Biography
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Years Active
1998 – present (26 years)
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Founded In
Tromsø, Troms, Norway
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Members
- Svein Berge
- Torbjørn Brundtland
Röyksopp is an electronic music duo formed in 1998 at Tromsø, Norway, by Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein Berge. The band is currently based in Bergen, Norway. The Norwegian word "røyksopp" means puffball fungus (literally "smoke mushroom").
Brundtland and Berge were schoolmates in their hometown, Tromsø, experimenting with electronic instruments in the early 1990s, being a part of the Tromsø techno scene. They were members of various electro acts in their youth, such as Aedena Cycle, Alanïa and Drum Island.
On 8 October 2001, Röyksopp released their debut album Melody A.M. on Wall of Sound label. This downtempo album reached #1 in Norway charts, #9 in UK Albums Chart, #18 in US Top Electronic Albums. It spawned five singles: "So Easy" released on 1999 and re-released on 2002, "Eple" (#16 UK) released on July 2001 and re-released on 24 February 2003, "Poor Leno" (#38 UK) released on 3 December 2001and re-released on 18 November 2002, "Remind Me" (#21 UK) released on 5 August 2002, and "Sparks" (#41 UK) released on 2003.
"Poor Leno" and "Remind Me" featured Erlend Øye of Kings of Convenience, Sparks featured Anneli Drecker of Bel Canto. The band became famous for their original music videos (the infographic-styled video by French company H5 for the track "Remind Me", won the 2002 MTV Europe Music Award for best music video). The single "Eple" (meaning "apple") was used by Apple Inc. as the music for the startup video for Mac OS X 10.3.
On 4 July 2005 the band issued their sophomore album The Understanding, which was preceded by the hit single featuring Kate Havnevik, entitled "Only This Moment" (#33 UK) on 27 June 2005. The album's second single, "49 Percent" (#55 UK) was released on 26 September 2005, followed by "Curves" (a non-album single) on 3 October 2005, "What Else Is There?", featuring Karin Dreijer from The Knife (#4 Norway, #32 UK) on 5 December 2005, and "Beautiful Day Without You" on 26 June 2006.
Röyksopp's Night Out EP was released in 27 February 2006 and it contains live recordings from a concert in Norway, Rockefeller (Oslo) in November 2005. The album contains a new dance version of their single "Sparks" and a reinterpretation of the song "Go With the Flow”, originally by Queens of the Stone Age.
On 5 March 2007, Röyksopp issued Back to Mine: Röyksopp, a compilation album from the Back to Mine series, compiled and mixed by the band.
On 23 March 2009, their third album Junior was released. Röyksopp have invited several guest artists, like Robyn, Anneli Drecker, Karin Dreijer, Lykke Li, to perform on various songs from Junior. The first single "Happy Up Here" was released on 19 January 2009 (digital)/16 March 2009 (vinyl) and peaked on #3 in Norway and on #44 in UK. This single was followed by "The Girl And The Robot", featuring Robyn (#2 Norway) on 15 June 2009 and "This Must Be It", featuring Karin Dreijer, on 2 November 2009.
In 2010, the band started posting on their official site new exclusive songs available for free download (usually a song on every month), known as Röyksopp.com Track Of The Month.
On 13 September 2010, the album Senior, the atmospheric counterpart of Junior , was released.
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