Top Bar
Musique Machine Logo Home ButtonReviews ButtonArticles ButtonBand Specials ButtonAbout Us Button
SearchGo Down
Search for  
With search mode in section(s)
And sort the results by
show articles written by  
 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Go to the Maja S.K. Ratkje website  Maja S.K. Ratkje - River Mouth Echoes [Tzadik - 2008]

River Mouth Echoes takes the listener on a varied, manic, strange and beautiful sonic journey mixing together noise, modern classical, improvising, jazz, orchestral music and  Ratkje breathtaking and sometimes frightening voice.

The six pieces on offer are taken from over a 10 year period and really show Ratkje’s ability to work in many different sonic disaplines and harnessing different genres to make powerful, emotional, violent, strange and beautiful music. Opening up the album from 2005 we have the track Øx which finds  Ratkje processing Rolf-Erik Nystrøm's alto sax playing, so the resulting track alternates between searing, perching and jarring noise tones and eerier harmonic smokiness as the sax tips back towards its original shadowy form. Later on Wintergarden finds her using just her layered voice tone with minimal synth inventions. She mixes and layers beautiful hums and whispers, vocalising, purrs ,growls and all manner of words and sounds to build a frightening, gorgeous, alien and powerful track – that ominous and strangely finishers with Ratkje saying “tell me darling did you taste his food?”.

Towards the end of the album we have waves II B that was composed between 1997 and 1998 and is an intense doomy piece of dramatic and shifting modern orchestral music played by Oslo Sinfonietta. It shifts from rumbling big drums and discordance string storms, to sinister droning brass drafts and hovers, to panic rushers of tinkling lit tones- all to give a track that’s dark moody and powerful yet at the same time playfully light footed.

River Mouth Echoes is a highly rewarding, always surprising and varied collection of works that managers to cover a wide range of emotion states and sonic textures. Ratkje has a very  fresh inventive and clever take on  composition, weaving together musical and harmonic tones with noise and discordant elements. Truly a breath taking experience  and one of this years experimental highlights.

Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5

Roger Batty
Latest Reviews

Maja S.K. Ratkje - River Mouth Ec...
River Mouth Echoes takes the listener on a varied, manic, strange and beautiful sonic journey mixing together noise, modern classical, improvising, jazz, orc...
021023   Transtilla - Transtilla III
021023   Arash Akbari - Amnestic Cont...
021023   Sam Eastmond - John Zorn's B...
021023   Thieves Like Us - Thieves Lik...
290923   Terror At The Red Wolf Inn - ...
290923   The Iron Prefect - The Iron P...
290923   Vomir - Pathos
290923   Worship - Focus
290923   Whore's Breath - Static Black
290923   Occlusion - 58- 3 Signaux
Latest Articles

Lucky Cerruti - Of Not so Friendl...
New York-based Lucky Cerruti is one of the up-and-coming directors in the underground horror scene. Since 2019 the theatre actor turned director/ writer/prod...
210923   Lucky Cerruti - Of Not so Fri...
290823   The Residents - The Trouble W...
110723   Yotzeret Sheydim Interview - ...
250523   TenHornedBeast - Into The Dee...
050523   Bill Morroni - The Trials & ...
280323   Magnus Granberg - Finding Emo...
230223   Trou Aux Rats - The Funeral I...
020223   The Residents & Support - Liv...
300123   Worship - In Praise Of Walled...
201222   Blood Chalice - Into The Sin...
Go Up
(c) Musique Machine 2001 -2023. Twenty two years of true independence!! Mail Us at questions=at=musiquemachine=dot=comBottom