Down Is Up discusses music that falls slightly under the radar of our usual coverage: demos and self-releases, as well as output from small or overlooked labels and communities. This week, Jenn Pelly explores a new compilation, Dokument #1, which surveys the Copenhagen punk and noise scene that includes Iceage, Lower, Vår, Lust for Youth, Puce Mary, Hand of Dust, and more.
Communions: "Cobblestones" on SoundCloud.
I saw Iceage play New York four times this year, but my favorite encounter with the Danish punk band did not happen at a loud venue. It was among the bright walls and silence of a West Village art gallery, where I viewed a few tiny, impressionistic portraits of singer Elias Bender Rønnenfelt by renowned painter Elizabeth Peyton. These were quietly vivid renderings, painted in broad strokes, and to me they replicated the darkly expressive and sometimes elegant nature of Iceage's recent music, as well as the mystique of its distance. The space was totally empty, like a secret show; the canvases were surrounded by huge swaths of white space. Peyton's paintings also helped emphasize another point—Iceage are better known in the United States than they are at home.
That could be said of many of their peers in Copenhagen's small world of art punk, power electronics, and cold synth pop—a community which has gained visibility over the past two years with fuel from a tight-knit circle of musicians. A new 2xLP compilation, Dokument #1, has been assembled by the Copenhagen Main Library to archive the city's underground at this moment, while offering other Danes an introduction to industrial, raw punk, black metal and more. Alongside bands like Iceage, Lower, Vår, Lust for Youth, and Marching Church come the even lesser-known Puce Mary, Hand of Dust, Sexdrome, Girlseeker, Garrotte, and Redflesh, among others. The double album is out this week—it's the 100th release from Danish label Posh Isolation—but it's already been nominated for the Nordic Music Prize. (Last month Posh Isolation also released the ten-track compilation Rosehip, Scallop, Dancer, which focuses more on spacious experimental electronic music.) According to Anton Rothstein, the drummer of Lower, Dokument #1 features 18 bands consisting of 23 people.
The compilation is well-timed. Following Lower's debut EP last year have come worthy 2013 LPs from Vår, Lust for Youth, Puce Mary, and Croation Amor, plus the debut 7" from a promising new project, Communions (streaming above). That's not to mention Iceage's own considerable progress from scrappy teen punks to one of our better current rock bands, kids who (sort of) express interest in literature and performance art and Erik Satie and bring that post-punk sensibility to their songs. If you have seen Iceage perform lately, you have likely witnessed Rønnenfelt's possessed on-stage sky-summoning, as if he's reaching for the drama of Michael Gira.
About one-third of the material from Dokument #1 was recorded live in February, during a two-night showcase presented at the library and performance space Mayhem. I corresponded with Lower's Anton Rothstein via email that month to learn more; librarian Lars Kjelfred also chimed in, as did Loke Rahbek, co-founder of Posh Isolation who plays in Vår, Lust for Youth, Croation Amor, Sexdrome, and Damien Dubrovnik. Two songs from Dokument #1 are also streaming below.
Above, right: Elias of Iceage, by Elizabeth Peyton (Thanks Brandon for telling me about this)
Pitchfork: I've heard that one particular librarian from the Copenhagen Main Library worked on the Dokument project. What is his or her involvement with music in Copenhagen?
Anton Rothstein: Lars Kjelfred is his name, though he prefers the name Mr. Librarian. He is in charge of the music section in the main library of Copenhagen where he struggles to enlighten people about Danish music that's not being played on the radio. He’s been going to shows at Mayhem a lot and has shown great interest in the gang. He invited me, Loke and Kristian to a meeting where he pitched the idea and we agreed to do it after some negotiations and some alcohol.
Pitchfork: Is the compilation being funded by the library? Does the library host music events often? The New York Public Library has interesting programming, but I could not imagine them partnering with a tiny tape label on a joint release.
Lars the Librarian: I thought it was strange to be listening to all of this wonderful music, going to these amazing gigs, and to only be reading about it in international news sources like Pitchfork and NME instead of local. I am sure more Americans are aware of the scene than Danes. So this project is kind of making up for that—setting it right. We didn't fund it, but financially we are taking responsibility for the project to succeed. We expect the 2xLP to sell enough for the project to balance economically.
