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This is that feeling of when something shows up you had forgot about. It’s a mystery to you, a part of lost time, a blackout. It had just left you; the how, the why, the when?! It all escapes you. It is a semi-familiar blur, mixed with the thought; was I supposed to do this? A tiny alien part of yourself had submerged itself, incongruent with your idea of self.

My first ever CD was God Fodder by Ned's Atomic Dustbin, given to me for the Xmas of 1991. I could only listen to it in the living room when my parents where out of the house, and I didn't get a CD walkman until 1997. Before this I had to make mixtapes to listen on my MC walkman. But elements of that first CD snuck in somewhere, in here, into this album.

Recorded in February 2018, on Valentine's day. An improvised recording session using a Zoom H5 in a somewhat dirty apartment in Briskeby Oslo. I didn't have a valentine that year, as you can probably hear. Recorded in scant clothing with a mild headache, using either an 8 string stereo or dual output feedbacker/guitar or a Rhandy Rhodes DIY-kit guitar that I carved skulls and bear faces into. Or both. A Boss DR-3 for drums. Beats mostly punched in with a Wish.com bought stereo looper. For effects, an Akai deluxe distortion, Electro Harmonix Big Muff deluxe bass, a bit-crusher box assembled by a speed-freak later rehoused, a no-name fuzz also from Mr. speed-freak, 3 wally hotone loopers, 2 x Zoom ms50G, a boss GE7 equalizer. All run through a Behringer Xenxy 802 into the H5.

Unsure if anything. I speculate if this is all from a later session or if I just recorded everything that Valentine's day from 11.20 to 04.55 (according to the meta data). That day is hazy, at best. Later that day I posed for pictures in the “Hello Friend” bear costume and drew a sketch where I noted down title ideas for the album and recordings. I was considering naming it; It’s neither here nor bear, what good is a heart trapped in a chest. But it was to nice to be a noise record, so it sat and waited for better times or the aftermath of worse. You know, post 2020-2022. Meanwhile the sounds lived on as files on the phone - something to listened to while walking with headphones, through crowds. in public, on a tram, train or buss. Music to make you feel off kilter.

As for the cover art, around the same time I grew addicted to breaking up markers and mixing them with flowing alcohol and rubbing it on photo paper, attempting to compose images the same way I improvise music. Sometimes listening to music while doing so, to see if one could compose or make these ink paintings into music annotations. I called the series "Random compositions”. I made them to relax and it felt so freeing in a time of stress, so much It was hard to stop. Escaping figuration sound, it became a very messy meditation with fingers post session looking like I was both discoloured and disfigured. Both the music and the images were expressions awaiting a release until Case Records came knocking.

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Christian Blandhoel is a untaught improvisational musician, disabled and an Oslo art school educated visual artist. Inaction-figure maker, plush bear manipulator, involuntary textile artist, painter, performance, noise-instrument maker, feedbacker creator, realtime composer and noise-musician.
Born in 1976 grew up in the suburban forests of 1405 LANGHUS, with roots in the Follo Rock scene where he was briefly in the indie rock band Thee Unmist from 1998 to 2000, and the unfulfilled ìlavesiî band; Star Star Guitar, making and performing Noise-music under the IJIN, Hello Friend, Blandhoel and Kjøttpøkk banners since 2010.

www.blandhoel.com  


Released May 8, 2024

Composed and performed by
Christian Blandhoel

Mastered by
Ernst Van Der Loo

Cover by
Christian Blandhoel


CASE RECORDS 2024 / CASE35

The World Works Better if You Break it

Passing Out in Hallways

Christian Blandhoel | This World Works Better if You Break it | Passing Out In Hallways

Norwegian label based in Oslo. An eclectic gathering of experimental music, leaning ever so slightly towards the avant-garde.

Head on over to Bandcamp for the full catalogue and all them tracks.