Runar Magnusson
Hljóđaklettar
Biography
Rúnar is an Icelandic musician, born in Akureyri in 1971, who moved to Copenhagen in 1996. Rúnar recently finished a master’s degree in Electronic Music Composition at the Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus. Over the past 10 years, Rúnar has been making music and sound design for multiple theater performances in Denmark. "I work a lot with field recordings, found and borrowed sounds from nature or the environment around me. I use these recordings both in the original form and manipulated. I create atmospheres inspired by nature, horror movies, noise and meditation."

He has participated in numerous festivals and concerts all around the world solo, with his band Vindva Mei, his collaborative partner The Crying Cowboy, and with the generative music series SameSameButDifferent (a collaborative project with Icelandic musician/software artist Thor Magnusson).

Recently, Rúnar has focused on surround sound, playing multi channel concerts at various locations such as churches, galleries, clubs, and theaters. Over the last several years, Rúnar has toured Asia twice, performed all over China, Hong Kong, Philippines, and Mexico. In 2009 Rúnar toured the USA, where he drove across the country playing numerous concerts and exhibiting his dreamachine installation.

´… It conjures up images of plague ridden monks trudging in the snow to a witch burning at Ţingvellir.´ (Reykjavik Grapevine , IS, 09/10)
´…does evoke cinematic dystopias such as Blade Runner and has its own oppressive atmosphere.´ (Reykjavik Grapevine, IS, 09/10)
´...Slowly unfolding soundpieces that are at times creepy, but never without a small trace of light, a trace of humor (any good horror movie has these funny bits) ´(Vital Weekly 517, FdW)
´..It's a pretty incredible album…´ (Jim Haynes, The Wire, UK, 09/05)
´...Disturbing in more ways than one.´ (Aquarius, USA)
´...really intense and could be used right away for a horror movie.´ (Vital Weekly 506, FdW)
´...This dreamy music is completely spellbinding...It’s devastatingly beautiful in all its intriguing postures of uncanny sound ingenuity. Completely original, almost scary in the way it comes across....´ (Sonoloco, SE)
Discography
Coming up: Alien UFO, a collaboration with Helgi Thorsson of Stilluppsteypa and Evil Madness . A 3" cd out soon
2009- Runar Magnusson- Options (Hljóđaklettar)
2007- Runar Magnusson/Thor Magnusson - kizxju ( Triposta - Belgian net label)
2007- Runar Magnusson - ixidental quark variations (skyndo - French net label)
2006- Runar Magnusson/Thor Magnusson - Tnif ( Mandorla - Mexican net label)
2005 - Runar Magnusson - Live (noisejihad) Free Download.
2004/05 - Runar Magnusson - The Art of Dying in a Live Situation (Whitelabel)
2004/05 - Runar Magnusson - The Greatest of The Great (Whitelabel)
2004/05 - Runar Magnusson - Mixed Feelings (Whitelabel)
2004 - Runar Magnusson & Thor Magnusson - SameSameButDifferent v1. (ixi label)
2004 - Ozy & Runar Magnusson - serenade for strings in c op.48 "andante non troppo - allegro moderato" on the compilation cd Tchaikovsky electro (KAMA records)
2001 - Runar Magnusson - Feelings&Emotions(..sland ..grum skori..) - on the compilation cd NorPol (Resonance.DK)
2004/05 - Vindva Mei - Fungi to the moon (Whitelabel)
2004/05 - Vindva Mei - Germans are people too (alive&kickin') (Whitelabel)
2000 - Vindva Mei - On Fire (Fire Inc - now deceased)
1996 - Vindva Mei - Flowers are evil (Vindva Mei MC)