Having recently confirmed that “Dawn of Oberon” the upcoming album  from Prog Folk Rockers TUSMØRKE is set for release on the 30th August, Karisma Records have released a track from the album, which, as always with this group of musicians, features mystical beings who don’t quite fit the image  that we’ve come to know through countless fairy tales.
 
In this case that being is a “Dwarven Lord” as the title suggests, and as the band explains:
 
Oberon and Titania pop up in the pastures of the Norwegian cultural landscape! Though dwarven, it is not the size of the synth that matters as we enter the soundscape of certain natural Norwegian influences. This track pays homage to Tyrannosaurus Rex, Joe Meek, Shakespeare and Purcell. Talk about high culture for lowbrows!
 
“Dwarven Lord” can be downloaded or streamed on a number of services at https://orcd.co/dwarvenlord

As to the album itself, “Dawn of Oberon” sweeps us off on a subterranean expedition to the Kingdom of the Fair Folk and is described by TUSMØRKE as a “manifestation of our Peter Pan syndrome, with our aesthetics and ideals having remained unchanged for the last 25 years”.

Once again the highly acclaimed Norwegian artist Sverre Malling has provided the artwork for the album, and tracklisting is as follows:

1. Dawn of Oberon
2. Born to be mild
3. Dwarven Lord
4. Midsommernattsdrøm
5. People View
6. Troll Male

“Dawn of Oberon” will be available in CD, Digital and Limited Edition Milky Clear Vinyl formats and can be pre-ordered now at:

Smartlink to various services:  https://orcd.co/oberon
Bandcamp:  https://tusm-rke.bandcamp.com/album/dawn-of-oberon
Webshop:  https://www.karismarecords.no/shop/
US Webshop:  https://karismarecords.indiemerch.com/band/tusmorke

Having released twelve albums in twelve years TUSMØRKE are not only prolific, they are also highly imaginative, with their work ranging from the creation of entire worlds, to concept-based trilogies aimed at younger music fans.  Their (occasionally risqué) creations, combined with the band’s musical prowess and their lyrical themes, beguile the listener, whilst inserting a cleverly disguised commentary about the times in which we live.

TUSMØRKE is band whose joie de vivre translates extremely well into live performances, and fans will be able to witness it for themselves when the current lineup of Herjekongen on Keyboards, Brennesle on Drums, Krizla on  Flute and vocals, and Benediktator on Bass and Vocals, hit the stage on the following dates (more to come).

15 June:  Kampen Bistro, Oslo
27 June:  Pomorfestivalen, Vardø (Bydyra)
31 August: Release gig (details to be announced)

More information about TUSMØRKE can be found on the band’s Facebook page at  https://www.facebook.com/Tusmorke/

Below you can see the official video by Aleksander U. Serigstad for the track “Tøyens Hemmelighet” from TUSMØRKE’s 2018 album “Fjernsyn i Farver”.

Twelve albums in twelve years! We could only be talking about Norway’s Psychedelic Prog Folk Rockers TUSMØRKE, whose output is not only prolific, but also original and fantastical. It ranges from concept based trilogies aimed at young music fans, to the creation of entire worlds (some, you might say, even a little on the naughty side) that beguile audiences with both their music and their lyrical themes. Themes that frequently contain cleverly disguised serious messages about the times in which we live.
 
So what does TUSMØRKE have in store for us with their twelfth full-length album?  Well the title “Dawn of Oberon” offers up quite a large hint that some kind of mystical realm is involved, and indeed, this time we are swept off on a subterranean expedition to the Kingdom of the Fair Folk.

And the thinking behind it? Best if we allow TUSMØRKE to describe it in their own  way:
 
“Dawn of Oberon”  is a manifestation of our Peter Pan syndrome, with our aesthetics and ideals having remained unchanged for the last 25 years.
 
This time we go away with the fairies all together, to the far-away land of the far-out mind. Never grow up, just grow old.
 
