NEWS 2012
MARTIN HALL CONCERTS IN APRIL AND MAY 2013 (29-11-2012 08:57:11)
Martin Hall has confirmed several concerts during April and May 2013, his first live appearances with full ensemble since his highly praised shows in Denmark and Germany in 2009. In Copenhagen the concert will be performed at the historical venue The Court Theatre (Teatermuseet i Hofteatret) and in Jutland at the Fuglsoe Centre. The confirmed dates are as follows:
Saturday the 20th of April: Fuglsoe (close to Aarhus, Jutland)
Thursday the 25th of April: The Court Theatre (Copenhagen)
Saturday 4th of May: Kulturvaerftet (Elsinore)
At his 2013 concerts Martin Hall will be playing primarily new material. Whereas his latest live-performances were characterized by a set of new arrangements of older songs, the upcoming show will feature several new songs as well as selected interpretations of the songs on the recently released album If Power Asks Why recorded by mezzo-soprano Andrea Pellegrini.
At the upcoming concerts Hall will be accompanied by the following line-up:
Martin Hall (vocal)
Johnny Stage (guitar and keyboards)
Ida Bach Jensen (bass and electronics)
Henriette Groth (piano, keyboards, clarinet and viola)
Sisse Selina Larsen (drums and percussion)
”IF POWER ASKS WHY” RECEIVES GREAT REVIEWS (28-10-2012 12:59:01)
Martin Hall’s new album If Power Asks Why featuring mezzo-soprano Andrea Pellegrini and classical pianist Tanja Zapolski has received a line of great reviews. We bring you a few quotes:
Gaffa (5 out of 6 stars): ”Excellent melodic material and brilliant arrangements … a great success from start to finish.” ( * * * * * )
Information: ”Martin Hall brilliantly stages mezzo-soprano Andrea Pellegrini and pianist Tanja Zapolski in a masquerade of classical lieder and perverted pop.”
DR2’s Smagsdommerne (the weekly cultural recommendations on Danish National Television): ”Fantastic! An incredibly good record.”
P6 Beat (Danish National Radio): “A masterly performed principal work!”
Berlingske Media: ”A deliciously decadent universe.”
Fyens Stiftstidende: ”Outrageous? Eccentric? Yes …”
“NOSTATIC!” RECEIVES EXCELLENT REVIEWS (07-10-2012 17:27:12)
Martin Hall’s new book Nostatic! has received several excellent reviews in the Danish medias during the last couple of days. Jyllands-Posten, Denmark’s biggest daily newspaper, awards Hall’s new book with 5 out of 6 stars, and Politiken, the Danish equivalent to The Guardian, gives the release 4 out of 6 stars.
Among many other things Jyllands-Posten writes the following: “Hall keeps a fine balance between his vast knowledge and his burning commitment. In short, he writes with style.” ( * * * * * )
Politiken proceeds this kind of appreciation with statements such as: “Martin Hall writes well and appetizing. ”Nostatic!” is unsentimental all the way through. The book is interesting and the handling of the individual subjects is distinctly catching.” ( * * * * )
NEW VIDEO FOR “DEAD HORSES ON A BEACH” + TOP RATING OF “IF POWER ASKS WHY” IN GAFFA (01-10-2012 10:33:07)
DEAD HORSES ON A BEACH: Watch the brand new video with Andrea Pellegrini og Tanja Zapolski performing the opening track from the current Hall album If Power Asks Why here.
GAFFA: At the day of its release the new album received a 5 out of 6 star rating in Denmark’s biggest music magazine, GAFFA. Under the headline ”Tea with vinegar” the review praises the album’s musical courage with conclusions such as “excellent melodic material and brilliant arrangements … a great success from start to finish”.
THE NATIONAL GALLERY: Musical performance on Friday the 12th of October (22.00 CET) where Martin Hall will be accompanied by multi-instrumentalist Johnny Stage and solo-bassist Ida Bach Jensen.
KOEGE ART MUSEUM: Spoken word arrangement on Friday the 19th of October (20.30 CET).
HVALSØ KIRKE: Spoken word arrangement with special guest appearance by soprano Djina Mai-Mai on Thursday the 25th of October (19.30 CET).
NEW MARTIN HALL BOOK WITH ESSAYS ABOUT MUSIC, ILLUSTRATED BY KNUD ODDE (05-09-2012 10:30:23)
In the beginning of October 2012 the new Martin Hall book Nostatic! will be released, a series of writings gathering his most extensive essays about the (primarily) European music scene in the period 1977–1984. The book is illustrated by the Danish painter and musician Knud Odde.
The book’s twelve main chapters are all based in a series of articles and essays that Hall has written for the Danish music magazine GAFFA during the last couple of years. The stories and features have served to inform and broaden the aspects of the genres punk, postpunk, goth, new romantic, industrial and spoken word in relation to a given occasion such as a jubilee or a reunion, but Nostatic! also contains several so far unpublished essays the due to editorial limitations haven’t been brought in neither the printed or the digital version of the magazine.
