RCD2072

Accompanied by a double cd compilation of work by the most prominent artists on the Norwegian Rune Grammofon label, this second hardback edition of Money Will Ruin Everything is in part literary, featuring essays by David Fricke, The Wire´s Rob Young and Adrian Shaughnessy, as well as an interview with founder Rune Kristoffersen in which he talks frankly about the day to day running of the label. It also contains a trove of illustrations, photographs, images, sleeves and rolls of still shots of live footage. In his interview, conducted by the book´s designer Kim Hiorthøy, Kristoffersen laments that these days he is selling an increasing number of sound files, whose inferior sound quality he deplores. All of which makes this edition the more vital in these times. With music increasingly disseminated and consumed via MP3s, exchanged across the immaterial ether of the internet, packaging of this sort has been increasingly deemed superfluous. This very volume, however, lovingly assembled and heavy in hand, protests otherwise. The loss of the physical, conceptual component to modern music is a heavy one indeed. We need more, not fewer, artefacts like this....Rob Young is correct to point out that when describing the output of Rune Grammofon, all the normal Scandinavian reference points - "glaciers, iciness, the cold and the long, long dark - just won´t fit with the glittering palettes of colours , textures and pulsations that emanate from its ever increasing catalogue". The welter of still visuals featured here ranges from bleak, wintry, mundane vérité to the fantastically, ravishingly colorific. This reflects both the diversity of RG 2009, as well as the sort of images prompted by the music and which prompt you to investigate it further.
The Wire (UK)

Lavish tome - boasting two CDs of exclusive tracks - salutes esoteric Norwegian label Rune Grammofon. A renowned crucible for Scandinavian electronica and post-jazz experimentation, Kristoffersen´s Oslo-based imprint is a funkier, DIY ECM, distinguished as much by a Factoryesque house visual style as its sometimes abstruse musical output. A slimmer version was published in 2003 to celebrate the label´s fifth birthday but this much expanded edition bursts with the eye-popping graphics and playful photographic images of art star Kim Hiorthøy alongside eloquent new essays on the Sisyphean prospect of running an independent label in parlous economic times. Indeed, while the book´s designation seems grimly germane in bankrupt 2009, the CDs - embracing nursery rhyme pop, discrete electronics and dissonant jazz - are optimistically titled But The Music Goes On forever.
Mojo (UK)

In Jazzaway, Jazzland and Smalltown Superjazzz, to name but three, Norway´s ludicrously prolific jazz and improv scene finds reliable (and frequently brilliant) homegrown outlets. Yet no label can quite touch Rune Grammofon, either for size and consistency of roster or for aesthetic coherence - despite the fact that their remit has always included electronica and rock as well as leftfield jazz....The majority of the book´s 152 pages are given over to Kim Hiorthøy´s sleeve art, so intrinsic to the label that the third and final essay is by design writer Adrian Shaughnessy....Without a doubt, Hiorthøy´s artwork has played a key part in pushing Rune Grammofon into the territory of a bona fide classic indie.... It´s a thoroughly fitting celebration of a musical headquarters that deserves to be ranked among the most important of our era.
Plan B (UK)

Designed and assembled by in-house artist Kim Hiorthøy the book itself is a gorgeous mix of interviews, photos, artwork and album sleeves that´s practically worth the admission price alone. Soundwise, the selection of Norwegian underground talent on offer has all the cool diversity you´d expect - with everyone from MoHa!, Deathprod and Spunk to Huntsville, Supersilent and Susanna putting in an appearance. In an era of downloads and devalued music this is one artefact worh making the effort to track down and treasure.
Rock-a-Rolla (UK)

Complete with handsome book including essays, interviews and new artwork contributed by the major figures involved in this excellent Norwegian label, this is the perfect intro to their work, which ranges from electric jazz to noise to neo-folk to the uncategorisable. Highlights include Arve Henriksen´s fjørd-deep "No Horizon" and Deathprod´s slight, haunting "A Dream For Ted Greene".
Uncut (UK)

As the major labels frenziedly repackage their back catalogue it is left to the smaller independent labels to find the real new talent, acts which may not make fortunes but regularly make the days of the listeners that stumble upon them. Rune Grammofon are just such a label, and this double disc collection of music (complete with an endlessly fascinating and beautifully designed hardcover book), takes in everything from wonky avante jazz to dark matter metal, King Crimson covers to proper folktronic lovely-ness. It seems some record labels are still looking for great new music, buy this delightful collection and hear some.
Totalmusicmagazine (UK)

There are few labels that operate as creatively as the musicians they release. Perhaps the zenith of this though is Rune Grammofon, a one man OCD wonderland of electronica, jazz and improv music, based in Norway and cared for day and night by Rune Kristoffersen....With interviews with the label owner, brief passionate letters from Rough Trade´s Geoff Travis (amongst others), this release is both fanatical artefact and a great indtroduction to the searing leftfield talents of Supersilent, Phonophani, Susanna, Alog, Spunk and Deathprod. An absolute mockery of the relentless treadmill od trashy MP3s and battery farmed musical tosh that abounds.
Clash (UK)

