Biosphere is the main recording name of
Geir Jenssen (born 1962), a
NorwegianNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
musician who has released a notable catalogue of
ambientAmbient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
electronic musicElectronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
. He is well known for his "ambient techno" and "
arcticThe Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
ambient" styles, his use of
music loopIn electroacoustic music, a loop is a repeating section of sound material. Short sections of material can be repeated to create ostinato patterns...
s, and peculiar samples from sci-fi sources. His track "Novelty Waves" was used for the 1995 campaign of Levi's. His 1997 album
SubstrataSubstrata is an ambient music album by Biosphere, released in 1997 by All Saints Records. It is considered to be a classic ambient album, consistently in the top 5 in surveys on the Hyperreal ambient mailing list....
was voted by www.hyperreal.org as one of the all time classic ambient albums.
[See "Classic Ambient Recordings: The 2001 Survey" at Hyperreal.org]
Prior to Biosphere (1962–1991)
Jenssen was born in 1962 in
TromsøTromsø is a city and municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø.Tromsø city is the ninth largest urban area in Norway by population, and the seventh largest city in Norway by population...
, a city within the
Arctic CircleThe Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. For Epoch 2011, it is the parallel of latitude that runs north of the Equator....
in the northernmost portion of
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. He would later become famous for his "arctic sound".
He was initially inspired by the music of artists such as
New OrderNew Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris...
,
Depeche ModeDepeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
,
WireWire are an English rock band, formed in London in October 1976 by Colin Newman , Graham Lewis , Bruce Gilbert , and Robert Gotobed...
, and
Brian EnoBrian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
, which he described as "like discovering a new universe—a universe which I wanted to be a part of". In 1983, he bought his first synthesizer and composed his first piece of music, taking influence from his archaeological studies, later stating "Studying the Ice Age and Stone Age has definitely influenced my music." In 1984 Jenssen issued his first album,
Likvider, released on cassette only and credited to E-man.
In 1985, Jenssen was part of the newly-created Norwegian moody synth trio
Bel CantoBel Canto is a Norwegian music duo, originally a trio, fronted by Anneli Drecker, and signed originally to Crammed Discs.-Biography:Their first two records were licensed to Nettwerk Records in Canada and its second album was licensed to IRS/MCA Records...
with Nils Johansen and singer
Anneli DreckerAnneli Marian Drecker is a German-Norwegian singer and actress from the city of Tromsø. She is the vocalist for the seminal dream pop band Bel Canto. In the fall of 2006 Bel Canto celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the first album with several concerts...
. The band signed to
BelgianBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
label
Crammed DiscsCrammed Discs is an independent record label whose output blends world music, rock, pop, and electronica. Based in Brussels, Belgium, Crammed was founded in 1980 by Marc Hollander of Aksak Maboul and has since released over 300 albums and 250 singles, working with artists from all over the world...
and to
NettwerkThe Nettwerk Music Group is the umbrella company for Nettwerk Management, Nettwerk Records, Nettwerk One Publishing, Nutone Records, and Artwerk. With over 150 employees, the Vancouver-based company has offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Boston, Nashville, and Hamburg...
in the US, and relocated to
BrusselsBrussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
. Jenssen, however, soon returned to
TromsøTromsø is a city and municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø.Tromsø city is the ninth largest urban area in Norway by population, and the seventh largest city in Norway by population...
, collaborating with the other band members by post, and continuing with his solo work. Bel Canto released two albums while Jenssen was a member,
White-Out Conditions and
Birds of Passage. In 1990, he left the band in order to pursue a different music style altogether, and began using a
samplerA sampler is an electronic musical instrument similar in some respects to a synthesizer but, instead of generating sounds, it uses recordings of sounds that are loaded or recorded into it by the user and then played back by means of a keyboard, sequencer or other triggering device to perform or...
.