Once again the highly acclaimed Norwegian artist Sverre Malling has provided the artwork for the album, which is set for release on the 30th August.

Tracklisting for “Dawn of Oberon” is as follows:

1. Dawn of Oberon
2. Born to be mild
3. Dwarven Lord
4. Midsommernattsdrøm
5. People View
6. Troll Male

The actual recording of the album was not exactly straightforward (actually, is anything ever straightforward with TUSMØRKE?) As the band explains:

This album  is a testament to a tumultuous time. It was 2022 and we had a new drummer, Kusken, and keyboard player, Herjekongen, and we immediately started working on the epic that was to become “Dawn of Oberon”. This behemoth had been wallowing about since the start of the millennium, never quite finding its shape and form.

We thought of this as a trial by fire that would galvanize the new members, and, during jams at rehearsals and concerts, new themes emerged, resulting in a sort of sequel in the form of Dusk of Tawblerawn part 1-5. Kusken decided to quit after just 8 months, but agreed to document the time we had spent together. All the music was recorded in our rehearsal space and studio in 2022-2023. 

“Dawn of Oberon” will be available in CD, Digital and Limited Edition Milky Clear Vinyl formats and can be pre-ordered now at:

Smartlink to various services – https://orcd.co/oberon
Bandcamp – https://tusm-rke.bandcamp.com/album/dawn-of-oberon
Webshop – https://www.karismarecords.no/shop/

TUSMØRKE is band whose joie de vivre translates extremely well into live performances, and fans will be able to witness it for themselves when the current lineup of Herjekongen on Keyboards, Brennesle on Drums, Krizla on  Flute and vocals, and Benediktator on Bass and Vocals, hit the stage on the following dates (more to come).

07 June:  Hulen, Bergen
08 June:  Offentlige Bibliotek, Bergen (Bydyra)
15 June:  Kampen Bistro, Oslo
27 June:  Pomorfestivalen, Vardø (Bydyra)
31 August: Release gig (details to be announced)

More information about TUSMØRKE can be found on the band’s Facebook page at  https://www.facebook.com/Tusmorke/

Below you can see the official video by Aleksander U. Serigstad for the track “Tøyens Hemmelighet” from TUSMØRKE’s 2018 album “Fjernsyn i Farver”:

With “Hestehoven”, TUSMØRKE ‘s eleventh full-length album,  scheduled for release on the 18th August, Karisma Records have today released a second single from the album. And, in keeping with the mystical tone of “Hestehoven”, the track chosen is “Den behornede guden”,  which translated means “The horned god”, a being about which the band had this to say:

The horned god is the joyous spirit of spring, bursting forth as nature is sprung from the prison of winter. Rejoice in the chorus of praise, a manifold chant of hallelujah for the horned one. Give thanks to the king of the forest, he who puts the wild in wilderness.

“Den behornede guden”  can be downloaded or streamed from a variety of services at THIS LOCATION.

Named after the flower Coltsfoot,  “Hestehoven” is an album in which TUSMØRKE’s vivid imagination has been allowed to roam even more wildly than ever before.  Seemingly springing from the Underworld both in sound, with its chthonic aspects, as well as in its conceptual undertones, it invites the listener to hum along whilst peering through the keyhole of the local church and witnessing a devil’s pact.
 
Within  “Hestehoven” the band has created a Bacchanalian realm reminiscent of the erotic mysteries practiced by ancient fertility cults. Satyrs and Nymphs cast away their inhibitions, innocent strangers are sucked into chance encounters with mildew-encrusted adult magazines, whilst Warlocks cackle and witches blush at all the antics,  and only a wise priest, able to see beyond the Lord’s Prayer, is able to bind Old Eric to his bidding.

There is absolutely no turning back once you step into the world of “Hestehoven” and wander down paths that are fraught with danger and temptation, because, as the band says, the album is, simply put:

True Norwegian finger-clicking, butt-swinging, prog rock. No more, no less – but cerebral in excess! Spring has sprung! If it is all too much to bear, close your eyes and think about the flowers. Hail Pan.

