1. Cucumber Salad [22:27]
2. For the Love of all Things Electronic [10:27]
3. Rising Ashes [28:10]
4. Electric Fairytales [16:08]

All music composed, performed, recorded, mixed, produced and mastered by WintherStormer

Terje Winther - analog synthesizers, sequencers, keyboards
Erik Stormer - analog modular synthesizers, sequencers
Geir Marthin Helland - drums, percussion
Atle Pakusch Gundersen - guitar, electronics, vocoder, theremin

WintherStormer is an electronic band who improvise vast electronic sound-spaces with old analog synthesizers, electronic guitar, percussion and various self-build electronics. Electric Fairytales is the the third release from WintherStormer, and the second «live-in-studio» album from the band. The music was recorded with an audience present during the recording. On this album the band has broaden and developed their sonic output and creative skills, blending musical craft and spaced-out themes.

Press Information With Electric Fairytales, WintherStormer redefines the very hermetic and impenetrable style of Woodwork. Recorded live, but in a studio recording, this 2nd opus of the Norwegian quartet offers this tortuous and progressive approach that charmed so much ears fond of sonorous curiosities, but with an approach closer of Berlin School roots. It’s resulting in an album still difficult to tame, but a bit less than its predecessor. A superb musical excursion that allies the Krautrock complexities to atmospheric escapades of EM, but with a zest of musicality tinted with a sensibility which was piercingly lacking on Woodwork.

Noises, heterogeneous sound, rolling in waves in a cosmos sparkling of sonorous limpidity open Cucumber Salad. An intro high in acoustic colors which unlocks eroded hesitations. A sequence which hiccups a tempo to chaotic undulations wrapped of a beautiful fluty mellotron and vaporous keyboard keys which recall the musical years of Tangerine Dream. Once these 3 first minutes gone, Cucumber Salad takes a more accessible musical direction, while maintaining its aura of complexity where a rhythm skipping nervously measures beautiful mellotron pads which float around the lamentations of an electric guitar and twisted synth solos. At once spectral and attractive odes which navigate in shady waters, purified by moments of beautiful hazy strata which sometimes ease sometimes illuminate this pace to abrupt and random beats.
For the Love of all Things Electronic present another side of WintherStormer. A WintherStormer clearly more musical and poetic which spreads beautiful ethereal layers from which dreamlike sonorities waltz around soft pulsations which shape a soft languishing pace. An impromptu sensuality which finds refuge in soft strata of a Göttsching guitar, from which solos circulate among a cadence a bit accentuated by the striking of a heavy drum and encircled by reverberating circles, bringing a surrealist touch to a beautiful music inspiring for making love.
Rising Ashes intro is plunging us again into the very psychedelic and multicolored musical universe of WintherStormer. An elongated intro where cosmic tones stream with an acuteness worthy of an anarchical world. At about the 7th minute point, a soft pace pierces this oxidized din to mold a nervous rhythm which rests on good percussions, a strong bass structure and a fusion guitar / synth which elates of ferocity equal to the hammerings more and more punctuated of a drum that’s getting solidarity of this rhythmic whose becomes more and more furious. This psychedelic heaviness crosses less ardent corridors where steams of ethereal Berlin School moderate the aggressiveness of a structure which spreads its striking to the heterogeneous meanders of its intro.
A loud track, faithful to Woodwork frame, which pursues its sound imprints on the title track which is a fusion of noises and diverse tones which shape brief musical inserts in a rebellious sound universe.

Electric Fairytales demonstrates the attachment of WintherStormer for music without borders and identities. A music which oscillates between some very daring psychedelic moments and beautiful electronic passages, which are situated in the era of Schulze and Ashra Tempel. An album where the creative paradoxes swim contrary to the harmonious poles, but which is taming a little better than Woodwork. For very curious and risky ears!