Throughout the late 1980s, Jenssen used the moniker Bleep, under which he produced various
12" recordsThe 12-inch single is a type of gramophone record that has wider groove spacing compared to other types of records. This allows for louder levels to be cut on the disc by the cutting engineer, which in turn gives a wider dynamic range, and thus better sound quality...
, now releasing records via the
Crammed DiscsCrammed Discs is an independent record label whose output blends world music, rock, pop, and electronica. Based in Brussels, Belgium, Crammed was founded in 1980 by Marc Hollander of Aksak Maboul and has since released over 300 albums and 250 singles, working with artists from all over the world...
subsidiary SSR. His early influences were from
acid houseAcid house is a sub-genre of house music that emphasizes a repetitive, hypnotic and trance-like style, often with samples or spoken lines rather than sung lyrics. Acid house's core electronic squelch sounds were developed around the mid-1980s, particularly by DJs from Chicago who experimented with...
and
New BeatNew Beat is a term that was used in the 1980s to refer to two different genres of electronic dance music. It also refers to an underground 1980s Belgian music style.- Terminology :...
music.
Released in 1990,
The North Pole by SubmarineThe North Pole by Submarine is the first and only album released by ambient techno artist Bleep. Bleep was the one-time moniker of Geir Jenssen, who is more widely known as Biosphere...
was the only album recorded as Bleep. Further singles followed in 1990 and 1991 before Jenssen abandoned the Bleep moniker and took a distinct change in artistic direction.
As Biosphere (1991–present)
Following the release of
The North Pole by SubmarineThe North Pole by Submarine is the first and only album released by ambient techno artist Bleep. Bleep was the one-time moniker of Geir Jenssen, who is more widely known as Biosphere...
, Jenssen chose a new musical direction and began releasing his music as Biosphere on obscure Norwegian compilation albums, marking a major stylistic change as well as avoiding any association with "bleep house" (as made popular in the early 1990s by the
SheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-based
Warp RecordsWarp, commonly referred to as Warp Records, is a pioneering independent British record label, founded in Sheffield in 1989, notable for discovering some of the more enduring artists in electronic music....
).
His first Biosphere releases were the 12-inch single "The Fairy Tale" and the album
Microgravity, both of which were rejected by SSR as unmarketable.
MicrogravityMicrogravity is the debut album by Biosphere, released in 1992.-Track listing:# "Microgravity" – 5:12# "Baby Satellite" – 5:04# "Tranquillizer" – 8:18# "The Fairy Tale" – 4:53# "Cloudwalker II" – 5:26# "Chromosphere" – 3:28...
was released in 1991 on the Norwegian label
Origo SoundOrigo Sound is a Norwegian independent record label formed in 1990 in Norway by Harald Lervik. The initiative to start the label was taken after Tormod Opedal, an employee in Lervik's software company, in 1989 had decided to close his own label Cicada which had released two albums by the Norwegian...
, and saw wider release via the
R&S RecordsR&S Records is an independent record label. Founded in 1984 in Ghent, Belgium, it is now based in London and managed by Andy Whittaker and Dan Foat.R&S represents the initials of Renaat Vandepapeliere and Sabine Maes, the couple that created the label...
subsidiary Apollo in 1992, to much critical acclaim. In 1992, Jenssen contributed "I'll Strangle You" to
Hector ZazouHector Zazou was a prolific French composer and record producer who worked with, produced, and collaborated with an international array of recording artists...
's
Sahara Blue project.
In 1994, the second Biosphere album,
PatashnikPatashnik is an ambient house album, the second release by musician Biosphere . Its track "Novelty Waves" was used for the 1995 campaign of Levi's.-Overview:...
(allegedly
RussianRussian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
for "traveller" or "goner", but this word does not seem to actually exist), was released. Through
Patashnik, Jenssen continued to explore his ambient-house stylings to an even greater extent.
Patashnik contained the first hints of the reduction in beat-driven song structure that would mark later Biosphere releases. Unlike the first album,
Patashnik was quickly picked up by a comparatively large international audience, which brought Biosphere greater recognition. Jenssen also recorded as Cosmic Explorer, scoring a hit in Belgium with the
EPAn EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
The Hubble.