Even the artwork for “Hestehoven” has been specially commissioned from the highly acclaimed Norwegian artist Sverre Malling, who has successfully visualised this mystical land.

Track listing for “Hestehoven” is as follows:

1. Cycle of the Gylfaginning
2. Hestehoven
3. Den behornede guden
4. Åndemaneren
5. Jeg klumser deg
6. Kyprianos
7. The Wicked Ways of Witches and Wizards

“Hestehoven” will be available in CD, Digital and Limited Edition Vinyl with 4 page Lyric Booklet and can now be pre-ordered from:

Webshop: https://www.karismarecords.no/kar254-tusmorke-hestehoven/
Bandcamp: https://tusm-rke.bandcamp.com/album/hestehoven
US Webshop: https://karismarecords.indiemerch.com

More information about TUSMØRKE can be found on the band’s Facebook page at  https://www.facebook.com/Tusmorke/

TUSMØRKE ‘s last three concept-based releases delighted the legion of young music fans at which they were aimed (as well as a sizeable portion of grownups too). But now, the prolific Norwegian Psychedelic Prog Folk Rockers are back again, ready to unleash their anarchic brand of music on their adult fans, with an eleventh full-length album titled “Hestehoven” that is definitely not for the faint hearted.
 
With “Hestehoven” TUSMØRKE have created a strange Fairyland where Satyrs and Nymphs indulge in brazen Bacchanals, and the unwary stranger is sucked into chance encounters with mildew-encrusted adult magazines that can be found carefully stashed away in the shrubs, and which are nothing short of erotic mysteries reminiscent of ancient fertility cults.
 
It is a world from which there is no turning back once you step on that wretched path that is fraught with danger and temptation.  Warlocks cackle and witches blush,  and a wise priest, who can see beyond the Lord’s Prayer, binds Old Eric to his bidding.

Due out on the 18th of August, fans have been given a first glimpse into the “Mysteries” of the album with the release of the track “The Cycle of the Gylfaginning”, about which the band says:

As it begins, so it will end; from destruction new creations arise. In the turning wheel of  the seasons, all things take their turn again and again, take after take after take. There is no final take. After Ragnarok, life rolls on. Like the cycle of vegetation, Osiris, Balder or Jesus disappear to reappear. At the bottom of religion there is recycling.

“The Cycle of the Gylfaginning” can be streamed or downloaded from a variety of sources at
 https://link.karismarecords.no/Tusmorke_Cycle-of-the-Gylfaginning

Named after the flower Coltsfoot “Hestehoven” is an album that seems to spring from the Underworld both in sound, with its chthonic aspects, as well as in its conceptual undertones,  allowing the listeners to hum along as they witness a devil’s pact whilst peering through the keyhole of the local church. Or maybe rock out whilst riding a dog backwards, all the way to the witches’ Sabbath.

The artwork for “Hestehoven” has been specially commissioned from the highly acclaimed Norwegian artist Sverre Malling, and the track listing is as follows:

1. Cycle of the Gylfaginning
2. Hestehoven
3. Den behornede guden
4. Åndemaneren
5. Jeg klumser deg
6. Kyprianos
7. The Wicked Ways of Witches and Wizards

“Hestehoven” will be available in CD, Digital and Limited Edition Vinyl with 4 page Lyric Booklet  formats and can now be pre-ordered from:

Webshop: https://www.karismarecords.no/kar254-tusmorke-hestehoven/
Bandcamp: https://tusm-rke.bandcamp.com/album/hestehoven
US Webshop: https://karismarecords.indiemerch.com

Life is never just sunshine and rainbows with  TUSMØRKE, whose name means twilight in Norwegian, and it is never more true than with “Hestehoven”.  However, what is true is that the band got it right when they say that the album is:

True Norwegian finger-clicking, butt-swinging. prog rock. No more, no less – but cerebral in excess! Spring has sprung! If it is all too much to bear, close your eyes and think about the flowers. Hail Pan.

