THE TRANSLATED AND EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Vestland Sound Machine are a Ghanaian folk-techno band from Bergen, Norway. While some are inspired by sun and white beaches, others must be inspired by eternal rain, a sea of fog and a gloomy future. In VSM, Ghana’s drum traditions meet Berlin’s dark techno scene and Bergen meets itself at the door. This is how it is when you live in a small town and the rain pours down. People do not talk to each other at the bus stop, but good things happen inside the studio.
Abu Adonaba, Henrik Angermund and Jens Kristian Rimau wanted to create something new and fun, something that could be danced to as African robots. This resulted in VSM. They were curious about each other’s sounds, and while Abu took out the drums and what he had in his bag from Ghana, Angermund started to turn on the cutoff while Rimau programmed on the synths. That’s how it turns out.
Inspired by, among other things, Beck’s Stereopathetic Soulmanure album and Plastikman’s Consumed album, they combine African ancient times and obscure computer manipulations. When the Ghanaian drums are set in the system, it does not say the cut-off filter or the unpolished sound image. And when relatively controlled and programmed synths and machines first knock sound out of the system, it takes a lot for it not to start jerking in the hip area.
As VSM say: ‘Music that no one needs is the sound of everything other than what VSM stand for and deliver on our debut album. The album takes us on a musical journey into two different worlds with a common love and fascination for rhythm and experimentation. If you like the idea of organic percussion from Ghana in layers with techno-heavy synths, an unpolished soundscape with lyrics in a language few people here in Norway understand, then this is the record for you. With this, VSM want to spice up your everyday life. Your life. Your ears. Bon appetit.’ ”
