TRICK040
WHEN Trippy happy
Cut/collage/psychedelic/pop/rock
Released February 2007
WHEN Trippy happy
Cut/collage/psychedelic/pop/rock
Released February 2007
Release info/Press release
Lars Pedersen was born in 1961; his father, Tor Pedersen, was a Norwegian musical composer. At an early age, Lars performed with his father, brother and two older sisters, being often compared to The Partridge Family. Lars made his first apperance on a record when he was 11 years old, and met Chuck Berry and other stars.
In the late 1970's Lars played in the first Norwegian punk band Hærverk, and would later – as the 80's came – go on to form the band The Last James. The Last James explored The Beatles/Beach Boys sound, releasing three albums, Grape, The Last James and Kindergarten. During the 1980's and early 90's, Pedersen was also a member of the seminal industrial/new wave group Holy Toy, fronted by Andrej D. Nebb. Holy Toy put out severeal stand-out albums such as Panzer and Rabbitz, Why Not in Choir? and Pakt of Fakt.
Over the years Lars has also composed music for several productions by the Norwegian avant-garde ensemble The Theatre of Cruelty, firmly rooted in the visions of the French surrealist poet Antonin Artaud.
In 1983 Pedersen launched the one-man project Hospital Blimp, which would later become When. The debut album Drowning but Learning was released in 1987, with When's trademark cut-up/collage technique already apparent.
In 1988 When released Death in the Blue Lake, inspired by Norwegian author André Bjerke's psychological horror novel of the same name. The album had a strong atmosphere of fear and mourning, and was quite popular in Norwegian black metal circles. Satyricon used an excerpt from the album's A-side as intro to their Shadowthrone. The B-side of the album is an amalgamation of ethnic music, blues harmonica, coughing, psychedelic pop and glissandi effects. Today it is almost impossible to track down a copy of the album.
Black, White & Grey, When's third album, conjured up images of war and urban decay. Chris Cutler (Henry Cow, Art Bears, etc.), who contributed to the album, was also a central inspiration. The album was released on Cutler's RéR Megacorp. in 1990.
1992 saw the release of Svartedauen (Norwegian for "The Black Death"), a 38-minute musical description of the ravages of the bubonic plague in Norway around 1349. The album borrows elements from Norwegian folk music, and features a host of disturbing sounds: hearses, moans of the dying, rats, flagellant's whips and a scythe being sharpened, to name but a few. It is, perhaps along with Univers Zero's Heresie, one of the scariest albums ever to have been released.
On 94's Prefab Wreckage, When slowly started moving from the more abstract soundtracks of the earlier albums and towards a more song-oriented sound. The inner sleeve is a painting by Hieronymus Bosch, one of the album's inspirations.
In 1997 When released Gynt, which according to the liner notes is a "satiric play on Edward Grieg's Peer Gynt. Inspired by Henrik Ibsen." As Pedersen says: "I tried to put irony into the music. There is a lot of humour in When's music, it's not bloody serious all the time."
After Gynt, When was signed by Jester Records, newly set-up by the notorious Kristoffer Garm Rygg of Ulver, and the next album would mark another radical change in When's musical direction. Psychedelic Wunderbaum was indeed a psychedelic mix, with apparent inspirations from rock, noise and cartoon music, and with lyrics taken from Aleister Crowley and Tom Wolfe. Pedersen remarked: "I fetched many grooves from old, obscure psychedelic garage bands. It was something I had wanted to do for a long time, but I thought that it might be too audacious. But as more and more artists seem to be using that method, I figured that I could do it too. I dug up the old Farfisa organ that I had used in Holy Toy and got Bjørn Sorknes, the old Holy Toy guitarist, with me. We worked together on the production as well. It became a sort of crossing between industrial and psychedelic rock."
The next album, The Lobster Boys, was Pedersen's most pop-oriented effort till then. Many of the songs were reminiscent of The Beach Boys and/or The Beatles, but there's always something just a little 'off' and odd about When's music that sets it apart from more mainstream acts. Some tracks start out as 'normal' rock, but often end up in a cacophony of weird samples and madness before reaching an end. The Lobster Boys was also heavily inspired by Arabic music. Nils Arne Øvergård and Øyvind Borgemoen joined When as full members on this recording. The trio has played several concerts, including the release party for the single Sunshine Superhead, where they performed in bear costumes with paper-mâché guitars. The same song also got heavy radio rotation in Norway that summer.
In 2003 When released Pearl-Harvest, more or less The Lobster Boys part II, but with lyrical concepts taken from The Arabian Nights. Combine those fables with sampled, shambling Middle Eastern bazaar muzak, jangling exotica and electronics, and you've got When's winning formula.
When's 2004 album, Whenever, features a characteristic mix of Middle Eastern influences, African tribal rhythms, as well as trademark When collages and cartoon loops. The lyrics, written by Chris Cutler, often deal with grim subject matter such as the apocalypse and death.
At last, after a long time in the making, When's 11th album Trippy Happy is here, marking When's 20 years (!) in the music business. The sheer range of sound, influence and atmosphere is startling.
