The last months A Mess has been working on new possibilities abroad in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Together with export manager Mikkel Wad Larsen we will soon introduce a new chapter to A Mess’ career.
Thank you DJBFA and #Kodakultur for supporting the work and flow of getting A Mess prepped for new adventures!
Go Aften Live February 2021
Her debut single ‘Blame Is a Dye’ just got released. It slams the door on the slow poke and treats a personal angle on sex without consent in the wee hours of mornings after a binge-drinker.
A Mess has already received Danish national airplay and TV, media and blog attention on acclaimed media platforms as no. 1 Danish music magazine Gaffa, Danish TV-show Go’ Aften Live, DR.dk and national radio stations P6 and Radio4 and more due to her musical mix of indie rock and gender debate.
SELECTED PRESS/AIRPLAY:
TV-appearance TV2 ‘Go’ Aften Live’: (13.55. minutes in)
Danish National News Platform (DR.dk)Gaffa Video Premiere ‘Blame Is a Dye’
Gaffa premiere
Gaffa feature
Radio4
‘A Mess’ is the new Danish one-badass-woman army armed with electric guitar, catchy tunes and tasty guitar licks. Her debut-single ‘Blame Is A Dye’ is on the 29th of January 2021.
The song is about the grey zones of sexual consent when no force was in use, but no consent was given. A song about the guilt women all over the world feel, when they wake up and think “what the f*** happened last night”.
There is truly something at stake in creating the soundtrack for 2021. A new decade has begun, and A Mess takes up the lead guitar when it comes to writing alternative rock songs about the #metoo-debate.
Her debut single ‘Blame Is A Dye’ is a showdown with the slowpoke and the lack of sexual consent during the wee small hours of the morning when the lines get blurry. A Mess asks who is to blame for unwanted sex if she didn’t put her foot down, but he didn’t ask if she was ok with it. Historically the woman has taken the blame, but now it’s time for a change!
Like the rest of the songs from her upcoming EP, ‘Blame is A Dye’ is actually a very personal story for Dorte Hartmann who is behind the artist name ‘A Mess’.
“I wake up totally naked in my tent not knowing, how I ended up there. There is no doubt in my mind that I’ve had sex, but I have no recollection of what happened. The guy sneaks out. I’m ashamed of myself, and I don’t tell anyone what happened. What was I supposed to say – and to whom? These things happen when you’re drunk…”
‘Blame Is A Dye’ is a true story Dorte had at a festival a couple of years ago. Today Dortes experience would be characterized as a felony according to a recent change in Danish legislation which in December 2020 (!) introduced the law of sexual consent. But at the time, neither Dorte nor the system were equipped with the tools or the vocabulary to deal with it. Thankfully that has changed. “I didn’t see it as an sexual assault back then, but now I, and women with similar experiences, have the words to be talking and dealing with such things”, the artist, whose first single begins with the following lines, says:
“Sneak your hands between my thighs, no means yes no alibies / Manhood’s swollen cannot hide, what is mine is yours tonight /
Cracking open secret vows, me too wasted hints of doubt /
You won’t blame you that’s for sure, I’ll blame myself even more”
However, the aim of this debuting artist is not to deepen the trench, but rather to encourage the dialogue between man and woman in the ongoing #metoo-debate.
“I’m all about women of the world need to discard our feelings of guilt while also encouraging men in ensuring consent before sex. We need a cultural change in society regarding proper sexual conduct. Music can enforce that change, and get us to talk about current issues – especially when it comes to tabooed and difficult topics.”
In the course of the coming year, A Mess will release six singles – each with a deeply personal story and a stance on current topics such as dating, career-fucking, infidelity, female friendships, choosing not to have kids etc.
Dorte Hartmann is the woman behind A Mess. The name ‘A Mess’ is in Danish called ‘Et Rod’ – the same as D o r t e spelled backwards.
Live A Mess is a fierce two-piece band: Vox/guitar and drums.
Lørdag d. 14 nov. 2020 spiller A Mess et udsolgt show på Studenterhuset, Kbh. i fuld bandkonstellation. Det er første show siden sommerens solo-koncerter med Snapshots of a Wo/Man projektet.
Se mere på Facebook.
POP UP EVENTS: GRATIS LIVEKONCERTER + SAMTALESALONER
LINK TIL FACEBOOKSIDE OG INFO:
https://www.facebook.com/SnapshotsofaWoMan
TOMAS HØFFDING LIVE (WhoMadeWho m.fl)
A MESS LIVE
Se mere her.
SNAPSHOTS OF A WO/MAN kollektivet rykker ud til jer med musik, gratis drinks og gode samtaler om manden og om kvinden. Det handler om musikernes personlige fortælling igennem sange og jeres holdninger og oplevelser.
Vi gir GRATIS drikke – øl, cider eller sodas – generøst sponsoreret af TAK ROCK//Royal Unibrew, hvis I tager en snak med os! Medbring en kammi, en kæreste, en madkurv eller en pizza, og vær klar på møde mennesker og bli’ klogere.
Selvfølgelig med corona-venlig distance.
Mød os i Fælledparken, Kildevældsparken, Nordhavn/Sandkajen eller på Svanemøllen strandpromenade en af følgende dage disse hede sommerdage.
Lokation offentliggøres op til og tidspunkter er vejledende: FØLG MED HER PÅ EVENTET FOR NØJAGTIG INFO PÅ DAGEN, OG KIG EFTER DET GULE BANNER.
Ons. d. 19. Aug. Show 15.30 og 17.00 Lokation: TBA
Man. d. 24 aug. Show 16.30 og 18.00 Lokation: TBA
Tors d. 27. aug. Show 15.30 og 17.00 Lokation: TBA
Tirs d. 1. sep. Show 16.30 og 18.00 Lokation: TBA
Alle events filmes til brug i Snapshots of a Wo/mans kommende mini-dokumentar og musikunivers.
Let the conversations begin – Let’s talk about gender!
Alle arrangementer er skabt i samarbejde med Kulturcenter Kildevæld og levendegjort af Puffin Artlab og Sort Kolding Media med hjælp fra Kulturstyrelsen og Royal Unibrew.
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Snapshots of a Wo/Man is a gender debating art hybrid made by a Danish collective:
Male musician TOMAS HØFFDING (WhoMadeWho, Lydmor & Bon Homme etc.).
Male film director TOR NYGÅRD KOLDING (Nine Rocks)
Female musician A MESS (Two Trick Pony, Dorte Hartmann)
Snapshots of a Wo/Man is a gender debating art hybrid made by a Danish collective:
Male musician TOMAS HØFFDING (WhoMadeWho, Lydmor & Bon Homme etc.).
Male film director TOR NYGÅRD KOLDING (Nine Rocks)
Female musician A MESS (Two Trick Pony, Dorte Hartmann)
We want to change how we debate gender and we want to do it through music, mini-docs and dialogue.
We want to stir up predefined stereotypes, reduce misunderstandings and generally find a common ground when we talk about how we walk the earth as both male and female individuals. When are we alike and when are we completely different?
We do it through personal stories told in songs, discussed in public at our SNAPSPOTS events together with YOU, documented in mini-docs with inputs from public opinionators as Danish celeb Christine Feldthaus and enfant terrible Rene Fredensborg. That is Snapshots of a Wo/Man.
We will debate everyday topics in a male and a female POV:
Dating (as a man, as a woman)
Adultery (do or don’t?)
Consent (the grey zone)
Power (norms and expectations)
Children (yes/no?)
Friendships (the importance or lack of..).
Snapshots of a Wo/Man are songs and mini-documentaries and live music/debate sessions as perceived by the two (of the) genders: Man and Woman.
Follow us on FB.
It is time to reveal A Mess’ upcoming art hybrid which is realised in collaboration with film director Tor Nygård Kolding, podcast editor Tanja Kjeldgaard and fellow musican Tomas Høffding (known from electropop act WhoMadeWho) as well as Dorte Hartmann//A Mess.
We are a new gender debating art hybrid collective. We want to stir up the debate through music, through film and through podcast and enhance both the male and female voice and create a new kind of dialogue. Between the two genders, – not against each other. Conversation and dialogue. Through art.
Hold on and get ready for the upcoming 12 singles, 12 short-documentaries and 12 podcast which explores the female and male gaze on themes as Dating, Consent, Friendship, Power & Norms, Children OR not and Adultery.
We explore the topics through pop-up events where songs and debating will go hand in hand engaging the audience. We as well invite notable opinionmarkers to respond to the topics.
We are on the verge of production and hopefully we are able to present the first outcome this fall 2020.
In spring 2021 ‘The Bus of Poetry’ invites Snapshots of a Wo/Man on a Denmark tour to present the project to youth all over the country and engage them in the continued debate. What is female, what is male, what is neither. What do we have in common, where are we different from one another.
STAY TUNED!
Thank you DJBFA, DMF, KODA, Frederiksberg Council, Kildevæld Kulturcenter, Copydan and Royal Unibrew/Tak Rock! for supporting the project so far.
Are You Allowed?
to fuck your way to the top?
date compulsively in good faith?
hate average people but be quite ordinary?
get drunk on life – and in the cheapest champagne you can buy – just to puke over and over again..?
YES? Here’s your soundtrack.
Danish indie rocker ’A Mess’ doesn’t waste her time. She is head on and fucks with predefined notions and expectations. A one-army woman in front armed with an electric guitar and loaded with feminine stories: Snapshots of the womb without judgement, but honest as hell.
The sound relies on early nineties vibes and current indie. Imagine The Breeders actually breeded Wolf Alice and co-wrote songs with the fictive Donelly sisters; the forgotten indie-muse Tanya and the new Australian femi-folk-artist with the sharp pen Stella Donelly.
Dorte Hartmann is the woman behind A Mess. The name ‘A Mess’ is in Danish called ‘Et Rod’ – the same as D o r t e spelled backwards.
She is known from the former Danish critically acclaimed noise-pop band Two Trick Pony.
Live is ‘A Mess’ a two-piece.
DEBUT LIVE SHOW – START! FESTIVALEN,COPENHAGEN, DK.
11TH OF MAY 2019 AT 21.30.
FB-EVENT HERE.
THE NEW 7# VINYL IS OUT NOW!
Write us on facebook or a mail to get your hands on the very limited edition of ‘Three Tricks’.
Two Trick Pony er mandag d. 20 august på banen med ny single ’The House That Guilt Built’ som forløber for den kommende 7# vinyludgivelse.
Two Trick Pony er støjpop med tre kvinder i front med flair for de gode melodier flankeret af stærke vokalharmonier blandet med guitarernes støjflader.
’The House That Guilt Built’ er første single fra den kommende EP. Sangen kredser om det evige dilemma med at blive voksen, og føle skyld og skam over at tvivle på og gøre op med gamle vaner, venner og lyster, fordi livsbanen ændrer sig.
Forsanger og sangskriver Dorte Hartmann fortæller: ”Det at bytte en del af ungdommens sorgfrihed ud med pligter, job og babybleer, alt i mens livet fortsætter ufortrødent for andre – vokser man fra dem? Eller kan man fastholde sig selv og sin personlighed, selvom verden ændrer sig, når man for bliver forældre? Nogle venskaber kan faktisk bevares, selvom man har forskellige mål i livet, hvis bare man ikke lader den dårlige samvittighed overmande en.”
Det er om tabuet forbundet med at blive mor – følelsen af tab af identitet og relationer og opbygningen af skyld. Temaer som sjældent bliver behandlet i moderne indierock med udpræget mandlig dominans.
Two Trick Pony har ligget i dvale siden den anmelderroste fuldlængde LP i 2014 ’The Horses Are Coming’, netop på grund af børn, barsel og pligter. Nu er tiden inden til en ny single, og en ny EP, som kredser om tiden og det hulrum, der opstår mellem at være ung og blive voksen og være kvinde samtidigt.
The House That Guilt built kan lyttes på Spotify her og Soundcloud her.
EPen ”Three Tricks” udkommer d. 31. august med releaseparty på Loppen.
Info:
Composer/lyrics: Dorte Hartmann
Producer: Rasmus Glendorf
Musicians:
Guitar/Vocals: Dorte Hartmann
Leadguitar/Vocals: Nicoline Mørup Christensen
Bass/backing vocals: Thilde Mørup Christensen
Drums: Daniel Vibe
Label: Puffin Artlab