (5:32)
2. Rather Quotable than Honest (3:36)
3. MILFs, Cum and Schopenhauer (4:07)
4. A Garboesque Leaning (4:21)
5. Feeling like a God (4:11)
6. The Stench of Your Pity (5:00)
7. Hope Is a Lack of Information (5:29)
8. Notes on Self-Destruction (4:26)
9. If Power Asks Why (5:40)
DEAD HORSES ON A BEACH
Dead horses on a beach
Red starfish at my feet
This used to be the place
Where we would hide away
The mirrors of the streets
The cafes where we’d meet
All places in the past
Where we would hide away
I used to believe
That there would be a way
I used to believe
That I would find a way
To cure this pain
Dead letters make up words
Scar tissue seals the hurt
This used to be the place
Where we would hide away
I keep running to the shore
I keep calling out for more
Blood-driven to the sand
To see it wash away
Keep running to the shore
To try to see your face
Keep running to the shore
Still trying to find a way
To cure this pain
Life doesn’t cease to amuse just because people die or get crippled
Neither it stops being sad just because someone laughs
Someone sing me a song
Somebody tell me a joke
Make me cry, make me bleed
Make me wake up and see that this dream ain’t for real
All these suicidal wrecks
These aristocrats of death
Keep running to the shore with me
The bodies at my feet
The horses in my dreams
Somebody take them away
Dead horses on a beach
Red starfish at my feet
This used to be the place
Where we would hide away
Keep running to the shore
Keep calling out for more
Blood-driven to the sand
To see it wash away
RATHER QUOTABLE THAN HONEST
Like a beacon in the gutter
Simulation’s your ideal
Rather quotable than honest
Seems to be the way you live
You tell me women fake their orgasms
Men entire relations
Well, I couldn’t really give a damn ‘bout your moral indignation
It’s a sign of constipation
Some Darwinian frustration
You apply divine intention
To your spontaneity
Even add a little reason
To the lack of sanity
You tell me women base their promises
Entirely on emotions
Well, you’re such a great authority
In all your self-indulgence
You’re so stupid it’s insulting
Even your clothing is revolting
Pardon my French
But you’re too lazy to be a nihilist
At best you’ll make a travesty
A tragedy that needs to be unzipped
You’re a male, but you’re a cunt
Second only to no one
Yea right, well take advice
The only thing that alcohol does not preserve for long is the state of dignity
I raise my hand
To swear a sacred oath, to make a toast
For wasted times, for blinded eyes
For tragedies and suicides
Yet the ride was my delight
It’s the story of my life
Oh God, I need advice
Yet, Freedom! yet thy banner, torn, but flying streams like a thunderstorm against the wind
MILFS, CUM AND SCHOPENHAUER
What a wonderful mixture of glamour and pain
In a room with the rich and the famous, the useless and vain
People reading each other like price tags, oh what a game
First the artist’s a painter that drinks, then a wino that paints
Give me MILFs and cum and Schopenhauer any day of the week
Give me white bread and dark beer to avoid more of this
Luciferian figures and shemales wherever you go
Plastic spoons on a table that’s covered with traces of snow
Someone lights up a swaggering reefer, look at him choke
Hear the sound of your brain cells go “pop” by the smell of the smoke
Better check the urban dictionary, the guy is out of hand
His excitement and vocabulary need coordinated plans
Remember that song
They used to play everywhere we went
At airports, in homes
From Zurich to Munich
Girls pulling off their panties
Yet they don’t
They leave you all on your own
Begging for mercy at the throne of the poster stand
From barbarity to decadence at incredible speed
Skip the whole state of civilization to suit current needs
Such a marvellous scientific study, it’s such a relief
‘Cause it proves what I’ve known all along:
That everyone – else – is a hypocrite
A GARBOESQUE LEANING
What a Garboesque leaning towards seclusion
What a glorious way to believe in yourself
What an elegant way to uphold your composure
Such erratic behaviour all veiled in a mist
Sliding down rainbows
Pale moons keep rising
Tongue-tired conversing
In Saturn draped autumns
No more kitchen sink dramas or sweet temptations
No more coloured belief in the way that you liked
All this Vaseline might get it on, but it’s filthy
It’s the caricature of a heart made of gold
Sliding down rainbows
Pale moons keep rising
Tongue-tired conversing
In Saturn draped autumns
Good-looking boys on runaway trains
Hiding their hard-ons with the same old phrase
Still cracking cheeks with wildfire smiles
Suggested behaviour in lingerie styles
There were bags and mags and crazy stuff
We drank some wine and we laughed a lot
We talked about all the glamour and pain
First Lana Turner and then Cheryl Crane
What a Garboesque leaning towards seclusion
What a glorious way to believe in yourself
What an elegant way to uphold your composure
Such erratic behaviour all veiled in a mist
Sliding down rainbows
Pale moons keep rising
FEELING LIKE A GOD
What is not worth saying is what you sing about
What is not worth believing is what you rant about
A failed suicide, you can’t get much lower than that
What is revenge but love caught with its trousers down
Can’t say that you love someone
Then rape them all ferociously
Yet that’s what people do all the time
Forgiveness might appear a little too extravagant
Behaving like a pig while feeling like a god
Feeling like a god
Better to be hated for all of the things you are
Than appreciated for what you are not
Oh vanity, it’s the uncertainty of arrogance
All very cultural, ’cause really nothing’s going on
Can’t say that you love someone
Then rape them all ferociously
Yet that’s what people do all the time
Forgiveness might appear a little too extravagant
Behaving like a pig while feeling like a god
Feeling like a god
What is the perfect pleasure?
