The box “Umf” with four vinyls is a tribute to two major sources of inspiration: the Dadaist Hugo Ball and the German kraut pioneers Cluster. Featuring some sci-fi (crackling movie music from the 50’s) and mixed percussion from Asia (Java, Japan, Korea). Somewhere out on the periphery, Ball and Cluster meet in a common idea: That everything has a sound, and most sounds can be music. This is actually the original format from 1949, when the record companies demanded a little more from their listeners. At that time they were forced to choose the playing order by stacking the discs on top of each other on the designed gramophone player. Long before today’s playlists.
Umf is thus an individual album “at your choise”. It makes some demands. But it can be worth it. A mosaic where each song title gives a hint of how the music sounds: umf, bloiko, olobo, huju, higo, blung, wulla, gorem.
Mikael Strömberg (Igor) has been working with sounds and syntheses since the 1970s. He has written electronic music for art flights and smoke sculptures, exhibited entire cities as sound sculptures, designed sound for trucks, started a sound atlas for endangered sounds, etc. Musically there are influences from German Kraut, ethno, early electron music, “classical” music and sound art. For many years he has collaborated with cartoonist and writer Joakim Pirinen, and together they have created both radio theater and a series of albums, such as “Africa” (2005), “The Wonderful Life of Birds” (2006), “Beauty Murder” (2008) and the story “Gonki” (2017) at Erik Axl Sund Rec. Under his alias Igor, Strömberg has released several concept albums, all with a special soundscape and history. “Fast & Slow” (2015) contains music that Strömberg “heard” when he was lying on the operating bed and in the respirator in the spaces between sleep and wakefulness, when in 2012 he suffered acute aortic dissection. “Kyllaj” (2018), the suggestive music is based on recorded ocean waves from the world’s oceans, especially eastern Gotland.
“The Unseen Film” is an hour of audio cinema. The music is based on field recordings made in St. Petersburg’s Orthodox churches and around the Nevsky Prospect boulevard. The idea is to create an “unseen” (2019) film by Andrei Tarkovsky; a kind of continuation on Stalker, Solaris, Nostalgia and Victim. But here it is the listener’s who project the film inside the eyelids with their imagination.
Läs längre text (svenska) om Mikaels tankar och historia bakom skivan
RELEASEDATE AUGUST 28
Pre order vinyl via Bengans
Pre order vinyl via Lamour Record Store
Mastered by Joakim Westlund
Cat. nr: lamour078
Photos by Britt Mattsson
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REVIEWS and ARTICLES
Aural Aggrevation
“Singling out individual ices is, of course, pointless: for the most part, they’re airy, abstract, occasionally, rumblings and laser points interrupt the relatively smooth, formless flow, which at times trickles to almost nothing, and at others grumbles and swells like an intestinal infection that churns and grumbles. It may be understated, but it’s never uninteresting.”
Read full post at: https://auralaggravation.com/2020/08/11/igor-umf/
Nordische Musik
“Nachdem wir unlängst erst mit einiger Verspätung auf das schwedische Label Lamour hingewiesen haben, gibt es nun diese empfehlenswerte Veröffentlichung aus dem selben Hause. Der einzige Nachteil dieser sehr überzeugenden Musik ist, dass kaum jemand sie zu hören bekommen wird, da die acht Tracks nur in Form einer Box mit vier Vinyl-»Single«-Scheiben erhältlich sind.”
Read full post at: https://nordische-musik.de/5796-Igor-(Mikael-Str%C3%B6mberg).html
Blow Up Mag
“…allora la missione può dirsi brilliantemente conclusa”
To Periodiko
“Το άλμπουμ “Umf” με τέσσερα βινύλια, αποτελεί φόρο τιμής στον ντανταϊστή ποιητή Hugo Ball και στο krautrock συγκρότημα των Γερμανών Cluster. Δημιουργός του ο Igor ή κατά κόσμο Mikael Strömberg, ένας sound artist που ηχογραφεί εννοιολογικά άλμπουμ. Η μουσική και οι διάφοροι θόρυβοι προέρχονται από sci-fi ταινίες των 50’s υπό την συνοδεία κρουστών απ’ την Ασία -Κορέα, Ιαπωνία, Ιάβα. Φυσικά, τα ηλεκτρονικά βρίσκονται σε ημερήσια διάταξη ένθα συνδυάζονται εξαιρετικά με τους παντοειδείς ρυθμούς, η παρέμβαση των οποίων ανατρέπει την όποια γραμμικότητα παράλληλα με την εισβολή του καρτουνίστικου σασπένς. Έκαστος εκ των τίτλων του δίσκου ενδεικτικός για το πώς ακούγεται η μουσική: umf, bloiko, olobo, huju, higo, blung, wulla, gorem!”
