ROSTER
John Cloud MD & BOXER - BARK AT YOUR OWNER AB AND CMG Holding AB
Kuggur has signed to Bark At Your Owner (BAYO) for his coming album in 2023.
Based in Reykjavik Iceland, his real name is Guðmundur Óli Pálmason aka Gummi to his friends. While attending Iceland Airwaves Conference in Reykjavik, Icelannd, The MD of BAYO was hanging with Carlos the guitarist of the band Maulén signed to Icons Creating Evil Art and he asked the MD if he wanted to hang along to a meeting with Gummi who has a history in one of Icelands biggest metal-rock exports from Iceland.
BAYO’s MD enjoyed the meeting and asked Gummi if he could send him some of his new music. After a few e-mails, BAYO’s MD fixed a couple of Guest vocalist on some tracks one with Colin And the Clouds and another with Martin BOMAN artist name Martin Rubashov signed to Despotz Records. It was shortly after he signed with Bark At Your Owner in Dec 2022.
BIO
Kuggur was a founding member of 20 years in Iceland's biggest metal/rock export Sólstafir. He recorded and internationally released 6 studio albums with that band (labels such as Season of Mist (FRA), Spinefarm (FIN)). He was also been a member of a lesser known band called Potentiam, who have gone on to receive some kind of cult status in the metal underground scene (released on Avantgarde Music (IT).
Since 2015 I've had a doom/alternative/metal project called Katla. and we've released two critically acclaimed albums on Prophecy Productions (GER).
He started his solo project in 2020, and he honestly didn't have any high hopes or dreams for it at the beginning. It was just a way for him to experiment with music without any preconceived boundaries and without the confines of "a band". He chose to simply use the same name he use for my visual art, Kuggur ( www.kuggur.com ) as he sees both as an extension of his own persona. Needless to say I tie the two together, I've used my own visual art for both Katla. and Kuggur, it all stems from the same pot of inspiration anyway.
It wasn't until he got an offer from Belfry Records (SPA) to release his last Kuggur album as a CD that he began to see potentials with this little project of mine as something that might very well reach a bigger audience than he had initially hoped for.
New Digital Single release May 25, 2023
Aurinko ja kuu - feat Stinako
Sleeve designed by Guðmundur Óli Pálmason
A few quotes from reviews of Kuggur previous album:
"This is a one-of-a-kind experience with so many vast genres being played with and interpreted in such a fresh way, it feels like nothing else you’ll hear this year. Cinematic and melancholy, blending folk music of many cultures, electronica and ambience, KUGGUR has achieved something bold, broad and exciting."
"this is a well-thought out piece of music, dark ambient more in the melancholic way (...) than in the menacing and ominous way."
"This album is absolutely phenomenal. It is impossible to ignore, forgetting is not an option. It is certainly one of the most successful Icelandic ambient releases."
5/5 http://www.stacjaislandia.pl
"I recommend to submerge deeply in حصاد ضَوْءٌ النُّجُومِ and to let go. It might open your mind for something special."
"This is a work that arises from the clash of cultures and ideas between Middle Eastern and Icelandic music that Pálmason gathered in conversations with his Lebanese wife. The result is fascinating for the hypnotic and haunting effect it shows us, being perfect for a soundtrack or simply as a way to lose ourselves in ourselves. Somewhere between ambient and folk, the debut of this project is passionate and begs for continuity."
9/10 (featured in albums of the month) worldofmetalmag.com
"A very beautiful and special record for all those who like atmospheric, dark and melancholic music with electronic elements. But even if you haven't indulged in this kind of album, I'd suggest giving it a listen."
7,5/10 Greekrebels.gr
"the fact of putting electronic parts gives a plus to his music, which is not only in the folk, but is projected to modern instrumentals that together with the "oriental" voices give it that modern new age touch that is how this work is perceived in the end.
An interesting album, balanced, atmospheric, not monotonous either."
7/10 www.metallerium.com/
Guðmundur Óli Pálmason aka Gummi to his friends.
LINKS / DOWNLOADS
FOLLOW KUGGUR
Kuggur
DARKWAVE - AMBIENT - INDUSTRIAL ARTIST
We are a part of the CMG Holdings Group.
Which holds labels Icons Creating Evil Art, Despotz Records, Flick Agency and Mars Music Publishing and more.