More information about TUSMØRKE can be found on the band’s Facebook page at  https://www.facebook.com/Tusmorke/

You rarely, if ever, get Prog albums aimed at children, but then along came TUSMØRKE, a band that has never been overly concerned with what is, and what is not, the norm, with not one, but three such albums – the third “Intetnett” due for release on Karisma Records on the 7th October.
 
As you would expect from a children’s album “Intetnett” has a very definite story line, and in it TUSMØRKE regale us with the adventures that ensue  when  two evil scientists plant a self-teaching system called Intetnett onto the computers of an unsuspecting school.  Intetnett then proceeds to use electronic impulses to take control of an ant colony that lives in the school kitchen.   The system soon jumps from the ants to human hosts, taking over the minds of both pupils and teachers. 

But every adventure has its heroes, quite often a group of misfits who,  in this case, happen to be one of the teachers who is a technophobe, a substitute teacher who does not yet have the necessary login info to access the computers, and a small group of pupils.
 
And now you can get another insight into the somewhat anarchic world of the Norwegian Prog Folk Rockers TUSMØRKE with the release of a third single taken from “Intetnett”.  The track, “Kunstig uintelligens”, or  “Artificial Unintelligence”, can be downloaded or streamed from a number of services at https://link.karismarecords.no/Tusmorke_Kunstig-Uintelligens

Commenting on the track, the band had this to say:

Are we happier now that we create avatars to simulate perfect lives and share doctored images of fake non-events online in order for these signs to be consumed by another simulacrum out there in the cold, vast cyberspace? Of course we are! What’s not to like and share?

Written for, and first performed at, the Aktivitetsskolen Nordstrand,  the album is actually comprised of  two original musicals – “Intetnett” and “Når Enden er Golem” and will quite possible be the band’s final children’s release. It was recorded  at Det Ytre Rommet, Holy Space! and the Nordstrand Skole by a lineup that includes Benediktator (bass, vocals, guitars, synths, percussion, whistling), Krizla (flute, vocals, piano, synths, percussion) and HlewagastiR (drums).

Tracklisting as follows:

1. Satt i system                                      12. Den nye tida
2. Det beste for budsjettet                      13. Synth etisk
3. Han er litterær                                    14. Kunstig uintelligens
4. Varslerduett                                        15. Gudenes krig
5. Vikaren                                                16. Verdensarvingen
6. Jakelstigen                                          17. Enki Dumuzi Absu (CD only)
7. Vi drikker ikke melk                             18. Før flommen
8. Vi er elever                                          19. Enkis sang
9. Maurenes Jenka                                  20. Golem
10. Undringstimen (CD only)                     21. Kontakten brytes
11. Kunstig Intelligens

With artwork by the legendary Norwegian artist Thore Hansen, “Intetnett” features a  whopping total of 21 tracks and  will be available in CD, Digital, and Limited Edition White Vinyl formats, the latter of which will come with a 12-page lyric booklet. 

Various services updated regularly: https://link.karismarecords.no/Tusmorke_Intetnett
Webshop:  https://www.karismarecords.no/kar224-tusmorke-intetnett/
Bandcamp:  https://tusm-rke.bandcamp.com/album/intetnett

Unwary adult  listeners (because this album is for them too) should definitely keep in mind the fact that  that while TUSMØRKE may aim some of their albums at children, and entertaining though those albums may be, the band also has a serious message to impart to its adult listeners. And, by introducing a fascinating mix of subjects ranging from  artificial intelligence, to advancements in technology, to the Singularity, and  Mesopotamian gods,  TUSMØRKE reminds us all of our old, long-forgotten histories.

