Listen to all my music and related stuff, such as Vindva Mei and DJ Musician at
[email protected] You can hear all our releases in full lenght there.
Born in Iceland.
Moved to Copenhagen, Denmark in 1996.
Working in electronic, electro-acoustic, experimental, ambient, soundart,
noise blahblahblah..whatever.
Member of Vindva Mei that has been around since 1994.
Released 3 cd´s with Vindva Mei.
Doing solo work for theater and performances since 1999.
4 solo releases: 3 cd´s and one online release on noisejihad.
Various collaborations such as: 1 release with Thor Magnusson. Generative music, on ixi label.
1 track on a russian compilation cd, Tchaikovsky electro
on KAMA records With Ozy.
Played and/or contributed to numerous concerts and festivals in Iceland, Denmark, England, Hong Kong, China, Russia and USA.
Doing masters degree in electronic music at DIEM,
The Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus.
Discography:
Coming up: Alien UFO, a collaboration with Helgi Thorsson of Stilluppsteypa and Evil Madness . A 3" cd out soon.
2007- Runar Magnusson/Thor Magnusson - kizxju ( Triposta - Belgian net label)
2007- Runar Magnusson - ixidental quark variations ( skyndo - French net label)
2006- Runar Magnusson/Thor Magnusson - Tnif ( Mandorla - Mexican net label)
2005 - Runar Magnusson - Live (noisejihad) Free Download.
2004/05 - Runar Magnusson - The Art of Dying in a Live Situation (Whitelabel)
2004/05 - Runar Magnusson - The Greatest of The Great (Whitelabel)
2004/05 - Runar Magnusson - Mixed Feelings (Whitelabel)
2004 - Runar Magnusson & Thor Magnusson - SameSameButDifferent v1.
(ixi label)
2004 - Ozy & Runar Magnusson - serenade for strings in c op.48
"andante non troppo - allegro moderato" on the compilation cd Tchaikovsky electro (KAMA records)
2001 - Runar Magnusson - Feelings&Emotions(..sland ..grum skori..) -
on the compilation cd NorPol (Resonance.DK)
2004/05 - Vindva Mei - Fungi to the moon (Whitelabel)
2004/05 - Vindva Mei - Germans are people too (alive&kickin') (Whitelabel)
2000 - Vindva Mei - On Fire (Fire Inc - now deceased)
1996 - Vindva Mei - Flowers are evil (Vindva Mei MC)
RUNAR MAGNUSSON - THE ART OF DYING IN A LlVE SITUATION (CDR by Whitelabel)
"there is nothing silly about being silly" said Heimir Bjorgulfsson, when he was a member of Stilluppsteypa, but it could be the trademark for fellow expat Icelander Runar Magnusson, whose solo work and ongoing contribution to the group Vindva Mei exhibits a self-effacing black humour embedded within a deft production of homebrewed minimalism. His self-published The Art Of Dying In A Live Situation opens with a purposefully atrocious a cappella rendition of "A Walk On The Wild Side", which dissolves not a moment too soon into a grim set of psychotropic drones punctured by digital click rhythms, bleak mechanical thuds and muffled actions sounding like someone having an epileptic fit in a room upstairs. It's all quite disconcerting, even as Magn..sson calms his shadowy activities into faint vocalisations and gaseous microwave pulses. The chilly spell is broken with an unexpected release of radioactive arpeggios tumbling in a maelstrom of overlapping patterns and melodies. It's a pretty incredible album, even with the painful return of Magnusson's singing that wraps up the album with a rendition of "We Are The World", Ugh, (Jim Haynes, The Wire 09/05 - uk).
RUNAR MAGNUSSON - THE ART OF DYING IN A LlVE SITUATION (CDR by Whitelabel)
Runar Magnusson hails from Iceland, although he is now living in Copenhagen where he has quietly been producing some of the oddest electronica to pass through the store. Certainly if you've been infected by the viral sounds of Fflint Central or the electro-absurditites of Stilluppsteypa, Magnusson's work is something to check out. That said, the album opens on unsteady grounds as fellow Icelander Asmundur Asmundsson warbles drunkenly through the words to Lou Reed's "Walk On The Wild Side," but as grim drones absorb the voice into the folds of grey vibrations, distant rumblings, and creepy electro-acoustic spasms, The Art Of Dying begins to live up to its name. An isolationist drift and shadow continues for a bit more than 35 minutes before Magnusson introduces a tumbling post-New Wave kaleidoscope of arpeggiated electronics that sounds like the dark sides of Fad Gadget and Heldon melded into a radioactive rhythmic cascade. After this incredible crescendo to the album, Asmundsson returns with another a capella clunker; for his finale, "We Are The World." Disturbing in more ways than one. (aquarius - usa)
RUNAR MAGNUSSON - THE GREATEST OF THE GREAT (CDR by Whitelabel)
"...Some of the pieces were used for theater plays and all deal with, wether or not processed, environmental sounds, analogue synthesizers and even some voices. Most of the time the material kinda spooky, really intense and could be used right away for a horror movie, especially 'The Delicate Work Of The Creator' has these qualities... quite nice cinematographic music." (Vital weekly 506 - FdW)
RUNAR MAGNUSSON - THE ART OF DYING IN A LlVE SITUATION (CDR by White Label)
Magnusson continues with what he left us with the previous 'The Greatest Of The Great': pretty dense and dark soundscapes, that shows an interest in The Hafler Trio as-well as some mid-nineties Stillupsteypa. Slowly unfolding soundpieces that are at times creepy, but never without a small trace of light, a trace of humor (any good horror movie has these funny bits)
(Vital Weekly 517, FdW NL)
RUNAR MAGNUSSON - FEELINGS&EMOTIONS (ISLAND ÖGRUM SKORID) (on compilation cd Krydsfelt - NorPol. Resonance.Dk)
‘Feeling & Emotions (island ogrum skorid) flutters and vibrates like the nervous system of a butterfly in ultra-violet light or the Northern Lights on a cold February night in Lapland…It’s a dreamy feeling of olden remembrances, like an inward vision from times gone, when Gunnar from Hlidarende roamed the Icelandic crusted lava...Some completely wonderful overtone segments invade the listening space, like some kind of out-drawn wind chimes without the actual attacks of the sound, and electrostatic percussive sounds pan madly, while a waterfall is passed on your journey. This dreamy music is completely spellbinding...It’s devastatingly beautiful in all its intriguing postures of uncanny sound ingenuity. Completely original, almost scary in the way it comes across...We’ve got to hear more of Runar Magnusson!’
(Sonoloco, SE)