Exquisite in its nature
Yet it never satisfies you
Scratch in the surface, you’ll only find a little more
Is there a difference – artist, criminal or whore?
A sympathetic worn-out understanding of living
Won’t get you anywhere, not anywhere at all
Yet you’re feeling like a god
THE STENCH OF YOUR PITY
Don’t make me suffer the stench of your pity
Don’t make me suffer the sound of your voice
Don’t make me embarrassed on behalf of your conscience
Don’t make me offer you any way out
You made me feel so obsolete
You made me feel so incomplete
Half socialite, half necrophile
You only desire what you despise
So absent-minded it seems contemplative
So absent-minded it seems all profound
Convincing the public of your noble nature
Taking advantage of naïve rebounds
Dove of delight, pigeon of peace
Relieving yourself on all you meet
All high and dry, up in the sky
The smell of your piss all over me
HOPE IS A LACK OF INFORMATION
Hope is a lack of information
A spirit of temptation
A flicker inside of each heart
Even though you don’t believe it
Still you’re goaded on to seek it
Revolted by all of its claims
Hope is the absence of summation
Disregarded calculations
A whimper inside of your heart
Though you might want to believe it
It will fail you when you need it
Someone is said to have died for the sake of your lies
Well, be my guest – what a feast, what an armoured belief
Bring out your credos and songs, your perverted mischief
All these excessive delights make you cry like a child
I need to see nothing else than the look in your eyes
It’s so pathetic, my God, it makes me puke at the sight
What does it do to you?
Making a fool of you!
Look what it does to you
Where is the love – and the beauty, the truth we all seek?
But in the mind of the stupid, the feeble and weak
It makes me sick to my stomach, my bones and my core
To see you drool in delusion while begging for more
To see you high as a kite on sedated beliefs
Just a sick little junkie in search of relief
Don’t lay your hands on me!
Hope is leprosy!
Stay away from me
Filthy leprosy
Hope is a lack of information
A mere interpretation
A flicker inside of your heart
NOTES ON SELF-DESTRUCTION
Self-destruction remains
The quickest way to regain
Control over your destiny
It’s so blatantly clear
Give me a rule and I’ll break it
Show me a fool and I’ll shake ’im
Erratic censorship rules
An angry ass ridicules
Time to burn off some fuel
Do-re-mi-pla-ce-bo
Baby, mama, girl, ho
Could you please make up your mind?
Your metaphorical ass kicking is going nowhere
It’s surely not as in Santa comes to town
It’s all men imitating women
Women imitating men
People are imitating other people’s lives
Without the caricature of yourself where would you hide?
I’m gonna tear your playhouse down
So whenever in pain
Self-destruction’s the game
You’ll fake your way into history
Though you’re only a parody
It’s all a matter of spleen
Of downright dirt, be obscene
There ain’t no easy way out
You rave and twist and you shout
Gonna go down real loud
Do-re-mi-pla-ce-bo
Baby, mama, girl, ho
Could you please make up your mind?
Your metaphorical ass kicking is going nowhere
It’s surely not as in Santa comes to town
It’s all men imitating women
Women imitating men
People are imitating other people’s lives
Without the caricature of yourself where would you hide?
I’m gonna tear your playhouse down
Let’s turn the light off now
Let’s pass the night on now
In just a little while
We’ll reach the midnight hour
IF POWER ASKS WHY
If power asks why
Then power is weakness
If silence is shy
Then silence is cheap
For so long
I’ve seemed to manage this role
Consider
How do you short-circuit control?
High status women
And narcissistic men
Articulated
They do it all again
Salon des Refusés
Depressingly out of date
If power asks why
Then power is weakness
If power abides
Then power is lost
To conquer
You need to silence the prey
Relentless
There’s nothing left here to betray
A lover’s rental
Don’t get too serious
If sentimental
You’ll get delirious
Salon des Amateurs
Such a despicable waste
A vague embarrassment at play
Profound desires came too late
Cosmetic changes all the way
The comfort zone of silent hate
A female victim once again
Innocence caught by the male gaze
Such an ambiguous display
Enacted by a renegade
She’s nodding tentatively towards you
Recalling how she once adored you
She’s running out of social graces
She’s running out of fitting phrases
A figure carved out by uncertainty
It’s the veneer of jaded hostility
Just an illumined hunger admiring itself
She’s out of breath
“Excellent melodic material and brilliant arrangements … a great success from start to finish.”
( * * * * * )
Gaffa (Denmark’s biggest music magazine)
”Martin Hall brilliantly stages mezzo-soprano Andrea Pellegrini and pianist Tanja Zapolski in a masquerade of classical lieder and perverted pop.”
Information (the Danish equivalent to The Independent)
“A masterly performed principal work!”
P6 Beat (Danish National Radio)
”Fantastic! An incredibly good record.”
DR2’s Smagsdommerne (the weekly cultural recommendations on Danish National Television)
”A deliciously decadent universe.”
Berlingske Media
”Pellegrini’s warm and enchanting voice has the capacity to melt icebergs.”
Politiken (the Danish equivalent to The Guardian)
”Give yourself the opportunity to be amazed and get this release.”
Tempelores
”Genuinely thrilling … Give it a chance, it’s definitely worth it.”
Santa Sangre Magazine
“Unique.”
Heathen Harvest
“Gorgeous … This is not something you want to miss.”
