Espen Beranek Holm is a Norwegian musician and comedian, born 1960 and began his music career as a clarinetist. Inspired by early synthesizer bands Kraftwerk and The Residents, he began making experimental pop music. His debut single “Dra te’ hælvete” was released in 1981 and was immediately banned by national TV/radio channel NRK due to explicit lyrics. This gave the young artist tons of publicity, helping the single spend almost 6 months on the national charts. Beranek returned to the Starholm Studios in Oslo from June - September 1981 to record nine new compositions. His debut album, “Sound of Danger”, was released on Mind Expanding Records in November 1981. Nowhere near as accessible as the previous single, the album fared poorly commercially. Withdrawing from the single’s fun, kitsch pop, the album is cool and static, driven by thin rhythm boxes, cold synths, and glacial guitars. Taking heavy cues from David Bowie, all of the songs are sung in a nasally English accent, a rare occurrence in Norway at the time. The lyrics are melancholic, but tinged with paranoia. There are also upbeat tracks that evoke a prog or glam sensibility a la King Crimson, Alan Parsons, or Roxy Music
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"Please welcome: It’s The Arps! Oslo’s magic music maker Todd Terje has already gained a wunderkind like reputation for his gentle yet potent productions (we won’t mention the “E” word here) on labels like Full Pupp, Permanent Vacation or Running Back on top of being one of the best remixers money can buy (Shit Robot, Bryan Ferry, Dølle Jølle et cetera et cetera). What is there left for him to do? Establish a label of his own! “It’s The Arps” is the starting signal for Olsen. And what a splendid one it is. Created from scratch and solely on the mythical synthesizer ARP 2600 (check www.letsnerd.com for help), it features four tracks (reads instant classics) that couldn’t be a better follow-up to his 2011 super hit EP “Ragysh”. Towering over the assortment is the laser crime scene called “Inspector Norse”. Defying genres and blinkers, this is finest goose bumps dance music that makes you whistle along, laughing and crying all at the same time – but the rest isn’t half bad either. The short, but sweet “Myggsommer” gives away Terje’s secret love for quirky exotika, whereas “Swing Star Pt 1” and its brother have a (balearic) brilliance and witchery to them that is rarely found nowadays. Powered by Smalltown Supersound and housed in a beautiful sleeve courtesy of Bendik Kaltenborn (www.benkalt.no). 100% Arp 2600 and 200% Todd Terje!"

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(erol alkan rmx) Slip into your tin foil hat and do the 'Maskindans', it's almost album time (not again!)
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