In 1995,
Levi Strauss & Co.Levi Strauss & Co. is a privately held American clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's brand of denim jeans. It was founded in 1853 when Levi Strauss came from Buttenheim, Franconia, to San Francisco, California to open a west coast branch of his brothers' New York dry goods business...
was searching for a new angle to add to their television advertisement campaign (which up to that point had never featured electronic music), and they decided to use the uptempo track "Novelty Waves" from
Patashnik. Shortly thereafter, "Novelty Waves" was released as a single (featuring remixes by various other artists), and managed to chart in several countries, reaching #51 in the United Kingdom. Although Jenssen never regretted his approval for use of the track, he also never sought this kind of fame and subsequently turned down various requests by his record company and peers to collaborate with well-known
technoTechno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
and
drum 'n bassDrum and bass is a type of electronic music which emerged in the late 1980s. The genre is characterized by fast breakbeats , with heavy bass and sub-bass lines...
artists or to create a follow-up album in the same style. During that same year, Biosphere contributed the song "The Seal and the Hydrophone" exclusively to
Apollo 2 – The Divine Compilation released by
Apollo RecordsA fourth Apollo Records to exist is an Ambient subdivision of R&S Records of Belgium.-Albums:* Apollo Compilation - Volume 1 - "File Under Ambient"* Biosphere - Microgravity* Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92* In-Existence - Moonwater...
.
Released in 1997,
SubstrataSubstrata is an ambient music album by Biosphere, released in 1997 by All Saints Records. It is considered to be a classic ambient album, consistently in the top 5 in surveys on the Hyperreal ambient mailing list....
is a purely atmospheric ambient Biosphere album, released on
Brian EnoBrian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
's
All Saints RecordsAll Saints Records is a British independent record label. It was established in 1991 by Dominic Norman-Taylor. They have published Ambient music from the likes of Brian Eno or Biosphere.-History:...
.
Substrata, which marked Jenssen's embarkation towards an intensely minimal style, is not only often considered to be Jenssen's best work to date, but is also seen as one of the all time classic ambient albums.
contains notable samples from the American TV show
Twin PeaksTwin Peaks is an American television serial drama created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. The series follows the investigation headed by FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper , of the murder of a popular teenager and homecoming queen, Laura Palmer...
.
In 2000, Jenssen released
CirqueCirque is an album by ambient musician Biosphere, which was released in 2000.Miss Kittin used "Le Grand Dôme" on her mix album A Bugged Out Mix.- Track listing :# "Nook and Cranny" – 4:02# "Le Grand Dôme" – 5:36# "Grandiflora" – 0:48...
on his new home
TouchTouch is a British audio-visual organisation, operating the Touch label. It is the main arm of the London-based multimedia publishing company Touch, established in 1982...
, an ambient album driven by muffled beats, samples, and minimal atmospherics. Though
Cirque briefly revisited territory covered by earlier Biosphere releases, the rhythm section throughout the album remains an element of the background, unlike Jenssen's first two Biosphere releases, wherein the drums occupied a dominating proportion of the foreground.
In 2002, it was released
ShenzhouShenzhou is an album by ambient musician Biosphere which was released on June 3, 2002. The structure and sound of this album is drastically minimalistic in comparison with Geir Jenssen's previous work up to this point, a concept that would be further elaborated upon with the next album...
, the fifth full length album under the name Biosphere. This album was a more abstract work, comparable to
Aphex TwinRichard David James , best known under the pseudonym Aphex Twin, is an Irish-born electronic musician and composer described as "the most inventive and influential figure in contemporary electronic music"...
's 1994 album
Selected Ambient Works Volume II-Formatting notes:The cassette version of the album featured six songs on each side, barring side three, which contained seven . The vinyl version featured four songs on each side, excluding side four, which contained five ....
. The material on the album draws from elongated, pitch-shifted loops taken from
DebussyClaude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
's
La MerLa mer, trois esquisses symphoniques pour orchestre , or simply La mer , is an orchestral composition by the French composer Claude Debussy. It was started in 1903 in France and completed in 1905 on the English Channel coast in Eastbourne...
(
The Sea)
http://www.junkmedia.org/index.php?i=193, and
JeuxJeux is the last work for orchestra written by Claude Debussy. Described as a "poème dansé" , it was originally intended to accompany a ballet, and was written for the Ballets Russes of Serge Diaghilev to choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky. Debussy initially objected to the scenario, but...
.
Released in 2004,
Autour de la LuneAutour de la Lune is an album by ambient musician Biosphere which was released on May 17, 2004. The album presents a striking difference from others in the Biosphere catalog due to its percussionless, minimalistic soundscapes consisting mostly of white noise and the sounds of the Mir space...
stands as the most minimal and austere Biosphere album to date. The
dronesDrone music is a minimalist musical style that emphasizes the use of sustained or repeated sounds, notes, or tone-clusters – called drones. It is typically characterized by lengthy audio programs with relatively slight harmonic variations throughout each piece compared to other musics...
employed on this album are comparable to
CoilCoil were an English cross-genre, experimental music group formed in 1982 by John Balance—later credited as "Jhonn Balance"—and his partner Peter Christopherson, aka "Sleazy". The duo worked together on a series of releases before Balance chose the name Coil, which he claimed to be...
's 1998 album
Time MachinesTime Machines is Coil's landmark drone music album, released under the alias Time Machines. It consists of four tracks which are composed of a single tone, called a drone. Each tone represents a certain hallucinogenic chemical...
in their timbre and slow rate of change. The bulk of this work was originally commissioned and broadcast in September 2003 by
Radio FranceRadio France is a French public service radio broadcaster.-Mission:Radio France's two principal missions are:* To create and expand the programming on all of their stations; and...
Culture for a musical evocation of
Jules VerneJules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
.
In 2006, Jenssen released
DropsondeSee dropsonde for the weather reconnaissance deviceDropsonde is an ambient album by musician Biosphere . Unlike his previous output, there is a notable jazz influence present on this album.-Overview:...
, a half beatless, half rhythmic album composed of jazz rhythms evocative of
Miles DavisMiles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
' 1970s
jazz fusionJazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
works. A partial vinyl sampler was released a few months earlier in 2005.
In 2009, Biosphere issued
Wireless: Live at the Arnolfini, BristolWireless: Live at the Arnolfini, Bristol is an ambient live album by Biosphere. It was recorded on 27 October 2007 at Bristol, United Kingdom...
, his first live album, containing new tracks such as "Pneuma" and "Pneuma II".
Jenssen has scored a number of films, including
Eternal Stars (1993) and
Insomnia (1997). He collaborated with German ambient composer
Pete NamlookPete Namlook is an ambient and electronic-music producer and composer. In 1992, he founded the German record label FAX +49-69/450464, which he oversees...
on
Fires of Ork, and has also worked with
Jah WobbleJah Wobble is an English bass guitarist, singer, poet and composer. He became known to a wider audience as the original bass player in Public Image Ltd in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but left the band after two albums...
's Invaders of the Heart and with Bobby Bird of
Higher Intelligence AgencyHigher Intelligence Agency, often also referred to by its acronym HIA, is the main electronic music project of Birmingham UK based Bobby Bird....
. In 2010, two soundtracks were announced on Biosphere's website, for German film "Im Schatten" and Norwegian "
NOKASNokas is a 2010 Norwegian heist film directed by Erik Skjoldbjærg. The film portrays the real life NOKAS robbery that took place in Stavanger, Norway in 2004....
".
In 27 June 2011, Geir Jenssen released the album
N-PlantsN-Plants is an ambient album of Biosphere. For this album, Jenssen found inspiration in the Japanese post-war economic miracle. Each track title refers to a Japanese nuclear plant.Geir Jenssen about N-Plants:-Track listing:#"Sendai-1" – 8:01...
, inspired by the Japanese post-war economic miracle. The album theme is related to nuclear plants in
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
Live
Biosphere regularly performs live during electronic music festivals and in clubs throughout Europe and various other locales around the world. Live performances usually consist of Jenssen performing improvisations or variations on newer tracks on a laptop while video art is projected behind him; for example, full-screen video art was projected in his Picturehouse cinema tour in April 2006. Although these performances are rarely tied specifically to a recent album release, the uptempo material from the Bleep and
MicrogravityMicrogravity is the debut album by Biosphere, released in 1992.-Track listing:# "Microgravity" – 5:12# "Baby Satellite" – 5:04# "Tranquillizer" – 8:18# "The Fairy Tale" – 4:53# "Cloudwalker II" – 5:26# "Chromosphere" – 3:28...
/
PatashnikPatashnik is an ambient house album, the second release by musician Biosphere . Its track "Novelty Waves" was used for the 1995 campaign of Levi's.-Overview:...
era is rarely featured in Biosphere performances.
In May 2004, Biosphere's first United States performance took place in
DetroitDetroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
.
In 2008 Jenssen announced a year-long break from touring due to his reported hatred of "airports, security checks, unhealthy food, air conditioning, hotels, etc.". However he resumes concert activity in 2009 and 2011
Other interests
Jenssen is also an active climber and mountaineer. This hobby is an inspiration on his work, as well as a source of natural sound samples. His highest feat was in 2001, climbing the
Cho OyuCho Oyu is the sixth highest mountain in the world at above sea level. Cho Oyu lies in the Himalayas and is 20 km west of Mount Everest, at the border between China and Nepal...
(Himalaya, 8201 meters) without oxygen; in 2006, he thus released
Cho Oyu 8201m – Field Recordings from TibetCho Oyu 8201m – Field Recordings From Tibet is an ambient album released by artist Biosphere under his real name Geir Jenssen. Recorded in 2001, it was released in 2006.- Overview :...
(as Geir Jenssen).
Solo discography
Albums as E-man
Albums as Bleep
- The North Pole by Submarine
The North Pole by Submarine is the first and only album released by ambient techno artist Bleep. Bleep was the one-time moniker of Geir Jenssen, who is more widely known as Biosphere...
(1990)
Albums as Biosphere
- Microgravity
Microgravity is the debut album by Biosphere, released in 1992.-Track listing:# "Microgravity" – 5:12# "Baby Satellite" – 5:04# "Tranquillizer" – 8:18# "The Fairy Tale" – 4:53# "Cloudwalker II" – 5:26# "Chromosphere" – 3:28...
(1991)
- Patashnik
Patashnik is an ambient house album, the second release by musician Biosphere . Its track "Novelty Waves" was used for the 1995 campaign of Levi's.-Overview:...
(1994)
- Substrata
Substrata is an ambient music album by Biosphere, released in 1997 by All Saints Records. It is considered to be a classic ambient album, consistently in the top 5 in surveys on the Hyperreal ambient mailing list....
(1997)
- Cirque
Cirque is an album by ambient musician Biosphere, which was released in 2000.Miss Kittin used "Le Grand Dôme" on her mix album A Bugged Out Mix.- Track listing :# "Nook and Cranny" – 4:02# "Le Grand Dôme" – 5:36# "Grandiflora" – 0:48...
(2000)
- Substrata²
Substrata 2, also written as Substrata², is a double album by ambient musician Biosphere which was released on 6 June 2001.The first disc is a remastered version of Substrata, and the second disc is a soundtrack for Dziga Vertov's 1929 film Man with a Movie Camera, commissioned by the Tromsø...
