The Beast. The Tree. The Man.
This 23 minute long deep listening work explores the meditative patterns of dance music within an ambient universe. While recording this during the spring of 2020, I found inspiration from being close to nature and in a quote by Chief Seattle, chief of the Suquamish and Duwamish during the 18th century:“All things share the same breath - the beast, the tree, the man. The air shares its spirit with all the life it supports.”
Released February 17th on Longform Editions, a curatorial music practice created to foster and celebrate immersive listening experiences for the musically adventurous. Listen HERE.
LINE OF LIFE - SHORT FILM
GOSS - EVERYBODY´S GOING (KASPER BJØRKE REMIX)
My remix for Goss is out now. Check it out HERE!
Melodic Diggers Podcast
I have recorded a podcast for Melodic Diggers and rather than playing all sorts of new club music and promote my own releases, I decided to select a few of my favourite classics from some of the pioneers from the Detroit and Chicago scene in the 80s and 90s as a tribute to these producers and DJs. Especially during the current times its important to remember and pay our respect to them and the influence that they have had - and still have - on club culture. Many of these tracks have been part of my DJ sets these past 20 years and I still love to play them because they sound so fresh to this day - and I hope it will be possible to play them in clubs soon again... Listen HERE!
The Fifty Eleven Project Audio Visual online premiere at the international art center Copenhagen Contemporary
Copenhagen Contemporary Press Release, 15th June 2020:
Copenhagen Contemporary (CC) is proud to host the online premiere of the visuals for the two hour long ambient album composed by Kasper Bjørke Quartet: The Fifty Eleven Project. The 11 films are written & directed by the acclaimed LA based director and visual artist Justin Tyler Close.
The album was released on Kompakt Records in October 2018 and received high praise from the international press – and was selected as 5th Best Contemporary Album of 2018 in The Guardian.
Justin and his team created 11 films for the album’s 11 compositions; as an audio visual installation on 11 screens, which was exhibited in both Copenhagen and Milano, in connection with the official album release. While the exhibition will continue to travel to physical spaces in the future, the 11 films are now finally available to watch online for the very first time - as part of the CC Selects at home series, an initiative brought to life during the Covid-19 pandemic, which has forced cultural institutions to bring art into peoples’ homes.
The premiere event will take place on Thursday June 18th 2020 at 17PM CET - HERE!
Before and after the screening of all 11 films, the visitors will also get the chance to listen to two DJ mixes by Kasper Bjørke, recorded specifically for the premiere event on Copenhagen Contemporary ́s website. One ambient mix meant for listening before watching the films and one for after the films.
Simultaneously a mini website that hosts all 11 films will be launched, where you can read more about The Fifty Eleven Project and see all 11 individual films. The website will be launched June 18th and the link will be revealed HERE!
About The Fifty Eleven Project
Reflecting on Kasper Bjørke’s own experiences, the 11 films - with the 11 compositions from The Fifty Eleven Projectalbum as the soundtrack - visualizes one man’s journey through a dream state, where he is confronted with the uncertainty and anxiety of a cancer diagnosis. Feeling betrayed by his own body, our lead (played by Danish performance artist Kristján Ingimarsson) builds a machine as an attempt to heal himself. Whilst in the machine, we navigate through time; visiting both his 5-year-old self, his 75-year-old-self, and his lover who plays the integral role of “Mother Nature” (performed by Batsheva Dance Company Alumni, Bobbi Jene Smith).
Through the visually striking series of films, we explore love, death, rebirth and a passion for re-connection with our planet. In a deeper sense, on a surreal and metaphoric level, Close explores a not so unrealistic thought; “That mankind is the cancer of Earth; we’re on the brink of destroying our only home, and in order to save ourselves we need to reconnect to our true Mother”.
Close visually dissects our own mortality, with the darkly beautiful but ultimately empowering and autobiographical compositions by Bjørke & his Quartet. Exquisitely recorded, arranged and produced, it twinkles like stars in the cosmos and is expansively infinite, but also vaporous like phosphorescent cosmic dust. In other places it’s dramatic and pensive, like an impending one- way exile into a black hole. There’s a transition from tension and anxiety to a celestial release through the soundtrack and the captivating images by Justin Tyler Close and Danish cinematographer Snorre Ruhe.
The films are produced by Prxjects (a culture laboratory initiated by Mercedes-Benz), Kasper Notlev (ArtOfficialAgency) & Institute of Weather.
CC Selects
CC Selects is the name of a series of evenings where Copenhagen Contemporary has selected and curated an exciting program consisting of art, music and much more. CC Selects sets the stage for talented voices, actors and creative forces that we think deserve extra space and attention.