We don't do gigs that often, that's not our business, but we host artist talks when interesting people visit Copenhagen. Thurston Moore, for example, was here talking about the New York no wave scene. Tony Conrad, Gary Lucas, Alan Wilder, Peter Hook, David Thomas, they have all been here. The gigs in connection with Dokument #1 were done mainly for the recordings, but, of course, also to showcase the scene in the centre of Copenhagen.
Pitchfork: The shows will produce this archive, an artifact of the time. Why does it feel important to capture the sound/spirit of music around Mayhem right now, and have it on public record in Denmark?
LL: I have been a music addict for so many years, and the music from lots of these groups just amazes me. Genres I wouldn’t normally listen to were suddenly just a small step away. If you think Iceage are great, but too punk, try out Vår. Same lead singer, but more poppy tunes. How fantastic is that. I am always looking for my next fix of favorite music, and suddenly there were loads in my backyard and I could go see these acts whenever I wanted. I really wanted to pass that experience on to more Danes.
Pitchfork: Why do you think this music has been overlooked in Denmark?
LL: You have to dig to find. The groups don’t get that much airplay on the radio and they are a bit overlooked, even by the music magazines. That’s a bit strange though. Earlier on, I would have gone mad if a Danish band was touring the states, but that’s normal now. The attention achieved by Lower and Iceage is really something much bigger.
Pitchfork: As you wrote the purpose of the project is to survey the current group of bands surrounding Mayhem. Is it fair to refer to this as "the Mayhem scene"?
AR: Yes. The purpose is to portray or document what is going on within our group of people—who, to be honest, are friends before musicians. Mayhem is where we spend a lot of our time playing music and hanging out, but it’s more than just our base. There are other people in other rooms in the complex, and we’ve also shared other rehearsal spaces around town. But obviously people think of us as the bands and people from Mayhem. You could probably refer to us as that just to make everything easier.
Pitchfork: How did Mayhem begin? What was your first impression of the space and how do you think the existence of Mayhem has influenced the current community of artists?
AR: I am not totally sure of how it all began, but the complex was offered to small community of people and as things progressed we were asked to move in to the back room, which was a very nice gesture. My initial encounters were mostly noise and power-electronic shows that Loke and Christian (from Posh Isolation) would put on. I guess once we got the opportunity to participate in the space, our relationship has developed into a more responsible treatment of the place and a feeling of being home there. Having that one big room that contains all of the rock bands (Sexdrome, Iceage, Lower, Hand of Dust, Zero Figure, Skurv, Sejr and more) is very nice. It feels like we have our own hangout spot where we can be friends.
Pitchfork: How would you characterize the atmosphere and energy at Mayhem? I have watched some videos from shows there and they seem a lot more fun than the shows I have seen with Danish bands in the U.S.
AR: Shows differ a lot. It’s not always actual mayhem, but most of the times we have parties after the show where people go insane. Maybe it’s because so many of the people attending the shows are close friends. It’s not like we want to exclude people from the “outside” or anything, it's rather the other way around, but we do have a lot of fun—at least once the music’s been played.
Pitchfork: In January Iceage participated in an art show in New York, which sort of contextualized their music and visual art within a more global community—lots of artists from New York as well as the Ascetic House circle. To me, it seems like there is pretty strong comraderie between the Copenhagen scene and other pockets of activity in the U.S., maybe more so than elsewhere in Europe.
AR: There’s definitely a connection to the Arizona tribe around Ascetic House. I met Jes in Phoenix in 2011 while on tour with Iceage and felt a bond instantly. I did a show with Marshstepper and Body of Light at Mayhem last year and we had a good time. When Vår and Lust For Youth played in the Sonoran desert last December, the relationship between Phoenix and Copenhagen grew even stronger. I suppose we share a mutual attitude amongst us. In New York there’s Sean Ragon who produced the Vår LP and released the American version of Lower’s first EP. He’s also putting out Hand of Dust’s debut EP.
Some years ago, before we ever ventured in America, we experienced the same thing with the people of Gothenburg, Sweden who had a place called Utmarken—a joint rehearsal space, show space and record shop. We’ve had a very strong connection to them since and we still collaborate with people there from time to time. Recently Frederikke [of Puce Mary] recorded an LP with Sewer Election to be put out on Nattmaran.
Pitchfork: Do you think it's good for the music that there's not as much attention at home?
Loke Rahbek: What we release on Posh Isolation would have a limited audience anywhere. Taking into consideration that Denmark’s population is about 5 million, I think the audience we have seems to be fitting. After all, "Anything's better than posh isolation."
Watch Iceage at Dokument #1, February 23, 2013: