Kim Hiorthøy
Encyclopedia
Kim Hiorthøy is a Norwegian electronic musician, graphic designer
, illustrator
, filmmaker and writer
.
, Norway
, and studied at the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art
(1991–96) as well as the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts
in Copenhagen
(1999-2000). During his tenure at the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art, Hiorthøy spent a year abroad in 1994 to attend the School of Visual Arts
in New York. Currently, he lives and works in Berlin, Germany. A fictionalized version of Hiorthøy is a character in Erlend Loe
's novel L
.
record label. Haugland asked Hiorthøy to work with the label, and in 2001 Hiorthøy released his debut album, “Hei”. He has subsequently released several albums, EPs, and 7 inch records with Smalltown Supersound.
Hiorthøy’s musical style is difficult to classify; the Smalltown Supersound website offers the following description: "On his records Kim Hiorthøy combines weird beats, lo-fi/leftfield electronics, field recordings, electro-acoustic sounds and samples, resulting in a sound all his own.” His live sets, however, differ from his recordings, with louder, faster beats and a techno undertone.
, Smalltown Supersound
, Smalltown Superjazzz
and the rock group Motorpsycho
. He is currently represented by STANDARDhttp://www.standardoslo.no/v1/, an Oslo-based gallery aimed at promoting contemporary Norwegian artists. Some of his other creative achievements include film directing, film photography, and illustration for children’s books.
In a 2004 interview with KultureFlash.com, Hiorthøy described the relationship between graphic design and music: “I regard them as very different things, even though the place in my head that decides if something works or not is the same for both”.
Graphic designer
A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, printed or electronic media, such as brochures and...
, illustrator
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
, filmmaker and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
.
Biography
Hiorthøy was born and raised in TrondheimTrondheim
Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , 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...
, and studied at the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology , commonly known as NTNU, is located in Trondheim. NTNU is the second largest of the eight universities in Norway, and, as its name suggests, has the main national responsibility for higher education in engineering and technology...
(1991–96) as well as the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts
Royal Danish Academy of Art
The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts has provided a practice-oriented complement to the scholarly investigation of the arts carried out at Danish universities for more than 250 years, playing a crucial part in the development of the distinctive tradition of the art of Denmark.- History :The Royal...
in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
(1999-2000). During his tenure at the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art, Hiorthøy spent a year abroad in 1994 to attend the School of Visual Arts
School of Visual Arts
The School of Visual Arts , is a proprietary art school located in Manhattan, New York City, and is widely considered to be one of the leading art schools in the United States. It was established in 1947 by co-founders Silas H. Rhodes and Burne Hogarth as the Cartoonists and Illustrators School and...
in New York. Currently, he lives and works in Berlin, Germany. A fictionalized version of Hiorthøy is a character in Erlend Loe
Erlend Loe
Erlend Loe is a Norwegian novelist and screenwriter. He has gained popularity in Scandinavia with his humorous and sometimes naïve novels, although his stories have become darker in tone, moving towards a more satirical criticism of modern Norwegian society.-Biography:Erlend Loe worked at a...
's novel L
L (novel)
L is a novel written by the Norwegian writer Erlend Loe. It is about a group of young men who go on an expedition to the small island Manuae in the Pacific Ocean. It was published in 1999, and was a big success.-Plot:...
.
Music
Hiorthøy began making music while attending the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art; he worked in the academy's sound studio until he left school and purchased his own equipment. After various “collaborations and accidents”, his music was eventually introduced to DJ Joakim Haugland of the Smalltown SupersoundSmalltown Supersound
Smalltown Supersound is an independent record label based in Oslo, Norway, and dedicated to new forms of jazz, rock and electronic music.Their catalog features albums by Annie, Jaga Jazzist, 120 Days, Mental Overdrive, Bjørn Torske, Mats Gustafsson and Sonic Youth, amongst others.In 2004, the...
record label. Haugland asked Hiorthøy to work with the label, and in 2001 Hiorthøy released his debut album, “Hei”. He has subsequently released several albums, EPs, and 7 inch records with Smalltown Supersound.
Hiorthøy’s musical style is difficult to classify; the Smalltown Supersound website offers the following description: "On his records Kim Hiorthøy combines weird beats, lo-fi/leftfield electronics, field recordings, electro-acoustic sounds and samples, resulting in a sound all his own.” His live sets, however, differ from his recordings, with louder, faster beats and a techno undertone.
Graphic Design and Film
While exploring music at the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art, Hiorthøy simultaneously began his work in graphic design. He started to publish fanzines and design record sleeves for local bands, and as time passed he began to work more seriously in a variety of creative mediums. To date, Hiorthøy has released several collections of photography, drawing and design, and has provided cover artworks for such record labels as Rune GrammofonRune Grammofon
Rune Grammofon is a Norwegian record label founded in 1998 by Rune Kristoffersen. Rune Grammofon's reputation for lovingly issued experimental electronic music, jazz, and improvised music by Norwegian artists has grown over the years with its artists being featured heavily in magazines such as The...
