Do It Right Now.

 

Zo Popi performs playful music, transcending conventional genres. Do you appreciate variation, skilled craftmanship and thoughtful details? In Zo Popi you will find music inspired by the dynamics of Igor Stravinsky, the chord progressions of Joni Mitchell, the playfulness and craziness of Frank Zappa, 70s folk rock such as that of Jethro Tull, the softness of Astrud and João Gilberto, the melodic lines of Jan Garbarek, the atonality of Alban Berg, the fragility of Robert Wyatt, Patti Smith’s attitude, Neil Young’s heaviness, Steve Reich’s minimalism, the danceability of Talking Heads, the catchy airiness of Steely Dan, the melancholy of Arne Nordheim, and The Who’s energy. Zo Popi’s compositions are offered to you, as a gift. Will you accept? No bullshit accepted! Enjoy the Zo Popi’s chamber music from Boogie Woogie Land!

Album release 02.04.22,Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo

Bjørn Øyvinn Bugge is composer, arranger, and guitarist in Zo Popi. For more than a year, Bjørn has dedicated all time available time for completing the dream album, Do It Right Now. After the main bulk of the recordings has been made, Eirik Sevaldsen signalled interest in the compositions. Eirik and his non-profit record-label, Lofthus Samvirkelag LP, provided a quality boost to all elements of the product by involving the most competent people across many fields in the completion phase of the album, Do It Right Now. Eirik engaged Bård Ingebrigtsen of Amper Tome to carry out the final mix and Helge Sten (Deathprod) of Audio Virus LAB to master the album and the single Ticking Along. Furthermore, Eirik involved artist Sigurd Bronger and designer Håvard Gjelseth in shaping the album cover a piece of art in its own right. Through Eirik’s network Zo Popi was given the opportunity of having vinyl’s pressed at the world’s best vinyl pressing facility, Record Industry in the Netherlands, via Crispin Glover Records in Trondheim, Norway. In short: There are plenty of reasons for Zo Popi to be grateful to Eirik.

  • Label: Lofthus Samvirkelag LP

  • ​Web: zopopi.com

  • ​Contact information: Bjørn Øyvinn Bugge, Elleflaten 8, 1444 Drøbak, tlf.: +47 90 64 00 59 

  • ​Email: bbugge@hotmail.com

22 (out of 222) influential songs and music that changed Zo Popi

 

  1. Focus - Vocal by Focus

  2. I am The Walerus by The Beatles

  3. Try by Sidsel Endresen

  4. Grantchester Meadows by Pink Floyd

  5. Dio Fa by Frank Zappa

  6. Epitaph by King Crimson

  7. Help Me by Joni Mitchell

  8. The Tempest by Arne Nordheim

  9. The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky

  10. I Offered the Moon by Needlepoint

  11. Strange Flower by Ellen Andrea Wang

  12. Planet Caravan by Black Sabbath

  13. In Praise Of Dreams by Jan Garbarek

  14. Cuckoo Madame by Robert Wyatt

  15. Easter Woman by The Residents

  16. All I Know is Tonight by Jaga Jazzist

  17. My My, Hey Hey / Hey Hey, My My by Neil Young

  18. All My Tears by Emmylou Harris

  19. Baba ORiley by The Who`

  20. Carry On Wayward Son by Kansas

  21. Afternoons & Cofeeespoons by Crash Test Dummies

  22. If You Will by George Duke

“I have been listening to your music. So creative, fun, intricate, well-thought-through. Impressive, indeed.”

– Michael Blair: drummer and producer for Tom Waits, Lou Reed and Elvis Costello

 

Zo Popi live musicians:

  • Bjørn Øyvinn Bugge: Guitars

  • Atle Rakvåg: Bass and vocal

  • Arne Martinussen: Keyboards and vocal

  • Jon Grimsby: Drums and percussion

  • Jon Ruder: Vocal

  • Ann Helen Hjemli: Vocal

  • Paulin Voss: Cello and vocal

  • Veronica Eurenius: Vocal

  • Alma Marie Kremers Bugge: Vocal

Zo Popi session musicians: 

  • Trond Augland: Percussion

  • Håvard Sunde: Drums

  • Venja Ruud Nilsen Castanets

  • Ruth Olina Lødemel: Vocals

  • Hanna Cecilie Askholt: Vocals

  • Atle Fretheim: Vocals and kazoo

  • Elin Karoline Johannessen: Vocals

  • Alyson Read: Violins

  • Leon Eurenius: Violins

  • Bente Mari Mortensen: Saxophone

  • Magnus Bakken: Saxophone

  • Stig Erik Holm: Trumpet

  • Jørn Krogfoss: Trumpet

  • Eilen Kvernenes Lien: Flugelhorn

  • Rune Sundbø: Trombone

  • Bent-Erik Aga-Thoresen: Tuba

Composed and arranged by … 
Bjørn Øyvinn Bugge

Produced by …  
Atle Rakvåg and Bjørn Øyvinn Bugge

Recording by … 
Øystein Vesaas

Special engineering by … 
Bård Ingebrigtsen

Mastered by …
Helge Sten 

Art by … 
Sigurd Bronger

Cover design and art direction by … 
Håvard Gjelseth

Project coordinator 
Eirik Sevaldsen

“Life is full of surprises, and this is one of them.”

 

Some people went into a zombie-like lethargic state during Covid-19 lockdown. The guitarist and composer Bjørn Øyvinn Bugge did the opposite. Instead of vegetating on the couch, he spent the quiet year creating one of the most exorbitant, varied, warm and sophisticated albums I’ve heard in a long time. With contributions from a long list of excellent musicians, Zo Popi offers intricate rhythms, lovely tunes and weird tonalities, soaring lead guitar, saxes and violins, echoes of Zappa and Canterbury, jazz and folk, welded into an eclectic tour de force.

Oh and by the way, it is also very listenable. And highly recommended.

– Thomas Hylland Eriksen
Professor - Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo