INGE BERGE
Dogbar, Gloucester MA
6/20/10
The first thing I notice as I walk in the Dogbar are awesome decorations including pictures, masks and other props that Inge Berge has set up for his release party for his new album, 10 True Things & A Dirty Filthy Lie. Playing along with Inge is a group of professional musicians who are featured on his album including Joe Cardoza of the Bandit Kings on bass, Leo Sharamitaro on drums, Marina Evans on mini-Korg/backup vocals and Kascia Murray of Safety on backup vocals. This dream team of musicians, along with Inge’s powerful vocals, amazing stage presence and great guitar work, start jamming out Inge’s entire new album. There is quite a sizeable crowd and they are all into the music. The sound is very much rock and the songs are very catchy. Inge will be playing Sunday nights all summer long at the Dogbar in Gloucester—check him out! (Patrick Fitzpatrick)
Inge Berge: press
[...]
Sunday nights at the Dogbar, Inge Berge is rocking out with his new band, The Sweet Hang. He's pretty much been taking over the scene, playing shows all over the place. Inge is a great guy and has some awesome musicians playing with him. He also has a wonderful taste in music and plays catchy originals and a vast array of cover tunes. If you get the opportunity, you should definitely go check out Inge and The Sweet Hang at Dogbar on Sundays at 9 PM!
[...]
INGE BERGE
No-Fi
The Zerosum
18-song CD
This is an odd, adventurous, and ultimately compelling amalgam of rock-opera posing (“Samsara”), spoken word (“Cold Steel”), backwards tracking (“Sir Percie Natase/ Superstring”), irresistible op-art hooks (“2 Little 2 Late”), swirly melodies (“Only Son I”), low-key compositional grandeur (“Home”) and goofball Brecht-and-Weill Cabaret-style one-offs (“Sweet Girl Insincere”)—all swimming in a sea of venturesome and sometimes perplexing electronica. You can break out individual tracks like the balladic lament “Who’s the Joke On,” or the bitter protest number “Goodbye America.” But it’s better experienced en masse, for the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, though a difficult nut to crack—assaulting this project with only two earthbound ears is rather like trying to penetrate a coconut with a toothpick.
Berge for Breakfast (very tasty)
by Light City Rambler
Upon first listen of the new Inge Berge record I am pleased to inform that all the theatrical, eclectic and polished elements that we know and love are more present than ever! To me this is his Sunday Morning record. Well more than half the songs are mid to down tempo. The arrangements are solidly on the pop side of production with touches of psychedelia, electronica and roots splashed in but not enough to overtake the tune which in my view is a compliment. If I was to give it any comparison 10 TRUE THINGS reminds me of the Nilsson's eccentric Son of Schmilsson, serious Art mastered without compromise.
(Scroll down for English translation)
Inge Berge
Inge Berge er en kar som har lang fartstid i USA, og du kan lese om hans omfattende liv der borte her. Kan vel si at denne karen har hatt mange jern i ilden.
The Zerosum
Dette albumet er kanskje noe av det nærmeste man kan komme til galskap satt i system. Noen av låtene/lydene er surrealistiske og stammer fra Inge sin Mr.Hyde. Årsaken til at jeg sier Mr.Hyde er fordi at tilstedeværelsen til Dr.Jekyll er også sterk på denne platen. Du kan si at noen ganger så sitter jeg å tenker herregud hva er dette for noe da, også før jeg har rukket å fordøye galskapen så kommer en annen låt som løfter hele greia til nye høyder.
Når Inge Berge spiller på sitt beste, og da tenker jeg låter som Samsara, Alexandra Leaving(Leonard Cohen) Goodbye America. Så er Inge Berge mer som en slags Tom Petty møter Neil Young, og det låter utrolig bra. Jeg ble faktisk ganske godt truffet i hjerterota når jeg hørte hans fremføring av Alexandra Leaving.
Hvis jeg skulle gi hele pakken et stempel så måtte det bli David Bowie møter Tom Petty og har en ruset kveld hvor Elton John også stikker innom en tur. Hele albumet blir komplett sett som en musikal/film fra tidlig 70-tallet, og hvor jeg ikke hadde blitt forundret om Eric Idle eller Stanley Kubric var involvert i regien.
Uansett galskap så var det musikk som ga meg et positivt helhetsinntrykk, og jeg har ikke noe problem med å anbefale at andre gir dette albumet sjanse.
PS: dette er første gang noen har forsøkt å bestikke meg for å få omtale, og selvsagt så valgte han å sende meg godteri som jeg ikke liker. Neste gang noen tenker å bestikke meg så spør hva jeg liker først.
Besøk Inge Berge på Ingebergeworld.com , urørt, myspace, youtube.
English version of the above:
Inge Berge
Inge Berge is a fellow who's spent major time in the USA, and you can read about his extensive doings over there, here. I Guess one could say this guy has had a lot of things going on at once.
