(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange. Live photo Alex Tjore) In a time filled with uncertainty, conflicts, and imbalance, Espen Beranek Holm a.k.a. Beranek and EL/NeUe latest single “Ein Bisschen Frieden” have been inspired by lyricist Bernd Meinunger’s words in the German Eurovision entry “Ein Bißchen Frieden” from 1982, performed by Nicole.

“Ein Bisschen Frieden” is a collection of associations with peace and the concept of peace, allowing space for both pessimism and optimism – carried forward on an unmistakable electronic foundation, spiced up with a catchy chorus, clarinet, vocoder, and an out-of-tune piano.

They launched the single with a live event at Kampen Bistro in Oslo, with everyone on stage contributing to each other’s songs. It started with an EL/NeUe set, followed by some of their collaborative songs, and ended with a Beranek set, culminating in a hilarious “lecture” about his first single, “Dra te hælvete” (“Go to hell”‘”), which was banned on Norwegian broadcasting in the early ’80s. He gave a step-by-step breakdown of the song, instrument by instrument, before performing it in full. He ended his set with a beautiful acoustic version of David Bowie’s “Life on Mars”.

The evening was concluded with the music video premiere of “Ein Bisschen Frieden”.

A few days later we had an email exchange, catching up on the latest events:

Side-Line: What made you do this single now? How has it been received?

Askild Hagen: We have previously made two songs together—which we are very satisfied with—and it has been very exciting and fun to work together, so we wanted to do another song. We met in Espen’s studio and created a draft for a beat, and Espen suggested the title ‘Ein Bisschen Frieden’, a title that fits just as well in 2025 as when Nicole sang a song with the same title in ESC in 1982.

We have received good feedback so far. Erik Valebrokk, one of Norway’s leading music bloggers, wrote: “Their new single ‘Ein Bisschen Frieden’ is very, very catchy.”

Beranek: It was great fun making our two previous singles, so why not keep up the fun? We met up in my studio to draft the initial ideas, then it became a mail/file transfer process. The single has received an overall positive response.

S-L: Happy with the gig?

B: I was very pleased with the gig. We joined forces on both EL/NeUe’s and my music—as well as on the Beranek + EL/NeUe collaborations, of course. It was the very first time that both ‘Niedrige Erwartungen’ and ‘Goethe Ist Tot’ were performed live.

AH: We are very pleased with the concert. It was rather crowded at Kampen Bistro, and the atmosphere was great. The concert was filmed and will probably be available on YouTube eventually.

S-L: More songs or events in the pipeline?

AH: We will definitely make more music together. The next song title is ready (should we say what it’s called, Espen?). EL/NeUe is working on their third album, Neben, and hopefully, it will be released in autumn 2025.

B: We have talked about the theme for the next project, but I think it’s a bit too early to disclose any further details at this point in time. Apart from the EL/NeUe collaboration, I will be making stage appearances in both comedy and music throughout ’25.

Some live clips can be seen here and in the comments of this Facebook post and in this “Dra te hælvete” lecture videopost (+ more in the comments).

Listen at Tidal | Spotify

This is the video for the track.

Still here? OK, here’s an old classic and it’s revamped 2016 EP with Todd Terje and other remixes!

Jan Ronald Stange

Sometimes – when I’m not cooking, biking, listening to music or attending concerts, I write stuff for Side-Line.com. Mostly about Norwegian bands, but it’s been some Swedish, English, American, Danish, German and others too… 😉

www.facebook.com/jrstange

(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange) After releasing his cover version of David Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ in 2024, dubbed ‘Helter’ in Norwegian, kinGeorg adds more versions to this release today. More electronic remixes from Norwegian legends Apoptygma Berzerk and Beranek caught our attention, so we had to dig more into these tracks.

kinGeorg, alias Kim Lunde, is one of the most unique voices on the Norwegian music scene. With a raw mix of dark pop, rock and electric undertones, he creates music that not only hits, but also lingers for a long time. kinGeorg has received attention both nationally and internationally, with regular radio listings in both Norway and Sweden. On stage he delivers a captivating live experience, and with new songs on the way, including collaboratios with Apoptygma Berzerk and poet Trygve Skaug, kinGeorg is ready to take 2025 by storm.

Kim Lunde and Stephan Groth elaborate on their collaboration:

S-L:  What was your approach to doing a cover and remix of this Bowie classic, translated to Norwegian?

Kim: I think “Heroes” is one of the best songs ever written. I have fond memories of my grandmother playing this song for me over and over again when I was very young. I therefore have a special connection with this song and always wanted to make my own version of it… but since I prefer singing in my native language I had to get the lyrics translated.

3 years ago I recorded a Norwegian version of ‘Heroes’, but it would take 2 years for all the legal stuff to be sorted out with Brian Eno and David Bowies’s publishers… a quite long and tiresome process.

STP: I remember listening to Kim’s demo of ‘Helter’ at a party at a friends place. I was highly sceptical before listening since ‘Heroes’ is such a huge classic and because it has been covered so many times before, but I was pleasantly surprised! It had a very different twist and feel because of the Norwegian lyrics and because of Kim’s outstanding vocals.  

I thought the version was great and asked Kim if he would let me do a remix.

Kim: I of course said YES, and I am very excited about the final result. I am also very happy that we got a remix from Beranek for the single. 

