Marc Riordan Quartet - Binoculars (Club Nerodia, 2012) ***½

By Philip Coombs

Like any explorer, the challenge is to push yourself further than the last guy. Your map then becomes the cornerstone, the pinnacle of any wanderer that comes after. On this record, Marc Riodan decides to drop his drum kit and portage a piano from his previous river, through the brush in search of a better river or even an ocean. Binoculars is the travelogue of his adventure.

Every journey on sea requires a muster and the seafarers on this mission are as follows.
On saxophone - Peter Hanson
On bass - Daniel Thatcher
On Drums - Tim Daisy ( Being comfortable with two sticks, brushes, bells, cymbals, mops, mallets, paddles, or oars, Daisy is the perfect choice to propel any vessel unrelentingly forward.)

"Little Dog". Even though Riordan has given up the rhythm in search of the melody, it is very clear throughout this track that the old sea sirens still haunt him. The interplay between the alto sax and the very percussive piano makes for very entertaining listening indeed. The quartet cleverly skirts around almost like they are shaking hands and introducing themselves on a pier waiting for the horn to signal the departure. Before it ends even Hanson gets in on the percussive attack and power as he spars with everyone during the track's conclusion.

"Funometer. The quartet tricks your ears with this one. It begins with a boppy pass that goes on just long enough to for an incorrect and premature opinion of things to come. It gets really good when the whole thing falls apart. Is that a hole? Its taking on water, all hands on deck.

There are beautiful moments all over this recording like the heavy handed melancholy of "Lesson Learned", or the coherence and musicianship of "Magnetic Personality", but the real gem for me is the title track. It starts with a searching bass, a beacon through the fog. When everyone else enters it finds the groove but yet finds a way to keep returning to a escalating chord pattern.

Can't say that the Marc Riordan Quartet redrew any maps on this outing but it is a document that highlights a musician that needs to wear different hats and varying numbers of stripes on his shoulders in order to stay afloat.

Is my canoe on the best river for me?

Here is "Little Dog"

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Saadet Türköz, Giovanni Maier, Zlatko Kaučič – Zarja-Tay (Rudi Records, 2012) ****

By Monique Avakian

Listening to Zarja-Tay involves confronting a lot of uncomfortable places, beautiful dreams and awkward moments. To be up for the challenge, I highly suggest meditating with bells and gongs first. Work with the higher frequencies will help to bust up all your preconceptions about words, sounds, borders, language and communication. At minimum, you will at least clear your sinuses so that you are worthy of receiving the transmissions so generously offered to you by this fine assemblage of highly evolved humans.

The Trio is comprised of Italian bassist Giovanni Maier, Slovenian-born Zlatko Kaučič on percussion, and the Swiss-based Kazakh-Turkish singer Saadet Türköz. Zarja-Tay was recorded in a pilgrimage church in Crngrob, Slovenia (an ancient holy place created by a Giant Girl, whose rib hangs among the detailed frescoes that include illustrations of demons eating those who do wrong).

In the world of Zarja-Tay you will find:

• unfamiliar words that you want to know
•  musical ideas that need a lot of time to simmer
• sounds that are not words and sounds that may not even be sounds….
• multi-cultural unknowns that are mysteriously familiar
• other-worldly impulses that pierce through illusion
• alien landscapes that beckon
• terrifying leaps that repel
• subterranean forces that remember what you had for lunch yesterday and work to ensure that you never eat that food ever again even though those morsels  are essential for your survival

Oh, wow, help. This is a journey.

Vocals:

Like all artists, Saadet Türköz is informed by her influences. Hers are very unique: "I was born in Istanbul in 1961, and I am currently living in Zurich.
Due to the political pressure of the Chinese government upon the Turk people in East Turkestan (Uyghur Autonomous Region), my parents fled to Istanbul, where they settled as Kazakh refugees. They transmitted us the rich oral and musical traditions of the highlands of Central Asia. With the tales of their far away country and their journey to Turkey, the elderly people of the Kasakh community influenced my imagination as musician until nowadays." Zarja-Tay is dedicated to her brother, Ahmet Türköz (1963-2009), “…who was engaged in human rights for free East Turkestan.”

Saadet Türköz expresses herself in ways I’ve never heard before. Track 5, “Voice” and Track 3 “Massallah!” are two especially fine examples of her unique vocal style.

It was difficult at first to take in the universe of sound she forges, and I got off track as I became obsessed with not knowing the meaning of the words (*). But what seems like words here, are, in many cases, not even words anyway, so what is perhaps most necessary is to have an open mind and embrace the pre-verbal. This is really hard, and that’s why I highly recommend this album! Saadet Türköz is not fooling around, and you will grow as a listener and as a person because you are going to be squirming. Like an ant who has succeeded in running away from a fanatic wielding a magnifying glass on a hot day, only to get smashed by a big thumb you never saw coming. Shamanic is the only word that will do.

Percussion:

Zlatko Kaučič has gongs and bells and scratchy things scraping and rusty, swinging gates flying slowly open and closed. Listening, I feel as if I were being born inside a Gamelon, with every instrument a living bone or strong tooth. His precision carries a spiritual depth, complete with deep toms at opportune moments. Nothing wasted. Nothing haphazard. Like a brilliant poem throughout. (Of special note, Track 9, “Apa”).

Bass:

In this context, Giovanni Maier becomes a friendly, loving GPS you are so happy to have around. Full of warmth. A lullabye~compass. Maier’s choices create a powerful juxtaposition with the focused intensity behind Türköz’s voice, and he anchors the band well. This is not to say that he plays it safe. Maier on bass also travels to select alternate worlds, sounding over here like a shofar….over there, like a viola….there again, like a human voice and then, alternately like….? Track 4, “Snake,” is especially enticing, as is the thoughtful and quiet, “Zero” (Track 10).

(*) Saadet kindly helped me out with some translations. Here is another:

The old spirits on the other side invite me to die.

They say to me, you are welcome to paradise

I will die, I wanna go

My heart has pain – take me to the other side

Please don’t forget me,

Where I’m going

I can see you and hear – on the other side

I am a beautiful spirit!

            -- Saadet Türköz, “Köpes,” Eng. transl.

                        (Köpes means: generous human and is a family nickname

                                    for Saadet’s brother)

Media:

Phantasie from Zarja-Tay

Saadet Türköz: My Boy, My Horse, My Dog (with English text transl.)



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Joshua Abrams Quartet – Unknown Known (RogueArt, 2013) ***

By Dan Sorrells

RogueArt continues its Chicago jazz love affair with Unknown Known, a quartet featuring Josh Abrams on bass, David Boykin on tenor sax, Jason Adasiewicz on vibes, and Frank Rosaly on drums. In many ways, Unknown Known sticks to those Chicago roots: even it its wilder flights, it always has a foot planted in composition and structure. It’s jazz that comes up under the tutelage of the AACM, which constantly pushed boundaries without ever entirely dispensing with them.

Though Abrams is billed as the leader, Adasiewicz tends to be the dominant voice (as with many projects he’s involved with). This isn’t a bad thing. Personally, I can’t get enough of his enormous, pulsing field of overtones. A 2011 New York Times article touched upon a lot of what makes his sound unique: hitting the instrument hard, frequent use of the sustain pedal, an interest in creating distorted, almost feedback-like effects, and keeping the sound of the vibes consistently in the mix, “rumbl[ing] along with the rhythm section.”

The downside to Adasiewicz’s colossal harmonic artifice is that it needs to be well-miked and recorded, and in its more frenzied moments, Unknown Known can leave a bit to be desired. At times, Abrams’ bass is nearly subsumed in waves of vibraphone and cymbals. Thankfully, he pushes through loud and clear when it’s time to rein everyone back in, laying out strutting basslines that snap everything back into focus.

There are some great tracks here, such as the funky “Settle Down” and the epic “Boom Goes the Moon,” but many seem cast of a similar mold, progressing from laid-back theme to building tension to out-and-out free improv and back again.  I wish more of it could be as arresting as the first four minutes of “Leavening,” a great, moody bass solo over slow, tribal drums and gentle swells of vibes and sax.  Boykin has a robust tone on tenor, but he feels under-utilized. He does have a handful of intense moments on the frontline, but it’s hard to compete with the sheer density of Adasiewicz and Rosaly.

Unknown Known is another solid release from RogueArt, and another reminder that the Midwest continues to be fertile ground for outsider jazz.


Buy at Instantjazz

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Jon Irabagon, Hernani Faustino, Gabriel Ferrandini - Absolut Zero (Not Two, 2013) *****

By Paul Acquaro

Saxophonist Jon Irabagon's playing is a treat on this recording with RED Trio members Hernani Faustino and Gabriel Ferrandini. His sax work is restained and searching at times and scorching and scathing at others throughout this focused but free program. Unlike the hearty swinging from the get go, on say his album Foxy or the recent 3Dom Factor, the approach to playing here begins more introspective and evolving, gelling as the songs progress, reaching moments of kinetic cohesion, only to be pulled back to start all over again.

The opening 'States of Matter' starts slowly, builds to an intense climax, not made of volume but of restraint, that soon devolves into just sound of Irabagon's breath through his mouthpiece. Ferrandini's percussion work shadows and pulsates as he deftly fills the many spaces in the sparse, but not lacking, instrumentation. Faustino's bass kicks off 'Nova' in a stately spacious manner, then Irabagon enters with a keen wail. He works the microtones and the upper registers of his horn almost sounding he is pushing through some deep pain. The duo plays through the tension beautifully and when the percussion finally joins lightly, a certain peace has been achieved. 

The last track, 'Spacetime' is another exercise in intensity as Irabagon plays a circular motif that never lets up as the tension slowly builds. By the end, Ferrandini's unique rhythmic patterns have meshed so thoroughly with the sax and bass that it is hard to distinguish an individual in the group (metaphorically speaking). 

Absolut Zero, is hardly the unbelievably cold temperature to which the title refers, rather it is a warm and layered achievement.

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Weekend Roundup: Mats Gustafsson

If you have ever had the chance to talk to Mats Gustafsson about vinyl you know how enthusiastically he is about this issue. I guess he would release more 7-inches if he could, once he told me how glad he was finally finding a company in California that presses flexi discs (and you should have seen his eyes shining) for him. The first part of this short round up reviews three singles, the second one his latest CD.

By Martin Schray

Double Tandem/ Mats Gustafsson Solo: Abet ?! (Terprecords, 2012) **** ½

“Abet ?!” is a split 7’’ starting with a four-minute live killer track by Double Tandem (Ken Vandermark and Ab Baars on saxes, Paal Nilssen-Love on drums) that makes the audience in Addis Abeba freak out (the tracks were recorded during the “saxophone project” of The Ex in Ethiopia in 2009). Nilssen-Love starts the track going mad from the very first second before Baars and Vandermark drop in. This is old-fashioned free jazz at its best. Unlike their two complete albums there is no swing element here, the three keep pushing each other relentlessly before they literally choke the track off. Highly energetic!

The flipside presents Gustafsson on solo baritone sax in front of an enthusiastic Ethiopian audience two years later. It seems as if he is trying to take on African influences at the beginning, it is a very soulful and bluesy track that changes over to rhythmic extended techniques before it fades out in a very Gustafsson-ish way.


Mats Gustafsson & Johns Lunds: Plays Alto Saxophone (7’’) (yoyooyoy, 2012) *** ½

This is Mats Gustafsson’s second collaboration with John Lunds (after “Plays Baritone Saxophone” in 2011). Compared to his recent cooperation with Colin Stetson the two tracks on this 7-inch are rawer and more abrasive, they rather remind me of a quotation of Gustafsson’s colleague Peter Brötzmann, who claims that free jazz is always about fighting and about creating some space where you can present your ideas. While the A-side is a straight punch into your face, the flipside is a bit more playful.


Swedish Azz: Toots and Quincy (Flexi Disc) (Not Two, 2012) ****

Swedish Azz’s two minute track obviously is a hip tribute to Toots Thielemans and Quincy Jones and it especially presents Gustafsson (sax), Per-Ake Holmlander (tuba), Kjell Nordeson (vibes) and Eric Carlsson (dr) paying tribute to the golden age of American west coast jazz (including some scratching and cracking on the flexi). Hardly ever have you heard Gustafsson playing in such a classical cool way. But as usual the presence of Dieb 13 (electronics) warps the whole track adding some special European distorted element. A nice little finger exercise stimulating the appetite for their complete albums.


Merzbow/Mats Gustafsson/Balász Pándi: Cuts (Rare Noise Records, 2013) ***

“Cuts” features Merzbow (a.k.a. Masami Akita) on electronics, Gustafsson on baritone sax, c-clarinet and live electronics, and Hungarian drummer Balász Pándi. When I heard about this line-up I was really excited because it reminded me of another recent collaboration between Gustafsson and Masami Akita – “One Bird Two Bird” (with Jim O’Rourke) - and “Live at the South Bank” (with Kieren Hebden and Steve Reid), both outstanding albums.

Actually I am really glad that this is a Gustafsson album that does not kill me immediately like his previous ones (and that it gives me the chance to avoid the impression that I have lost a critical attitude towards his music). In the first part of this session (which lasts more than 70 minutes) Gustafsson concentrates on electronic sounds; saxophone and clarinet are almost drowned in noise. It is a tough listening experience, as if you were in the middle of an arctic blizzard combined with an electrical storm in which you have already lost orientation. Some sounds are so shrill that you might be afraid of losing your sense of hearing (this is a serious warning). On “The Fear too. Invisible” and “Like Me. Like You” and the 20-minute-hellhound  “Like Razorblades in the Dark”, which make up the second part of the CD, Gustafsson’s saxophone is more present pushing the music towards classical noise-free-jazz – solid, hard, grabbing you by the scruff of your neck.

The titles of this album are inspired by the Swedish writer, visual artist and composer Leif Elggren’s performance “Something like seeing in the Dark” which Elggren and his collaborator John Duncan regarded as an attempt to enlarge sensorial limits in which the participants and the audience were used as test persons. This works for “Cuts” as well, it is a borderline experience.

Watch a short extract here:

Gustafsson sells the singles at his concerts but you can get them via catalyticsound.com, a website which promotes stuff by Gustafsson, Ken Vandermark, Peter Brötzmann and Paal-Nilssen-Love.

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Willamette (CD Baby/Bandcamp, 2012) ***

By Alfie Cooke

If the tenor saxophone seemed custom-made for rock 'n' roll, then Dana Colley, Mats Gustafsson and now Matt Rippetoe, seem hell-bent on proving that the baritone was specially designed for its harder, meaner, darker kid brother - heavy metal. Taking note of Bob Dylan's famous "play it f-ing loud", Willamette crank up the volume, thrash the guitars and beat the drums senseless. Holding down, at various points, both lead-line and riffing duties, Rippetoe cuts his way through the middle. His raspy tone sounding at times like Gustafsson, he captures the blood-and-guts vocal low-end of bands like Husker Dü and (Henry) Rollins-era Black Flag.

Although there are similarities to Swedish über-trio The Thing, this isn't jazz, the solos for the most part clinging firmly to the rock tradition - but then, being so heavily sax-lead, it isn't heavy rock either. But the fact that it seems caught in the no man's land between the two isn't a bad thing - the path it takes means its different without being difficult and danceable without being drivel. Try out their samples on the Bandcamp  release page or the version of 'Mr Smith' on YouTube here below, let your head start banging and then decide - metal jazz, is it the new New Thing?

The band :  Matt Rippetoe - baritone sax,  Yoshie Fructer - guitar,  Gary Pickard - bass, Dave Previ - drums

 

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Die Enttäuschung - Vier Halbe (Intakt, 2012) ****

By Stef

Here is the menu: four brilliant musicians, Rudi Mahall on bass clarinet and baritone sax, Axel Dörner on trumpet, Jan Roder on bass, and Uli Jennessen on drums compose and perform in the best jazz tradition, but with a twist. The compositions are short, between to five minutes, and they sound like a jazz quartet from the fifties,but then not. They have this twist that takes it a step further, across boundaries in today's times, but without losing the foundation of the composition. Some of those compositions would please mainstream listeners, such as for instance the beautiful "Aqua Satin Flame", but then the next track, "Das Jan vom Stück" is short and wayward, full of crazy interactions, and is fully in avant-garde territory. And that's how the entire twenty-track alternation goes, with tunes that either stick in your memory or arranged parts which no matter how often you listen to them, will still sound ungraspable. 

Unlike other bands that have tried similar approaches, they are never wild, nor full of energy. They just enjoy the cleverness of the interaction, the beauty of some themes, the musical finds, the pleasure of playing music together, the pulse and the grooves and the mad arrangements and subtle jokes. There is no pretense here, no claim for absolutes, no grand ambitions, no deep emotions, but in the very spirit of Monk music as intelligent entertainment, full of quirky twists, dissonance and unpredictability, putting the listener frequently on the wrong foot, while keeping a solid rhythmic basis.  

At times you wonder how they do it, but then they've playing together for so long, and they've probably played these tunes so often before recording it, that it almost comes naturally.

Their previous album already dates from 2009, and we can only wish that they released more of this.

Great and clever fun!

