Runar Magnusson is an Icelandic sound artist and the co-founder of the spectacular boutique record label Hljodaklettar, which boasts on its roster Johann Johannsson, BJNilsen, and a number of other artists in the Evil Madness crew. He recently tipped me off to a work he composed in October 2010 for a performance in Reykjavik that has now seen a comprehensive digital release through Surrism Phonoethics-- a "n0tlabel" specializing in freely downloadable compositions from the experimental side of the spectrum. Mangusson's piece is entitled "Lennon, Lynch & Lang"; true to its word, its a sprawling, 34-minute composition made up entirely of samples of names that really need no hyperlink: John Lennon, David Lynch, and Fritz Lang.

The piece opens with jittering vocal samples over a drunken, syncopated beat; a warm tinkle of piano segues into darker, glitchier terrain that evokes walking down an endless tunnel with the ominous feeling that a train is closing in behind you. The final passage, with its grey, hazy drones chiming over and over, leaves us at once unsettled and vaguely awestruck. Magnusson has cleverly recalibrated our associations (and expectations) of Lennon, Lynch and Lang while retaining the essence of each. From the warm, psychedelic sounds of the opening to the dense gloominess of the middle and the monolithic eeriness of the end, we are truly on board a journey-- at once as an homage to the grand masters and the unique creation of a new kind of master. --Daniel Gottlieb, Altered Zones

Download "Lennon, Lynch & Lang" via Surrism Phonoethics