The Zerosum
This album is the closest thing possible to systemized madness. Some of the tunes/noises are surrealist, and have their outspring in Inge's own Mr. Hyde. When I say Mr. Hyde, it's becuse Dr. Jekyll is also strongly represented on this record. Sometimes I find myself thinking, my Lord, what is this stuff? - then, before I've had time to digest the madness, along comes another song which lifts the whole thing to new heights.
When Inge Berge is playing at his best - and then I'm thinking about songs like Samsara, Alexandra Leaving (Leonard Cohen) and Goodbye America - he is more like a kind of Tom Petty meets Neil Young, and it sounds unbelievably good. Hearing his performance of Alexandra Leaving actually hit me pretty much straight in the heart.
If I were to sum up the whole package, it would have to be David Bowie meets Tom Petty on an intoxicated night, with Elton John also dropping in for a visit. The album as a whole takes on the sense of an early 70's movie or musical, where one wouldn't be surprised to learn that Eric Idle or Stanley Kubrick were involved as directors.
No matter its insanity, this music leaves me with a positive impression as a whole, and I have no problem recommending to others that they give this album a shot.
PS: This is the first time that someone has tried to bribe me for a review, but of course he chose to send me candy I don't like. The next time someone thinks to send a bribe, ask me what I like first.
Visit Inge at www.ingebergeworld.com, urørt, myspace, youtube.
Inge Berge, singer/songwriter and self-described contrarian, knows how to write the quintessential pop song, but he’s not letting on with The Zerosum, an eclectic collage of metaphorical verses and catchy choruses masquerading as experimental ambient noise. Berge goes to great lengths to be as discordant and perverse as possible, but his underlying musicality is always apparent, especially in his moving cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Alexandra Leaving.” Solid pop songs notwithstanding, Berge treads the fine line between creative unpredictability and self-indulgent clamor, often tripping into the latter category with such bizarre inventions as the opening “Short Satanic Mass” (a tortured collection of screams, as advertised), and “New Fuckosphere,” a distorted bunch of repetitions of the word “fuck.” Constant reprisals generate a disconcerting feeling of déjà vu, and Berge often overdresses his tracks in an effort to disguise the quality beneath.
His constant push for profundity through fickleness is best described by his liner notes in a message “for nobody” in which he declares: “This album does not need to exist. It is a frivolous and unnecessary effort by a frivolous and unnecessary artist whose only claim to artistic eligibility and/or integrity arises from a near complete lack of interest in exploring other avenues of sustaining inspiration and confidence in his own life.” Berge glosses over his talents in production as well. Stripped down, the melodic structures more than stand up to scrutiny and they have a persuasive voice that sticks in your head just like all great pop songs should. The parental advisory on this one should read: postmodern musician taking himself too seriously ... or perhaps, not seriously enough. (Self-released)
I was a little nervous to listen to "The Zerosum," having committed the sin of reading the liner notes first. I was expecting anger and angst and vague symbolism. I was expecting "dark," with an emphasis on the quotes. "Short Satanic Mass" held up to my expectations with it's collage of screams and plucked strings. But after the grating first line of "Samsara," Inge seems to let the black curtain rise and he finds his own voice.
As discordant as he would like to think he is, Inge writes some good pop music. I don't mean this as a glib clumping together with radio fodder. I mean to say that he writes songs that catch in your head, songs you can enjoy listening to. After hearing "Walk You Down," even my 2-year-old said " I like that song."
That being said, "The Zerosum" is more than a collection of pop songs. Inge questions the self, ending up with no answers, at zero. The title implies that nothing is gained. I'm not sure that is the point of music, of literature, of art in general. Zerosum spirals outward from the self, through love, family, faith and community, ending up looking for the joke somewhere in the ether.
And it is a showy spiral. Inge sounds like Lou Reed channeling Leonard Cohen, with a bit of Robyn Hitchcock thrown in for good measure. Like all three he falls victim to a bit of self-indulgence. The most egregious example is "New Fuckosphere." What can I say about fuck, repeated over and over again? This hasn't held meaning since sixth grade.
"The Zerosum" is otherwise a very thoughtful album lyrically. There is a turn of phrase, a subtle twist that keeps the listener involved. There is simple beauty in the lines "The only good winter day / is the day when the snow melts away / and you see it go...". "Father Want Me Come Home" addresses the want to be seen as an adult by a parent without leaning on cliche. It's ending echoes a parent's repetitive plea.
"Goodbye America" is a clever sort of break-up song, a political anthem. Its Lady Liberty metaphor works so well until the last verse, where it gets a little confused. The song has something to say and I'm afraid it loses some of its credibility by taking the metaphor too far.
Inge promises in the liner notes that this album is "dark, un-catchy and poorly executed." He is wrong on all three. It is a thoughtful, well-crafted commentary on the human condition in a post modern world. Since there is no faith to be found in anything else, maybe he should find it in himself.
Amanda Cook