Read full post at: https://www.toperiodiko.gr/
Musik an sich
“So vermischt der Schwede auf seinem neuen Album kongenial Experiment mit eingängigen Sounds und schaft ein sehr modern klingendes Krautrockalbum, das jedem Fan von Electric Orange oder ähnlichen Vertretern dieses Genres gefallen sollte.”
Read full post at: https://www.musikansich.de/review.php?id=21550
Gefle Dagblad
“30 augusti släpps en udda sak på Lamour av Gävlekompositören Mikael Strömberg under namnet Igor. Nämligen en box med fyra stycken sjutummare inspirerad av kraut, dadaism och asaiatiskt slagverk. “Umf” heter den.”
Read full post at: https://www.gd.se/artikel/lista-sex-sexaringar-fran-gavle-sjunger-for-full-hals-pa-ny-cover-av-80-tals-lat?
Groove.de
“Die vierfache 7-Inch umf (Lamour Records) ist so ein Ding, bezieht sich unmittelbar auf Tarkovskys dystopische wie von christlicher Symbolik satte Filme Stalker, Solaris und Nostalgia. Und klingt dabei verdammt interessant und ästhetisch weit weniger abweisend, als das strenge Konzept es vielleicht suggeriert.”
Read full post at: https://groove.de/2020/09/18/motherboard-september-2020/
Nitestylez.de
“…highly fascinating Future Tribal outings with a somewhat Dub infused twist, from ethereal Downbeats with Synth influences to experimental modular abuse and beyond. Unique and well interesting. Plus: additional bonus points for the format. Get.”
Read full post at: http://www.nitestylez.de/2020/08/igor-umf-lamour-records-078.html
Radio
Radio Fro, Linz 105.5
Played: Bloiko
Listen: https://www.fro.at/
Indiedrome
Played: Uju
Listen: http://www.radiopanik.org/spip/-Generation-BiP_HOp
Radio Jazz FM – Twopenny Hangover
Played: Bloiko
Listen: www.radiojazz.fm
Radio Radio – 104.5 FM Calgary, Alberta
Played: Bloiko
Listen: www.radioradio.ca
Radio Libertaire 89.4 Paris – Epsilonia
Played: Umf
Listen: www.radio-libertaire.net
DDFM RTV INT – Staalplaat Radio Show
Played: Huju
Listen: http://dfm.nu
Played: Wulla
Listen: www.rcv-lille.com
Radio Libertaire 89.4 Paris
Played: umf
Listen: www.radio-libertaire.net
Eldoradio – Dortmund 93.00 – Klangwelten #352
Played: Gorem
Listen: kuhzunft.com/radioshow.html
91.1FM (NYC) / 90.1FM (Hudson Valley)
Played: Olobo
Listen: www.wfmu.org
KEPW 97.3 FM Eugene, Oregon – Spectra-Sonic Sound
Played: Huju
Listen: www.mixcloud.com/spectrasonicsound/the-institute-of-spectra-sonic-sound-82920/
RCV Lille 99.0 – El Réanimator #1353
Played: Blung
Listen: www.rcv-lille.com
Radio Z 95.8 Nuremberg
Played: Bloiko
Listen: www.radio-z.net
Radio Regent – The Moderns
Played: Umf
Listen: https://www.mixcloud.com/kevin-press/the-moderns-ep-121/
Radio Mercure 93.00 – Electronic Therapy
Played: Umf
Listen: http://electronic-therapy.over-blog.com/
The Parish News
Played: blung
Listen: https://www.mixcloud.com/TheParishNews/the-parish-news-206/
Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg – Radio Eins – Elektro Beats
Played: Higo
Listen: https://www.radioeins.de/
Radio Hannover 87.6
Played: Wulla
Listen: www.radio-hannover.de