Brutal Resonance
Nominated for The Danish National Radio’s P2 Award 2013
Andrea Pellegrini: Mezzo-soprano
Tanja Zapolski: Piano
Alexander Zapolski: 1st violin
Anja Zelianodjevo: 2nd violin
Grigoriy Khodos: Viola
Mette Spang-Hanssen: Cello
Ida Bach Jensen: Couble-bass and strings
Thea Vesti Pedersen: Acoustic guitar
Eskild Skovbakke Winding: Percussion, harmonium and percussive piano
Johnny Stage: Electric guitar, mandolin, autoharp and sitar
Ketil Duckert: Trumpet and flugelhorn
Hans Nybo: Bassoon
Martin Hall : Music box, tapes and details
Design: Kenneth Schultz
Photo: Robin Skjoldborg
If Power Asks Why is a series of piano-based “hybrid lieder”, songs all characterized by a high degree of sombre drama – titles such as ”MILFs, Cum and Schopenhauer”, ”Rather Quotable than Honest” and ”Hope is a Lack of Information” might serve to illustrate the lyrical nature of the project.
In terms of content the listener is presented to a collection of passionate objections against the cultural imperatives of our times, in particular any kind of standardised parameter of desire. The album probably contains some of Martin Hall’s most exuberant lyrical work ever.
Andrea Pellegrini is one of Denmark’s most praised and awarded younger mezzo-sopranos. Tanja Zapolski has likewise gained great positive attention as a concert pianist performing with most Danish symphony orchestras. Hall and Pellegrini have earlier collaborated on albums such as Camille (2002), Das Mechanische Klavier (2004) and Hospital Cafeterias (2009), whereas it is the first time Hall works with Zapolski.
If Power Asks Why was released as vinyl-lp as well as cd and received production grants from Danish Arts Foundation (Statens Kunstfonds Tonekunstudvalg), Danish Actors’ Association (Dansk Skuespillerforbund) and Danish Musicians’ Union (Dansk Musikerforbund).
The album was nominated for the Danish National Radio’s P2 Award 2013.
“Excellent melodic material and brilliant arrangements … a great success from start to finish.”
( * * * * * )
Gaffa (Denmark’s biggest music magazine)”Martin Hall brilliantly stages mezzo-soprano Andrea Pellegrini and pianist Tanja Zapolski in a masquerade of classical lieder and perverted pop.”
Information (the Danish equivalent to The Independent)“A masterly performed principal work!”
P6 Beat (Danish National Radio)”Fantastic! An incredibly good record.”
DR2’s Smagsdommerne (the weekly cultural recommendations on Danish National Television)”A deliciously decadent universe.”
Berlingske Media”Pellegrini’s warm and enchanting voice has the capacity to melt icebergs.”
Politiken (the Danish equivalent to The Guardian)”Give yourself the opportunity to be amazed and get this release.”
Tempelores”Genuinely thrilling … Give it a chance, it’s definitely worth it.”
Santa Sangre Magazine“Unique.”
Heathen Harvest“Gorgeous … This is not something you want to miss.”
Brutal ResonanceNominated for the Danish National Radio’s P2 Award 2013
30 MINUTES
30 MINUTES
BEFORE
CD/LP
MAY 2011/SEPTEMBER 2024
REPLIKA (REP 01)/SOUND STATION (SS1)
30 Minutes is a live recording of Danish post-punk act Before’s legendary support concert for New Order at Saltlageret, Copenhagen, on May 17, 1981. This was founding member Martin Hall’s last performance with Before.
The concert was released on cd and as download exactly 30 years later, on May 17, 2011. In September 2024 the record was remastered and released on vinyl.
1. Intro (0:59)
2. Metal Dreams (3:21)
3. Alle Fangerne (3:27)
4. Special Surprise (2:29)
5. Surrender (3:53)
6. Beautiful Crisis (2:31)
7. Unexpected Emotions (3:13)
8. Wasteful Hours (6:30)
9. Whip on My Shoulder (3:59)
10. Wasteful Hours (Demo) (3:19)
11. Alle Fangerne (Demo) (2:37)
12. Surrender (Demo) (3:46)
13. Beautiful Crisis (Demo) (2:18)
Fritz “Fatal” Bonfils: Vocals
Lars Bo “Tolle” Tolstoy Jacobsen: Bass
Martin Hall: Guitar
Michael Rasmussen: Drums
Design: Kenneth Schultz
Cover photo: Territorium
Live photos: Søren Svendsen
Before was formed in September 1980 by singer and figurehead Fritz ”Fatal” Bonfils and a 17-year-old Martin Hall on guitar. Together with drummer Michael Rasmussen (later The Sandmen) and bassist Flemming Andersen (Art in Disorder) the group played its first concert in Rockmaskinen on Christiania in November the same year. After this concert Lars Bo “Tolle” Tolstoy Jacobsen undertook the task of playing bass.
Before’s support act for New Order represents a landmark in Danish post-punk history. One ting is the band’s line-up at the time (Hall having already established his own group Ballet Mécanique), but obviously far more relevant is the outstanding musical performance on the night itself. What you hear on 30 Minutes is the sound of a far more brutal band than the one you experience on the later debut album, A Wish of Life, released during the summer of 1982.
Before was, without the shadow of a doubt, one of the best live acts on the Danish post-punk scene. At the New Order support gig you’ll witness a sonic savagery never really captured on any of the group’s following studio recordings.
All live-tracks are recorded directly via the sound mixer at the event which means that the recordings are as good as the possibilities of the period allowed. As an interesting side note, New Order’s Peter Hook assisted the band with the live mix on the evening.
