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BabesInBoyland [January 2006]
We put the cd on. Breathing. Organic, orgasmic in a loop, between Kraftverk doing the Tour de France trick and PJ Harvey, Dry period. Then the song begins, somewhere between trip-hop and pop. Soft start, with sounds cut and sharp as diamonds. Forward, backward, some drops of Ruby (the Salt Peter album.... I just remembered it dates back to 1995
.where the fuck is she now?!?!).
From the very first tracks, it's obvious that Wired Stuff is a rich, dense album of layers, radical changes, and pop experiment without any set rules. It goes down unexpected strange paths and radically changes direction. "Working On It" starts as a Neubauten meets Future Lisa track to take some Scream Club ( I wrote this before I read they rocked together at Ladyfest Berlin... somehow I was not surprised) style traces, falls into a break which makes you check whether it's still the same song, and comes back again. Electronic sounds, sudden soft melodies, sweat and sex. It's HOT! She is Hanin Elias and Tara Delong talking about love, hurting, power, sex, and more. Irresistibly attractive. I thought about the freedom of Kevin Blechdom when I first heard the album (they are friends.. again, not really surprised I am).
What is amazing about this record is that it is both really simple and really complex, it's difficult to explain, you have to feel it, really. it works as hell... and this adaptation of Rid Of Me she does.... goose bumps!
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by Sonja Eismann, Intro [January 2006]
Hechel, hechel, Glitch, Orgel, Beat. Die ersten Takte, und I'm a slave 4 U. Heidi! Aber könnte eigentlich irgendwas mies sein, das sich selbst als "Tomboytronica Electrosoul" versteht? Das erratische, rockende Synthietronics berührungsfurchtlos mit sexy HipHop-Attitude und croonendem R'n'B-Sentiment versetzt, ohne Angst vor nerdy Kontrollverlust einerseits und ohne andererseits den Sauberschmutz-Supersexappeal bedienen zu müssen? Für viele andere bedauerlicherweise wahrscheinlich ja, für mich: das Größte. Heidi Mortenson, ursprünglich aus Dänemark, jetzt nach Barcelona in Berlin hängen geblieben, schmeißt im ersten Stück "I Just Know" die Existenz-entscheidenden Popuniversalien von "Right" und "Wrong" so lange durcheinander, bis nur noch eine hysterisch absurde Pulpa übrig bleibt:
"You might be right but you're wrong for me / I might be wrong but I am right for you." Und wie das klingt! Wie sagt man da? Hitzig! Klar erinnert das auch an die Cheekiness von "I'm Kevin Blechdom and you broke my heart / and I want to be together and you wanna be apart" - ist ja auch die Kollegin, mit der Heidi im ersten Berlinjahr viel zusammen gearbeitet hat.
Man liest über Mortenson, dass sie früher mit dem Kopf in der Waschmaschinentrommel gesungen hat und auf Bühnen gerne in den langen Unterhosen ihres Großvaters herumparadiert. Aber auch ohne diese geilen Performance-Knallfrösche ist die Liebesaffäre zwischen krauser Elektronik und physischem Soul, die bei Super_Collider zwar ganz anders, aber auch schon gut war, lange überfällig. Wo Phon.o auf seiner tollen Platte bisschen zu sehr auf Booty-Bitch-Terror setzt, wie ironisch auch immer, wird hier den Ladys Reverenz erwiesen. Heidi rappt wie Peaches, skandiert wie Lesbians On Ecstasy, daddelt wie Sophie Rimheden und gebietet wie die ganz frühe PJ Harvey in ihrer Version von deren "Legs".
Dass "Wired Stuff" in der Summe ganz anders klingt und von Dub über Breakbeat-HipHop bis Häcksel-Elektronik alles draufhat, ohne sich in einem öden Eklektizismus zu verrennen, ist dabei klar. Aber macht man halt so - Frauen werden mit anderen Frauen verglichen. Kennt ihr ja.
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by John Bergstrom, Popmatters [May 2006]
Wired 'n' Weird
Artists you could call “uncompromising” are always curiosities at the very least.