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Joe Morris Quartet - Graffiti In Two Parts (RogueArt,2012) ****½

By Stef

One of my preferred albums of last year, and one that has been haunting for a while, and I have blamed myself more than once that I still had  not reviewed it yet. The thing is : the music on this album is hard to grasp and hard to describe, but more than worth looking for.

The album brings a live performance from 1985 with Joe Morris on guitar and banjo-uke, Malcolm Goldstein on violin, Butch Morris on cornet and Lowell Davidson on aluminum acoustic bass and drums.

At first listen, this is free improv in the best European sense of the word, with sounds colliding out of the acoustic instruments, in a very granular fashion, like stones raining on industrial machinery, like rain dropping like stones, even if it sounds weird at first, some rhythm emerges on plucked violin strings, or on the banjo-uke. Once in while the granular, and often mesmerising sound gets a prolongation by bowed violin or long moaning tones on the cornet.

To my ears, the end result is of a devastating sadness, like small and vulnerable beings conversing about the woes that befell them, expressing feelings that defy storytelling and language whatsoever, yet the sounds produced reveal something more, undefinable and strange. The second track has more wailing sounds, with Davidson picking up his aluminum acoustic bass, the mesmerising percussive sounds are still there, yet are complemented with wave-like movements coming from cornet and violin, resulting in a longitudinal version of the first track.

The thing is : it is magical. All four musicians continue this hypnotising interaction for twice thiry minutes without any repetitive elements or phrasing while also staying extremely close to an almost primitive single tone persistance. Emphases change, volume changes, instruments change, yet the plucking and plocking goes on, captivating and beautifully. It's magical because all four musicians move as one, creating a unique sound, one that sounds familiar like everyday objects while at the same time revealing some deeper unfathomable things. As I said, hard to describe. I can only recommend that you try it out for yourself, if you have open ears.

Again, we can only applaud RogueArt for releasing this music after so many years.


Buy at Instantjazz.

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Alexey Lapin - Concerto Grosso (SoLyd, 2012) ****

By Stef

As written in earlier reviews, Russian pianist Alexey Lapin has this knack for musicality in whatever he does, even if he goes beyond the traditional boundaries of his instrument. On this live performance, recorded a year ago in Saint-Petersburg, Russia, he is joined by Dmitry Bibikov and Olga Krukovskaya, both on double bass, or double double bass if you want.

The title, "Concerto Grosso", referring to the alternation of various soloists performing a suite and supported by an orchestra, may give the impression that the music here is composed, which is not the case. As Lapin explains "the overall plan of the musical composition and its conception were not determined formally by any known means. In other words, the structure, stylistic direction, character and form were not discussed in advance. We just talked a bit half an hour before the concert started. But this does not mean that the music flowed spontaneously, or that the form was created in a random manner during the development of the music".

This enigmatic description is also revelatory for the music. It is indeed suite-like, with six pieces flowing coherently into one another.

Lapin is a lyricist of the extended techniques, and Bibikov and Krukovskaya communicate well in the same idiom. An open, fragmented and dark atmosphere is created, in which sounds well up from the soil or appear  as shimmering images in the mist. It is equally intimate, close to you, both physically and in (relative) accessibility, despite the lack of repeated patterns and recognisable forms. The trio manages to create interesting interactions, and developments within strict confines.

They do not explore wide spaces, they stay close to tonal centers and small figures, testing reactions with different approaches of bowed and plucked and hammered and scraped strings, with all three instruments becoming percussive and voiced, never moving far away from each other, in a strange and dark dance on a square meter, revolving around each other, touching in a very physical and sensitive way and conjuring up these images of tension and release (Part I) or harsh mystery (Part II) or uncanny eeriness (Part III) or sheer beauty (Part IV) or unexpected abundance (Part V) or strange struggle (Part VI). I may even be totally wrong by qualifying these parts as such, because the wealth of sounds of course exceeds these few words.

Highly recommended for those with open ears.

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Ballister - Mi Casa es en Fuego (Ballister Music, 2013)****

aka Burning down the house in the snow
aka A tale of two concerts

by Martin "Amundsen" Schray and Paolo "safe at home" Casertano

It was in the evening, the streets white from the snow and already deserted, when I was driving to Weikersheim, a small village in rural Franconia (which is a part of Bavaria). On my way my navigation system suddenly failed and when I compared my old-fashioned map to where I actually was I realized that I had lost my way. The shock of this discovery made me feel uncertain but accidentally I finally found the village. I had never been to Weikersheim before and therefore I was not acquainted with the village at all, fortunately there was a man in the empty streets, I asked him the way. The temperature was -8° C.