S-L: What’s your relation to David Bowie’s music in general?

STP: I was first introduced to Bowie when watching the Christiane F. “Wir Kinder Vom Bahnhof Zoo” movie at a young age, but it would take many years before I could appreciate the genius of David Bowie.
He was an amazing artist in so many ways.

Great singer, performer and songwriter, but most important to me, He was extremely original and fearless when it came to changing styles, experimenting and reinventing himself. He was also an actor and even had a role in the David Lynch movie “Fire Walk With Me” (a prequel to Twin Peaks) … how cool is that? 

Musically I must admit that there is a lot of Bowie’s back catalogue that I do not really connect with, but The Berlin Trilogy on the other hand I find outstanding! As a fan of electronic music I owe a lot to Bowie for promoting bands like Neu!, DEVO and Kraftwerk to the masses. 

S-L: Any plans for doing any/more Bowie covers?

Kim: We could do “Dancing In The Street”!

STP: Not so sure about that… a cover version of “Dancing in the Street // Silent Music Video” would be awesome though. (Editor’s note: Didn’t get the joke? Check this!)

Espen Beranek Holm also contributed with a remix on this release, and as a seasoned interpreter of David Bowie his thoughts about this release was also interesting.

S-L: What was your approach to doing a remix of this Bowie classic, translated to Norwegian? 

Beranek: I would try to build a backing track that contained some kind of «catchiness» in it’s own right, but still making the vocals stand out. I also intended to pay tribute to the repeating nature of the original as well as a nod to the guitar works of Robert Fripp from the original.

S-L: In addition to releasing some covers on your own on the EP ‘Oscillator Orkester’, what’s your relation to David Bowie’s music? 

Beranek: In the early years of my career I was constantly compared to both Bowie’s voice and his music. I had not been listening that much to Bowie at the time, but of course I knew about him and his works, ‘Hunky Dory’ and ‘Scary Monsters’ being two (very different) favourites. So I listened up on the man, and I found more favourites. I think Bowie in the 80s was quite a bumpy ride, but he really got through it and I think he did some of his best works later on.

S-L: Any plans for doing more Bowie covers yourself?

Beranek: I don’t have any immediate plans, no. I play guitar and do vocals in the Bowie cover-band The Goon Squad, so I feel that the live performances I get to do in that project is satisfying enough when it comes to do Bowie covers.

The EP is available on Tidal, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and YouTube Music.

Jan Ronald Stange

Sometimes – when I’m not cooking, biking, listening to music or attending concerts, I write stuff for Side-Line.com. Mostly about Norwegian bands, but it’s been some Swedish, English, American, Danish, German and others too… 😉

www.facebook.com/jrstange

(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange, photos by Tarjei Krogh, Tom Helge Kleberg, Jarle Nyttingnes) How do you celebrate a driving force of the Norwegian electronic music scene when he’s about to turn 50? Ask a band if they can perform at his birthday party, that band involving another band, ending up in a full night of concerts by El/NeUe and Beranek and the collaboration release of a new track, video and a 10″ limited edition vinyl in various colours.

Øystein Moe was the lucky man celebrating his 50th anniversary Saturday November 2nd at Mir Lufthavn in Oslo, surrounded by friends and live concerts by El/NeUe and Beranek, who also debuted ‘Niedrige Erwartungen’ by showing the track’s music video.

Espen Beranek Holm, the multi-talented musician, comedian, stage-, radio- and TV-personality, remixer etc., elaborated about the evening and collaboration in our scheduled mail interview the day after.

Side-Line: What was the occasion for this event – how did you get involved?

Beranek: I received a mail from Askild in May where he told me about the 50 years birthday party for Øystein Moe and asked if I could contribute by doing a concert. I know Askild and Håkon (the members of El/NeUe) from years back, but we’ve only worked together in comedy and satire for TV and radio production – never in music. I immediately wanted to be part of this event, both because of my knowledge and friendship with Askild and Håkon, but I also wanted to pay tribute to Øystein Moe who released the double CD ‘Maskindans – Norsk synth 1980-1988’ back in 2009. He was the first to license and release a song digitally from my debut album ‘Sound Of Danger’.
In other words: He’s a great guy!

S-L: How did your collaboration ’Niedrige Erwartungen’ come about? Triggered by this evening, or already in the works before?

Beranek: A part of this celebration also included the making of a limited edition vinyl EP containing some previously unreleased material from both EL/NeUe and me. In the discussion for the vinyl’s content the idea was born that we should collaborate on a track. A Thursday night in August I brought my Akai Force to Askilds house where Askild, Håkon and I sketched out the beginnings and framework for the composition. We very soon hit a common nerve for the thing, and after some 3-4 hours we had the main basics for the song. I spent the following Friday refining, re-structuring and adding to the composition. I also upgraded a lot of the sounds from the digital (Force) domain to the deeper analog domain using hardware synths (Moogs, Korgs, etc). I then sent the tracks to Askild and Håkon, and they added more musical motives and sounds; clarinets, voices and that marvellous and majestic «noisy» solosynth in the end. I got these tracks in return and added a vocal track dub to Askilds voice. Askild and Håkon finalized the mix. The lyrics was a suggestion by Askild.

S-L: Gotten any feedback on ‘Niedrige Erwartungen’ so far?

Beranek: It was very well received as the video was shown on screen to the audience last night!

