DiskJokke

The story surrounding the conception of Sagara (the third LP from Oslo electronicist Joachim Dyrdahl, aka Diskjokke) comes off almost as fascinating as the content. In 2009, Dyrdahl was commissioned to create original music to perform at Norway's Øye Festival. Although he was provided the resources to travel anywhere in the world to write and record this piece, Joachim ultimately chose the non-dance scene locales of Indonesia, more specifically, Bali. The resulting LP, released as Sagara, is as atypical as it is attractive. Ditching the distinctive, driving rhythms of the Oslo electronic scene, Dyrdahl delivers a six-song, 35-minute, sprawling, swimming opus made up of barely there BPMs and traditional Indonesian instrumentation. Tracks like "Golotrok" and "Namida" not only stray from the blueprint of ambient electronic music but from ambience itself, as one or two ideas are simply represented. Sagara shows Dyrdahl rethinking his entire craft, delivering something utterly personal, demonstrating how important Government arts funding can be to the creation of ideas.