Natas Kaupas

Martin Horntveth, also known as Gouldian Finch, released his first solo album “Hatch” in November 2023. The album reflected Horntveth's broad musical interests, delivering a range of songs spanning an impressively wide range of genres. The multi-instrumentalist himself plays keyboards, drums, and a variety of other instruments on the album, in addition to programming, producing, and arranging. Alongside forty string players from his frequently used orchestra, FAME's Skopje Studio Orchestra, the album featured notable collaborators like Ståle Storløkken, Petter Eldh, Håkon Aase and Ivan Blomqvist. «Natas Kaupas» was one of the instrumental tracks on the album, and now the artist releases two remixes of the track + an extended version.

«Natas Kaupas (1969) from California, US, is often referred to as one of the first true professional street skateboarders. He was my first skate hero, and I thought my instrumental song could be a nice way to honor him. The song is mainly based on a bass riff that can be perceived in two different tempos and about 50/50 of the band members play the tempo that sounds right in their head. Like most of my songs, the music is a ride through many genres and moods. Just like when Natas Kaupas is skating his most famous “part” at Santa Monica Beach in 1989. The legendary 720 spin around the fire hydrant still stands today as an iconic trick and says a lot about his creativity and unexpected ways of thinking. This is what I wanted to honor in my song. I asked the Indonesian illustrator Terror Machine to draw this exact fire hydrant for the cover art.» - Martin Horntveth

«Since the wonderful original song has as so many musical layers and elements, I wanted to try to strip it down to the bone and then rebuild it with a few but selected musical components. I ended up using a lot of the bass parts, the lovely strings plus of course Martin's drums. I am very satisfied with the result and think it has become an interesting contrast to the original without losing the intense nerve, essence and soul of the original recording.» - Hans-Peter Lindstrom

«Our remix is a musical homage to the Oslo disco and the era when Oslo was the world’s epicenter for electronic dance music. The remis is built around the “disco strings” from the original and a Roland Juno 106. To be invited into Martin’s musical universe, fantastic and bonkers as it is, has been so cool! In additional, it’s pretty rad to take part in a release with the one and only Lindstrøm!»- Pow Pow