Positive reviews for "Den i Teben"
Den i Teben got a great review in Oslo's Aftenposten today. The critic calls Johann's music "exquisite" and says that it gives the production "a primal power that emphasizes the mystical and fatalistic dimension of Sophocles' work."
4adｴs re-issue of Englabn has been getting some excellent notices as well, including raves on Pitchfork.
Posted on 21.01.08Den i Teben premieres 17th of January
After a short christmas break, Johann is back in the studio writing music for Janos Szasz's production of the Oedipus cycle by Sophocles for Det Norske Teatret in Oslo, which premieres on the 17th of January. The plays have been adapted by the celebrated Norwegian author and dramatist Jon Fosse. Johann previously contributed music to Janos Szasz's wonderful film "Opium: Diary of a Madwoman".
Posted on 30.12.07concerts, soundtracks, re-issues
This autumn will be busy for Johann. The main focus is on finishing the new album, which is slated for release in spring 2008. He is also hard at work writing a soundtrack for a new film by the award-winning animator Marc Craste. The score will be orchestral and the film, entitled "Varmints", will be out next year.
Englabn re-issued on November 7th
4AD will re-release Johannｴs classic debut album, which was prevously out on Touch, but has been unavailable for a while.
Special concert in Marmor Kirke in Copenhagen November 23rd
Johann will perform with string quartet and percussionist in the Marble Church in Copenhagen on November 23rd. The band will play material from Johann's recently re-released debut album "Englaborn" as well as new material.
Concerts
Johann will play with Larsen, David Tibet, Baby Dee and Julia Kent as a part of the ABECEDA project in Huesca, Spain on October 27th. In November Johann will play in Copenhagen as a special guest of Baby Dee in Helig Kors church on November 3rd.
IBM 1401, a Userｴs Manual, live with string orchestra.
IBM 1401 will be performed by the Bordeaux Youth Orchestra on November 15th. Johann will also play a set with his 6 piece band in Bordeaux on November 17th. Special guests will be Laetitia Sadierｴs band, Monade, with whom Johann will collaborate on a few songs. The concerts are a part of the festival Les Grandes Traversees which is dedicated to the choreographer Erna Omarsdottir. Johannｴs other collaboration with Erna, Mysteries of Love, will also be shown at the festival.
Posted on 12.10.07Images from Tokyo concerts, July 2007
Thanks to all at Arion-Edo foundation and Miraikan Musem of Emerging Science for a wonderful few days in Tokyo. Also special thanks to Fujiko Nakaya for the fog. Photos by Miraikan.
Abeceda out on August 7th
ABECEDA is a project initiated by the group Larsen, featuring, in addition to the group, Baby Dee, Julia Kent, David Tibet and Johann Johannsson.
"For one night only Larsen assembled their closest musical friends to play to a sold out crowd at the Teatro Colosseo in Torino Italy. The purpose of the performance was to pay tribute to the work of Czech avant garde designer, typographer, founder of Devestil and cultural radicalist Karel Teige and his Abeceda, a 1926 collaboration with poet Vitoslav Nezva which minimalised text down to its basic components establishing a poetic dialogue between text and images." Posted on 27.07.07Click here for Jóhann Jóhannsson's news archive.