S-L: Tell more about the video – how did the visuals come about?

Beranek: After I received the mix from Askild and Håkon I listened to it a couple of times – quiet loud actually. During these listenings I started to «see» how these notes and beats could trigger light beams, and I thought that space would form a perfect stage for this. I used a combination of 3D software and video editing software to generate the animations and synchronize it all to the music. Askild and Håkon was very pleased with both the video and the theme for the pictures, and the picture used on both the limited edition vinyl and on streaming platforms is taken from the video. (see the video at the end of article)

S-L: Planned any more collaboration together – songs or performances?

Beranek: We have an open mind about that – it wouldn’t surprise me at all if more music was produced by Beranek and EL/NeUe!

S-L: Your own and others reactions and feedback to the performances?

Beranek: I think it was a great night. EL/NeUe’s set was very well performed and very well received by the audience. Well deserved!
We – Johannes (Winther Farstad – keys and vocals) and I – was very pleased with the venue, Leon on sound and the crowd, and we felt that it all went down really well on our part.

Photograper Tarjei Krogh also attended the concerts, as always taking great photos!

The VERY special 10″ vinyl

We also wanted to know more about these records, and got hold of Tom Helge Kleberg from Kalall TM, a duplicord manufacturing company under the Etch Wear umbrella.

THK: On this production we made them for the two labels PIIV Grill and Hommage Records as a supplier, and we also collaborated on the sleeve production.

This is in short a duplicated record, hence we made the name duplicord. We make a lathe-cut or lacquer reference disc master first, then we make a mould negative used for casting two component resin records. It’s really an old technique with new compounds, like old one sided gramophones. The silicone really copies everything – even the warm sound!

These are to be considered more like artefact records or artist merchandise than an audiophile release. The final result varies from Good+ to NM, but most common VG/VG+. The research to make them better continues with every edition…

So far we have casted about 15 copies, all in various colours. It’s easy to mix different pigments for each duplicord, so most often no one is exactly the same, giving a wide range of colours and sometimes playing around with two or more colours. For special editions we have also put various objects in the mix on the label area, giving totally one of a kind unique duplicords unlike any vinyl you have seen.

All runs have sold out since we started doing these, so they’re really a token for a fan – these sell out first on merchtables!

Check out the track at several streaming platforms, and see the video right here!

Jan Ronald Stange

Sometimes – when I’m not cooking, biking, listening to music or attending concerts, I write stuff for Side-Line.com. Mostly about Norwegian bands, but it’s been some Swedish, English, American, Danish, German and others too… 😉

www.facebook.com/jrstange

(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange. Foto: Jarle Nyttingnes)
The multi talented Norwegian musician (also actor, comedian ++) Espen Beranek Holm ended our interview after his concert in Oslo last year by saying his next project would be “even more electronic, but still with beats” – and here it is! The surprisingly varied EP “Oscillator Orkester” was released last week, accompanied by several videos (see end of article), making me curious about this. A couple of e-mails later:

Side-Line: How was this release born/what’s the main idea behind?

Beranek: In March 2017 I hosted a concert to celebrate the 45 year anniversary of the brassband Torshovkorpset. The other guest on stage was The Norwegian Radio Orchestra (KORK). A lot of collaboration was planned for the night, and the Radio Orchestra asked me if I would do a musical number with them. From the top of my head I replied: ‘Life On Mars?’. They also thought it to be a good idea, but there was no orchestral arrangement available. I suggested Jacob Beranek Hvattum for the job and ‘Mars’ was on. After performing ‘Life On Mars?’ live with The Norwegian Radio Orchestra in Oslo Konserthus, I really wanted to get this version recorded, so I started planning for that.

At the same time I was fiddling around with another Bowie favourite; ‘Loving The Alien’ from ‘Tonight’. I’ve always loved that song, and during the summer of 2017 I started to work with a synth-based arrangement for it. As the ‘Alien’-arrangement developed, I came to think that it would pair well with an original idea named ‘Pardon’ that I wrote back in 2016. (“Pardon” was the only word of lyrics at the time.)

We found time to record with The Norwegian Radio Orchestra in March 2018, and arranger Jacob Beranek Hvattum pointed out that we should put them to work for more than just ‘Life On Mars?’. I went into my archives looking for a suitable piece of music to be arranged for the orchestra and found a theme that I wrote for a radio adaptation of Anna Dale’s book ‘Whispering To Witches’. Jacob wrote a beautiful arrangement of the music, and we recorded both tracks with the orchestra.

S-L: And the reason for the name of the EP!?

B: Well, there are two tracks arranged for oscillators, and two tracks arranged for an orchestra (“orkester” in Norwegian). Wouldn’t that make ‘Oscillator Orkester’?

S-L: Of course! Tell us about the cooperation with KORK?

B: The Norwegian Radio Orchestra is a bunch of highly professional musicians. I have worked with them on different occasions earlier, but I must say it was very special to have them perform on my demand, so to speak. I did not arrange the music – Jacob Beranek Hvattum did – or conduct the orchestra – Helge Sunde did, but still I felt in a very close collaboration with them performing the vocals and having penned the instrumental piece. I think they sounded really great and I am very pleased with what we achieved.

S-L: More releases like this, or an album?

B: There are no immediate plans for more releases like this, but I would sure like to make more of them. It was great fun! I’m constantly working on new musical ideas, and I would not be surprised if some of these ideas will materialize on a new album in the future.

Listen to or buy “Oscillator Orkester” digitally here: orcd.co/oscork, or buy the CD EP here: Skvis.no
Do also check out the videos @ his YouTube channel.

Jan Ronald Stange

Sometimes – when I’m not cooking, biking, listening to music or attending concerts, I write stuff for Side-Line.com. Mostly about Norwegian bands, but it’s been some Swedish, English, American, Danish, German and others too… 😉

www.facebook.com/jrstange

(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange. Interview photos by Sigrid E. Ø. Reinertsen)
Apoptygma Berzerk, the first leading exporter of electronic music in the synth/EBM genre from Norway, are still celebrating their 25th anniversary for their debut album ‘Soli Deo Gloria’.

This time by releasing a reworked edition named ‘SDGXXV’ – already out on CD and Bandcamp, and also released on several double vinyl versions and streaming platforms April 18th. We’ve gotten some hints about the process the last year, understanding it’s been a hectic year with a lot of collaborators involved, so an interview about this was overdue. As the Apop guys lives on the opposite side of the Oslo fjord than me, we decided to meet in the middle in the ferry town Horten, where we occupied my mothers dining room for a few hours (thanks Mum!).

The release comes out in various versions which can be ordered here: CD Digipak / Tape / Cassette / MC / Two different DOUBLE-VINYL editions.

Side-Line: Was there a plan behind this rework album, and how did you end up with all these tracks and collaborators?

Stephan Groth: The short version was that the 25th anniversary for the ‘Soli Deo Gloria’ (SDG) album last year triggered it. But there’s no short versions anyway for this story, so…. First we wanted to release a 12″ maxi single with two tracks from SDG involving new, relevant musicians we like, to mark the event. This caught momentum, the list of people we wanted to work with grew and now it would be a four track EP. Everyone we asked in this process said yes and was eagerly exited.

Per Aksel Lundgreen: And when we reached 7 or 8 positive answers we decided to do the whole album – all tracks from SDG! And we still had an abundance of collaborators!

Stp: Some tracks are repeated several times on the CD version, and this led to the somewhat thematically splitting of the album, Part I, II and III, in order to distribute the songs a bit and make each part a sub-album/EP that could be listened to by itself. We also ended up in a curious situation regarding our cover of ‘All Tomorrow’s Parties’ – how to make a remix or rework of someone else’s song…?

PA: The funny thing when that situation arose was that we asked Naked Lunch to work on this song – luckily this was a favourite of theirs and the exact song they would have asked for themselves!

Stp: … and it somehow seemed destined to happen. First, we found out a Naked Lunch producer and live member also had a past in the band Sudeten Crèche, which once supported Nico on tour, and she did the vocals in The Velvet Underground’s original version of ‘All Tomorrow’s Parties’. Then we found an old flyer stating Naked Lunch also played with Nico. So there’s a connection there, making this full circle for several involved.

Someone else we must mention is Erik Wøllo, who was a very important part of making SDG in 1992-93. He released several electronic albums in the 80s and 90s before we met him.

PA: The ones on Cicada Records triggered our interest as they were on a sub-label of what was to become Tatra Records, so when we found out he had a synth studio in Fredrikstad we were quick to get in contact with him via mutual connections.

Stp: We ended up in the studio, having him helping us with technical issues and teaching us a lot, also lending us synths, drum machines and other equipment. Having access to three times more synths than we started out with helped shape SDG towards the final result, so having Erik back doing a SDGXXV track was great – and he wasn’t hard to ask either!

Erik, like Beranek and Bal Pare, hadn’t done many (or any) remixes/reworks before, so part of the collaboration became sharing my knowledge of that part of making music with them, as I’ve been doing remixes half my life.
Basically, I told them to think about how you would do this track yourself, in your style or fashion, and still keep the gist of the original.

I’d met Beranek on a few occasions, that excellent Geek Night (#1: SYNTH) at Popsenteret and a NOTAM synth meet-up, and we started thinking about doing something together.

PA: As a lead up to Stephans first meeting with Beranek it’s also worth mentioning that when Beranek curated the Norwegian Spotify list ’20+5′, where artists picks 20 favourite Norwegian tracks and 5 of their own, Beranek chose TWO Apoptygma Berzerk tracks. So, we knew already then he was a fan, and he later confirmed that at a record signing session, stating “it was to emphasize the seriousness of the situation – this is some of the best music made in Norway!”.
[Check out the list here!]

Stp: I grew up in Denmark and never got the initial buzz of Beraneks breakthrough single ‘Dra til hælvete’, which cause a lot of fuss and were banished from Norwegian radio in the 80s. Hearing it years later, I was yearning to do a remix for it, but Todd Terje beat me to it. As I considered Beraneks debut album as the first Norwegian synth album, and I’m a fan, it made sense to invite him to collaborate on SDGXXV.
‘Arp’ was one of the tracks not picked yet when Beranek was to be invited, and after I’ve listened to Beraneks album ‘Sound of danger’ on vinyl I accidentally had the record player set to 45 RPM, not 33 RPM, when I wanted to hear ‘Can’t go to sleep’. That gave me some ideas which I pitched to Beranek, and a week later I got his beautiful version in return.

The whole album was made this way, not just as another remix album, but more like reworking the tracks with others, me contributing more than in usual remix settings, so we have deliberately avoided using the work “remix” at all for this project.

PA: And “rework” is definitely fitting, because about 50% of the old tapes and discs were unusable, some even found moldy after being stored in lofts and cellars for years, so a lot had to be re-created.

Stp: The earliest work was made on Atari floppies and cassette tapes, maybe a DAT for the final masters, media not so easy to access in this digital age. Combined with several relocations and storing this in various environments we found a lot had to be made from scratch again, borrowing samplers, trying to read old diskettes and so on. And even the vocals had to be redone, and as I wasn’t an English professor 25 years ago, I also had to recreate grammatical errors, making it as true to the original as possible.

PA: There was lots of feedback going back and forth to the collaborators, something that became a fun part of the project, seeing the music making evolve like this.

Stp: … and that’s also why it took so long to finish! Adding to the process itself, much of the people involved aren’t exactly your average people , so it was sometimes demanding to incorporate everyone’s working methods, available hours etc.

S-L: When and how did this project start?

Stp: I know exactly when: It started in January 2018, when Ole-Espen had booked Ancient Methods to play at The Villa in Oslo. I remembered seeing them streamed live from a Boiler Room event in Berlin, mixing hard techno with old EBM, something that made a lot of sense to me. I wanted to have an Ancient Methods remix, and during an Indian dinner I explained my ideas, something Michael Wollenhaupt really turned on to. That was the first confirmed collaborator for SDGXXV.

PA: Then we thought about asking The Invincible Spirit, I sent an e-mail to Thomas Lüdke, got a positive reply, and from that point on the ball really got rolling.

Stp: After that it’s been a lot of work – music, the cover, everything – more or less a year.

PA: Another special thing for us regarding the 25th anniversary is how some parts around us haven’t changed; Tatra Records are involved again, both with the SDG re-issue and SDGXXV, just as they were with the original 25 years ago. Halvor Bodin, the designer of the original cover, worked with us on the new cover too. Morten Lund from Masterhuset did the mastering yet again, Erik Wællo got involved again, and of course Stephan and I are still here. A reunion bringing us all together again!

Stp: Yes, that really brought forward a kind of trueness that made the whole project feel even more “right” for all of us. As SDG was the first Norwegian EBM record, which opened a lot of doors for other Norwegian bands, doing this now felt important. But it’s also been a tiresome process that I don’t see myself repeating anytime soon, so don’t expect a the same treatment for ‘7’ 😉

PA: We paved way for others with SDG, making Norwegian bands eligible for records companies, distributors, concert promotors and so on, in a time where electronic music wasn’t very appreciated. We had some backing from people in the Norwegian music industry. Worth mentioning among these are Helge Gaarder, a musician who also distributed money from Rikskonsertene, which made it possible for us to have our first concerts.

Stp: Someone else we hold in high regards is Arvid Skancke-Knutsen, a music journalist who’s been writing about us from the very start – and even had an extensive review of our first maxi single!

S-L: Any favorites among the tracks?

Stp: … that’s a hard one -– there are favorites all over the place! The Beranek version of ‘Arp’ is just so beautiful, Ancient Methods’ ‘Burning Heretic’ is outstanding, and Bal Pare’s ‘Ashes To Ashes’ is insane – so far from the original in the minimal wave soundscape. But really, I’m so happy with all the tracks, couldn’t ask for anything better.

PA: What I found exiting is that Alex Dahl from Atropine, when asked which track he’d like to work in, answered ‘Borrowed Time’, which isn’t even on the album, but as the B-side of the ‘Bitch’ single. His version really blew me away!

Stp: Alex is a genius – amazingly good at what he does, and I think he’s not getting the credit he deserves in Norway.

S-L: How has the interest for SDGXXV been so far?

PA: SDG have had several reissues, but always on CD, so having it on vinyl now is long overdue. Pre-sales have been OK, but can’t really tell before after the release April 18th. Check the links below to get your copy!

Stp: Next up is my very delayed “normal” studio album, which has been put on hold for years now. Partly due to personal reasons, but also some musical reasons, which led to the “Exit Popularity Contest” album, something I needed to do to get back to my roots. And finally, this project, which really grew beyond expectations – from a couple of tracks to an four track EP, and finally an extensive album. The songs for the next album are written, some new inputs need to be digested into what kind of music I want to play. Both of my latest releases give hints of my future direction, going back to the more analogue roots of the music I like, using many of the same instruments as my heroes from the 70s. I’m very thankful now that I’ve hoarded synths for the past 30 years!

After hearing Stephans and Per Aksels stories about the making of SDGXXV, inputs from some of the collaborators felt natural to include here.
Say what you want about Facebook, but undeniable a great place to get in touch with people. I sent some messages asking about their relationship or history with Apop, also about the process and collaboration with Stephan on this project, and got great responses in return!

Espen Beranek: ARP (No Sleep Mix by Beranek)

I’ve been a longtime fan of Apop, and was very flattered to be asked for a contribution on SGDXXV.

I got both audio and MIDI stems from Stephan, and he told me I was free to change both pitch and tempo if I wanted to. I (and Stephan too I think) wanted to tint this version with some tonal colours from my early works. I therefore started to experiment with the MIDI stems together with my old non-midi equipment like the Korg KR55 rhythm box and my old trusty PE-1000. It became obvious to me that I needed to slow down the pace in the song in order to make space for my tonal intentions. After hearing my first edit Stephan got inspired and he sent me some fresh vocal tracks with some spacey effects. They fitted in perfectly and from there on it was kind of a simple edit/mix job.