Is the term an indicator of real expectation-defying, genre-busting, true-to-self-ness,
or a euphemism for “difficult, self-indulgent, and not very good”? The answer, as always, lies in the eye (and ear) of
the beholder. But you can’t sit on the fence, and that’s where the curiosity comes in.
Wired Stuff is an uncompromising album from the uncompromising Danish-born, Berlin-based Heidi Mortenson. In terms of her approach and subject matter,
you could say she’s in the tradition of Laurie Anderson or Grace Jones. If Grace Jones built her own synthesizers. But Mortenson isn’t sexy, either.
She sings about sex—quite often, quite graphically—but, judging by the picture on the cover, she’s not interested in playing those lyrics or her erotic,
bad-girl voice for their desirability. You take or leave her art on its own terms.
As far as the listening goes, Wired Stuff is challenging. Difficult. Musically, it’s a cacophony of machines, electro-pulses,
and static that Mortenson just barely has under control. The sounds are reminiscent of early synth pioneers like Fad Gadget and Cabaret Voltaire,
but the arrangements are pure Mortenson. There aren’t many choruses. There aren’t many verses, either.
The backing tracks are canvases onto which Mortenson can pour her words, have her say, dare you to switch her off.
“Just Shut Up And” rides on something you could describe as an “electro pulse”; “In the Streets” may be a sort of “twisted, slinky blues”,
and “Less and Less” fools you into thinking it’s a pop song before breaking into a pounding tantrum. But these descriptions don’t really do justice to the uniqueness,
the weirdness, and the degree of listening difficulty.
As for her words, Mortenson makes some observations of urban life, though what she’s really about is portraying sex, sexuality, and relationships in a way that’s so dirty,
so unabashed, so much a matter of synaptic responses as to take almost all the appeal out of them. She starts the album out stating “I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with me”,
and by the end she doesn’t really have an answer. She does tell you that she’s “Workin’ On It”, in a near-rapping cadence that suggests Gwen Stefani on a bad acid trip.
A song later, she’s commanding you to “Shut up and kiss me . . . you come, / ‘Cos Heidi says come”, and a few songs after that to “lick my lips of desire”.
You sense she’s being honest, too—it’s neither a joke nor a novelty, which makes it all the more difficult.
You could say that in her uncompromising way, Mortenson is more honestly just a girl than any dance-pop diva out there.
Then you listen to “On the Move”, and realize that Mortensen’s idea of girrl-pop would give Christina Aguilera nightmares.
Wired Stuff is an album that does all-too-good a job of making you feel you’ve met your match.
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Undertoner.dk [April 2006]
Et afsindigt kvindemenneske iklædt hjelm, månebukser og spændetrøje har overfaldet mig med en elektro-feministisk svada af kontinentale proportioner.
Det blev for meget for mit mandlige musikalske ego, jeg kollapsede foran mine højtalere og ligger nu til opvågning på en stille hospitalsstue.
Det første jeg husker, er et svagt minde fra en koncert på Roskilde Festival anno 2003. En blanding af nysgerrighed, intuitiv forventning og provokation havde trukket mig nærmere
teltet, hvor Chicks on Speed blæste deres feministiske electro-rock ud iført farvestrålende hjemmesyet design og en sjælden set aggressiv festglæde. Jeg husker at have spurgt mig selv, hvad pokker de havde gang i.
Det næste, der popper op i bevidstheden, er en sang af det danske band Death by Kite, hvis titel "Kicking Up a Riot Grrrl" synes at have noget med sagen at gøre. Nu husker jeg! Det var netop den sang, jeg i mit stille sind nynnede kort før overfaldet. Hvad fanden foregår der!?
Endelig forstår jeg hele sammenhængen. Danmark har set sin første kvindelige musik-terrorist, hvis våben består af industrielle beatskulpturer, dragende lejlighedsvise melodiindslag og hovedpersonens egen attituderige rap-lignende vokal.
