Harlequins Enigma November 2013 New Release

The seeker Åge Riisnes owner of Harlequins Enigma wanted a new approach and some recognition via solo album "Åge (own compositions). Now released via his distributor cdbaby. the collection which is a double album, is spread in multiple genres including hip-hop, pop, dance, new age, electronica, soundtrack and rock. According to Åge the album’s potential for new listeners with multiple genres should awake interest in young and old, and promises a quality product. Hard work has been the foundation for Harlequins Enigma along the way since their start back in 2008. This compilation album should be Harlequins Enigma’s 19th album in 2013. The material has been mastered in a variety of studios, including Last Drop Mastering, Xtream Audio Mastering, Subub Mastering and Waveline Audio Mastering. The artwork for the album was drawn by graphics artist Ibrahim Ssa.

Harlequins Enigma’s 20th album or compilation came in “snø” in october. The album is a hot jazz compilation from 2013’s most releasing artist. Most of the material was composed in Harlequins Enigma’s prime year 2009 when they did coops via channeling/radio contact with artists like Jan Garbarek, Chick Corea, Dave Weckl, Kate Bush and others. The genres of the material consist of simple sessions (piano session 3) to more uptempo fun pop tracks like “lake frog” feat. atjazz, and there are more mature material in there for advanced listeners to appreciate. The album was released on nimbit under a free account. It will most likely appear on iTunes after a while, but the nimbit store offers full stream and purchase options, if you are interested in the album. “snø” was mastered at various mastering companies: Xtream Audio Mastering, Abbey Road Mastering, Waveline Audio Mastering, Rak Mastering, Subdub Mastering and Alchemy Mastering.

Harlequins Enigma’s 21st release came in new age compilation: Troublesome Journey. Troublesome Journey reflects Harlequins Enigma owner Åge Riisnes’ life from 2008 - 2013. though the music is very good, it has a sad stamp attached to the picture. This is where some of Harlequins Enigma’s strength truly lies, and that said with good help from his fellow coop artists. Troublesome Journey was mastered at Subdub Mastering, Universal Music Studios and Waveline Audio Mastering and is out on iTunes and Harlequins Enigma’s store at nimbit music.

The Harlequins Enigma name is based upon the words expectation as in dolls, their origin, and the origin vs real people. Åge once had a lighter with a girl on, showing a little of her face with a yellow rose and two identical females as guardians at each side of her. In the picture also a walking creature that looks like a walking mouse, pregnant. This is part of what Harlequins Enigma is about: expectation. They value hope for something better, as an eternal flame. There is also a different side of Harlequins Enigma which Åge found as an alternative in the oxford dictionary, where Harlequins Enigma could be a demon rider. Thinking of that, he wonders if that might be an ancient being that might be the boss of our universe.

FL Studio has dominated Åge’s musical world. He sort of treated it like protracker and it has for him a nice feel. i.e. pc keyboard instead of synth via midi, which makes him able to push the buttons without looking at the keys almost. At the same time his ear is sharp and piano roll in FL Studio is like a nice game of Tetris. His scales and experience got even sharper in 2009 as he went back to the amiga and composed tracks there. When he came back to FL Studio again, he felt as he had become a better musician, though he’d prefer to be called a composer. He forgets easily and have become clumsy at times when he tries to recall a line, so he doesn’t perform much. It is easier for him to do an impulse line of Tetris instead of composing.

Åge Riisnes sort of speak the language of Tangerine Dream, Jarre and Vangelis in the form of arpegiator based tracking and electronic music via the amiga. It is funny that he have made coops with all of them. He cannot explain in details, but after a psychiatric treatment in 1998, he got the impression that psychiatric hospitals are experts on the brain and that they talk much in telepathy on some sort of frequency. This became common as the years passed and when he did his comeback in 2008, he got visitors mentally/spiritually from many of the corners of our globe that led to coops with Tangerine Dream, Jean Michel Jarre, Klaus Schulze, Vangelis, Kitaro, Kate Bush, Dave Weckl, Chick Corea, Jan Garbarek, atjazz and many others. Thanx to them he is much better now then he would have been on his own.

Åge loves that the music is emotional, that sets you in a mood that can be happy, mellow, sad.. he also likes the other parts of the emotions like adrenaline, though he hasn’t felt adrenaline in years, he says he is like an empty bottle of fine wine that needs to be refilled. He also like the complex sides of various music genres like uptempo jazz that can entertain you on pure professionalism.

Åge’s main inspiration comes from many bands and artists. When he was 15, he listened to King Diamond and Metallica. At age 10 Ultravox, Abba, Kiss and Joan Jett were his favourites. At 27 to the 30’s he enjoyed Jean Michel Jarre, Depeche Mode, Garbage, Saint Etienne, Jan Garbarek, Anja Garbarek, Briskeby, Yello, Enya, Bertine Zetlitz, Royksopp, Vangelis, Kitaro. He found Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze a little later. A video news release can be found on vimeo, YouTube, tubewatcher.tv and daily motion. The video is called Harlequins Enigma & The Taboo Ghost, and discusses Harlequins Enigma’s current situation with sales and their partnership with Tangerine Dream, Sade and others, all under a veil of taboo and the hated Law Of Jante. url: http://vimeo.com/77952067

Harlequins Enigma’s 20 releases in 2013 will be continued on in 2014 with albums: Td Sound 2, featuring Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Peter Baumann and Christopher Franke – other non Tangerine Dream involved artists to appear on the album will also be: Anja Garbarek, Katie Leung and Vangelis. a second album called Wanderer will also see the light of day in 2014. This mixed style album will see some unreleased material and features an unreleased Vangelis track from 2008 and also a track featuring Lenny Kravitz. there is also an ep planned with releases from discord. Åge says the best track on the album “summer path” has a glitch in the bass department and will need a remaster. This to make Åge sleep at night.

Harlequins Enigma announces plans to move on to wix.com for a new homepage. Harlequins Enigma owner Åge Riisnes has been experiencing troubles with their bandvista page from time to time with slow widgets and widgets that wont work and similar. wix.com might prove a great alternative with up to date features. Harlequins Enigma have a beta page up now at url: http://harlequinsenigma.wix.com/home – Harlequins Enigma urges fans to visit and hopefully adapt to an easier site. “The site will be built further upon,” announces Åge Riisnes. “There are no plans as of yet to shut down harlenia.com - Harlequins Enigma old homepage.”

- Harlequins Enigma new homepage: http://harlequinsenigma.wix.com/home

Harlequins Enigma’s releases are available at iTunes, Spotify, onerpm, amazon, sony unlimited, cdon.com, deezer and at the nimbit store, url: http://www.nimbitmusic.com/harlequinsenigma

Contact Information

Åge Riisnes

Owner

Harlequins Enigma

harlequins.enigma@yahoo.com