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    Limited edition pink marble vinyl LP of 'Basically' by Nikima Jagudajev, Jordan Balaber and Lester St. Louis.

    “Basically” is a collaboration between choreographer Nikima Jagudajev and composers Jordan Balaber and Lester St. Louis, created as an accompaniment to Jagudajev’s exhibition at the Bergen Kunsthall from October 2020 to April 2021.

    The record contains two pieces, “Orbit Arps” and “Krampus”, which function as a musical diptych, and capture embellished snapshots of two core musical atmospheres contained within the “Basically” live performance.

    Part of Re-Imagine Europe, co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union. Re-Imagine Europe is initiated by Sonic Acts (NL) and coordinated by Paradiso (NL) in collaboration with Elevate Festival (AT), Lighthouse (UK), INA GRM (FR), Kontejner (HR), Landmark / Bergen Kunsthall (NO), A4 (SK), Disruption Network Lab (DE) and Ràdio Web MACBA (ES)

    Includes unlimited streaming of Basically via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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1.
Orbit Arps 20:47
2.
Krampus 19:25

about

“Basically” is a collaboration between choreographer Nikima Jagudajev and composers Jordan Balaber and Lester St. Louis, created as an accompaniment to Jagudajev’s exhibition at Bergen Kunsthall from October 2020 to April 2021.

The record contains two pieces, “Orbit Arps” and “Krampus”, which function as a musical diptych, and capture embellished snapshots of two core musical atmospheres contained within the “Basically” live performance.

“Orbit Arps” is a collage of various edited performances captured during a week of rehearsals at the Kunsthall in October 2020. The guitarists Bård Aarvik and Salomon Poutsma were recorded as they navigated a “mutable” score mirroring Jagudajev’s choreography, which allowed the musicians to work through the material in an intuitive, non-linear fashion using finger-picked patterns and “game”-like rules. The process gave way to ever-changing combinative structures and necessitated collaboration and negotiation between the performers in real-time. An accompanying Ableton Live session containing sympathetic and disruptive sine tones, pink noise, field recordings of Jagudajev’s voice and Balaber’s electric guitar was performed by composer / producer Nikoline Ursin Erichsen in response to the guitarists’ performances during the recording sessions. Pianist June Jenkins recorded improvisations around the “Orbit Arps” thematic material in Portland, Oregon, which were later re-pitched and layered into new shapes throughout the track, weaving in and out of the guitar performances captured at the Kunsthall.

“Krampus” was assembled through a similarly collage-like process. The track centers two late-night long-take improvisations on detuned electric guitars by Balaber & St. Louis recording in Queens, New York in October 2020. The track is suffused with conceptual / spiritual / thematic direction from Jagudajev, and interweaves vocals from Jagudajev and a field recording of Poutsma & Aarvik playing the material in the massive, reverberant foyer of the Kunsthall, as well as excerpts from Jenkins’ “Orbit Arps” pianos.

Bios:

Nikima Jagudajev (b. 1990) is a New York and Brussels based choreographer. Her work has expanded formal dance into open-ended ecosystems. Recent projects were presented at the Whitney Museum, New York; Human Resources, Los Angeles; Judson Church, New York; 89+ at LUMA/Westbau, Zurich; Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva; and Villa Empain, Brussels.

Jordan Balaber ( b.1992, Washington DC ) is a composer, producer, guitarist and sound designer based in Queens, New York. Using a blend of sound sources including composed and improvised acoustic instrumentation, field recordings, and processed samples, he generates texturally and melodically vivid songs, compositions and environments. Balaber's recorded work has received acclaim on Mary Anne Hobb’s “Sunriser” series, The Quietus, The Guardian, Dummy, and NTS Radio, where he contributed a guest mix in October 2017. Balaber has since collaborated extensively with cellist and composer Lester St. Louis. The two performed a work for electric guitars and sine tones at St. Louis's TRANSFER//01 showcase at Roulette Intermedium in December 2020 and are currently collaborating on an album of original compositions. From 2016, Jordan has worked closely with the Brussels-based choreographer Nikima Jadugajev, composing interactive sonic environments for her extensive live performances. Their collaboration has developed in residencies at museums and galleries including the Bergen Kunsthall ( Bergen, Norway ), Kurimanzutto ( CDMX ), Material Art Fair ( CDMX ) Centre d'Art Contemporain Geneve ( Geneva, Switzerland ), Human Resources (LA), the Whitney Museum of American Art (NYC), MoMA PS1 (NYC), Judson Church ( NYC ), and Cathy Weis Studios ( NYC )

Lester St. Louis is a New York City born and based Multi-instrumentalist, composer and curator. Lester has worked in, performed and created in artistic environments in The United States, Canada, South America, Europe and China with groups and artists such as Dré Hočevar Trio, Jaimie Branch Fly or Die, Ensemble Adapter, TAK Ensemble and many more. As a composer, Lester has been commissioned by artists such as the JACK Quartet, Mahan Esfahani and Stefan Jackiw, RAGE THORMBONES, Lauren Cauley and others. In the near future Lester will be continuing to develop groups such as MADD (with Dré Hočevar and Leafar) as well as TRANSFER (with Jordan Balaber, Daniel Brew and Rocío Bolaños) along with many new ventures.

Bård Aarvik is a musician and composer based in Bergen, Norway. Aarvik studied music therapy at the University of Bergen and live electronics at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. He has worked with bands such as Húm, and Utakk and is currently collaborating with the Oromo artist Gutu Abera and composer Mira Thiruchelvam on a new album, as well as a second album with Húm in collaboration with Icelandic singer Rakel Kristjansdóttir. He is also working on his debut solo album.

Composer and producer Nikoline Ursin Erichsen, alias dragongirl, works at the intersection of club music, contemporary music and performance art. She composes from the idea of speculative music, with a wish to create unity and new club-experiences.

June Jenkins is a pianist based in Portland, OR.

Chris Pawlusek is a Mixing and Mastering engineer based in South-East London. He has worked with artists such as Evian Christ, Alpha Maid, MssingNo, Kepla, Visionist and also works on music for TV and film.

Salomon Poutsma is a guitarist and musicology student at the Grieg Academy in Bergen who specializes in acoustic finger style guitar and other styles that may expand the guitar as an instrument.

credits

released April 5, 2021

Bård Aarvik - Guitar (Orbit Arps, KRAMPUS)

Jordan Balaber - Composition, Production, Guitar, Processing (Orbit Arps, KRAMPUS)

Nikima Jagudajev - Creative Direction, Vocals (Orbit Arps, KRAMPUS)

June Jenkins - Piano (Orbit Arps, KRAMPUS)

Chris Pawlusek - Mixing and Mastering

Salomon Poutsma - Guitar (Orbit Arps, KRAMPUS)

Lester St. Louis - Composition, Production, Guitar (KRAMPUS)

Nikoline Ursin Erichsen - Live Electronics (Orbit Arps)

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