Johann Johannsson On 4AD?

from his website, johannjohannsson.com:

Johann´s new album, IBM 1401, a user´s manual, was mastered at Abbey Road in March and will be out worldwide in August on 4AD. Johann will tour with his ensemble in the autumn to follow the album, including a tour of the UK in November and some dates in Europe. More info on that soon. Johann has been touring with the stage version of the piece (with choreographer Erna Omarsdottir) since 2002, with recent dates in Tallinn, Budapest, Lyon, Freiburg and Zurich. More dates of IBM 1401 performances will be added here soon. Erna and Johann are currently busy with their new work-in-progress, Mysteries of Love, which is being booked around Europe in the next few months also.

Posted on 08.04.06

Fordlandia is out today. According to his MySpace page, this is the second in a planned trilogy that started with IBM 1401.

Always nice to have (and sate) the release date anticipation.

Listening to it now for the first time. Mesmerised (which maybe isn't good, because I'm trying to finish a lab report at the same time). Really, this is gorgeous. Hopefully I'll have more to say on it anon.

anyone heard And In The Endless Pause There Came The Sound Of Bees?

and, importantly, know where to get hold of a copy?

Varmint is nice.

Tell me more about this guy, like where to start and where to stop

Viroulegu Forsetar was the first thing of his I ever heard and it worked pretty well on me, so I say start there.

Likewise, Viroulegu Forsetar was the first thing I heard, and I still like it best. The IBM piece I agree with the person upthread that the spoken parts are distracting. Fordlandia is good. There may be an element of diminishing returns with Johannsson, he kind of has one register and he sticks to it, but I do think Viroulegu Forsetar makes for pretty mesmerising headphone music.

Didn't enjoy it when I saw him live, at all.

All the Touch and 4AD releases are worth hearing.

Has anyone kept up to date? Not heard anything since The Miners' Hymns.

Perhaps I'm being an idiot but has the Trapped soundtrack not been released?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0ahB25FJ6o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB46mn8Exd8

Cheeky fucker, I'd sue If I was Muhly

The Guardian has reported that Hans Zimmer has replaced JJ as the composer for the new Blade Runner.

Anyone know the story there?

It's been discussed on the Blade Runner or Boomkat Classical threads iirc? Can't say anyone really knew the whole story though.

Esp as he must be under a strict NDA

I have to confess I chuckled at the Boomkat review of his The Mercy soundtrack:

Prolific composer Jóhann Jóhannsson provides the sonic impetus to The Mercy - a torrid looking dramatisation of a boat race by and starring gurning posh people, namely Colin Firth and Rachel Weisz - with a suitably Hollywood-styled orchestral suite brimming with romantic smugness and some sense of thwarted glory.

Absolute shocker. He has passed on:

https://www.facebook.com/JohannJohannssonMusic/posts/10156048107652243

blasting Fordlandia today in memory.

Ugh says he was missing for a few days and then they found him.

Lord. Where'd you see that, omar?

Never mind, saw a mention on Indiewire, but that sounds more rumor-like.

Yes take it with a grain of salt.

I hadn't kept up with his soundtracks or anything but some of his earlier, more personal work like IBM 140 - a User's Manual and Fordlandia were always quite moving to me. Really saddened by this. RIP.

That’s a shock. Found dead in his appartment, according to http://variety.com/2018/film/news/johann-johannsson-dead-dies-theory-of-everything-sicario-1202694567/

Listening to his FACT mix right now -- it really does give a good sense, not of everything he drew on necessarily, but the kind of listener he was, and where he wanted to go.

http://www.factmag.com/2015/12/07/fact-mix-527-johann-johannsson/

Shocking news. RIP.

ugh this is so sad

Feeling genuinely upset about this. RIP.

Oh this sucks he was so young.

This is devastating

I only met him once but he worked with many close friends of mine

Damn, sad to hear the news. I've got that FACT mix on now and it's tugging at the heartstrings. I've been a longtime fan of his music. RIP.