Apart from the concert 30 Minutes also contains four likewise never before released studio demos recorded a month before the event.
MINUTE PAPILLON
MINUTE PAPILLON
VARIOUS ARTISTS
CD
FEBRUARY 2011
SECOND LANGUAGE (SL09)
The album Minute Papillon was released in February 2011, a record where all tracks last exactly one minute. Martin Hall opens the album with his contribution, a track called “Textra”. The cd contains 60 new recordings made by 60 international artists such as Scanner, Opiate and Hannah Peel.
The project was released by the label Second Language and the compilation came in a deluxe, silver foil blocked jewel box with magnifying glass. The cover design was made by the Irish artist Eva Rothschild.
In the press release from Second Language the project is described like this:
“A pan-global retinue of left-of-centre artists, it’s as conceptually sharp as it is consistently intriguing on the ear and offers a litany of diverting vignettes that run the gamut of ‘post-classical’ soundscapes, electronic sound designs, miniature pop songs, folk reveries, guitar soli and several stations in between. Minute Papillon is the kind of inscrutable cause célèbre album that no switched on collector of contemporary music should be without. Boasting contributions from the UK, Scandinavia, Europe, North America and Japan, the album sustains a rigorous ‘all killer no filler’ regimen over 60 tracks, which is no mean curatorial achievement.“
Contributors: Martin Hall, Gareth S. Brown, Cédric Pin, ( r ), Pete Astor, Franck Alba, Hannah Peel, Opiate, Wixel, Jannick Schou, Xela, Dollboy, Ellis Island Sound, Jenny Brand, James Brewster , Jasper TX, sanso-xtro , Roll the Dice, Plinth, Ensemble, Directorsound, Textile Ranch, The Home Current , Darren Hayman, Heather Woods Broderick, Fieldhead, Olivier Namblard, M. Ostermeier, Felix Kubin, ISAN, Scanner, Machinefabriek, Gareth Dickson, Ark of Noise, Relmic Statute, micro boredom, Ringinglow, Offthesky, Lene Charlotte Holm, brave timbers, Richard Moult, Tyneham House, Clem Leek, Isnaj Dui, Fureasteen, Junkboy, Rickard Jäverling, Primitive Northerner, Seasons (pre-din), Danny Norbury, Winter Cabin , d_rradio, Hybernation, Will Long, The Boats, Dustin O’Halloran, 30Km Inland, Dirk Markham, Message to Bears and P. Jørgensen.
SING - DON'T CRY
SING – DON’T CRY
SANDRA DAY
CD
JANUARY 2011
RIP IT UP (RIP03)
Sing – Don’t Cry is the posthumously released debut album by Danish transexual singer and actor Sandra Day. The album is produced by Johnny Stage and Martin Hall makes a guest visit on the song “Hurt”.
The album was released on the 12th of January 2011 on what should have been Sandra Day’s 72ndbirthday. However, in mid-December 2010 she suffered a massive brain haemorrhage and died a few days later.
1. A Taste Of ... (0:32)
2. Rock Of Ages (5:02)
3. Leatherman (4:34)
4. Wrong Side Of Town (2:54)
5. Hurt (4:39)
6. Kiss You Tiger (5:02)
7. Mama Is Crying (2:35)
8. Swing Swing (3:35)
9. Magic Lanterns (4:23)
Hans Nybo: Saxophone
Helianne Blais: Violin
Johnny Stage: Guitar, keyboards, instruments
Kenni Andy: Drums
Ketil Duckert: Trumpet
Martin Hall: Farfisa organ
Sisse Selina: Drums
Design: Filip Fischer
Photo: Peter Stalknecht
Transgender icon Sandra Day was born in 1939 and originally named Alexander Brask Sørensen. In 1969 she changed her male name to Sandra, underwent surgery for an artificial bosom and lived a life as a transsexual from then on. She was a frontrunner in the Danish gay movement and acted as both stripper and dominatrix as well as singer and actor in the company of famous actors such as Ove Sprogøe and Bodil Kjer. Her life and livelihood are described in Thomas Aagard Skovman’s book From Peasant Queen to Whip Queen (2007).
On the 12th of January 2011 Sandra Day released her debut album Sing – Don’t Cry. The release was set for the day that should have been her 72nd birthday, but in mid-December 2010 she suffered a massive brain haemorrhage and died on the 15th.
Sandra Day was a close friend of Marquis Marcel de Sade with whom she toured legendary nightclubs such as Madame Arthur throughout the 1970’s and 80’s. They appeared together as guests in Martin Hall’s 2010 television show Salon Midwelt from where the photo is taken.
Martin Hall plays Farfisa organ on the song “Hurt”. The album is recorded in close collaboration with guitarist, producer and songwriter Johnny Stage, who among other things has been a member of the Danish rock group Sort Sol.
I HAVE SEEN YOU THROUGH THE YEARS, WORN BY DIFFERENT FACES
I HAVE SEEN YOU THROUGH THE YEARS, WORN BY DIFFERENT FACES
PESTEG DRED/SS-SAY
CD/LP
SEPTEMBER 2010
PANOPTIKON/DARK ENTRIES (OPTIK 24)
A long awaited hole in the Martin Hall back catalogue was filled when the obscure art rock project Pesteg Dred and now internationally renowned group SS-Say (both bands featuring the singer Inge Shannon in the vocal front) were re-released as one cd with the album I Have Seen You through the Years, Worn by Different Faces in September 2010.