(2-CD reissue of SubstrataSubstrata is an ambient music album by Biosphere, released in 1997 by All Saints Records. It is considered to be a classic ambient album, consistently in the top 5 in surveys on the Hyperreal ambient mailing list....
, 2001)
- Shenzhou
Shenzhou is an album by ambient musician Biosphere which was released on June 3, 2002. The structure and sound of this album is drastically minimalistic in comparison with Geir Jenssen's previous work up to this point, a concept that would be further elaborated upon with the next album...
(2002)
- Autour de la Lune
Autour de la Lune is an album by ambient musician Biosphere which was released on May 17, 2004. The album presents a striking difference from others in the Biosphere catalog due to its percussionless, minimalistic soundscapes consisting mostly of white noise and the sounds of the Mir space...
(2004)
- Dropsonde
See dropsonde for the weather reconnaissance deviceDropsonde is an ambient album by musician Biosphere . Unlike his previous output, there is a notable jazz influence present on this album.-Overview:...
(2006)
- Wireless: Live at the Arnolfini, Bristol
Wireless: Live at the Arnolfini, Bristol is an ambient live album by Biosphere. It was recorded on 27 October 2007 at Bristol, United Kingdom...
(2009)
- N-Plants
N-Plants is an ambient album of Biosphere. For this album, Jenssen found inspiration in the Japanese post-war economic miracle. Each track title refers to a Japanese nuclear plant.Geir Jenssen about N-Plants:-Track listing:#"Sendai-1" – 8:01...
(2011)
Soundtracks and sounds
- Eternal Stars (1993 film soundtrack)
- Man with a Movie Camera
Man with a Movie Camera is an ambient soundtrack by Biosphere for Dziga Vertov's 1929 film Man with a Movie Camera, commissioned by the Tromsø International Film Festival in 1996...
(1996 festival soundtrack, 2001 release in Substrata²Substrata 2, also written as Substrata², is a double album by ambient musician Biosphere which was released on 6 June 2001.The first disc is a remastered version of Substrata, and the second disc is a soundtrack for Dziga Vertov's 1929 film Man with a Movie Camera, commissioned by the Tromsø...
)
- Insomnia (1997 soundtrack for the original Norwegian version of Insomnia
Insomnia is a 1997 Norwegian thriller film about a police detective investigating a murder in a town located above the Arctic Circle. The investigation goes horribly wrong when he mistakenly shoots his partner and subsequently attempts to cover up his bungle...
)
- Cho Oyu 8201m – Field Recordings from Tibet
Cho Oyu 8201m – Field Recordings From Tibet is an ambient album released by artist Biosphere under his real name Geir Jenssen. Recorded in 2001, it was released in 2006.- Overview :...
(as Geir Jenssen, 2006)
Collaboration discography
Usually as "Geir Jenssen" instead of "Biosphere":
- White-Out Conditions (1987, in Bel Canto
Bel Canto is a Norwegian music duo, originally a trio, fronted by Anneli Drecker, and signed originally to Crammed Discs.-Biography:Their first two records were licensed to Nettwerk Records in Canada and its second album was licensed to IRS/MCA Records...
)
- Birds of Passage (1989, in Bel Canto)
- Fires of Ork (1993, with Pete Namlook
Pete Namlook is an ambient and electronic-music producer and composer. In 1992, he founded the German record label FAX +49-69/450464, which he oversees...
)
- Polar Sequences (1996, live, with Higher Intelligence Agency
Higher Intelligence Agency, often also referred to by its acronym HIA, is the main electronic music project of Birmingham UK based Bobby Bird....
)
- Nordheim Transformed (1998, with Deathprod
Deathprod is a musical pseudonym used by Norwegian artist Helge Sten for his ambient-influenced music.-Biography:Sten began creating music under this name starting in 1991, culminating with a box set of most of his recorded work being released in 2004...
, remixing Arne NordheimArne Nordheim was a Norwegian composer who had since 1982 been living in the Norwegian State's honorary residence, Grotten, next to the Royal Palace in Oslo. Nordheim received numerous prizes for his compositions, and was elected an honorary member of the International Society for Contemporary...