Selv om Heidi Mortenson har opereret i Europa de sidste tre år med baser i de kulturelt fremmelige storbyer Barcelona og Berlin, er det først med Wired Stuff, at Danmark får mulighed for at få øjnene op for sin egen elektroniske førstedame. Det høres tydeligt, hvorledes udlandet og mødet med blandt andre Kevin Blechdom har lagt grobund for en musikalsk spændvidde i international klasse.
Heidis historier tager lytteren med gennem det mørke Europas metropoler, hvor hun og hendes omgivelser angriber kærligheden gennem voldsomt begær og lettere seksuel sindssyge. Det bliver hurtigt omsonst at skelne mellem musikkens rå, insisterende plastic-beats og den elektrificerede amazones egen stønnende vokal, for hendes stemme smelter lydefrit sammen med den stemningsfulde dekadente electro.
Udtryksmæssigt kan Heidi Mortensons stemme minde om Karen O fra den amerikanske avant-rock trio Yeah Yeah Yeahs, men den begår sig klart bedst i eksempelvis "I Just Know", hvor der synges til forskel fra den lettere enerverende rap på "Workin on It".
Det musikalske bagtæppe er der til gengæld ikke en finger at sætte på. De overbevisende electrofunk-beats suppleres af nogle sært fascinerende melodistykker, der giver det hårdkogte lyriske miljø anstrøg af noget større og dybere, hvilket gør de mere instrumentale passager til albummets trumfer. Det er netop her, at den til tider anstrengende rebelske attitude forlades til fordel for musikkens eget liv og væsen. Kunstnerens personlige beretninger er såmænd velskrevne og indtrængende, men musikkens tvetydige sprog trækker alligevel det længste strå.
Det er måske ikke helt retfærdigt at tillægge riot grrrl-indflydelsen så stor vægt og besnærende indvirkning, for Heidi Mortensons musik er tydeligvis stærk nok til at stå uden genrens oprørske budskaber. Men siden det er umuligt at ignorere den håndfaste attitude, der har det med at dele vandene lyttere imellem, synes der at opstå en spænding mellem det eftertænksomme musikalske talent og den spydige, kompromisløse tone, der gennemsyrer albummets udtryk. En spænding, der forhindrer Wired Stuff i at bryde gennem barrieren til det forjættede land. Udgivelsen forbliver meget opsigtsvækkende på den danske electronica-scene, men ville vinde mere land, hvis musikken havde båret en mere vidtfavnende personlig palet.
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Amedeo Verger, Unmute [February 2006]
Registrato tra Berlino e Barcelona, "Wired Stuff" è l'interessante disco d esordio di Heidi Mortenson,
che nonostante si affacci solo adesso sul mercato discografico ha già una discreta esperienza
accumulata dal vivo nei vari club europei.
Le canzoni si presentano con una struttura robusta e con dei beat abbastanza impetuosi e disordinati
(Workin On It), solo in alcuni casi smorzati dalle linee vocali della Mortenson (In The Streets),
ed in altri certamente rafforzati con un mood acido e pungente (Player).
"I Just Know" oltre ad essere il brano d'apertura è una vera e propria dichiarazione dintenti,
in cui Heidi mette in luce la sua complessa personalità, che si riflette anche nei testi obliqui
e penetranti, mentre "On The Move" conquista con il suo andamento indolente che non avrebbe
sfigurato in un disco di Peaches o della più "riottosa" Miss Kittin.
Nel mezzo ci sono episodi che non convincono del tutto, in cui l'aspetto autoreferenziale della
cantante danese ètroppo marcato, ed il tutto risulta abbastanza sfocato (Less And Less, Surfer Grrl).
Quello che ne viene fuori è un lavoro energico e stratificato, in cui le canzoni grazie anche ad
una produzione molto accurata, dopo un approccio leggermente ostico si rivelano in tutta la loro
brillante inquietudine, nascondendo delle armonie accennate, ma allo stesso tempo ben delineate,
assolutamente rilevanti per darne più consistenza.
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