2010. Sylvain Lupari / Guts Of Darkness "Cucumber Salad" gets into a quick start with abstract analog sounds. Classic twittering and ring-modulated synths are a real ear-candy for an analog enthusiast. The sound is fairly rough and heavy. A sequence seeps in, jarring and cacophonous. However, soon, another sequence appears and things become more structured and melodic. Mellotron flute is another classic ingredient of this modern Berlin School track. Excellent, warm, analog music with classic warm string sounds and even a bit of that wailing guitar, too. I like the soloing in this one as well – very professionally done. And it’s been quite some time since I've heard phased Mellotron strings in an EM track, and "Cucumber Salad" delivers, just like in the old times.
"For the Love of All Things Electronic" (how’s that for a title?) begins with excellent ambient soundscape – very serene and peaceful. After a while, a subtle bass pulse is heard, while things stay pretty much calmed and chilly. Perfect cold guitar textures really remind on the hazy world of Terje Rypdal. Real drums add that special human touch to the otherwise completely synthetic music. The most wonderful thing about it is that it is both warm and cold at the same time. And it is very Scandinavian in feeling, if you know what I mean. I am reminded on Barre Phillips’ "Three Day Moon" that was recorded in Oslo and had the same warm / cold feeling to it. Needless to say, the music is completely improvised and sounds like a tasty mix of "Nordic Jazz" (if there is such a thing) and Electronic Music. Perfect balance!
"Rising Ashes" begins in an abstract way, with a lot of strictly analog effects. Some totally mind-blowing mid-paced sequences appear just to show us what is it that we love about EM. Perfect chilling atmospheres serve as a comfortable blanket for the venerable pulsations. A steady drum rhythm reminds us of the great Harald Grosskopf, as it feels like Berlin relocated to Norway for this recording session. The drums subside, as the sequences get more intense, adding a bass guitar or at least what sounds like it to their roaster. A totally wacky experimental section follows, with all kinds of crazy sounds flying by. By a stroke of genius, the sequences return out of this chaos, supported by some dark and harsh textures to finish this epic piece of music. Little by little the sequences furl inside themselves to create an effect of a microscopic sound.
The title track is next. Ah, the vocoder! Just what we needed really, especially when it’s done in the tastiest way possible. It’s all a bit dark, a bit disturbing, and even horror-like, with echoing sighs and dark synth drones. The scariest stuff I've heard from this duo so far. A melody is trying to make it through the forest of electronic noises but is all but drowned by swarming dwellers of this synthetic realm. Gradually the melodic bursts of analog synth become more prominent. Despite this, the abstract noises never really let go and it’s one intriguing piece of music, with its juxtaposition of the abstract and the harmonic. Perhaps not for everyone, I found it highly original and enjoyable.

Overall, "Electric Fairytales" is a huge improvement over "Woodwork", which was already very nice. Best track: "For the Love of All Things Electronic".

Artemi Pugachov / Encyclopedia for Electronic Music Wintherstormer is a foursome from Norway with a wide variety of instrumentation, from synths and sequencers to drums, guitars, vocoder, and theremin. The end result is a complex blend of Berlin school electronics with elements of progressive rock and early krautrock.

For example, the beginning of the opening track "Cucumber Salad" is electronic noises and knob twiddling like early Klaus Schulze experiments that appeared on his Ultimate Edition box set. It eventually settles down into a chugging bass sequence with a lighter sequence layered over the top of it. A nice soaring guitar lead is added in the middle.
"For the Love of All Things Electronic" starts with floating dreamy synths, setting a calm relaxed tone, then another simple bass line is added, and more nice guitar flourishes, with just the right amount of drumming. This is a perfect little track, the shortest at 10:29.
"Rising Ashes" starts with "hard" electronic noises again for several minutes until cool sequencing arrives, with solid, non-intrusive drumming to keep the tempo. This one is easy to lose yourself in for its 28-minute course, although various banging sounds and other noises may snap you out of your reverie on occasion during the closing minutes.
Last up is the 16-minute title track, which starts with a low sustained drone and a smattering of sounds like a shakuhachi played through a vocoder. This is the most adventurous track, with abstract sounds such that the song seems to start and stop several times. Unlike the others, this one remains experimental, never coalescing into a conventional piece of music, and then it ends quite abruptly.

2009. Phil Derby / Electroambientspace The Norwegian quartet Wintherstormer, playing analogue instruments only, recorded the "live-in-studio" music of "Electric Fairytales" in front of an audience.

Although retro in vein, their improvised output always continued to contain a rough, surprising and unconventional edge, which is again the case here. The four lengthy pieces on this 77-minute album seem a bit more melodic and structured compared to their previous recordings, on which psychedelic, space-out and prog themes match with vintage sequencing, guitar solo’s and drums/percussion.
Personally, I was pleasantly surprised by the quiet, harmonious and accessible soundings of the second piece "For the love of all things electronic".

Still, it's not an easy kind of vintage electronic music, but maybe suitable for those having adventurous ears or those who love the music of Node, but then with a firm twist.

Bert Strolenberg / Sonic Immersion