You have never heard anything like it.
Lars Pedersen was born in 1961; his father, Tor Pedersen, was a Norwegian musical composer. At an early age, Lars performed with his father, brother and two older sisters, being often compared to The Partridge Family. Lars made his first apperance on a record when he was 11 years old, and met Chuck Berry and other stars.
In the late 1970's Lars played in the first Norwegian punk band Hærverk, and would later – as the 80's came – go on to form the band The Last James. The Last James explored The Beatles/Beach Boys sound, releasing three albums, Grape, The Last James and Kindergarten. During the 1980's and early 90's, Pedersen was also a member of the seminal industrial/new wave group Holy Toy, fronted by Andrej D. Nebb. Holy Toy put out severeal stand-out albums such as Panzer and Rabbitz, Why Not in Choir? and Pakt of Fakt.
Over the years Lars has also composed music for several productions by the Norwegian avant-garde ensemble The Theatre of Cruelty, firmly rooted in the visions of the French surrealist poet Antonin Artaud.
In 1983 Pedersen launched the one-man project Hospital Blimp, which would later become When. The debut album Drowning but Learning was released in 1987, with When's trademark cut-up/collage technique already apparent.
In 1988 When released Death in the Blue Lake, inspired by Norwegian author André Bjerke's psychological horror novel of the same name. The album had a strong atmosphere of fear and mourning, and was quite popular in Norwegian black metal circles. Satyricon used an excerpt from the album's A-side as intro to their Shadowthrone. The B-side of the album is an amalgamation of ethnic music, blues harmonica, coughing, psychedelic pop and glissandi effects. Today it is almost impossible to track down a copy of the album.
Black, White & Grey, When's third album, conjured up images of war and urban decay. Chris Cutler (Henry Cow, Art Bears, etc.), who contributed to the album, was also a central inspiration. The album was released on Cutler's RéR Megacorp. in 1990.
1992 saw the release of Svartedauen (Norwegian for "The Black Death"), a 38-minute musical description of the ravages of the bubonic plague in Norway around 1349. The album borrows elements from Norwegian folk music, and features a host of disturbing sounds: hearses, moans of the dying, rats, flagellant's whips and a scythe being sharpened, to name but a few. It is, perhaps along with Univers Zero's Heresie, one of the scariest albums ever to have been released.
On 94's Prefab Wreckage, When slowly started moving from the more abstract soundtracks of the earlier albums and towards a more song-oriented sound. The inner sleeve is a painting by Hieronymus Bosch, one of the album's inspirations.
In 1997 When released Gynt, which according to the liner notes is a "satiric play on Edward Grieg's Peer Gynt. Inspired by Henrik Ibsen." As Pedersen says: "I tried to put irony into the music. There is a lot of humour in When's music, it's not bloody serious all the time."
After Gynt, When was signed by Jester Records, newly set-up by the notorious Kristoffer Garm Rygg of Ulver, and the next album would mark another radical change in When's musical direction. Psychedelic Wunderbaum was indeed a psychedelic mix, with apparent inspirations from rock, noise and cartoon music, and with lyrics taken from Aleister Crowley and Tom Wolfe. Pedersen remarked: "I fetched many grooves from old, obscure psychedelic garage bands. It was something I had wanted to do for a long time, but I thought that it might be too audacious. But as more and more artists seem to be using that method, I figured that I could do it too. I dug up the old Farfisa organ that I had used in Holy Toy and got Bjørn Sorknes, the old Holy Toy guitarist, with me. We worked together on the production as well. It became a sort of crossing between industrial and psychedelic rock."
The next album, The Lobster Boys, was Pedersen's most pop-oriented effort till then. Many of the songs were reminiscent of The Beach Boys and/or The Beatles, but there's always something just a little 'off' and odd about When's music that sets it apart from more mainstream acts. Some tracks start out as 'normal' rock, but often end up in a cacophony of weird samples and madness before reaching an end. The Lobster Boys was also heavily inspired by Arabic music. Nils Arne Øvergård and Øyvind Borgemoen joined When as full members on this recording. The trio has played several concerts, including the release party for the single Sunshine Superhead, where they performed in bear costumes with paper-mâché guitars. The same song also got heavy radio rotation in Norway that summer.
In 2003 When released Pearl-Harvest, more or less The Lobster Boys part II, but with lyrical concepts taken from The Arabian Nights. Combine those fables with sampled, shambling Middle Eastern bazaar muzak, jangling exotica and electronics, and you've got When's winning formula.
When's 2004 album, Whenever, features a characteristic mix of Middle Eastern influences, African tribal rhythms, as well as trademark When collages and cartoon loops. The lyrics, written by Chris Cutler, often deal with grim subject matter such as the apocalypse and death.
At last, after a long time in the making, When's 11th album Trippy Happy is here, marking When's 20 years (!) in the music business. The sheer range of sound, influence and atmosphere is startling.
You have never heard anything like it.
Reviews
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Aquarius March 2007
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Purple Music Reviews March 2007
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Harmonium April 2007
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Ptolemaic Terrascope June 2007
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Raven Sings the Blues June 2007