What a tragedy...

Only heard the news now and have difficulty believing it.

Quite nice piece in The Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/feb/11/johann-johannsson-the-late-icelandic-composer-who-made-loss-sublime

Bemused that "Virdulegu forsetar" is rarely being mentioned.

Yes, that's my favourite piece of his.

Incredibly sad news - I haven't kept up so much with his latest soundtrack stuff but Virdulegu forsetar, Fordlandia and User's Manual are all excellent and, as the piece in the Guardian says, already elegiac and tinged with death. 48 is so young to die, is there any info out there on how/why?

Bemused that "Virdulegu forsetar" is rarely being mentioned.

― djh, Sunday, February 11, 2018 9:26 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I didn't mention it because I thought everyone else had already. It's, by far, his greatest achievement.

Good grief how shocking and upsetting. I’m not well versed in his earlier work but his music for Arrival was stunningly original + my favorite film score that year.

x-post

I meant generally (in real life) rather than here, Le Bateau Ivre - had spent quite some time flicking through Twitter and news stories. I think I was kind of saying "That's the album I need to play, right now."

pic.twitter.com/SzYzSz3o58

— Ólafur Arnalds (@OlafurArnalds) February 11, 2018

That's a great story, re: the score. Listening to IBM 1401 now. Part 3 "IBM 1402 Card Read-Punch" reminds me of Gorecki's 3rd. Not as a copy, but with the warm comfort it provides. This was a hard one. Johannssen was someone I avidly followed.

...despite spelling his name wrong.

http://www.factmag.com/2018/02/13/johann-johannsson-obituary/

http://130701.com/r-i-p-johann-johannsson-1969-2018/

Thank you to @beagewill for reminding me to listen to "The Cause of Labour is the Hope of the World" by the upsettingly dead Jóhann Jóhannsson https://t.co/t2ZGVb5kBf

— Jon Schwarz (@schwarz) February 16, 2018

^ Strangely, that is the track I've "rediscovered" since his death (Owned it but tended to play other things).

Ughhh that is so fucking beautiful

Can't believe I missed this (and the album it is from):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWB9P5dTJcU

There's a double disc version of Englabörn coming up in March, apparently.

https://www.directaudio.net/products/johann-johannsson-englaborn-and-variations-vinyl-2lp-april-6-2018-pre-order

Can anyone see a copy of Copenhagen Dreams for sale, for a not silly price?

http://www.johannjohannsson.com/topspin-store/home/ ?

(worth a try, maybe, don't know if that store is still active)

Ta.

And any recommendations soundtrack wise? (After The Miner's Hymns, there's a gap in my collection up to Endless Summer & Orphee).

he doesn't have anything bad (except maybe Dís, which I don't get) - Prisoners, The Theory of Everything, Sicario, Arrival are great. Haven't heard yet: Free the mind, i am here, mcCanick

Couple of tribute mixes:

Dr Rob

Low Light Mixes

A CDR (Draft):

The Burning Mountain (O)
Salfraedingur Deyr (E)
A Song For Europa (O)
Odi et Amo (E)
Flight From The City (O)
Rainwater (AITEP)
Petta Gerist a Bestu Baejum (E)
1BM 1401 Processing Unit (IBM)
A Pile Of Dust (O)
The Sun's Gone Dim (IBM)
Theme (AITEP)
VF Pt1 (VF)
Krokodill (E)

Too much Orphee and Englaborn. Didn't include tracks from The Mercy and Fordlandia (which I have). Didn't include anything from End of Summer but only because my computer wouldn't read it. Would have included "The Cause of Labour" from The Miners' Hymns but can't find the CD (despite it being here at some point in the week). Not exactly intended as a "Best of"; more something to make me sit down and listen. Haven't "road-tested" for flow etc.

Would welcome suggestions as to what from albums I haven't mentioned would bump tracks off this.