Tony Mayo, Naked Lunch: All Tomorrow`s Parties (Evolve Or Die Mix by Naked Lunch)

We have been FB friends with Stephan for several years and not only have we known Per, (an original Apop member) for years, we have met him in person, and he was our tour manager when we toured with Covenant in 2015. Per is a personal and professional friend.

Per got in touch and asked if we would do a remix for the album and gave us a choice of which track to do. We are massive Velvet Underground fans, loved the Apop cover, and reworking ‘All Tomorrows Parties’ was a work of love for us. Funnily enough, back in the 80’s, within a few days of Naked Lunch headlining the Venue in Victoria, both Nico and John Cale headlined on separate nights too.

Håvard Ellefsen, Mortiis: Walk With Me (FRXTA Skyline Mix by Mortiis)

I´ve had some collaborations with Stephan from time to time since 2003 or so, and it´s always been a pleasure. He´s got this high energy approach to music that I really like.
Of course, since we live on the same street, he knew I´d burn his house down if he didn´t include me on this album. Haha!

Jarle Hansen, Substaat: Bitch (Weil Mix by Substaat)

I didn’t discover Apop until I heard ‘Kathy’s Song’ on Norwegian radio, even though I lived only 30 km away or so. It was a great experience to discover that “this sound” had survived through the harsh conditions of the 90s, when a lot of my favorite bands turned industrial, rock or techno. Apop has been a great influence both for the sound and for the strong melodies since.

I was told that we were asked to do this collaboration with Apop because Stephan liked our version of ‘Circling Overland’. He liked that old school sound in a modern production. We had a close communication and ideas were sent back and forth. Besides vocal, Stephan contributed with the cold industrial choir and the vocoded voice rumbling in the background – and, of course, general “guidance”. Anyone knowing Stephan, knows that nothing is left to chance.

alx, Atropine: Borrowed Time (Sublime Mix by Atropine)

The story behind the remix of ‘Borrowed time’ goes back to 1991 when I was working on various projects and we listened to Stephan’s 1st release ‘Ashes to ashes’. We played that record to dust. Later came the single ‘Bitch’. ‘Borrowed Time’ was my favorite on that release, I was thrilled to be able to remix that particular song since I think it’s one of the best songs from that period, and it only exists on that single. Stephan was for a period having a studio next door in Oslo, and that’s how I got to know him.

When I received the file it was only as a mp3. I wasn’t able to work with that, so in order to make the remix I had to recreate the song again from scratch. I recorded the exact song, and Stephan had to sing on it again and record the vocals. Once the song was recreated in its original form I could finally start to take it apart again and add my personal musical view to it. While Stephan gave some musical input during the process I often decided to do the opposite – and he even liked it much better! We had good communication during the process, and I ended up sending 2 different versions.

Steven R. Sellick: Like Blood From The Beloved (Part 1) (Interpreted by Steven R. Sellick)

I moved to the synth capital of Norway, Fredrikstad, in ’92. Stephan worked at a record store 3 minutes from my flat, and we soon bonded over our mutual love for shoegaze and synth music.
We also shared a fondness for beer and dancing to 2 Unlimited in crappy discos. I remember him working on Soli Deo Gloria, I loved listening to the tracks as they evolved.

Stephan approached me and told about his idea for SDGXXV. I was honored to be asked, and I especially liked the fact that he wasn’t looking for a remix. He gave me a bunch of old midi files and I re-recorded and re-arranged the track using old synths and drum machines. He wanted a certain German vibe and I think we nailed it.

Ole-Espen Kristiansen: Stitch (Patched & Processed by O/E)

I met STP around 12 years ago, we have become very close friends and work partners. We have the exactly same taste and understanding of electronic music and music in general so we work very good together creatively. The story in a whole is way too long…

I chose ‘Stitch’ to remix since I love the bassline and vibe in the original track. I wanted to do a more modern club friendly version, but still keep some of the “old school” Apop vibe to it. A lot of the noisy atmos and effect loops in the track are heavy processed parts from an 128k MP3 file of the original track.
Besides that STP and I had close talks through the whole process with compiling the album, adjusting some mixes, some mastering details etc.

As music journalist Arvid Skancke-Knutsen also was mentioned as being there from the very start, his input would be a perfect closing to this story.

Arvid:

I was working at the Norwegian music monthly Puls Magazine at the time. I was probably the first mainstream writer to pay them any attention, in connection with the release of the ‘Ashes To Ashes’ twelve inch. I liked their attitude and their enthusiasm, and also truly enjoyed the music itself, which was very original and energetic compared to the music scene in Norway. Since then I have been following them pretty closely, enjoying many records and concerts along the way.

Apop is also very present on the net and digital platforms – choose your poison! 🙂

Homepage / Bandcamp#1 / Bandcamp#2 / European Webstore / US Webstore / Songkick (Tourdates) / Spotify / iTunes / Instagram / Twitter / YouTube

Jan Ronald Stange

Sometimes – when I’m not cooking, biking, listening to music or attending concerts, I write stuff for Side-Line.com. Mostly about Norwegian bands, but it’s been some Swedish, English, American, Danish, German and others too… 😉

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Following the releases and shows honouring the 25th anniversary of Apoptygma Berzerk’s debut album “Soli Deo Gloria”, the Norwegian electronic-rock outfit presents “SDGXXV”, available on CD, double-vinyl, and cassette editions.

Re-imagining “Soli Deo Gloria” was not an easy task. Groth and co. looked for artists who would not simply provide remixes, but, rather, re-conceived versions that go down to the roots of what made the original Apop record so special. The band looked to old friends such as Cronos Titan, but also commissioned music from a new breed of artists who are changing the landscape today.

The team who worked on this album includes Steven R. Sellick, Ancient Methods, The Invincible Spirit, Blackhouse, Clock DVA, Substaat, Naked Lunch, Prurient feat. Maniac, Mortiis, Codex Empire, Portion Control, Bal Paré, Atropine, Monster Apparat, Beranek and Erik Wøllo.

The release comes out in various versions which can be ordered here: CD Digipak / Tape / Cassette / MC / Two different DOUBLE-VINYL editions.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange. Photos by Einar Låker and Jan Ronald Stange)
The seasoned Norwegian entertainer, comedian, stage-, radio- and TV-personality Espen Beranek Holm has also had a music career spanning nearly four decades. Besides collaborating and participating in more than twenty releases with other projects and band, he also got a dozen releases with his solo project Beranek to his name. Many Norwegians still remember his booming debut single with the controversial, anti-drugs song “Dra te hælvete” (“Go to hell”), which got banned from radio after being played just once, thus becoming a chart hit for months and the top selling single in Norway in 1981.
Two weeks ago the ‘Laboratoriet’ stage at Kulturhuset in Oslo was the venue for Beranek playing his 1981 debut album ‘Sound of danger’ in full, analogue glory, joined by Johannes Winther Farstad.
Me and my friends managed to steal a few minutes after the concert to have him elaborate further about what just had taken place, leaving everyone in the audience with big smiles as they left the venue.

Side-Line: Was there a particular reason or occasion that led up to doing a concert now?
Beranek: It was the ‘Synth Geek Night’ event at Popsenteret last year where I was asked to join a panel and talk about synths. There’s nothing I like to more, so I gathered some synths and got very inspired as I was patching the old stuff, hearing the old sounds again and singing again with my synths.
(Me and lots of friends also attended this event, here’s a taster)
I realized this was actually feasible, and the reason I hadn’t done it before was because I’d mostly been involved in more standard rock’n’roll setups with drums, bass etc., not leaving much room or possibilities for this kind of synth setup.
This album were composed and recorded using machines, so it needed to be performed with machines too! What was important was to conceptually do it right; I could have had a laptop and lots of soft synths in Cubase or something, but it felt more true – and more fun – to the music by doing it as close to the original as possible!
We programmed bass and drummachines beforehand, the rest we played live, some almost like in the studio when recording the songs, moving presets, trigging pulses etc.
Old school, but it felt right.

S-L: Yes, we noticed what seemed like mix of old and new equipment on stage. Were some used in the 1981 recording sessions?
B: The instrument line up for the record included the Korg PE-1000, an Elka string ensemble, two Korg MS-20 and the Korg KR55 rhythm-box. For this concert I wanted to recreate the analog idea, while having more control and flexibillity over the live production.

I brought my old Korg PE-1000 (which is quite important in order to re-create the Sound Of Danger Album) and my good old Roland SVC350 vocoder, but all the other synths were «new». I was playing a Korg Prologue, a Korg Minilogue (driving the SVC350) and a DSI Tempest while Johannes Winther Farstad had his fingers running on two Moog Sub37s, a Mellotron M4000D, a DSI OB-6 and the Korg PE-1000. In addition to the DSI Tempest I had two Moog Mother 32, an Arturia Minibrute 2S, a Make Noise 0-Coast and a Roland TR-08.
So the only instrument playing on both the record and the concert is the Korg PE-1000. A truly unique instrument.

All instruments were running custom patches, except from the Mellotron of course. It’s presence represented the only digital sample playback instrument, but then I think that’s just a modern version of the original Mellotron idea. And I still love that sound!

The MS20 is great synthesizer, but I favoured the Moog Sub37 for the concert. It is a more flexible unit, and it sure has more to offer in both the low end department as well as in the modulation matrix. And it’s programmable… We needed a lot of patches tonight.

S-L: Will there be more concerts like this? And longer…?
B: I haven’t planned for anything more than this one, but with the whole album and the additional two songs (not as extras, but as warm up!), it felt right as is became approximately an hour. And I meant what I said near the end – I really wish that this had been a triple album when I released it – it was that fun to play like this again!

S-L: Must have been lot of preparing for a gig like this?
B: Yes! Lots of rehearsals, pre-production, patching and getting re-acquainted with the old gear, really something you can’t decide days before and wing it. It’s a year ago the idea surfaced, I pondered on it for a while, contacted Kulturhuset, and six months ago we announced it. It takes time on all levels.

S-L: The show was filmed by NRK (Norwegian public broadcasting) – will it appear on TV?
B: Yes, it was filmed, but no definitive plans at the moment – we’ll see what we can do with the recordings.