1. Salt (Pesteg Dred) (3:42)
2. Postcards and Reasons (Pesteg Dred) (3:56)
3. 20th Century Superior (Pesteg Dred) (4:08)
4. Cold Impressions of Perhaps (Pesteg Dred) (4:21)
5. Light, More Light (Pesteg Dred) (12:51)
6. Untitled (Pesteg Dred) (4:05)
7. Almost (Pesteg Dred) (2:30)
8. Transaction (SS-Say) (7:45)
9. Care (SS-Say) (4:48)
10. Fanfare (SS-Say) (4:19)
TRANSACTION
You say you’ve tried
Well try harder
Change it
Re-arrange it
The turning point’s getting closer
I’m gonna take it where it comes from
I’m gonna give it to whom it belongs
Without delay
Take a chance now
Take it
Reinforce it
So make a move, make it happen
I’m gonna take it where it comes from
I’m gonna give it to whom it belongs
You say you’re sorry
Well you’d better learn to forgive yourself
‘Cause there’s no one here who can do it for you
In this twentieth century
Emotional sell-out
Be what you wanna be
Get out
Shout it out loud
You talk about a truth
Well it’s all an illusion
So what you have to do is to make your own fusion
Do what you wanna do
Be what you wanna be
Take what you wanna have
Just remember to give
I’m gonna take it
Moving slowly
Master planning of the means
Make it happen
Fight the limits you obey
Burning fire
Feel it as a part of you
Make it happen
Fight the limits you obey
You say it’s like all words are used up
Well I’m not
I’m standing right here
Look into my eyes
Take me by the hand
I will never let you down again
All together and no excuses
Turning every weakness to strength
CARE
Moments of love
Distant from darkness
Overturning the balance with the power of doubt
Caring for the first time
See you for the first time
Feel you for the first time
Need you for the first time
Don’t you recognize yourself in the mirror?
Far too involved to cancel the care
The nameless games and the real thing
The final solution and emotional stunts
Viewing for the first time
Value for the second
I have seen you through the years worn by different faces
FANFARE
Come on
Come on
Come on
Let it shine on you
Knowing what I feel
Knowing I’m able to give
Knowing what I need
Willing to risk all my love
The Wire: ”Years of Struggle is a hitherto rarely heard album that exemplified the black-hole nihilism and hostile theatrics found in the abstractionist fractions of the post-punk movement. After this sole Pesteg Dred recording Hall formed a number of darkwave projects in Denmark with considerable aplomb, but the innovation coupled with the claustrophobia of Years of Struggle is so strong that I have to wonder where Pesteg Dred might have gone if they had had the opportunity back in the day.“
Boomkat: “Uncompromising seriousness and unfettered urgency … It’s kinda easy to become blasé with so many ****wave reissues around, but this is simply one of the most essential we’ve stumbled upon.“
Igloo Magazine: “Industrial solitude pours forth in a haunted Kirlian Camera style work of lonesome isolation. The album progresses along sepulchral darkwave lines. Desperation cascades over angst … I don’t know where Dark Entries scare up these obscurities, I only know I’m glad that they do.“
Aquarius: “Martin Hall appears to be the figure who defined the Danish New Wave scene. We’ve never heard of any of Hall’s other projects, but if any were half as good as Pesteg Dred, they’d be worth the price of admission. Death disco? You bet! Dark Entries scores yet again with a really great re-discovery on Pested Dred.“
Sideline Music Magazine: “Immerses you into another world immediately.”
Henrik Möll: Bass
Inge Shannon: Vocals
Martin Hall: Vocals, drums, keyboards, piano, bass, cello, violin, guitar, tapes, percussion, trumpet, balalaika, autoharp
Per Hendrichsen: Treatments, guitar, synthesizers
Design: Kenneth Schultz
Artwork: Christian Skeel
The original Pesteg Dred album Years of Struggle against the Lies, the Stupidity and the Cowardice was recorded by an 18-year-old Hall with vocalist Inge Shannon and guitarist/noisemaker Per Hendrichsen (later Under For) in December 1981. The album stayed unreleased until the summer of 1985 where it featured as a bonus cassette tape with the Danish art magazine Atlas.
In comparison to Pesteg Dred the later SS-Say project (and particularly the group’s 12″ single Fusion) received much more attention. The first constellation of the band made its debut at William S. Burroughs’ legendary visit in Denmark in October 1983 and ever since the reputation of the group has grown, both in Europe and in the United States – apparently because a French DJ kept playing the Fusion tracks at the New York club The Batcave.
Apart from the Scandinavian re-release in September 2010 the Pesteg Dred album was also released in America in a limited vinyl edition by the San Francisco based label Dark Entries (late October 2010). This edition received an abundance of international praise … such as when the illustrious English music magazine The Wire wrote the following about the record in their January 2011 issue (#323):
”Years of Struggle is a hitherto rarely heard album that exemplified the black-hole nihilism and hostile theatrics found in the abstractionist fractions of the post-punk movement. After this sole Pesteg Dred recording Hall formed a number of darkwave projects in Denmark with considerable aplomb, but the innovation coupled with the claustrophobia of Years of Struggle is so strong that I have to wonder where Pesteg Dred might have gone if they had had the opportunity back in the day.“
MIRRORBALL
MIRRORBALL
MARTIN HALL
CD-SINGLE
SEPTEMBER 2009
PANOPTIKON (OPTIK 22)
As a prelude to his first concerts in three years Martin Hall released the new download single and ep Mirrorball in September 2009, a release on which he collaborates with three very different producers.
The opening track on the ep is a radio version of the title song, a grandiose pop version produced and recorded by Andreas Sommer (a.k.a. Maskinen). After this follows “Patterns of Waiting” featuring producer Mikkel Meyer, then “Forgetting the Details” produced by Christian Skeel – both artists who contributed to Martin Hall’s critically acclaimed album Hospital Cafeterias released earlier 2009.
1. Mirrorball (3:46)
2. Patterns of Waiting (5:37)
3. Forgetting the Details (5:28)
4. D-Box Version (4:50)
5. / / / / / (0:06)
MIRRORBALL
Cheekbones made of light
Somewhere it’s morning
The languid grey of night
Leaving the fragrance of a cry
Guess you’re sliding back into your life
The pressure on your eyelids
Patterns of waiting
Of suffocating
Replaying the same scene
Recalling the same dream
Cover any feeling
Cover any reason now
You’re breathing the same air
The same hysteria
Like a mirrorball that shines
Just another flash of light
Deteriorating
Forgetting the details
Rewriting the scene in your mind
The shimmer of the dawn
Bleeding its beauty
How many times before?
Inhaling the sacred air of youth
Trying to guide me
To shield and to hide me
Guess she’s sliding back into her life
The pressure on her eyelids
The time that it’s taking
Before she wakens
It feels like a lifetime
A memory rewind
Christian Skeel: Piano
Johnny Stage: Bass, guitar
Martin Hall: Vocals, piano
Andreas Sommer: Drums, keyboards, bass, guitar
Mikkel Meyer: Treatments
The Vista Dome Ensemble: Orchestra
Design: Kenneth Schultz
Photo: Territorium
In Mikkel Meyer’s version the song is viewed through a set of almost clinically detached, electronically based optics, whereas Christian Skeel examines the composition in collaboration with the orchestra The Vista Dome Ensemble. The last version on the ep is Hall’s own original demo of the song, a recording on which guitarist Johnny Stage also performs.
The title song was released as a part on the download ep as well as a single-track mp3. A special collector’s version of the ep was also made available in 100 numbered copies.
RELIEF / CUTTING THROUGH (SPECIAL EDITION)
RELIEF / CUTTING THROUGH (SPECIAL EDITION)
MARTIN HALL
CD
SEPTEMBER 2009
PANOPTIKON (OPTIK 17)
The most requested album from Hall’s eighties catalogue has always been Relief, his first lp-release as a solo artist – an album on which he plays all instruments himself, from drums to string sections. The lp was originally released in the spring of 1985 and has topped most fan polls as the singer’s best album ever.
In digital form Relief didn’t appear on cd before this special edition was released in September 2009, remastered and issued alongside Hall’s other grand electropop/rock record from the same period, Cutting Through (1986). This edition featured a new cover.
1. Eyes and Hands (5:11)
2. An Overture (4:58)
3. A Description of Patterns (4:49)
4. Network (3:56)
5. Resonance (5:55)
6. Word on Word (5:00)
7. Spiral (3:27)
8. As It Begins (5:45)
9. Showdown (7:50)
10. Crush (5:14)
11. Cut Off (6:03)
12. Deep Inside Me (10:42)
13. Synthesis (8:28)
EYES AND HANDS
As I am
Changing in these filters of light
Without difference between the symbol and the force that is symbolized
Just like you
Scanning the shadows
I see you through nothing but eyes
Depending on eyes
As the sphere of wound strengthens the love
Earthbound to heaven but trapped in the mirrors
If self-made conditions rule perfectly blind
So selfish bourgeois
So vulgar pretentious in your attempted martyrdom
From sacrifice to power release
The strain keeps the balance of love
While it shines like a diamond
So dustless and unseen
Beyond tension and form
Feel it
Skinless
Take it in
In whirls of love
Through eyes and hands
A voice surrounds me
A touch reminds me
Equalizing every change
Again I lie down to die in your arms
Surrounded by the rings in the water
Beyond dividing life into senses in intellectual self-mutilation
In every circle knowing the centre
In every touch a signal so tender
All on the outside
All on the inside
Without distinction
From request to request
Hiding in the mirrors
In these laws of pain
In the identity of the pain
Drawing the lines between love and hatred
Based on code and revenge
Where’s your respect for love?
Where’s your respect for life?
Acting out neurotic non-appearance
Stimulating some denied desire by simulating a heart on fire
In worlds on location
In wordless betrayal
In the illusion of security
But there will be no restrictions
Nor any limits
For body and spirit
When love transcends
In both sense and symbol
Beyond good and evil
Beyond you and me
Cover me with your eyes
AN OVERTURE
There are no such concepts as “for” or “against”. Love is centreless, limitless, beyond any man-made black-versus-white terminology. Of course there has to be a reality based on the “love under will” principle but to regard this discipline as the final point could easily become just another counterphobia. There’s no truth to hide in, no lie to prosecute. We’re here all alone and every individual judges itself.
Pictures melting
Covering all senses
Marks the outline of your presence
And your whisper hits me like a scream
Of affection
Savage as death
As I lie by your side in the still of the night
The oblivion of all that’s ever been left behind me
Cut on cut
Lines on lines
The return from each bow
In a triangle move
From the nucleus to the final break
In this vacuum between how we think two-dimensional but sense three-dimensional, emotion and intellect are often considered as two ends in themselves. However, it seems to me that they’re just the two ground pillars over which the web of the spiritual reality can be woven. It’s like a black-and-white photography. You don’t see the black colour isolated from the white. You instantly perceive the colours united as the motive of the picture.
As I sense you in delayed impressions
Set in time by zigzag patterns
All relations synchronized with nearness
As the nature of fulfilment
And from stretch to relief
All I’ve seen
All I’ve done
Blow on blow
All untouched
Closer and closer in every turn
The eternity of every moment we share
And the perfect decay
Of the mornings
Of the waves of time
A DESCRIPTION OF PATTERNS
The claustrophobia
The haze of a thousand cigarettes
You talk about magic
But you can’t even change yourself
The self-destruction we used to worship
The perfect setting
If good it turned me on
If bad it tore me up
In mind made of steel
In value and sharing
Repressing your need
Feel it out
Get it out
Don’t you feel the lie?
The drug-confirmed doubt
An all-hate obedience in this aftertaste of impossible dreams
And every keyword
Every war fought for independence
Remember the details
Spread in circles to cover the wound
Structures of reality
Overtures of defeat
In love it brought you near
In fear it brought you to hell
Neanderthal ways and left behind dreams
A thousand more words just to emphasize another skin-deep announcement
The love that we shared
So brutally wasted
In line-ups of doubt and delusion
And question marks much too easily set
As we never gave ourselves completely
As questions defeated all answers too perfectly
Surrounded by walls
From level to level
From words to silence
From hate to love
I don’t regret anything that I’ve done
I just want to become what I am
NETWORK
Through the rupture to the surface
With the tissue of days laying soft over skin
As white on white
In this reverberation of love
The warmth comes in waves
Guided by nerve
Just like the air covering me
As the light reflects itself
In this change of scenery
A reunion takes its place
Transforming namelessly
Into crystal and cell
Into heaven and hell
Into all we’ve ever seen
Into all we’ve ever been
From word to matter
Silhouettes ensouled by the loss
In a vortex of skin
To the centre of the bindings
While you simulate love
The transcendence remains your trauma
As you think in 2D
Think in 3D
In this network
Words reinforced in their turn-back from the walls
And absorbing all your nearness
I breathe in every particle of you
And in memory of you
I’ll connect these worlds apart
I will find all that I need
In the mirror of your eyes
And be breathless by love
RESONANCE
Weakening over weakening
A fire that burns so brightly
Only a shadow cast by yourself
So soft and fading
Wind over body
Shaking each nerve
In curves of freedom
In the hardest care
A baptism in desire and in merciless grace
And in this fusion
Sister shadows compressed to the core
Difference on difference in every framing I make
In display on display
And again
Afterwards
In the beauty of all death
An ultimate reality
Double-lined from phase to phase
From the mother-wound to the scabelon
From one to zero in a circle of ten
Burning cities melt into sunset
The blue light
The white beds
The roaring shapes of love
From stone to skin
Forcing all life
Trapped in this outline
For you alone
This time for all we know
Like a shadow
I feel you near
In all these nights without you
Flickering
From dust to contour
Always there
From the centre to the line
Hermetically closed inside me
For you alone
This time for all we know
Shining through time
Sacred but still so raw
And all the love
Moving so motionless
And even now
As it always will be
In each overload
Affection running tenderly wild
Losing shadow in every move I make
In a flow of warmth
Like blood spreading in water
All alone
Surrounded by time
From displacement to displacement
And in the shadowplay of memory
Closing my eyes
And into the abyss of your love
Trapped inside the heavens of your touch
Felt like this a hundred times before
Still I only need it more and more
I will drink the salt stains from your skin
Kiss you clean from all the violence
Drugs, repression, fantasy and fear
All I need is just to feel you near
WORD ON WORD
I took every advantage
As I questioned your love
And took every precaution
In remembrance of my own ways
And the crush-up of time
Mirrored in question marks
So insensible real
Surrounded in drugs and wasted love
And again
As the dogma of death constitutes every movement I make
In a liberation too “fascist” for you
In a declaration understood by too few
Word on word
In this classic replay
In my face
All the limits of time
The pathology of the warfare we live
All the consequences of what we couldn’t give
Still you’ve given me everything you could
In each line thousand points
In each move thousand turns
Never ending
Nor beginning
No pretending
No regretting
Just a change too weak to notice
In these well-known patterns of the cause and effect
In these crimes of extension
Every loss still reflects the love
Ever-changing design hides the transparency
Of the presence we share
The transition in which we live
All the life, all the Golgotha moves
Burning proud
In the end burning out
I demand nothing
But I still need it all
In reversed arrangements of the rise and fall
And of course love is marked by the etch
But the core is revealed in the stretch
In robbed mind
Raped body
In the bloo it flows
All the life
All the light
In the ash it glows
All the light
Burning deep inside
And the pure brilliance in a tired glance
Clearing on clearing and life re-appearing
The free flow and the breakthrough
To dare the all-care
The matrix of every sense of “God”
SPIRAL
Time passes time
In the shadow of action
In its most pure form
From moment to moment
Changing all the time
Release me with the strongest bond
Eyes on eyes
Keeping me near
Taking me in
Just like a membrane all around me
Shine out
Release
Heal inside out
Let it pour directly
You made me forget
In shape, sound and figure
A retreat so perfect in every way
From death to resurrection
And the conditions reborn
Everything had to be this way
What we gave
What we shared
What we are
In emanation on emanation
Always in me
Kept in my heart for eternal time
You made me forget
AS IT BEGINS
How should I ever forget the moments?