Martin Hall’s collected writings can be read as a coherent tale about the period and the music scene around 1980, a cultural happening that had great impact on the writer’s own life as a teenager. Nostatic! is a journalistic enquiry that doesn’t merely present its reader to a line of portraits of bands and artists, but also unravels the influences and circumstances of the epoch through a set of thoroughly researched references to matters such as situationism, amphetamine, French lyricism and Satanism.
Nostatic! is released by GAFFA Forlag. You can find more information about the release here: GAFFA Forlag.
NEW VIDEO: “MILFS, CUM AND SCHOPENHAUER” (24-08-2012 16:12:11)
Watch Andrea Pellegrini’s and Tanja Zapolski’s amazing performance of the new Martin Hall song here:
The song is taken from the forthcoming album If Power Asks Why , a series of new Martin Hall compositions recorded by Pellegrini and Zapolski. The video for the song is made by the Danish photographer Robin Skjoldborg, produced by Martin Hall and edited by Henrik Möll. The album is set for release in October 2012 (you can read more about the album in the following section).
THE NEW ALBUM WITH HALL, PELLEGRINI AND ZAPOLSKI OUT ON OCTOBER 1 (23-08-2012 11:45:03)
If Power Asks Why will be released on the 1st of October 2012, a new album full of new Martin Hall songs performed by the mezzo-soprano Andrea Pellegrini and the classical pianist Tanja Zapolski. The new Danish avant-garde ensemble Lydenskab also appears on the recordings and so does the double-bass player Ida Bach Jensen. The album is produced by Martin Hall and the greater part of the songs is arranged by the internationally acclaimed violinist Alexander Zapolski (the latter also performs as such on the recordings).
The production is based on a series of piano-based hybrid lieder, a collection of 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. The songs are probably best described as passionate objections against the cultural imperatives of our times and culture and in particular the standardized parameters of desire. The sum total of the recorded titles on the album are the following:
1. Dead Horses on a Beach
2. Rather Quotable than Honest
3. MILFs, Cum and Schopenhauer
4. A Garboesque Leaning
5. Feeling like a God
6. The Stench of Your Pity
7. Hope Is a Lack of Information
8. Notes on Self-Destruction
9. If Power Asks Why
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 during the 10’s, 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 has received production grants from Danish Arts Foundation (Statens Kunstfonds Tonekunstudvalg), Danish Actors’ Association (Dansk Skuespillerforbund) and Danish Musicians’ Union (Dansk Musikerforbund). The album is distributed by VME, but it’s possible to pre-order a copy via the website already now:
MARTIN HALL AT THE NATIONAL GALLERY ON OCTOBER 12, 2012) (23-08-2012 11:19:01)
In relation to the extensive and critically acclaimed Matisse exhibition Doubles and Variations (“Fordobling og variation”) at The National Gallery of Denmark Martin Hall gives an instrumental concert performance entitled likewise at the gallery on Friday the 12th of October (22.00 CET). Accompanied by the multi-instrumentalist Johnny Stage and solo-bassist Ida Bach Jensen Hall will be playing a 45-minute long piece of work that is based upon the exhibition’s theme on variations.
The exhibition itself focuses on how Matisse would work systematically with repetition as a method. He repeatedly returned to subject matter he had previously addressed, testing its potential yet again. As he repeated such subjects he would vary the colours and techniques employed. Doubles and Variations presents all the major phases of the artist’s development with a selection of works that spans the full range from Matisse’s production around 1900, when his method first took shape, to the late 1940s when he reached a final pinnacle with his painting.
You can find more information about the exhibition and the event itself here: The National Gallery of Denmark.
SPOKEN WORD PERFORMANCE IN THE CHURCH HVALSØ KIRKE ON OCTOBER 25, 2012 (23-08-2012 10:44:23)
On Thursday the 25th of October at 19.30 CET Martin Hall performs one of his rare musically staged spoken word performances, this time in Hvalsø Kirke, a church on Zealand. On this occasion Hall will be accompanied by guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Johnny Stage.
The night furthermore features a special guest appearance from the soprano Djina Mai-Mai from the Royal Danish Theatre.
“PRESENCE” AND “IMPERFECT” IN NEW REMASTERED DOWNLOAD VERSIONS (23-08-2012 10:36:13)
The two much asked for Martin Hall titles Presence (1988) and Imperfect (1990) will be made available as download albums from September 10, 2012. Both titles have been unavailable for many years and the new download versions have been remastered and thereby highly improved as far as the sound quality is concerned.
Presence includes the hit single “Beat of the Drum” whereas Imperfect is a much more experimental record. The re-releases are purely download-based and contains no additional material. Lyrics are available at the discography section of this site.