Different than the string beauty of his other works, the Dis soundtrack reminds me of a bubbly, electric, mostly instrumental cousin to a John Hughes movie soundtrack. Hotel Borg will give you an idea. A palate cleansing kind of track for that mix.

"Glima", off the Trancendentalism EP, is another pretty one, though comparable to what you've always chosen. "The Cause of Labour...", is also on that EP, besides being on The Miners' Hymns.

Haven't listened to the other soundtracks with the same attention as his albums, but intend to.

Ta. Strangely, I do have Dis but didn't even think to take it off the shelf.

Toying with the idea of just going and getting the albums I don't own.

Copenhagen Dreams, the film, is really great as well. The director thinks I'm an asshole, though.

Why so?

i'm gonna get another of his soundtracks via my eMusic membership today. Should I get Copenhagen Dreams, Prisoners, or And in the Endless Pause...?

I'd vote "And in the Endless Pause...". Rainwater, one of djh's picks, is stunning, as is City Building.

i was leaning endless pause just because of the title :)

Weird: it had never occurred to me that the "Endless Pause" sleeve actually is from the film ("Varmints").

Why so?

― djh, 22. februar 2018 21:43 (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I organized a screening that didn't go well at all. I'd say it wasn't my fault, but that's not how he sees it :)

https://www.mixcloud.com/CrackMagazine/music-by-j%C3%B3hann-j%C3%B3hannsson-mixed-by-dave-howell-130701-fatcat-records/

Hadn't heard this prior to Howell's mix (from a Touch compilation):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImfG9qKwGlU

Anyone tempted by/heard the Variations from the new Englaborn re-issue?

Bemused that "Virdulegu forsetar" is rarely being mentioned.

― djh, Sunday, February 11, 2018 9:26 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I didn't mention it because I thought everyone else had already. It's, by far, his greatest achievement.

― Le Bateau Ivre,

The two things I acquired since his passing are virdulegu and endless pause, I found the former much the superior of the two (prior to this I only knew arrival (astonishing) and theory of everything (ok)

https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2018/event/johann-johannsson-last-and-first-men

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZrRhRIWXPM

https://www.abconcerts.be/en/agenda/events/in-remembrance-of-johann-johannsson-virulegu-forsetar/20870/ <- in a church in Brussels, on his birthday

https://pitchfork.com/news/johann-johannssons-mandy-soundtrack-his-final-work-to-be-released/

Mandy OST has been released (as has his cause of death, it's on wikipedia)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnOMjw3jHZc

Thanks for posting that, StanM.

https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/gb/cat/4837189 ? is this a new Copenhagen Dreams remaster or just a reissue?

It also features as part of the Retrospective box - there's no mention of any remastering.

Anyone buy the retrospective (first volume)?

I'm really into Hildur Guðnadóttir's scoring these days! She seemed to come up under Johann and has taken over a few of the gigs that I would've anticipated would've been his, and her work is fabulous! I was watching Chernobyl last night and it was just great

^ There have been some soundtracks recently that have seemed to be download only but from playing samples have sounded great.

The approaching winter means I am revisiting this guy's music lately. I think his early (non soundtrack) music is my favorite, but lately I have been going to sleep to Free The Mind and 2016's Orphee and it's been very, very nice.

In general I think I prefer when his music incorporates electronic elements more prominently, and I don't just say that because I am a recently recovering reflexive hater of orchestral-sounds-as-orchestral-sounds (by which I mean that like a lot of people a lifetime of Hollywood crap prevented me from differentiating / enjoying any *classical music until only about five years ago)

(*except weird stuff)

Volume 2 of his retrospective arrived today. About to dive in ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wnkrh240RGk

Am sure I've missed some other JJ releases recently, too.

Oh, "Blind Massage" and "Shadow Play" on Chinese label Soundtrack Magazine. Anyone heard?

Just checked - they are on Spotify.

Enjoying "Blind Massage", in particular.

In the time that I have taken to decide I should buy them, they have sold out, obviously.