The nights without sleep
The days of fever
And from genesis to this glimpse
Movement all flecked with horizon
Passing every line again
And nevermore the same
Walking into the light
And I remember each shadow set cast upon our bodies
Cooling burning skin in the colour slide of night
Force locked up in strain
A balance containing it all
The still waters run so deep
And nothing was denied us
In all-disappearance
Without any after image
I took what I needed and gave what I could
The never-ness we surrounded ourselves with
The reasons alone and the ways we took
Shapes left behind
Reflecting survival
Degrading and fading in endless perfection
How should I ever forget the ages?
The testaments of the masses out there
In this legend that we all live
Clothed in space and placed in time
But nevermore alone or distant
In these mandalas
In the freedom of love
An immemorial origin burning deep inside me
Once upon a time in a timelessness called now
And I wanted everything
Believed in every word
In love and sweat
In face and memory
And nothing was denied me
Into pyramid shape
Light on light in reflection
From essence to reality
Element to element
Light strokes flowing like a stream of gold
Breathing the air in this all-abundance
And while the sky breaks into sight
Revealing bones and metal
How should I ever …
All my life I’ve lived for one thing
I’ve been given everything
And while I move towards the centre
I recall it all
And nothing is denied me
And nothing will be denied me
SHOWDOWN
As everything changes me
Exploding in start on start
It shines on so hard through you
A crystal of flesh and blood
And caught in the blue of night
In the meshes of your love
A freedom turned upside down
To this point of no return
In your face
In your eyes
In the savagery of how we love
How we die
A fever is burning
Releasing my spirit
In these European schemes
Imprisoned in mind of stone
A system so centralized
Conceptual humanity
The “Arbeit Macht Frei” parole
In rock’n’roll terms like these
You know what it’s all about
But that doesn’t change the need
Through obsession and love
Through the days and the years
And still burning inside
There’s no turning back now
The circle is broken
Feel the showdown
CRUSH
As you fill me again
I have no further questions
Condemned to be free
As I reach out for you again
Nothing is new
But something has grown
Bigger than both of us
Stronger than memory
And much stronger than defeat
I’m gonna crush the worlds we used to know
A seed is sown
I’m gonna let it grow
I’m quite aware what I’ll be going through
There’s no way back
It all depends on you
My destiny
I’ve seen it in your eyes
A love so deep
A stream that purifies
And in your arms
The nature of all death
Is nothing but a touch of timelessness
I’m gonna crush you with my love
I’m gonna be crushed up in love
CUT OFF
Living the change as night closes in
Freezing my moves in each flicker of light
We’re lying so close
Your breath burns my skin
Still feeling alone though you’re right by my side
Nothing lost
Nothing gained
So it seems
Still we’re much closer than ever
Like a child in the night
In its dreams
In its return to forever
A dream came true
A nightmare too
And we’re just two out of millions
I hold you tight
As if the night was an angel of death come to take you away
And it feels so unreal
Like there’s magic in the air
And your face in the haze
It’s reflected everywhere
And it burns as it turns
Like a sun that blinds my eyes
Sharpening everything
Through your whispers
Through your cries
We’ve seen it all
The heavens and hells
Questioned each move in the name of the game
Played every role escaping ourselves
Ending concluding we all feel the same
As we were
As we are
We will be
Emotional “Führer der Menschheit”
Time is set
The twentieth century
And everyone knows what it feels like
It seems to be point 93
So feverish a reflection
The children of rejected love
All alone in the night
Fighting shadows of need
In the wind
Dust rising
Forming figures in the air
Night and day blown away
By a memory so bare
Bridges burned
Lives have turned
Slowly growing inside out
Mirrored in origin
In the limits of all doubt
The eyes of a child
A pulse running wild
Releasing this vacuum
A balance so tense
In thought and in sense
Can’t make it alone this time
In this mystery
Of every degree
From here to eternity
So tender and raw
The flame of the core
The hardest surrendering
DEEP INSIDE ME
Like re-running each way
Every aspect of love
Every night and day placed so precisely
Every sacrifice that freed us from our patterns
Guiding us face-to-face to this consequence so essential
And the tender pain that comes with freedom
Connects me to the presence we share
Love’s like a shadowplay
Imagined through survival
We’re here all by ourselves
But nevermore lonely
Nevermore lonely
Watching the lines being carefully drawn now
I couldn’t make it if I were without you
Knowing the ages of every tomorrow
In every turn ever made just a notion
Child on child
Sustain my love
The final triumph
The thirst deep inside and the surface
From crowd to crowd
In these streams of emotions
Watching it all gather to action
And every time we connect with the basis
In the holy name of the transfer
I let you grow deep inside me
With the dignity of my life
I let you grow deep inside me
SYNTHESIS
To my love
Wherever you may be
I’m with you
United in spirit
My life lies in your hands
All power ever been
All power yet to come
Is here now
This instant
Around us
Inside us
Flemming Nygaard: Cello
Janine Neble: Harmony vocals
Martin Hall: Vocals, drums, keyboards, piano, bass, violin, guitar, marimba, tapes, programming
Søren Frank: Saxophone
Søren Jacobsen: Guitar
Design: Kenneth Schultz
Photo: Territorium
Both records were originally released in Germany as well as Scandinavia. For further details, please see the posts concerning the original releases of Relief and Cutting Through.
Written and produced by Martin Hall.
All tracks recorded during 1985 at Custom Sound, engineered by Peter Grønbæk and mixed by Martin Hall and Peter Grønbæk. Track 1-8 were originally released as the album Relief in May 1985 and track 9-13 as the album Cutting Through in February 1986. Remastering in 2009 made by Johnny Stage.
