Ulf Knudsen - Istanbul – 1984 – KZ – NACD189

ULF KNUDSEN – ISTANBUL (1984)
The Norwegian 1980s, like all other music periods, were subsequently dominated by a bunch of very visible personalities: Helge Gaarder is one of them, Andrej Nebb is another, the generally accepted "big four" contain a bunch of people most people know Who is; if you pass these, the people gradually become more peripheral (at least for my part), but that does not mean that they have been less active or productive - most likely it just means that they were less loud. Today's man, Ulf Knudsen, pretends to have been one of these. Our man Ulf is from Stange, and started one of Norway's first punk bands there, Kaare og Partiet, in 1979. The band disbanded the following year, but released the EP Hakekors, according to Rockipedia, without anyone liking it significantly. The following year he started the hardcore band Betong Hysteria, but quit after the release of Spontan Abort. Then the road went to Siste Dagers Hellige with Hærverk's Harald Fossberg. However, this band also split quite quickly, and in 1984 Ulf went solo with the cassette Istanbul, which supposedly became one of the best sellers on Trygve Mathiesen's Likvider label. After this, he joined the start-up of Spacelings with Fossberg, before disappearing into the cult band Sister Rain. I don't know where the road went after this, but it's a very impressive CV anyway. According to the aforementioned Rockipedia, Knudsen now works as a theater technician, and most of his music is relatively inaccessible (something I will do my best to change). The music on the cassette is a fairly big step away from Knudsen's previous projects; the punk energy and aggression of the first three bands has mostly been replaced by lingering, paranoid synthscapes and heavy, chewy rhythms. The opening song Things The Way They Are is an instrumental piano piece where the melodies are built around a single chord that is repeated over and over again. Siste Kort is built on a slow drum machine and layers of synth, while Knudsen spreads hopelessness via a surprisingly catchy chorus. Svart Stil is faster in tempo, but the music is claustrophobic, driven by metallic guitar and Knudsen's manic whispering voice. The doomsday mood is striking throughout the entire listening experience: everything is cold and sterile, and the main character sounds lost in the landscapes. In other words, this is essential listening, and potentially a forgotten classic!

1. Tingene Slik De Er
2. Svart Stil
3. Siste Kort
4. Uten Tittel
5. Høstland
6. Kom Inn!
7. Flammen