冰岛新的年轻天才，很有涵养的Olafur Arnalds 能把古典元素融合在氛围和微电子节拍里，有Sigur Ros的味道，也有Mum的感觉。
Olafur Arnalds原来在家乡Mosfellsbaer离雷克雅维克偏壤的一个小镇上，他同时身兼多支Hardcore乐队的鼓手职务，先是替友人的乐团My Summer as a Salvation Soldier担任多项乐器伴奏，还获邀为美国Indie-Rock乐团Cursive担任德国巡回演出的伴奏乐手。Olafur Arnalds的个人音乐作品以钢琴和弦乐为主， 与其说是post-rock， 不如干脆说是modern classical。

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冰岛这块“地球上最美伤痕”的寂静大地，多年来不断挖掘出让人惊艳的音乐人，不管是Bjork、Sigur Ros或Mum，近期则首推Ólafur Arnalds莫属。来自雷克雅维克偏壤小镇Mosfellsbær的Ólafur，从一名酷爱摇滚乐的热血鼓手，却没想到他对室内乐的探索更引起乐迷的浓厚兴趣。
自出版首张专辑《Eulogy For Evolution》与EP《Variations of Static》，前者流露出对古典室内乐编制的沉溺，钢琴、提琴与弦乐四重奏的巧妙佈局，出奇不意的后摇张力；后者则增加了一点电子碎拍的成份，在古典与电子之间产生更丰富的拉扯张力，Ólafur 以其集忧郁唯美与澎湃大气于一身的新古典乐章，在世界各地引起广泛注意，今年更受邀为英国着名编舞家Wayne McGregor新作「Dyad 1909」编写配乐!

"Iceland's best new export comes in the shape of Eulogy For Evolution!"
"If you thought Sigur Rós had the patent on hauntingly beautiful and meticulously compelling music coming out of Iceland, then Ólafur Arnalds is here to educate you otherwise. - Eulogy For Evolution is perhaps this years most hauntingly emotive sounding experience'"
冰島繼Sigur Rós、Jóhann Jóhannsson、Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson之後，地表上最罕見的動人樂章。
「Eulogy For Evolution」其實是一張非常特殊的唱片，誠如上一段介紹裡提到，Ólafur Arnalds原來在家鄉Mosfellsbær離雷克雅維克偏壤的一個小鎮上，他同時身兼多支Hardcore樂隊的鼓手職務，理應深受重型搖滾音樂的薰染甚過於古典音樂；可是在「Eulogy For Evolution」這張唱片裡，卻處處見到了半古典音樂編制，鋼琴、提琴與弦樂四重奏的鋪排架構，Ólafur Arnalds玩的是猶如Erik Satie、Claude Debussy等人深鬱的鋼琴樂曲，聽來頗有電影配樂般的壯闊景致。Ólafur Arnalds肯定會被拿來與Sigur Rós等人相作比較，無論從草創時期的音樂涉獵，亦或是其後音樂創作上從容不迫的大器，那都有無數可以比較的理由。專輯裡8首曲目全以4位數字來作為標題，看似時間又像是一套數字密碼，彷彿非得解開其背後的動機，才能完整理解Ólafur Arnalds的創作。專輯中除了3055與終幕曲3704／3837等兩首曲子適切地加入了鼓擊與電吉他的噪音聲浪，其餘6部作品均是以鋼琴、弦樂為對話，靜謐而深刻地描繪著對於環境的讚佩。
開場曲0040即是一首辨識度極高的鋼琴演奏曲，旋律非常耳熟；Ólafur Arnalds十指落於黑白琴鍵上的力量，彷彿主宰著天地宇宙，任憑他撥一片雲、淌一團霧，在哀怨苦楚的弦樂伴奏下，叫我想起的是希臘大師安哲羅普洛斯 (Theo Angelopoulos)的電影。我想若能親臨Ólafur Arnalds與弦樂隊的演出現場，一定會叫自己落淚。0048／0729在濕潤的Reverb所凝結的空間氣氛下，遠處傳來微弱的斑鳩琴的哀鳴，既深刻、亦悲楚。0952裡散落的琴音，與愁雲般的弦樂糾結在一塊，彷彿是怎麼拉扯也散不開。1440若來作為電影配樂，絕對相當契合；Ólafur Arnalds花了許多精力在鋼琴的獨奏鋪排上，總是緩慢、緩慢地勾起了一絲絲懸疑、一絲絲宏偉的史詩架構。專輯中最漫長的旅途1953，Ólafur Arnalds彷彿平復了劇烈的情緒，安分地作為故事的引導者，引領聽者一步步地踏往深處的陰極。3326突然又轉為室內樂曲，透過中、小提琴穿插排列出的層次，呈現與前6首曲子截然不同的氣氛。而終幕曲3704／3837的巧妙鋪設，Hardcore音樂、電子剪輯手法，彷彿電台司令之於 Paranoid Android，那種瘋狂、錯亂的景致，叫人愛不釋手。
多才多藝的Ólafur Arnalds也沒有完全丟下對搖滾樂的熱情，先是替友人的樂團My Summer as a Salvation Soldier擔任多項樂器伴奏，還獲邀為美國Indie-Rock樂團Cursive擔任德國巡迴演出的伴奏樂手。完全無法想像，Ólafur Arnalds這居中的多重音樂性格，哪一個才是原來的自己；又或許是性格冷漠卻喜愛尋求刺激的冰島人，的確有著異於常人的敏銳觸覺。「Eulogy For Evolution」是一張驚心動魄、具有罕見美感的音樂大製作，似乎連唱片封套設計都不敢馬虎。而唱片則交由倫敦新銳音樂廠牌Erased Tapes Records於10月29日發行。

