New Exclusive Olympic Heights

Porn Sword Tobacco | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 10, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: City Centre Offices
• ASIN: B000PC0U76
• In-Print Editions: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #554,426 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

New Exclusive Olympic Heights is Henrik Jonsson's second full-length album and his third release for City Centre Offices. Having originally come to the music world's attention through 2004's self-titled muted masterpiece, Jonsson has edged off into more analog territory without losing the frayed sense of wonder that saw him compared with the likes of Harold Budd, Marsen Jules and Brian Eno. Recorded over a two-year period in the same studio which gave birth to the previous two Porn Sword Tobacco albums, New Exclusive Olympic Heights is an astonishing tapestry of sound and Swedish atmosphere that brings to mind images of sun-dappled clearings and unseen dusky threats. Swirled through with beads of static and crackle, this release is an epic doctrine in the power of ambient music, wherein Jonsson coaxes disparate elements into the kind of organic whole that is a million miles away from most of his peers. Opening with "Tools For Trains," the sheer weight of time spent away from 21st century life is drawn upon with remarkable ease as soapy waves of fizzing chords accrue filigree hisses -- before the whole composition fades into obscurity against the sound of a distant train passing by. Emotional in a way which is difficult to define, "Den Rosa Sporten" features frosted glass aesthetics and delicate acoustic guitar that are wrapped around the kind of music which Boards of Canada should be making. Seemingly in possession of a tacit understanding of what makes a piece of music both uncluttered yet thoroughly arresting, New Exclusive Olympic Heights oozes beauty from every pore and sees Jonsson firmly installed as a true grandmaster of this soundscape-rich music. With other highlights including the warm instrumental glow of "Pappa! Min Karlek Žr Gravid" and "U.S. Saloon Interiors 41/59" with its Badalamenti overtones, Porn Sword Tobacco has consummately proven that isolation and a sense of wonder at your surroundings can conjure up the most magical of emotions. --This text refers to the Vinyl edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Headphone Commute Review, December 7, 2007

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Headphone Commute - See all my reviews

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This review is from: New Exclusive Olympic Heights (Audio CD)

Whispering trees, lazy crawling trains, and soft boiled rain drops are just some of the colorful and abstract elements that dance behind my eyelids when I listen to an album by Henrik Jonsson. The Swedish producer from Gothenburg collects lo-fi beats and left-field experimental sounds that swish among flanged hits and phase through filtered sweeps. Jonsson effortlessly blends modern classical into folktronica into ambient into a style categorized only as his own. The dreamlike soundscapes sprinkled with background subliminal heartbeats and soul-sinking dysphoric melodies transform me into a child who is eavesdropping on a live improvised folk concert in a beautiful country through a digital seashell with dangling electrodes. Can you picture a shop on the edge of a forest that sells the products comprising of this artist's name? SPLAT! "..my lovely wife, Becky... She's back there multitasking as usual..."

5.0 out of 5 stars Dreamlike,simple and quite beautiful., June 13, 2011

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moozak - See all my reviews

This review is from: New Exclusive Olympic Heights (Audio CD)

This is a very pleasant classical downtempo ambient fusion. Interesting sounds and wonderful melodies.this is thoughtful music for thoughtful listeners, emotional and beautiful.interspersed with rain storms.faint drifting floating voices.delicate sounds. both eerie and familiar.childlike in parts but very dreamlike.
its like it is being played on well used antique instruments in the rain.
lots of piano, flutes, harpsicord and harp type sounds and kind of old electronic keyboard sounds. A strange kind of old technology feel while listening to very old records crackle and hiss on a cheap turntable in the background. Has a almost music box quality very delicate and mechanical but very beautiful.Has a very dreamy quality with slightly dark tones in parts.Its almost broken music if that makes any sense.The cover art seems very appropriate.Where have the children gone?Water everywhere.highly recommended.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not impressed, January 27, 2009

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Benjamin M. Rutter (Oklahoma City, OK) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: New Exclusive Olympic Heights (Audio CD)

I bought this album after reccommendations based on my liking of Helios, Xela, Autechre, and other ambient electronica. Unfortunately, it's a real let down. There are a couple of pleasant ambient numbers and a couple of tuneful classical pieces but aside from that there seems to be a lot of 'padding'. A lot of the tracks are so short they become pointless, and a number of the songs employ somewhat irritating percussion. I am also concerned about the recording quality of this album. Listening to it using decent headphones there is a lot of background hiss. I don't know if this is intentional or due to poor quality recording but it is certainly annoying. Sad really, because the guy clearly has potential but this would have been better as a short EP.