It´s a beautifully realised volume, bursting with Hiorthøy´s graphics, photos and video stills, providing a record of the label´s evolving and yet instantly recognisable minimalist image. That visual aesthetic is one of the factors that have helped to make Rune Grammofon an increasingly rare commodity: a record label with its own powerful identity - a feat pulled off by only a handfull of others, not least Blue Note with its Read Miles-designed 1960s albums covers.... The book is accompanied by two CDs featuring 25 exclusive tracks from Arve Henriksen, Ultralyd, Huntsville and others. For fabs of the label´s output, they´re pretty much essential listening and their inclusion with this tome makes them even more desirables.
Jazzwise (UK)

Rune Kristoffersen´s Rune Grammofon has defied industry decline - with thoroughly Norwegian panache - for more than 10 years. This compilation features a host of tracks by RG regulars: beguiling songs (Susanna, Jessica); tasty instrumentals (Humcrush, Huntsville); contemporary composition (Morten J. Olsen); improv and nu-jazz (Arve Henriksen, In The Country, Food); hairy guitar rock (Shining, Box). The book comes wrapped in a poster that grips its two CDs in a papoose-like bundle. Inside, printed on four different paper stocks, are essays, artwork and photos, plus dialogues between designer Kim Hiorthøy and Kristoffersen that touch on the former´s branding genius and the latter´s struggle to keep the label going.
The Guardian (UK)

A deluxe book/2xCD set designed by Kim Hiorthøy and featuring in-depth essays, interviews, photos and cover art, Money Will Ruin Everything 2 should prove valuable to Rune devotees and the ideal starter kit to those uninitiated with one of the world´s greatest labels.
Fact (UK)

"It´s hard work to sell rune CD outside of a small group of freaks". That´s the name of just one of the graphical works that you´ll find inside a new book-and-cd package from Norwegian label Rune Grammofon. The statement - derived from an email the label received from a distributor - is not only a title of a ragtag artwork, but functions as a mantra of sorts for Grammofon as they wage an uphill battle to bring granular techno and experimental electronic music to the masses. Rune Grammofon´s 10-year history is gorgeously detailed in Money Will Ruin Everything: The Second Edition. The book contains 152 hardbound pages of designer Kim Hiorthøy´s visual treats (album covers, flyers, photographs) and his interviews with label head Rune Kristoffersen. And if the intense graphic designs don´t automatically put you in that selective "freaks" category, surely the accompanying 25 tracks (over two CDs) - by the likes of Alog, Maja Ratkje, and Box - will.
XLR8R (US)

…Kim Hiorthøy, der als Grafiker mit seinen minimalistisch abstrakten Covergestaltungen dem Label von Anfang an eine visuelle Identität jenseits weiter Fjordlandschaften gab, gestaltete 150 Seiten mit Grafiken, Fotos, Szenefotos aus Videos, Coverentwürfen in verschiedenen Phasen ihrer Entstehung, einer kompletten Diskografie der mittlerweile 84 CD´s, LP´s, DVD´s des Labels, drei Essays und zwei Interviews zu Stand und Konzept. Die beiliegenden CD´s mit Beiträgen von 25 Bands machen dieses Album zu einem Manifest. Als der Musiker und Musikpromoter Rune Kristoffersen vor mittlerweile elf Jahren in Oslo das Label rune grammofon gründete, richtete er sich ein angenehmes Plätzchen in der Nische ein. Die Doppel-CD zeigt, wie fein sich die Musik des Labels in zehn Jahren ausdifferenziert hat. Neben Supersilent, die noch immer einen Pol des Programms bilden, steht nun der extraharte Rock von Shining; der konkrete Ambient-Industriesound von Ultralyd trifft auf Nils Øklands Violintänze, die neodadaistischen Stil-Collagen von Jono El Grande treffen auf die existenziell verstörte Poesie der Songwriterin Susanna Wallumrød. Kein Bild sitzt mehr fest, alles scheint möglich in diesem Kosmos von norwegischen Musikern, zwischen denen es wenig Berührungsangst zu geben scheint: Entscheidend ist, dass Rune Kristoffersen die disparaten Energien auf ein gemeinsames Zentrum einordnet. ”Small is beautiful” sagt Kristoffersen, und das Paket aus Buch, CD´s und Poster unterstreicht die Konsequenz, mit der sein Label beide Seiten der Gleichung offen hält. Klein. Und schön.
Die Zeit (DE)