)
- Biosystems: The Biosphere Remixes (1999, collection of 8 other bands)
- Birmingham Frequencies (2000, live, with Higher Intelligence Agency
Higher Intelligence Agency, often also referred to by its acronym HIA, is the main electronic music project of Birmingham UK based Bobby Bird....
)
- Fires of Ork II (2000, with Pete Namlook
Pete Namlook is an ambient and electronic-music producer and composer. In 1992, he founded the German record label FAX +49-69/450464, which he oversees...
)
Meanings of his album titles
All Biosphere album titles allude to the cold environments of space or ice, and their exploration:
- The Biosphere 2
Biosphere 2 is a structure originally built to be an artificial, materially-closed ecological system in Oracle, Arizona by Space Biosphere Ventures, a joint venture whose principal officers were John P. Allen, inventor and Executive Director, and Margret Augustine, CEO...
project intended to explore the possible use of an artificial biosphereThe biosphere is the global sum of all ecosystems. It can also be called the zone of life on Earth, a closed and self-regulating system...
(a closed ecosystem) for space colonizationSpace colonization is the concept of permanent human habitation outside of Earth. Although hypothetical at the present time, there are many proposals and speculations about the first space colony...
. The Russian Biosphere 3 too. Both were detached, self-sufficient environments, like a space ship or a submarine.
- The North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...
explored by a submarine, which may be lost like a ship in space.
- Microgravity is the imperfect state of weightlessness in a space ship.
- The word "patashnik" is allegedly Russian cosmonaut slang for "a traveler" or "a goner", a cosmonaut who didn't return from a space mission because his security cable disengaged and he was lost in space.
- Substrata is, among others, a glaciology
Glaciology Glaciology Glaciology (from Middle French dialect (Franco-Provençal): glace, "ice"; or Latin: glacies, "frost, ice"; and Greek: λόγος, logos, "speech" lit...
term (always plural) for the nature of a glacier's bed. .
- A cirque
thumb|250 px|Two cirques with semi-permanent snowpatches in [[Abisko National Park]], [[Sweden]].A cirque or corrie is an amphitheatre-like valley head, formed at the head of a valley glacier by erosion...
is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacialA glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
erosion. It also refers to the death of Chris McCandless, a sort of "patashnik" who explored self-sufficient survival in a cirque in Alaska and lost himself.
- Shenzhou refers to the Chinese Shenzhou spacecraft
Shenzhou is a spacecraft developed and operated by the People's Republic of China to support its manned spaceflight program. The name is variously translated as "Divine Craft," "Divine Vessel of God," "Magic Boat" or similar and is also homophonous with an ancient name for China...
.
- Autour de la Lune (1870, French for Around the Moon) was Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
's followup to From the Earth to the Moon and dealt with the launching and actual space travel to and around the moon.
- A dropsonde
A dropsonde is a weather reconnaissance device created by the National Center for Atmospheric Research , designed to be dropped from an aircraft at altitude to more accurately measure tropical storm conditions as the device falls to the surface...
is a device designed to be dropped at altitude to collect data as the device falls to the ground – in this context, it's a sonde sent through space to another planet, it's another "patashnik" explorator intended to be lost.
- N-Plants is probably a shortcut of "Nuclear Plants", also, the CD booklet of the album includes writing in Japanese that has this meaning.
External links
General
Discographies
- Biosphere discography (including lone tracks) at Beatservice Records
Beatservice Records is a Tromsø, Norway based record label which releases electronic music. It was started by Vidar Hanssen in 1995, who was dj'ing for a local student radio with the program The Beatservice Radio Show at the time. Beatservice Records have released music ranging from minimalistic...
- [ Biosphere discography (with critics comments)] at AMG
- Biosphere discography (with users comments) at Discogs
Discogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
Lyrics, quotes, samples