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Apparatjik

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Apparatjik
The members of Apparatjik as "Cubeheads"
The members of Apparatjik as "Cubeheads"
Background information
GenresIndustrial rock, alternative rock, electronica, experimental rock
Years active2008-present
MembersGuy Berryman
Jonas Bjerre
Magne Furuholmen
Martin Terefe
Websitehttp://apparatjik.com/

Apparatjik (Template:Pron-en ap-ə-RAT-chik) is a group formed in 2008. The band is a supergroup that consists of bassist Guy Berryman from Coldplay, guitarist/keyboardist Magne Furuholmen from A-ha, singer/guitarist Jonas Bjerre of Mew and producer Martin Terefe. The band's name literal translation is "agent of the apparatus". Apparatjik is the Dutch word for apparatchik, which is a word of Russian origin and is used to describe "people who cause bureaucratic bottlenecks in otherwise efficient organisations".

History

The band first came together for a charity album for Survival International called Songs for Survival. The album was produced by Martin Terefe and Molly Oldfield, and the band produced the first track on the album, "Ferreting". This track was used as the theme music for the Amazon series on BBC 2. Subsequently they continued to work together in Magne Furuholmen's studio in Norway, and created more tracks that were periodically made available on their MySpace and YouTube pages. They also have a complex website, through which they released various videos and song snippets. They have an alliance with the "Eye On Committee" and aim to bring fans into their world, "inside the cube", in their uniquely odd way by claiming "you too can be an Apparatjik". On November 30, they released the first official track, "Electric Eye", from their then-upcoming album through their website.

Apparatjik's first live performance was at the eleventh edition of club transmediale, an annual festival in Berlin, which took place from January 28 to February 7, 2010. This gig consisted of the band performing inside a specially constructed cube at the WMF on February 1, 2010.[1] The same day saw the release of their debut album, titled We Are Here, for digital download via their official website.[2] They have since released further singles, their 4 Can Keep A Secret If 3 Of Them Are Dead extended-play, and on June 15, 2010, they re-released We Are Here on iTunes in standard and deluxe versions.[3]

After playing at the Flø festival in Norway in June[4], on 23 September 2010, the band played their third concert in London. The cube was transported to the red summer pavilion, designed by Jean Nouvel, when Molly Oldfield brought the group to the Serpentine Gallery, in Hyde Park, London. As a nod to the fusion of art and music in their performances, they were invited by the Serpentine Gallery to play at the Future Contemporaries party.[5]

Performances by Apparatjik are an eye-catching affair, with specially-created visuals and silhouettes of the four band members being projected onto all four sides of the cube.

Apparatjik's first song to be played on BBC Radio 1 was a radio edit of "Datascroller", which aired on June 14, 2010.[6]

In November 2010, Magne Furuholmen revealed the promise for "a few very exciting things with [Apparatjik] in 2011" during a BBC Radio 2 interview.[7]

Apparatjik launched a new project called agreeneryouniverse[8] on 11 February 2011. This project invites people across the world to plant a tree, make a picture and upload it to their website. The first 1,000 people in doing so would receive new music as a gift.

A new download only single was released on 28 March 2011 called "Combat Disco Music".

On 11 November 2011, Apparatjik released their second album called Square Peg in a Round Hole as a free iPad application[9]. Four days later it was given away as a gift as part of the agreeneryouniverse project. The initial target was to release new music upon reaching 1,000 newly planted trees across the world, but the album was released to a wider public after 727 trees had been planted. The iPad application contains a date of 21-02-2012 (21 February 2012) which has lead to discussions of the album being released in a physical format on that date as was the case with their album We Are Here.

Band members

Discography

Studio albums

Year Album details Peak chart positions
UK NOR IRL ITA NED SWI FRA US
2010 We Are Here — — — — — — — —
2011 Square Peg in a Round Hole — — — — — — — —
"—" denotes a release that did not chart.

Extended plays

File:4 Can Keep A Secret If 3 Of Them Are Dead.jpg
4 Can Keep A Secret If 3 Of Them Are Dead album cover for the E.P.
Year Album details
2010 4 Can Keep A Secret If 3 Of Them Are Dead

4 Can Keep A Secret If 3 Of Them Are Dead

All tracks are written by Apparatjik

No.TitleLength
1."Antlers"3:20
2."Look Kids (Premix AA) Diskjokke A"4:24
3."4 Can Keep A Secret If 3 Of Them Are Dead"4:11
Total length:11:55

Singles

Year Single Release date Peak chart position Album
UK AUS US
2009 "Ferreting" (Download release) September 15 — — — Songs for Survival
"Electric Eye" (Download release) November 30 — — — We Are Here
2010 "Antlers" / "Electric Eye" (7 inch vinyl, 1000 copies) February 8 — — —
"4 Can Keep A Secret If 3 Of Them Are Dead" (Download release) May 23 — — — 4 Can Keep A Secret If 3 Of Them Are Dead
"Datascroller" (Download release) June 14 — — — We Are Here
2011 "Combat Disco Music" (Download release) March 28 — — — Square Peg in a Round Hole
"—" denotes a release that did not chart.

Unreleased songs

  • "Flum"
  • "Granule" (live only)
  • "Intermission" (live only)
  • "Kijtarapperaew" (Track is We Are Apparatjik entirely backwards.)
  • "Look Kids (Premix A)"
  • "Self Torturers"
  • "The Birth Of Apparatjik"
  • "Wordcluster" (live only)

Music videos

Year Title Director
2009 "Electric Eye" Martin Terefe
"Antlers" Jonas Bjerre
2010 "Datascroller" unknown
"4 Can Keep A Secret If 3 Of Them Are Dead" unknown
"Supersonic Sound" unknown
"Arrow And Bow" unknown

References

  1. ^ CTM Festival: Current News
  2. ^ Coldplay side-project Apparatjik announce debut album release date | News | NME.COM
  3. ^ a b We Are Here Worldwide iTunes release - apparatchick.com
  4. ^ Apparatjik – Live In Flø, Norway « Apparatjik World
  5. ^ Serpentine show review - apparatchick.com
  6. ^ Zane Lowe plays Datascroller on Radio 1 - apparatchick.com
  7. ^ Apparatjik on Ping - apparatchick.com
  8. ^ Apparatjik agreeneryouniverse
  9. ^ Apparatjik World for iPad
  10. ^ Apparatjik
  11. ^ Consequence of Sound
  12. ^ a b Coldplay side-project Apparatjik announce free EP details | News | NME.COM
  13. ^ 4 Can Keep A Secret... - apparatchick.com
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