We’re happy to announce that we will be returning to Cologne once again this coming Saturday the 15th of June, this time to put on a label night in our favourite cave Gewölbe. As if that wasn’t enough, we’ll be presenting the same line-up the following Saturday (June 22nd) in conjunction with Berlin’s own Sameheads.

The line-up we’re talking about reads as follows:

Mental Overdrive (Live)
Boska (Live)
Charlotte Bendiks (DJ-set)
Hermanová (Visuals)

Facebook event (Cologne)
RA event (Cologne)

Facebook event (Berlin)
RA event (Berlin)

Love OD label boss Per Martinsen AKA Mental Overdrive returns with his first vinyl release since 2010′s piano-driven beauty ‘My House’. Since then he has released a series of digital-only EP’s and a Bandcamp-exclusive album, and the title track on this new vinyl release, ‘Mønster’, was originally included on the ‘Everything is connected EP#2′ – released through Love OD in 2012. The reworked and remixed ’12″ version’ featured on this new release is severely beefed up, and presents a fine slice of ‘rave disco’ (if that ever was considered a genre in its own right), and might please both those who like big music in small, dark rooms or big music in, well, big rooms. The B-side features the bouncy, percussion-heavy and organ-driven journey ‘Ritual’. This has long been a crowd favourite when dropped in Mental Overdrive live-sets and might resonate well with those who share a deep love for the music from the city of Detroit – like Martinsen does. The vinyl edition will be available from July 1st through Clone Distribution, and the digital release will be available from July 8th.

Tracklist (digital+vinyl 12″):

A: Mønster
B: Ritual

Christian Hollingsæter first caught our attention with the ‘Traena EP’, released through Breaking Olympic Records back in 2011 and remixed by fellow Tromsø-dweller and ambient stalwart Biosphere. Christian has since continued to develop his distinct style of big, droney atmospheres combined with no-bullshit analogue beats – more often than not featuring his beautiful guitar-playing. Somehow it’s like The Durutti Column was to be booked to play the main room at Berghain on a Saturday night, and ‘Lab.Oratory (Darkroom Disco Mix)’ is also a glimpse into Christian’s current process of finalizing his debut album. On the B-side ‘Lab.Oratory’ is given the Mental Overdrive treatment by Love OD label boss Per Martinsen, who turns to the techno side of his brain to fight this beast. Both mixes of ‘Lab.Oratory’ will  be available on 12″ vinyl through Clone Distribution from July 1st, and the digital edition featuring bonus track ‘Post/Porn/Politics’ will be available through all digital outlets from July 8th.

Tracklist:

01: Lab.Oratory (Darkroom Disco mix)
02: Lab.Oratory (Mental Overdrive remix)
03: Post/Porn/Politics

Tracklist vinyl 12″:

A: Lab.Oratory (Darkroom Disco mix)
B: Lab.Oratory (Mental Overdrive remix)

Boska (full name Jon-Eirik Boska) has since his debut 12″ ‘Arrival/Extraperennial’ – released through Love OD in 2011 – come a long way in making himself known as a trustworthy provider of quality music on the ‘post-bass’, ‘nu-funky’, ‘what-is-the-new-name-for-house-music-this-week’ -circuit. He has since his debut been attending Red Bull Music Academy in Madrid in 2011, jamming live with Mental Overdrive and Tim Exile at the Tromsø Insomnia Festival the same year, collaborated with Asma Maroof (Nguzunguzu) on the Pitchfork-championed number ‘Sicka’, released the digital EP ‘Without Love’ on Love OD to great acclaim in the summer of 2012, signed a track to Axel Boman’s ultra-cool Studio Barnhus imprint, and been namedropped by UK music site The Line of Best Fit as being the most interesting act featured on the entire By:Larm festival in Oslo in 2013. We’re proud to present his latest offering, the ‘Surgery EP’, including 4 brand new tracks ranging from the familiar Boska house vibe to more downtempo and leftfield works. The two tracks ‘i lie’ and ‘fangs’ will also be available on 12″ vinyl through Clone Distribution from July 1st, and the full EP will be available through all digital outlets from July 8th. Weirdo trivia: Boska insists that all his track titles are to be spelled all lower-case.

Tracklist:

01: surgery
02: fangs
03: i lie
04: claws

Tracklist vinyl 12″:

A: i lie
B: fangs

We had a blast in Oslo this weekend. Thanks to everyone who came down to our label night at Jaeger on Saturday, and also to those who attended shooting star Boska’s (pictured) other gigs and showcases. There are some pictures from Friday’s RBMA event at Blå with Boska and Todd Terje here, and a review of Boska’s gig at Stratos on Thursday here. Resident Advisor also has a piece on last year’s Bylarm where they point out that the Bylarm team should make sure they put more emphasis on and include all the electronic music-related events in their official programme, as this is one of the main areas where Norwegian music has made its mark internationally. We couldn’t agree more, and believe that the advice of someone with “Advisor” in their name should be taken seriously. So see you next year then, Bylarm. But then we’re on the front page, OK?

Charlotte Bendiks (DJ-set)
Boska (DJ-set)
Mental Overdrive (Live)
Petra Hermanová (Visuals)

Facebook event
RA event

Boska will be one busy aspiring young artist during by:Larm: In addition to joining us on the decks on the label night on Saturday he will play live at Stratos on Thursday Feb. 14th. Then he will team up with Todd Terje for the RBMA-event at Blå on Friday Feb. 15th, and also play a live set at Jaeger earlier on Saturday night as part of the by:Larm showcase programme – before finally joining us for the big party later on the same night.

Our brand new webstore is now online. It has been updated with the entire Love OD back catalogue, offering all releases in various digital formats (320kbps mp3, FLAC, WAV). Several album releases are offered in bonus editions, including extra tracks and remixes. Some physical releases are also available (vinyl, CD, DVD), but this section will be updated continuosly as we are trying to find the cheapest and most convenient shipping solution.

Per Martinsen is featured in this documentary from Russian filmmaker Kostya Shamshin, and is followed on a quest to reveal the mystery of ‘ghost radio signals’ emanating from somewhere in the Arctic together with Frost video director and ally Carl Critical. The film kicks off when Martinsen and Aggie Peterson, who together make up alt-pop duo Frost, receive a mysterious package in the mail covered with Russian stamps. The parcel contains a C60 audio cassette and a letter inside. On the tape is a recording of some beautiful music underneath a wall of noise and static, abrupted between songs by a deep Russian voice. This recording becomes the main inspiration for the Frost album ‘Radiomagnetic‘, and a sudden email from the director then sparks off a journey to Spitsbergen to search for the source of the phenomenon – a journey both Per and Carl would rather have undone.

After a series of successful label nights in 2012, Mental Overdrive, Boska, Charlotte Bendiks and Petra Hermanová will team up to fill the main room at the closing party of TIFF 2013 on Saturday January 19th in Tromsø. It’ll be a helluva party, but don’t panic if you can’t make it to into the Arctic this weekend, we will turn up at several occasions around the globe this year. Keep your eyes open!