PELLEGRINI, ZAPOLSKI AND LYDENSKAB PERFORMS NEW HALL SONGS AT TWO DANISH THEATRES (04-08-2012 11:47:01)
In relation to the release of the new album If Power Asks Why the mezzo-soprano Andrea Pellegrini gives a live performance of the entire record – accompanied by the classical pianist Tanja Zapolski and the ensemble Lydenskab – at two Danish concerts during November and December 2012. Tickets and information about the night are available here:
Saturday the 3rd of November (19.30 CET) at The Katapult Theatre in Aarhus.
Saturday the 15th of December (19.30 CET) at Teater Grob in Copenhagen.
HALL RECORDS NEW LP WITH PELLEGRINI AND ZAPOLSKI (01-07-2012 10:23:10)
Martin Hall is currently recording new material with mezzo-soprano Andrea Pellegrini and classical pianist Tanja Zapolski. The coming album will be entitled If Power Asks Why and is set for release as vinyl album, cd and download on October 1, 2012.
The production is based on a series of piano-based hybrid lieder, a collection of 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. The new songs are passionate objections against the cultural imperatives of our times and culture and in particular the standardised parameters of desire.
The new Danish avant-garde ensemble Lydenskab also appears on the coming recordings as well as the double-bass player Ida Bach Jensen. The internationally acclaimed violinist Alexander Zapolski has written the majority of the arrangements and he also performs as part of the string quartet on the recordings.
The record will be available via VME. Photography taken by Robin Skjoldborg.
HALL AT THE PODLASIE OPERA – A VISUAL TRAVELOGUE (12-06-2012 17:42:02)
On June 9, 2012, Martin Hall gave a one-off special European performance at The Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic European Arts Centre in Białystok, Poland – his so far only planned concert for 2012. You can find a short visual travelogue documenting the journey and the event itself via the link below.
All tour photos are taken by Johnny Stage. All pictures taken during the concert are taken by Dominik Kukliński and supplied by kind permission of The Podlasie Opera (Opera i Filharmonia Podlaska – Europejskie Centrum Sztuki).
You can also read a report from the tour written in English by the Danish musician and actress Sara Indrio here:
”PERFORMING APART” RECEIVES GREAT REVIEWS (11-05-2012 13:11:22)
The new Martin Hall and Tone album Performing Apart has received a line of excellent reviews in the wake of its release. The recording is taken from the two artists’ performance at the audio-visual Apart-festival at Platform4 and you can read much more about the album via the title link (in the discography section). We bring you a few excerpts here:
Geiger: “Performing Apart is a complex play with med soundscapes and, most importantly so, for the limits of what music is and is capable of … a tour de force in electronics. It is beautifully conceived.”
Gaffa: “Atmospheric and saturated music that comes around several corners of the spectrum of human feeling.” ( * * * * )
Undertoner: “Performing Apart is an album that positions itself between a purely ambient and a more traditional album structure and the result is a tasteful experience. The album is neither too monotonous or too fragmented.” ( * * * * )
Lydtapet: “Strangely haunting and soundscapes and fragments of speech. Performing Apart is tailor-made for headphones, closed eyes and open ears.” ( * * * * )
NEW MARTIN HALL VIDEOS (12-02-2012 11:48:12)
From January 23 a new video for the upcoming Martin Hall/Tone album Performing Apart will be available at Panoptikon’s Vimeo site. The track features a recitation made by recently departed German litterateur Herbert Zeichner. You can watch the visual interpretation of “Serienummer” here:
Another video made by Danish fashion photographer hansen-hansen.com in relation to visual artist Christian Skeel’s remix of Hall’s “St. Petersburg Notes” has also been made available:
NEW MARTIN HALL/TONE ALBUM OUT ON FEBRUARY 1 (10-01-2012 11:27:20)
On February 1, 2012, Martin Hall and the Danish electronica artist Tone will be releasing a new album entitled Performing Apart. The record features their collaboration from the Apart Audio-Visual Festival at Platform 4, an arrangement where names such as Goodiepal, Jacob Kierkegaard and White Pony also performed.
Performing Apart is a high quality event recording based on equal amounts of online-adaptation of original source material and live-performance. The sound quality is, as already stated, extraordinary good, and the material features both fragments from both artists’ former productions as well as a couple of new tracks.
During the performance at Apart Audio-Visual Festival Kristian Ravn-Ellestad contributed with the visual part of the concert, something the new record obviously won’t feature. In return listeners will be able to enjoy a beautiful, well-balanced and fairly experimental concert performance.
Please note that track 8 on the new record (”Serienummer”) features a recitation of a Hall writing made by recently departed German litterateur Herbert Zeichner. Zeichner died on December 12, 2011, at the age of 70.
Tone (a.k.a. singer and musician Sofie Nielsen) has recently released her second studio album Hanging by the Moon, which has received a line of fine reviews in both Danish and international medias. Hall is currently working on new material. Performing Apart will be released by VME. Track-listing as follows:
1. Introduction
2. Devastating Irony
3. Pierrot Declining
4. Version 8
5. Metabolism at Work
6. Eroded Foil
7. GFY
8. Serienummer
9. Explosure
10. Yeux d’Océan