, Smalltown Supersound
Smalltown Supersound
Smalltown Supersound is an independent record label based in Oslo, Norway, and dedicated to new forms of jazz, rock and electronic music.Their catalog features albums by Annie, Jaga Jazzist, 120 Days, Mental Overdrive, Bjørn Torske, Mats Gustafsson and Sonic Youth, amongst others.In 2004, the...
, Smalltown Superjazzz
Smalltown Superjazzz
Smalltown Superjazzz is an independent record label based in Oslo, Norway, and dedicated to new forms of jazz. It is a subsidiary of the label Smalltown Supersound.Their catalog features albums by The Thing, Mats Gustafsson and Free Fall....
and the rock group Motorpsycho
Motorpsycho
Motorpsycho is a band from Trondheim, Norway. Their music can generally be defined as psychedelic rock, but they also mix in elements from metal, jazz, rock, pop and many other musical styles. The members of the band are Bent Sæther , Hans Magnus "Snah" Ryan and Kenneth Kapstad...
. He is currently represented by STANDARDhttp://www.standardoslo.no/v1/, an Oslo-based gallery aimed at promoting contemporary Norwegian artists. Some of his other creative achievements include film directing, film photography, and illustration for children’s books.
In a 2004 interview with KultureFlash.com, Hiorthøy described the relationship between graphic design and music: “I regard them as very different things, even though the place in my head that decides if something works or not is the same for both”.
Illustrations
- Erlend LoeErlend LoeErlend Loe is a Norwegian novelist and screenwriter. He has gained popularity in Scandinavia with his humorous and sometimes naïve novels, although his stories have become darker in tone, moving towards a more satirical criticism of modern Norwegian society.-Biography:Erlend Loe worked at a...
- "Fisken", 1994 - Sissel LieSissel LieSissel Lie is a Norwegian novelist, translator, and playwright.-Biography:Sissel Lie was born in Kristiansand, in Vest-Agder county, Norway. She has been a professor of Romance languages and literature at the University of Trondheim since 1992. Her literary début, the short story collection...
- "Pusegutten en en drittsekk!", 1995 - Erlend Loe - "Kurt blir grusom", 1995
- Sissel Lie - "Pusegutten og den lille gule", 1996
- Erlend Loe - "Den store røde hunden", 1996
- Sissel Lie - "Pusegutten er eldst og tykkest", 1997
- Bjørn Sortland - "Den solbrente mammaen som blei bytta mot ti kamelar", 1997
- Erlend Loe - "Kurt for alle", 1998
- Erlend Loe - "Kurt quo vadis?", 1998
- Lunde, Stein Erik - "Eggg", 1998
- Sissel Lie - "Pusegutter tåler nesten alt", 1999
- Tore RenbergTore RenbergTore Renberg made his literary debut in 1995 with the collection of short prose Sovende floke for which he won the prestigious Tarjei Vesaas' Debutant Prize. Since then he has written several novels and children's books, one collection of prose and made one book of collages...
- "Hando Kjendo : søndag", 1999 - Bjørn Sortland - "Den solbrente mammaen som kledde seg naken for å bli kunst", 1999
- Kim Fupz Aakeson - "Da gud fikk en hobby", 1999
- Tore Renberg - "Hando Kjendo : torsdag", 2000
- Erlend Loe - "Kurt 3", 2001
- Erlend Loe - "Kurt koker hodet", 2003
- Jaga JazzistJaga JazzistJaga Jazzist is an experimental jazz band from Norway that rose to prominence when the BBC named their first album, A Livingroom Hush , the best jazz album of 2002. The core of the band are brothers and main songwriters Lars and Martin Horntveth...
- "What We MustWhat We MustWhat We Must is an album by Jaga Jazzist, released in 2005 by the Ninja Tune label.This album was a change of direction for the 10 piece with Martin Horntveth moving to a more permanent position on the drums. This meant the group lost their Drum and Bass feel and began to sound more like a band,...
", 2005
Discography
- "Hei", 2000 (CD), Smalltown Supersound
- "Melke", 2001 (CD), Smalltown Supersound
- "Hopeness EP", 2004 (CD), Smalltown Supersound
- "For the Ladies", 2004 (CD), Smalltown Supersound
- "Live Shet", 2004 (CD), Smalltown Supersound
- "This Record Can Not Set Me On Fire", 2006 (12"), Smalltown Supersound
- "I'm This, I'm That", 2006 (7"), Smalltown Supersound
- "My Last Day", 2007 (CD), Smalltown Supersound