The embryo of the band was formed in June '97 when Sergio Panarella and Luigi Rubino first started collecting ideas for the project that would later be known as Ashram. While undergoing the writing process of their first ever release, the duo invited Alfredo Notarloberti, the notorious napolitan violinist, to take their side in this ambitious project. With the line-up complete, the band recorded eleven songs out of which seven were selected and included on the demo "For My Sun", self-released in May'99. The remarkable energy and empathy between these musicians granted them an appearance as the opening track on Energeia's compilation “Intimations of Immortality Vol. 5” with the song "Spirit of the Rising Moon", and drew some media attention to this emmerging band. Shortly after, Ashram signs with the French label Prikosnovenie.

In 2001, the line-up is expanded as Leonardo Massa joins the group on cello, thus completing the ensemble that would participate in the recording of the critically acclaimed debut self-titled album released in the following year. This new release was followed by intense live activity, as the band performed innumerous shows in Italy and even a couple of tours in Portugal.

After a period of reflexion, Ashram are now presenting their second full-length recording, under the title "Shining Silver Skies", and out via Equilibrium Music in May 2006

Award-winning Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds has premiered the first song from his new album 'The Chopin Project' - a collaboration with German-Japanese pianist Alice Sara Ott - on The Line Of Best Fit.

The track is titled 'Verses', and gives us a taste of what is to come on March 16th, when the album in full will be released.

Arnalds utilised vintage equipment and techniques to create this stunning, melancholy new reimagining of Chopin's work.

"Verses is a new composition by me which uses the famous right hand motif from Piano Sonata No3 (Largo) and is followed by that part of that Sonata in its original version played on the piano by Alice," Arnalds explained to Line Of Best Fit. "So you hear the motif first recomposed arranged for a string quartet and then just a couple of minutes you will hear it in it's original state played on the piano.

"With this I wanted to show listeners quite clearly what I was doing with 'Verses', which they might not realise is composed around a motif from the sonata unless they hear the original sonata next to it."

Apocalyptica这支94年成立于芬兰的乐队，毕业于芬兰西贝流士音乐学院(Sibelius Academy)的四位大提琴手，每每提到他们，大家的第一反映都是那个翻Metallica的，Apocalyptica也确实是通过1996年发行的第一张专辑《Plays Metallica By Four Cellos》被大家所认识，同时也给大家带来了不少惊喜，但是总是称呼其为翻Metallica的，未免有欠公道。因为乐队无论从旋律的演奏上还是情感的和音乐的融合上都有其自己的特点。因此第一张专集发行后，得到大量好评的同时，乐队也意识到了翻唱的缺点，随后的几张“原版”专集充分展示了他们的实力。
今天我们来聊聊这张将Apocalyptica推向“前台”的《Plays Metallica By Four Cellos》。细腻中不乏粗犷、温柔间不少强劲，这是我对这张专集的整体感觉。虽然翻的都是M~~比较经典的曲目，这些曲目的M~~~版已经很熟悉了，但是记得当时第一次听到A~~~版也着实吓了一下，特别是Master of Puppets这首，中间的那段本应是吉他SOLO，但是大提琴质感给我一种有过之而无不及的感觉，实际也确实是这样，在局部的细腻和旋律柔和化上，大提琴是略胜一畴。整体上，四个人的配合也给我留下了很深的印象，层次感很强，显然经过长期的磨合，分工非常明确，一个或者两个演奏主旋律，另外两个配合营造气氛。虽然没有M~~~那么强劲有冲击力，但是他们用他们出色的大提琴技巧还是模仿出不少吉他半失真、solo和贝司低沉的效果。看过他们的现场版，除了一个短发外，其他均是披肩长发，黑衣着装，演奏时的甩头，确实金属味十足，并且对我这个大提琴盲来说，演奏时出现了很多非常规演奏方式，例如敲击、拍打、手指的直接钩弦。虽然没有演唱，没有歌词的陪衬，没有吉他、贝司和鼓的冲劲，但是Apocalyptica这单纯的旋律也一样可以玩弄你的神经。