Norwegian cult act, Ulver, return again to the track “Hollywood Babylon” from their previous album, Liminal Animals (2024), for the best of all reasons: a stunning music video that has been long in the making. Following a fascinating remix by Gazelle Twin aka Elizabeth Bernholz that offered a brooding reinterpretation, the Norwegians now add this beautiful clip to the growing corpus around the original track.
“Working with our wonderfully mad old friend Christian Mona from the Bogus Blimp days never disappoints”, mastermind Kristoffer Rygg writes on behalf of Ulver. “He started to create this video before we released our last album (sorry about that) and he has finally delivered a splendidly grotesque little gem from within his Automated Bathroom. ‘Hollywood Babylon’ has never looked better! It is a distorted mirror of our times. Please feel free to stare into it a little too long.”
The Norwegian visual artist collective AKFF! adds: “2025 marked 20 years since Ulver made the animated music video ‘It Is Not Sound’ in cooperation with us”, Christian Mona states. “It has been a hypnotic journey through the Sea of Sorrows all the way to the Pinnacle of Truth. Thinking back on what a great experience it was to visualise and expand on Ulver’s universe, we started wondering why AKFF! hadn’t made more videos with Ulver. As it turns out, Ulver had been thinking along the same lines! And so the making of ‘Hollywood Babylon’ began.”
Video credits:
Production: AKFF!
Director: Trista Namo
Director of Photography: Harald Fossen
Listen to “Hollywood Babylon” (remixed by Gazelle Twin) below.
“We became instant fans of Gazelle Twin when we both played at Austria’s Donau Festival in 2017, and we are thrilled to have Elizabeth lend her unique vision and voice to ‘Hollywood Babylon’”, mastermind Kristoffer Rygg states. “Her approach captures the song’s essence while adding new and different layers of emotional depth and contemporary resonance.”
In her note to the band, Elizabeth Bernholz wrote: “I have really enjoyed working on ‘Hollywood Babylon’ – it is such a great song”, the English composer, producer, and musician enthuses. “I love the vibe, chord sequences, vocals and lyrics, which feel ever more prescient. I wanted to bring all those things to the foreground, plus add a bit of GT darkness and my voice.”
Ulver’s new album, Neverland, is available as Jewelcase CD, as black bio vinyl LP, as ltd. crystal clear vinyl LP (300 copies), as ltd. marbled transparent blue & white vinyl LP (1,000 copies), as ltd. blue liquid-filled vinyl LP (33 copies), as ltd. orange liquid-filled vinyl LP (33 copies), and as ltd. yellow liquid-filled vinyl LP (33 copies).
Order here.
Neverland tracklisting:
“Fear In A Handful Of Dust”
“Elephant Trunk”
“Weeping Stone”
“People Of The Hills”
“They’re Coming! The Birds!”
“Hark! Hark! The Dogs Do Bark”
“Horses Of The Plough”
“Pandora’s Box”
“Quivers In The Marrow”
“Welcome To The Jungle”
“Fire In The End”
Album stream:
“They’re Coming! The Birds!” visualizer:
“Weeping Stone” visualizer:
Lineup:
Kristoffer Rygg – drums, percussion, electronics, synthesizer, vocals
Ole Alexander Halstensgård – programming, electronics, synthesizer
Anders Møller – percussion, drums
Jørn H. Sværen – synthesizer
Stian Westerhus – guitar, bass guitar
Guest musician:
Sara Khorami – whispers and voices (recorded at 4 a.m.)
– Recording by Kristoffer Rygg & Ole Alexander Halstensgård at Lupercal Studio, Oslo (NO)
– Mixing by Anders Møller at Subsonic Society, Oslo (NO)
– Mastering by Vegard Sleipnes at Reel to Reel Mastering, Oslo (NO)
– Artwork & layout by Paschalis Zervas (+ wolframgrafik)
(Photo – Haavard Joergensen)
BraveWords Records releases PRIOR CONVICTIONS the new album by Alcatrazz.
Our friends at Roppongi Rock… “Prior Convictions” bridges Alcatrazz’s past and future. Of the eleven tracks on the album, two are brand new songs. “Transylvanian Requiem” is an instrumental piece showing off Joe Stump’s guitar wizardry, while “Stand and Wait Your Turn” is an excellent rocker of a song.
These two new songs raise my expectations for the next studio album of new material.
Visit – https://smarturl.it/PriorConvictions
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