Inside No. 9, Episode #10: Worried Friends, Nervous Enemies: Lasse Marhaug. 2005-2022
And now for something a little bit frightening for the month of October – some select cuts from my collection of Lasse Marhaug records. Expect music from the furthest reaches of big sound design, to the basement of lo-fi sonic vomit. Marhaug is a prolific artist, whose hand can be felt across hundreds of records via his visual design work, many collaborations and numerous solo efforts. He has designed some of my favorite records, and collaborated with titans like Sunn O))). Oren Ambarchi, Kevin Drumm and Paal Nilssen-Love. His recent work has seen some of his most intricate sound design to date; highlighted by this year’s‘ Context’ and ‘Higgs Boson’ (with Runhild Gammelsæter) records. Yet he still lays down some great dirty noise gems, like the recent Gjota 10”.
Marhaug’s work is always epic in scope. At times his sounds are grand and audacious bellowing forth like a church organ, without the pomp but with all the ceremony. At other times he delves into the most abstract and challenging of audio experiments, like on the 7” that this mix takes its name from. Whatever he does he adds a bit of magic, setting him apart from so many shadow-dwelling noiseniks. Three of the tracks featured on this mix come from records way up there in my top 50 of all time. His collaboration with Yuen Chee Wai not only has one of the greatest record covers of all time, but the sounds within are peak noise. Do yourself a favour and dive into this mix then pick up as much as you can. Fall into the rabbit hole of his numerous collaborations and rejoice in the din. You can see why he was selected for the Boomkat documenting sound series. The track ‘Family’, from the aforementioned record, sounds like taking a bath in space.
This mix contains recordings from vinyl and cassette.
Strange One
Gammelsæter & Marhaug
Propeller Arc
2022
Strange Two
Lasse Marhaug
Mountain of the Seven Vultures
2010
Strange Three
Lasse Marhaug
Family
2020
Strange Four
Lasse Marhaug & John Wesseltoft
Cultivated Leisure
2017
Strange Five
Lasse Marhaug
Context 3
2022
Strange Six
Yuen Chee Wai & Lasse Marhaug
In Praise of Shadows
2018
Strange Seven
Marhaug
Gjota
2019
Strange Eight
Lasse Marhaug
Future Architects Will Disembowel Us
2016
Strange Nine
Lasse Marhaug
Old Friends
2005
Inside No. 9 is an attempt to share unique narratives through the mixing of 9 songs. Every episode will showcase a new theme, opening up new tributaries of discovery. Inside No. 9 is presented by Peter Taylor, a former features writer for Foxy Digitalis from back in the late 2000s. Peter is a visual artist and musician and has been creating music as MAbH since 2008.
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