2010: Lasse Marhaug

2010: a year of Jazkamer

2010 was the year of Jazkamer for me. We didn’t play many shows, but we released 12 full new albums. One each month. On my label, Pica Disk. 12 brand new studio albums. Each with individual artwork (different artist every month) and musically different from the previous. I’m sure this sounds like an insane amount of work, and believe me, it was. Of course, every one of you will tell me I was an idiot thinking it would be easy. I knew what I was getting into. I knew it would be my Fitzcarraldo; dragging a boat across the hill. But some things a man has to do once in his life. A monthly album series is one of those things.

Artistically it was a joy to work on the series. Me, John and our trusted Jazkamer-collaborators (Jørgen, Iver, Jean-Philippe, Ivar and Nils) got on a roll and had numerous fruitful sessions, making what we thought was some of our best work since starting Jazkamer 12 years ago. We’ve always been on a wide (and weird) path musically, and with the series we could fully explore this, moving from neanderthal noisecore to carefully crafted lower-case textures; from psychedelic synth-acrobatics to full-on thrash metal. We had fun and our creative muscles got strong and flexible. Of course we’re not expecting people to be able to take in all 12 albums in a year. We hope the series will be something to be explored/discovered over time. Still, a surprisingly high number of people signed up for subscription of the series. To those we are eternally grateful. People from far-away places like Japan, Korea and Tasmania trusted us with their money. One Oslo-subscriber lives just around the corner from me. The post-office where I mailed him the CD’s is actually twice as far from my place. Anyway, we promise not to release anything new in 2011.

2010: the non-Jazkamer stuff
Had a phenomenal year outside of Jazkamer also; memorable tours of Japan (solo), South-East Asia (Jazkamer), the US west-coast (solo + with John Wiese), Europe (solo and with Fire Room). Released the retrospective Bjørn Fongaard box-set on Prisma Records. Released Kevin Drumm 5CD box-set on Pica Disk. All Ears festival was a blast. Recorded with Merzbow in Tokyo. Did a bunch of graphic design. In the summer I rented a car and drove to the north of Norway. Enjoyed films like Hausu, To Live and Die in LA, Wake in Fright and Metropolis on Blu-ray. The new Neil Young Le Noise was his best in ages. New Iron Maiden also very good. Listened to amazing releases from the Die Schachtel label. Best gig was Incapacitants at Earthdom, Tokyo. Bought the Beatles mono box-set and fully emersed myself in Beatle-mania. Drank a lot of good tea.

2010: the sad
The death of two heroes. First Ronnie James Dio in May. The greatest voice of heavy metal went away far too soon. Second Peter ’Sleazy’ Christopherson, who also died way too early. Coincidently he passed a few days before I arrived in Bangkok, so I had the opportunity to visit the week-long ceremony held in a Thai temple and pay my respects. Rest in peace Sleazy and Dio, and thank you for the music.

2011: plans
Pica Disk will slow down in favour of a new (yet unnamed) print label. The first publication will be a book on Swiss actionist/noise project Sudden Infant. Also starting a fanzine. It’ll be fun.

Lasse Marhaug