…Das Warten hat sich aber gelohnt, den so viel Detailverliebtheit, optische Eindrücke und stilistisch durchdachte Radikalität findet man selten in einem Musik-Buch. Allein schon wei ein Plakat in mehreren Schichten um das Hardcover-Buch herumgefaltet wurde! Auf 152 Seiten breitet Hiorthøy das konsequent durchgehaltene Layout seiner konsequent gestalteten CD-Cover und oftmals ins Dämmerlicht getauchten Fotografien aus. Wie auch auf den Plattenhüllen finden sich nur minimale Informationen; das Bild soll wirken. Nur eine lange Textpassage findet sich in Form eines ausführlichen Interviews, das Hiorthøy mit Label-Chef Rune Kristoffersen führte, doch das ist in Form eines grünen Beiheftes mit anderem Seitenformat eingeheftet, um die klare Trennung auh gestalterisch zu verdeutlichen. Ein weiteres Highlight – das allein schon den Kauf des Buches rechtfertigen würde – findet sich in Form von zwei CD´s mit unveröffentlichtem Material von nahezu allen wichtigen Rune-Künstlern. Die erste Ausgabe des Buchs war übrigens schnell vergriffen und auch auf dem Gebrauchtmarkt kaum erhältlich. Die Neuauflage wird angesichts der ansprechenden Aufmachung sicher das gleiche Schicksal ereilen. Für Liebhaber der Musikk ein Muss.
NORDIS (DE)

Denne cd-utgivelsen trenger du ikke engang ører for å sette pris på. Årets julegave? Selskapet er ikke alene om å gi ut slik musikk, men til tross for mange vidt forskjellige artister, har det en usedvanlig sterk og klar identitet; en identitet som kommer godt til syne i flott, forseggjort ny utgivelse. Nennsomt pakket inn i en stor bok signert designer Kim Hiorthøy, finnes 152 sider med illustrasjoner, fotokunst og "diverse", samt intervjuer og internasjonale "essayister" som setter ord på følelsene i møtet med musikken, og det norske. Og 2,5 timer med eksklusiv musikk. Det er mulig at kvalitet er et nei-ord blottet for virkelig substans og musikkforståelse, men når det gjelder Rune Grammofon er det likevel vanskelig å komme unna å bruke det, og det har vært slik i alle de ti årene selskapet har eksistert...."Money Will Ruin Everything" er jo en pregnant tittel i disse dager, og det er absolutt mulig å søke tilflukt og trøst i både lyd og bilde her. Verden utenfor blir satt på pause. Og for den som setter pris på det fysiske formatet, gir utformingen av produktet gleder som faktisk hever inntrykket av musikken. Synet og fingertuppene er en essensiell del av lytteropplevelsen, ikke la noen fortelle deg noe annet. Kristoffersen selv er en av overraskende få (bransje) mennesker som har påpekt den elendige lydkvaliteten på nedlastningsfilene som i eskalerende grad blir en del av våre lyttende liv. Her finnes motgiften.
Dagens Næringsliv (NO)

Fortsatt noe helt for seg selv, i ord, bilder og lyd. Kim Hiorthøy gir ikke intervjuer. Men det hender faktisk han GJØR intervjuer. Nå har han gjort sitt andre på fem år, det første var et intervju med Rune Kristoffersen for å markere femårsjubileet til plateselskapet Rune Grammofon. Nå er intervjuet på engelsk trykket opp igjen, sammen med et blodfersk ett der Kim intervjuer Rune om Rune Grammofons tiårsjubileum. Boka det står i, kom ut rett før jul, og er en enda flottere trykksak enn femårsjubileumsutgaven - med design av Kim Hiorthøy, selvsagt. Og med opptrykk av samtlige platecover for utgivelser fra Rune Grammofon, samtlige designet av Kim. Et essay av Adrian Shaughnessy plasserer Hiorthøy internasjonalt i forhold til omslagskunst. Forord fra så vel Rolling Stone's David Fricke og Rough Trades grunnlegger Geoff Travis skulle ytterligere understreke posisjonen til plateselskapet. Og, det holdt vi på å glemme: Det er musikk her, to cd-er med Rune-musikk - eksklusive "låter" med Maja Ratkje, Susanna, Shining, Arve Henriksen, In the Country, Deathprod, Svalastog, Nils Økland osv. Noe for enhver smak, bare enhver har sær nok smak.
Adresseavisen (NO)

Rune Grammofon firade fem år med en i dag slutsåld bok/samlingsskiva. Nu, när det norska skivbolaget fyllt tio, kommer uppföljaren, en påkostad, jättefin, tjock bok, signerad Kim Hiorthøy. Intressanta texter om skivbolaget samsas med Hiorthøys egensinniga bildvärld. Musiken, då? Två skivor med låtar av Maja Ratkje, Supersilent, Susanna, Ultralyd, Scorch Trio, MoHa! och andra norska toppnamn. Elektroniskt, experimentellt, hårda kanter och stillsamma öar. Funkar ypperligt både som introduktion och mumma för Runekännaren.
Göteborgsposten (SE)

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