W71, the club, does not even have a proper address and only two cars parked in front of it. When I entered, there was not even an admission counter.  But unlike in Kafka’s story “Give it up” no one turned with a sudden jerk, like someone who wants to be alone with his laughter, there was only Dave Rempis (saxes) next to a table arranging LPs and CDs. Within 30 minutes some people arrived and finally Ballister started to play and from the very first moment the place was on fire. Ballister soon got it all together – their rock approach, their excellent musicianship, their ability to play together, the fun they obviously have. I was glad I made it to this godforsaken place because live they are simply marvelous - but what do you think of their new album, Paolo?

Martin, first of all let me say that I’m relieved you came back home safely from the arctic moors of Weikersheim (by the way I was already coordinating a rescue operation with the rest of the Collective). I believe that your brief description of the Ballister live performance there is well applicable also to this album (it’s a live recording from a Montreal’s gig - do cold temperatures influence the trio? Should we make a comparison with a set in a tropical venue?).

The first act “Cockloft” is like a long-distance runner. Rempis, with his clean phrasings, is the engine and the pulling of the composition. He grows in intensity without being aggressive, and he seems to set the interplay with his companions in two separate moments and with two different moods, respecting both the rockish actions of Paal Nilssen-Love (dr) and the often ethereal distorted presence of Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello) - here on tenor guitar, not forcing them in a cohesive interaction until they don’t want to spontaneously step in. He’s aware he must be cautious playing simultaneously with two double-surnamed musicians. Listen to the percussive duo with the deflated bass drum after three minutes and then the feeble, incorporeal dialogue with the cellist we find after, preluding to the long meeting between skins and strings in the middle of the same track. Now the trio is finally amalgamated.

You can notice it immediately at the beginning of “Smolder”. After some minutes of more orthodox improvised inlays, especially from the sax and the guitar (Lonberg-Holm is clearly not a guitarist but his approach, in some way shy, achieves in my opinion a good result), the time has come to erupt. Loud but again really controlled, especially in the marching couple of closing minutes.

The third act “Phantom Box System” starts again quiet and slow, climbing up to a central noisy acme. Then we are back to a sparse, diluted atmosphere with a long drum solo joined shortly after by Lonberg-Holm, for the first time in the record audible on some bass strings. After a few peaks reached in communion with Rempis, the trio decides to slow down dismantling the composition as much as the cohesiveness of their interplay.

Coming back to the tale of your adventure, the famous Korzybski’s phrase “the map is not the territory” comes to my mind. Once again this may be applied also to what we find in this record. We have three powerful explosive musicians, often known for their sonic outburst, that deliver some fifty minutes of good music choosing to interact mainly in a delicate way - or at least more delicate than their usual standards. Because clearly improvising also means that no path is set in advance, despite your attitude and your consolidated skills, although the deep and mutual knowledge of the interlocutors, beyond also the intrinsic contradictions in the idea of a totally free improvisation, the result is always and at best an imitation of what is in the mind of the musicians and in the ears of his listeners. They were in a cold place, they could have give vent to any sonic force, but they went for a calm approach. This free jazz is really incomprehensible. Or maybe again they were just cold. In any case, if my noisy expectations have been disregarded, I can only say it has been a welcome surprise.

Paolo, in Weikersheim it was a completely different gig, even with similar components as on the album. Here Nilssen-Love and Lonberg-Holm were the driving forces backing up Rempis, who looks like a giant seal snapping for air and who used his newly won freedom to play very expressively and light-headed in the high registers. Nilssen-Love was simply sensational pulling out all the stops from straight rock rhythms to stroking his kit tenderly and surprising interruptions like hand-clapping and hand drums. Unlike the set on the album Lonberg-Holm was on cello only and sometimes he used a whole bunch of effects like sustains, feedbacks and delays to build up a wall in front of which Nilssen-Love and Rempis could trade blows. You could also see Nilssen-Love smiling while Lonberg-Holm was doing this, obviously the band was really pleased with the performance.

It was even colder and hardly anybody was on the highway when I drove back, it was a scenario as if there was a nuclear blow. I had forgotten that it was so cold, the way was easy to find, Ballister made my day.

Here, out of curiosity, you have a short clip of 2/3 of Ballister + piano

Buy at Instantjazz.

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