Outer Space Gamelan
Bjerga/Iversen is the name I'm kinda familiar with because they (Sindre Bjerga and Jan Iversen) run two Norwegian record labels themselves, those being Goldsoundz and TIBProd. After doing some research it turns out they also have a shitload of releases done under their duo moniker, much of them put out in the last couple of years. This particular release is dubbed "In Broken Dreams the World Still Keeps Turning", and was recorded from a concert they performed in the Netherlands this past March. Like most new-drone groups of the day, their instruments vary wildly but I think they rely heavily on keyboards, synths, guitars and a multitude of effects pedals (which doesn't really narrow anything down, does it?). Anyway "In Broken Dreams..." is an eternally slow, almost glacial slide through ambient sounds conjured up by whatever they can get their hands on. Sometimes I'm reminded of the fantastic sounds of nature from Ariel Kalma's "Osmose", the more subdued moments of My Cat is an Alien, or Growing. Later in the set they get a bunch noisier only to drop into moments of near silence, later to be punctuated by grotesquely warped sounds coming off like alien howls. It's kinda like flipping the dial around on Planet X, hitting all sorts of gobstoppingly bizarre Conet Project-esque stations. Almost makes me wish the lengthy ambient intro was eschewed entirely for this.

Smooth Assailing
jan-morten iversen and sindre bjerga
both jan iversen and sindre bjerga are experimental electronic musicians from norway. bjerga; however, also uses affected guitar in his work. additionally, each artist also runs their own record label. for iversen, it's tibprod. goldsoundz is bjerga's imprint. both are definitely quality, and that's about all i have to say about that. below are two releases highlighting individual and group efforts from the two. one album is newer, the other is from a couple of years back.
this duo has quite a few collaborative releases under their belt. while they all pretty much adhere to a cold, droney, atmospheric sound, they do like to change it up every now and then. 2005's streams of frozen light seems like the only album i've heard by them that wasn't all that dynamic. conversely, kanal local, from the same year, marked their starkest change. again, this is based off of the five or so releases that i've had experience with. that particular disc primarily built off of drones and sound samples/sound bytes. i hadn't heard those latter elements in one of their releases before, and it was a very nice change. the album at hand, in broken dreams the world still keeps turning, most closely follows matinee preparation in its sound, that cd was also from last year. 2005 was a good year of b/i fans. this release was recorded from a live performance this year in the netherlands and is one track lasting twenty-seven minutes. all those minutes are absorbed pretty easily though as you can find yourself getting lost in the desolation of these textured drones. things start off on a very slow note. the main sound is a cold drone, but there's also some other sounds, some of which are pleasant, buried way back in the mix. i've got headphones turned all the way up and i can barely perceive all of them. the pace slowly starts to pick up, but the track's mainly being lead by some drones. the drones aren't overpowering at all, they're easy on the ear, though not warm in sound, and seem willing to merely float along while other sounds also drift in and out. the latter third of the disc is when bjerga's affected guitar comes into play more as the duo add a slight layer of discordance to the otherwise slow, methodical, and ultimately satisfying piece. in broken dreams was put out by a newer label, dead sea liner, who offer up all of their releases at ridiculously modest pricing. this cd, for example, is only four bucks. they've also put out albums by thirdorgan and another enough chairs (a bbblood cohort). it's rare to see quality releases, especially by well-regarded artists, for this cheap. here's hoping they get the support they need to stick around for a long time.

Chain DLK
I was not thrilled by Iversen's first efforts, and I haven't kept track of his ever growing discography, but I guess I've missed some pretty good stuff, judging from this new duo recording with Goldsoundz' Sindre Bjerga (their nth one together). Coming in a spartan photocopied cover on silver paper, "In broken dreams..." features a 27'30" track from a concert played last March at the Underkurrent in Amsterdam. It's not easy to tell what the two were using, most probably laptops, synths, pedals and possibly a guitar, but anyway, the set is very intense and coherent in its controlled mess of droning feedback, digital chirps and overdriven frequencies. Quite loud, especially in the final climax, as you would expect from these two noisemakers, but eventually falling more in the atmospheric than in the harsh category. If the performance was improvised, as I guess, the two must have developed a well-oiled alchemy.

Terrascope
Recorded live in Amsterdam in 2006, “In Broken Dreams The World Still Keeps Turning” is a long improvised piece of industrial drone courtesy of Bjerga/Iversen, that uses the word harsh as its template, yet contains enough tonal variation to keep thing interesting, utilising a whole range of distorted, scratched and looped sounds within its framework.