S-L: Is there another album in the making?
B: I’m always writing and composing in-between other jobs, but I would like to make a follow-up of “Sensitive Dependence” (the previous album). What I’m working on now is even more electronic, but still with beats. No definitive release plans or dates, but maybe next year…

The 1981 album is available in remastered version on vinyl at Juno Records (UK/Europe) and Dark Entries Records (US). Also on CD (and vinyl too?) in Norway from Retro Vinyl.
In the meantime stream it from Spotify and iTunes.

A small taster of the concert – hopefully it’ll end up at a TV screen soon!

https://www.facebook.com/Beranek.Holm/videos/324826668315448/ 

Jan Ronald Stange

Sometimes – when I’m not cooking, biking, listening to music or attending concerts, I write stuff for Side-Line.com. Mostly about Norwegian bands, but it’s been some Swedish, English, American, Danish, German and others too… 😉

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(By our Norwegian correspondent Jan Ronald Stange)

Langsomt Mot Nord (Slowly Toward (the) North/Slowly Northward, LMN) was a Norwegian synth/folk project that released three albums between 1985 and 1991. The main force behind the project is Ola Snortheim, a seasoned drummer and musician who’s been a member of a dozen Norwegian bands over the last four decades, and also the only permanent member of LMN. For each of the three albums he’s been joined by a main collaborator and a wast amount of guest singers and musicians.

With the help of publisher Christer Falck they’re now crowdfunding a vinyl box set of all their three albums in remastered versions, and a bonus album called ‘Far’ (Father), containing original tracks from Ola’s father, the Norwegian folk musician and Olav Snortheim.

I met with Ola and Morgan Lindstrøm, main collaborator on ‘Westrveg’, the second album.

Side-Line: First, what initiated this project back in the 80’?

Ola: I had grown a bit tired being in the background as a drummer in various band, backing up a vocalist who’s getting all the attention. I’d also played in De Press, which was in borderline of the folk-rock genre, so I was already going somewhat in that direction. Playing “ordinary” folk-rock wasn’t interesting, many bands sounded alike and boring, but doing it in an unique way, more instrumental, was something I wanted to pursue.
We started with my father’s recordings from the 50-60’s, laying new instruments and orchestrations on top them, making something new and updated with traditional tunes, resulting in the first album ‘Langsomt Mot Nord’ (1985).

This album got the project in the national spotlight, and they went on doing several TV-appearances, like this from 1985 with Kjersti Bergersen on vocals.

S-L: Why a new collaborator for each album?

Ola: It was just the way it happened…
Morgan: Originally Jørn (Christensen, collaborator on the first album) was meant to make all albums with Ola, but he got busy with other projects and the universe pointed towards me.

Ola: And after ‘Westrweg’ (1988) I wasn’t sure I’d make another LMN album. Then I met Espen (Beranek Holm), he was eager to contribute, and we ended up making the third album together – ‘Hildring’ (1991). We sat on the master tape for the album for two years after finishing, thinking it wasn’t interesting enough to pitch to major labels.

Instead they did several live shows, and in 1991 they were approached by the record company Origo Sound who aimed for the instrumental market. With a master tape ready for publishing it was an easy decision to say yes.

S-L: 30 years after the first album, what trigged the remastering and box set idea?

Ola: My first reason for remastering was to get the album out on streaming services. But then Christer Falck called me, wanting to release a Circus Modern triple box, which was another project I also wanted to prepare for streaming.  I grabbed the chance and said I also wanted to remaster and release the LMN album, and this way several things fell into place!

Morgan: We’ve been trying to release ‘Westrveg’ digitally for years, but Sony Music wasn’t very cooperative until now, not wanting to pay for remastering.

Ola: When we’re doing this the crowdfunding way with the help of Christer, the remastering costs goes into the project.

Morgan: … but the remastering job is almost for free anyway, that’s how we can do it. A real Norwegian “dugnad” (voluntary work)!
The most satisfactory part of this remaster project is making it sound how we wanted in the first place. We didn’t have the people or technology at the time when we made the albums to produce the kind of electronic music we wanted, now we do!

Ola: We even added some new synths on some tracks, added some depth and bass etc.

Morgan: Ola and I spent about six month prepare all the music in Cubase at my studio, using advanced processing gear and virtual synths, and the finalizing of the mastering process was done by Hugo Alvarstein.

Ola: I also want to add some background to the bonus LP in the box, called ‘Far’: My father, Olav Snortheim (1911-1988) was a folk musician and artist, with a natural gift to acquire great skills on any instrument. He travelled a lot inland as well as abroad, with a self-made suitcase full of instruments  – langeleik, bukkehorn (ram’s horn), lur and flutes, in addition to his small harmonica in his pocket. He sang, played and told stories, on a practically eternal tour in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. He even joined us on stage for a TV show in 1985.

S-L: Any other plans in the future besides the vinyl box?

Ola: Maybe we’ll do a CD box too, and even if the crowdfunding doesn’t get completed we’ll get the albums streaming anyway.

Langsomt Mot Nord (1985) | Westrveg (1988) | Hildring (1991)

Check their YouTube channel for some of the remastered songs, and join the crowdfunding project here!
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/langsomt-mot-nord-samleboks#/

Jan Ronald Stange

Sometimes – when I’m not cooking, biking, listening to music or attending concerts, I write stuff for Side-Line.com. Mostly about Norwegian bands, but it’s been some Swedish, English, American, Danish, German and others too… 😉

www.facebook.com/jrstange