In fact, “Intetnett” serves as a warning about the direction mankind is taking with technology, where our world is becoming a totalitarian nightmare where no one thinks for themselves, no one dreams anymore, and human culture itself is in peril. But all in not lost, because, long-ignored by humans, and consequently fading away, the old Mesopotamian Gods want to help humankind regain its freedom, and the only way to do so is by using Magic – better known as the old technology from a bygone era.  

More information about TUSMØRKE can be found on the band’s Facebook page at  https://www.facebook.com/Tusmorke/

“Irrepressible” is a word that springs to mind when describing Norway’s Psychedelic  Prog Folk Rockers TUSMØRKE, who will be back in October of this year with “Intetnett”, which will be their third, and quite possibly, final, album directed towards a younger audience.

But whether their albums are aimed at children or adults, TUSMØRKE are never content to just entertain, something they do consummately well, they also want to remind their audience of old, long-forgotten histories, and on “Intetnett” this is exactly what they do, with a fascinating mix of subjects ranging from  artificial intelligence, to advancements in technology, to the Singularity, and, of course,  ancient Mesopotamian gods.

“Intetnett” tells the  story of  two evil scientists who plant a self-teaching system onto the computers of an unsuspecting school. The system is called Intetnett, and,  via  the use of electronic impulses, it takes  control of  an ant colony living in the school kitchen.  Needless to say, it also soon takes over the minds of pupils and teachers alike.  The minds of everyone, that is,  except for a technophobic Norwegian teacher, a substitute teacher without login info, and a small group of pupils.

With the world  slowly slipping into a totalitarian nightmare where no one thinks for themselves, no one dreams anymore, and human culture itself is in peril,  there is someone who is missing the humans! Down in the deepest depths, the old Mesopotamian gods are fading due to the lack of human attention,  and they want to help humankind to regain its freedom. But the only thing that can stop Intetnett is technology from a bygone era – in other words,  Magic! Thus the Norwegian teacher, the substitute and the children are given instructions on how to summon a Golem, a creature of legend that will be able to confront, and hopefully defeat,  Intetnett, thereby  pulling the plug on the dangerous computers.

And, as an introduction to the album, Karisma Records have today released the track “Den nye tida”, which can be downloaded or streamed from a variety of services via https://orcd.co/tusmorke_den-nye-tida

“Intetnett”, which Karisma Records will release on the 7th October, is actually comprised of  two original musicals “Intetnett” and “Når Enden er Golem”,  which were written for, and first performed at, the Aktivitetsskolen Nordstrand in 2017/2018.

With artwork by the legendary Norwegian artist Thore Hansen, “Intetnett” features a  whopping total of 21 tracks and  will be available in CD, Digital, and Limited Edition White Vinyl formats, the latter of which will come with a 12-page lyric booklet. 

Tracklisting as follows:

1. Satt i system                                     12. Den nye tida
2. Det beste for budsjettet                     13. Synth etisk
3. Han er litterær                                   14. Kunstig uintelligens
4. Varslerduett                                       15. Gudenes krig
5. Vikaren                                              16. Verdensarvingen
6. Jakelstigen                                         17. Enki Dumuzi Absu (CD only)
7. Vi drikker ikke melk                            18. Før flommen
8. Vi er elever                                         19. Enkis sang
9. Maurenes Jenka                                 20. Golem
10. Undringstimen (CD only)                     21. Kontakten brytes
11. Kunstig Intelligens

“Intetnett” is now available to pre-order from:    

Webshop:    https://www.karismarecords.no/kar224-tusmorke-intetnett/
Bandcamp:  https://tusm-rke.bandcamp.com/album/intetnett

TUSMØRKE’s lineup on “Intetnett”  includes Benediktator (bass, vocals, guitars, synths, percussion, whistling), Krizla (flute, vocals, piano, synths, percussion) and HlewagastiR (drums). It was recorded at Det Ytre Rommet, Holy Space! and the Nordstrand Skole.