Jóhann Jóhannsson is an Icelandic multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer. He is one of the most compelling composers working today. His stately, slow-building and hauntingly melodic music frequently combines electronics with classical orchestrations. Fordlândia, his most recent album, combines a darkly romantic minimalism and baroque counterpoint with kraut-rock, post-rock, glitch electronics and melodies inspired by North European folk music. The album is thematically influenced by the failure of Henry Ford's Brazilian rubber plant
Fordlândia. As stated in his official website:
One of the two main threads running through it is this idea of failed utopia, as represented by the "Fordlândia" title - the story of the rubber plantation Henry Ford established in the Amazon in the 1920’s, and his dreams of creating an idealized American town in the middle of the jungle complete with white picket fences, hamburgers and alcohol prohibition. The project – started because of the high price Ford had to pay for the rubber necessary for his cars’ tyres – failed, of course, as the indigenous workers soon rioted against the alien conditions. It reminded me of Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo, this doomed attempt at taming the heart of darkness. The remains of the town are still there today. The image of the Amazon forest slowly and surely reclaiming the ruins of Fordlândia is the one that gave spark to this album.
A classical masterpiece! Get it now!
Artist: Jóhann Jóhannsson
Album: Fordlândia
Year: 2008
Genre: neo-classical, minimalist
Tracks:
1. Fordlândia
2. melodia (i)
3. The Rocket Builder (Lo Pan!)
4. melodia (ii)
5. Fordlândia – Aerial View
6. melodia (iii)
7. Chimaerica
8. melodia (iv)
9. The Great God Pan Is Dead
10. Melodia (Guidelines for a Space Propulsion Device Based on Heim's Quantum Theory)
11. How We Left Fordlândia
Official Website
Last.fm
MySpace
Buy from
4AD.
Check the comments to listen first.
Ólafur Arnalds is an extremely talented young artist from Iceland. His music can be described as fragile and emotional neo-classical, a combination classical instrumentation with an ambient aesthetic. This is his debut album, released in 2007. After this, he released one EP ("Variations of Static") and, more recently, he made available a collection of tracks, entitled "Found Songs", as a free download on foundsongs.erasedtapes.com.
