Give me more of that Jazz! And especially of this kind!
Texan drummer Forest Cazayoux and his big band are back - and if the party ever ended after the final track of the band's self-titled debut album last year, it immediately continues like a switch being flipped.
CAZAYOUX - Echoes (transparent green vinyl LP) (2024)
To be perfectly honest, in their totally different musical space Cazayoux seem to develop in a direction, which challenges me a little bit like Autopsy does in the realm of sick Death Metal. It's so much fun and done so great, that I have a hard time not just copypasting my last review. Hell, even the distributions of this album mainly runs over the same circle of labels that collectively released the debut, including among others Echodelick, Weird Beard or - recommendable if you're buying from Germany - Worst Bassist Records.
So, there are new fresh sprinkles from this electrifying ensemble which includes lots of Rock, Latin and Afro-Beat percussions, brass and wind instruments, keys and strings, vibraphone and balafon... all that great stuff to build a huge wall of globally inspired feel-good Fusion again.
What did I write the last time? "It's a sweet and short record, almost humble in its format, but it effortlessly breathes a global legacy, echoing influences from Fela Kuti to Dom Um Romao, from British Fusion big bands to Ryo Kawasaki, from Klaus Weiss' Niagara to Santana."
Yeah, most of that still applies. At its core "Echoes" just provides more of the already approved goodness, probably performed even tighter than ever.
However we could strike the "short record", since the ten tracks at least amount to forty minutes now - and it's a if-you-want-more-just-spin-it-again situation. It's also mandatory to add the name of a Soul/Funk legend and hardest working man in show business to the list of echoed influences, since a very short but to the point track is paying homage to him. If you listen to "JB" and still don't know who I'm talking about I Got The Feelin' that you need to Get Up and Please, Please, Please catch up on your education. I'm Doing The Best I Can here.
But back to Cazayoux: Even though they allow beautiful breathers like the touching "Spillway", most of the time they are again capturing all the great and free spirits and make them dance like there's no tomorrow. So once again this multinational dozen provides my personal good times soundtrack of the year.
"Echoes" looks good, sounds goods, feels good - probably even tastes good if you lick the transparent green vinyl or eat the sleeve, but hey man, WTFunk are you doing there? Pull yourself together!
Since I've only just talked about excellent Jazz with Oriental influences in my review of the vinyl reissue of Yazz Ahmed's debut "Finding My Way Home" a couple of days ago, why don't we travel even further East, while also somehow staying with one foot in England, where the band we'll spin today resides and records?
JAUBI - A Sound Heart (2LP) (2024)
Even though I continue to miss the right constellation of time and price to score their 2022 debut "Nafs at Peace", I have been aware of the amazingly talented Pakistani Jazz Folk Fusion band Jaubi for a while now, so it didn't came as a surprise that their new double album is a masterstroke of cross-cultural inspiration.
Lead by guitarist Ali Riaz Bagar the ensemble features many typical Rock/Fusion instruments like electric bass, Fender Rhodes, synths and of course the traditional Jazz essentials trumpet, saxophone, piano. But some sounds which immediately stand out as less common, no matter if they are rather textural elements in the background or featured front and center, are the Hindustani percussion aiding the drums, especially the impressive tabla performances and the sarangi (a bowed string instrument with a sound somewhere between spike fiddle, violin and harmonium). The flute appearances don't feel as unusual in a Jazz context, yet still provide another strong Folk influence.
Jaubi's way of bringing East and West, but also faith and worldiness together is very smooth and welcoming to either sides. I am an unwavering atheist, but if there's one thing I can joyfully suffer religion to do, then it's inspiring amazing pieces of art. Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" and Sanders' "Karma" aren't among the most revered Jazz albums of all time without a reason.
The album title "A Sound Heart" is inspired by a Qu'ran verse, the cover shows a very personal photo of the band leader's father, and conceptionally the work, which is structured in LP one "Desire" and LP two "Devotion" is all about love without dictating, which kind of love the listener is meant to read into it. Even the dedication "This album is dedicated to God...whoever and whatever that means to you." is far from being fundamental or restrictive. It shows that while the author feels strongly about his message, ultimately Jaubi's mission is bringing people together in their love for music.
The triangle of Spiritual Jazz, Fusion and Middle Eastern Folk (and classical) contributions in this class and scale and flawless production is of course a magnet for a diverse crowd and provokes comparisons to Kamasi Washington's in several ways similar "Fearless Movement".
Jaubi however have shifted their balance a little further away from the funky and overtly electric. The title track being inspired by Bill Evans and the two obvious Jazz legend tributes "Lahori Blues (Blues for Shorter)" and "Mingusderstood (Blues for Mingus)", both respectively opening one half of the album, are clear indicators that Jaubi are seeking timelessness in sticking to more traditional formulas - yet infusing those in their special way with all those longing magical ethnical sounds.
And don't get me wrong, there still is a lot of Fusion all over the album, starting with the album opener. But further down the tracklist it doesn't always remain as pronounced. With exceptions, since a track like "Throwdown" with its bubbling bass clearly sticks out, as it could actually be a Thundercat feature on a Washington piece.
Well, we can go back and forth, trying to sliderule genre percentages throughout this whole hour-long album - but that's not the point and wouldn't do this inspriring, intriguing, reflective, relaxing, exciting, stunningly beautiful work any justice. This is a group with the potential to build many bridges and bring new listeners into the wide world of Jazz - or take jazz cats to new bowls. Meow.
Album of the year season is upon us and you'll soon find the name Jaubi high up on many lists. It's inevitable.
It's not breaking news that Oli Hefernan aka Ivan The Tolerable is a terribly prolific recording artist. Even pre-Brexit (without the extra costs for taxes, fees and drives to the post office to pick up orders) I probably wouldn't even try to keep up, but rather restrict myself to some of the highlights.
Other fans however actually follow his pace, even if it ramps up to twelve records a year like right now. As a reward and "sorry" those were gifted a strictly limited live album. And a short while later the naturally even more strictly limited rest of that pressing went up for the grabs for comparably more casual fans like me.
IVAN THE TOLERABLE - Live in London (stained glass splatter vinyl LP) (2024)
"Live in London" is not a trio or quartet album, but a recording of an actual solo performance during which Hefernan operated bass guitar, synths, kalimba, drones and arps - whatever especially the latter exactly means. The result is an ongoing thirty-seven minute long vibrating and oscillating Ambient performance called "Dog Star Man".
And that's almost everything I can actually say about the music here. Once again it's one of those cases of don't read about it, just listen! This album certainly sounds a lot different than his releases more orientated towards Jazz or Psychedelic Rock, even though the Kraut undoubtly is very strong in this cosmically pulsating stream of tangerine dreamy space music.
It's a warm, embracing experience, like taking a bath in a naturally heated pool in a cave, while water drops play random melodies around you and the stalactites and stalagmites glitter in the spectral reflections of a magical aurora-like light of unknown origin. Or in short: This is wonderfully immersive.
The cover artwork being non-existent could suggest a test-pressing or library music content, but the vinyl itself screams in rainbow that it definitely isn't. I'm not going to lie: It also gave me the impulse to check this out as quickly as possible. And even though I'd obviously prefer Ivan The Tolerable residing within a more convenient country from my perspective, I'm very happy that I got this one.
First Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia, then Gordon Beck's Gyroscope... and today another one! Am I developing a preference for British Jazz reissues lately? Maybe a little, maybe it's just sheer coincidence. And of course Yazz Ahmed covers a whole different generation than those other two from the 1970' and 80's.
However, it just seemed fitting to write this review today, as Yazz Ahmed has just announced the release of her next album "A Paradise In the Hold" for February 2025.
YAZZ AHMED - Finding My Way Home (blue vinyl LP) (2011/2024)
Even though the main inspiration for picking up her instrument has been her grandfather, who was a professional trumpeteer and record producer, it's of course impossible for any Jazz musician to choose this instrument and deny the towering influence of Miles Davis. And it's the shortest track - just one and a half minutes - on this first-time vinyl pressing of Yazz Ahmed's debut album, which gives us an unmistakable clue, where she started - and where she is going. "The Birth Of The Fool" is of course a play on Miles' Cool Jazz phase, way before he went Electric, and when the main attribute which set him apart from other contemporary players was his focus on long notes and emotion instead of boasting with technique and speed.
Musically however this track features one of the the clearest uses of Arabic rhythms and scales, indicating the beginning of Ahmed's impressive journey of self-discovery between the British (obviously American-influenced) and Bahraini side of her identity. And you already can feel it here: The more she leans away from the Western tones, the more elevated and magical her performance gets.
Besides her brass playing she also already introduces her fondness for little electronic tidbits and creative production tricks, but that only appears in rather subtle form here, waiting to be explored much further in the future.
All in all the whole album feels as if she embraced the smooth early bandleader days of Davis, yet stirred the ship towards the musical legacy of the Near East. Half of the tracks are her own compositions with a full band in different constellations, in which of course not only her own trumpet and flugelhorn parts shine, but it's useless to name everything which impresseses here. The whole rhythmic approach is so satisfying, and there are wonderful contribuitions by Shabaka Hutchingson clarinets, John Bailey on piano or the inclusion of Corrina Silvester's hand drumming or the flavour of Chris Fish's cello and so on...
However if I had to choose one most important player besides Yazz it surely would be bass guitarist Janek Gwizdala, who doesn't appear on the band tracks, but on various stunning duet improvisations, including the ten minute title track of the album - plus their version of "Birthdays, Birthdays", a composition by saxophonist Stan Sulzmann (who by the way also performed on the Gyroscope compilation I reviewed the other day).
On the original CD release they also interpreted Miles Davis' "So What" from "Kind of Blue", but just like the original Ahmed song "Flip Flop" that track didn't fit on this vinyl re-release, which also changed the running order of the remaining tracks a little. I actually prefer the overall flow of this shorter version, yet still recommend buying it from a source (like Bandcamp), which also provides you with a digital copy of all ten tracks.
If you're familiar with her later albums it's a pretty large elephant in the room that the original cover of "Finding My Way Home" may be a nice photograph, but not really up to the standards of the amazing artworks which followed.
Her new label Night Time Stories - who also reissued the later masterpieces "La Saboteuse" and "Polyhymnia" - has done a nice job of jazzing it up, with a couple of neat often tried and tested tricks from the school of Jazz iconography: Fill half the frame with typography - huge name, even bigger album title, add some liner note stuff, so the corner doesn't look too dark, and most importantly screw those tourist snapshot colours, keep it monochrome and drench the whole image in the jazziest of all colours: Blue. Which besides classic black is of course also the vinyl colour for this limited edition.
Good job! It's a beauty inside and outside. Great treatment of a wonderful album.
Wie der Titel schon sagt, ist dies kein Review. Sowohl über "Le Premier Soleil de Jan Calet" der französischen Psychrocker Human Teorema als auch über die im April auf dem Dazed & Spaced Festival aufgenommene Live-Split von Sula Bassana und Skyjoggers habe ich ja neulich schon lobende Worte in die Welt entlassen.
Ich möchte nur eben nachreichen, dass ich beide Scheiben nun auch in physischer Form besitze, insbesondere das Cover der Human Teorema in angemessener Größe viel besser wirkt, als wenn man's nur auf einem Bildschirm sieht, und dass das recycelte Vinyl der mir immer besser gefallenden Split auch sehr lecker ist. #vinylporn
Also Leute, tut's mir nach! Nichts wie rüber auf Sulatron.com und diesen gylen Psych geholt!
I must admit that I procrastinated this edition of my tape series for a while, because my tape deck (a modified Sony from the 90's) has gotten a bit erratic, just refusing to play one cassette - or just one side of a cassette - while allowing others without any discernable logic behind it. And sometimes trying back and forth multiple times until the desired music finally plays takes me out of the mood to listen to it... so yeah, I'm caught between that annoyed frustration and not wanting to look for a replacement player yet again.
Meanwhile the new tapes are beginning to pile up and I don't want to wait until I have to review a double-digit number of reviews at a time, so here we go:
RADAR MEN FROM THE MOON - Vomitorium(2024)
Let's begin this with a raging banger! But wait, I already used the Rage Against The Machine comparison with the phrase "Radar Men Against The Machine" when I talked about the Dutch Psych/Drone/Noise/whatevertheywanttodonow collective RMFTM's previous album "The Bestial Light". "Vomitorium" pushes into a similar direction and reprises the line-up with two guitars, bass and two drummers, yet introducing a new vocalist with Niels Koster.
Radar Men From The Moon live
It's hard to ultinately pin down references which apply to all eight tracks, but most of them are definitely on the aggressive side, mixing influences from Industrial Metal, Heavy Psych and Post Punk, which in the case of the second track "Psychic Warfare Now!" can lead to some strong Voivod vibes or on the title track takes us back to Temple Ov BBV, the fantastic collaborative project with Gnod. Overall however a lot of this album takes me back to classic Ministry. Especially "Altered States" with its shift to more Electronic sounds instead of guitar walls has some delicious "The Land Of Rape And Honey" flavours.
The whole album feels like Radar Men From The Moon have descended onto Earth and are rampaging through a dystopian scenery, aggressively waking people up and screaming into their faces. Undoubtly a proper soundtrack to our times!
The cassette edition comes in the familiar Tartarus Records cardboard sleeve.
THE NAUSEA - Requiem(2024)
This album I picked up after a show onboard the MS Stubnitz in September. The Nausea is a solo project of the Canadian violin/viola/cello player Anju Sing, who mixes powerful haunting Neoclassical string loops with Dark Ambient and Harsh Noise sounds and occasional evil vocals.
The Nausea live
Do you know Laibach's "Kinderreich"? If not: Drop everything right now, get your hands on the album "Kapital" and then return here! If yes: Well, you already know the general mood of "Requiem".
I called it "Pharmakon with violin" in my live review, and it's hard to come up with a better short description, even though the music feels more layered and nuanced in the studio recording. Most of all the atmosphere The Nausea is creating here is incredibly strong. If you want an album to reach its arm out of the morass, grab you and pull you down to be completely engulfed by a Dantean purgatory - this is for you!
NADJA - Querétaro (2024)
On the night I saw The Nausea I could have also grabbed this tape from the merch table. Unfortunately I had already ordered it from Zona Watusa before, so that meant waiting a couple of weeks longer.
Nadja live
There isn't much to say about this one. "Querétaro" is a recent live recording (February 2024 in Mexico) of the Doomgaze / Drone Metal duo Nadja. Four songs including the "Luminous Rot" title track and "Blurred" from "Labyrithine", all in completely instrumental rendititions. A crushing wall of rumbling bass, distortion and levitating feedback, driven by a surprisingly elaborate drum machine. The special kind of Godflesh/Jesu worship we know and love from Aidan Baker and Leah Bukareff. Over fifty minutes of hypnotic slow heaviness. What's not to like?
Maybe that the tape misses a clear indication of side A and B side, yeah. On the other hand I really dig the photo on the front, which might really be one of my favorite cover artworks of this year.
TEMPLE FANG - Live at Krach am Bach(2024)
We're staying in the realm of live music with a tape I bought at the Lazy Bones Festivalin October. And it's a really good one. How can it not be, when it's coming from the Dutch premium epic long format Psychedelic Rock masters Temple Fang. The two track setlist of their performance at the rainy Krach am Bach Festival looks pretty familiar, because it consists of the two pieces "Gemini" and "Not The Skull" from their 2020 debut "Live at Merleyn".
Temple Fang live
But already the latter being ten minutes longer tells you that this is far from being a mere rehash. The new drummer, reworked arrangement and the band's general approach of making each show its own unique beast with all the space for varying improvisations make sure of this.
I've seen them from up close five times now and from that experience alone I can assure you that Temple Fang are one of the most amazing pure, all centered around the music itself Rock'n'Roll experiences out there today. And this is a recording of a show which felt special even to their standards. I've already said it: It's a really good one!
I could be lazy and just point to my previous review in my last Veil of Stuff roundup about the last four albums I have reviewed over on Veil of Sound. Unfortunaly I had already been lazy there and pointed to the next issue of cassette craze chronicles. Damn. Well, I could still just tell you to read my VoS review, right?
Midwife live
Once again Madeline Johnston brings us a mesmerizing collection of minimalist Ambient Shoegaze. Slow clean guitars, subtle noises, far-away washed-out ethereal vocals. Beautiful songs from the road, watching America pass by through a Lynchian haze of melancholic longing. Despite being made of simple parts Midwife's Heaven Metal, as she calls it herself, occupies a unique sonic space. And it's a place you want to linger and float in for eternity. Eery, peaceful, sad and dreamy at the same time. A sound like clouds of breath forming on a cold winter day.
The artwork suits the cassette format, so it's a nice companion to "Luminol".
MIDWIFE & VYVA MELINKOLYA - Orbweaving(2023)
On the occasion of ordering the new Midwife album I also finally caught up with her last release from the previous year, which is a collaboration with Shoegaze artist Angel Diaz aka Vyva Melinkolya. Since both artists are on very similar musical wavelengths, "Orbweaving" actually doesn't sound radically different than regular Midwife albums, especially the first two songs, which were written by Madeline Johnston. The spare quiete arrangements and dreamy atmosphere are both definitely there. There are a couple more soft layers of synths, guitar and vocals though. And of course there is the title track, which stands out as a twelve minutes long excercise in pure textural Ambient music.
All in all this doesn't feel as different as I would have expected, but it still is a beautiful, soothing and captivating mini album. The artwork / layout of the tape is also a plus.
TEUFELSKELLER / TORU & CR3C3II3 - Split(2024)
But now let's get to some good old - or rather new - senseless destruction!
"Tour de Force" is quiet an apt title for the ride the exile Russian trio Teufelskeller has us saddling up for. Demon-excercising drums, relentlessly pumping bass, rumbling electronic Noise and one of the glitchiest saxophone performances in the history of instrument abuse give us thirteen minutes of raw improvisation. It's actually not as harsh as Anton Ponomarev's other project P/O Massacre, yet a bit more naturalistic somehow. Ultimetaly however it plays in a similar ballpark of cathartic aural assault.
Side B of this beautiful split EP belongs to the French experimental trio Toru in collaboration with Noise artist CR3C3II3. And their two tracks "Rattles Are Out" and "Rattles Are Back" are actually even wilder and more erratic, giving us their own spin of Mr. Bungle's "Disco Volante" mindset. Or they just tapped into the overheating brain of a robot on a psychotropics overdose. Very sick shit, and astonishingly rewarding, especially on headphones.
CHAT PILE - Cool World (2024)
And last but probably biggest and most-awaited... Chat Pile! This new heap of bleak misery and frustration is definetly hard to judge in comparison to its predecessor "God's Country", since the new album certainly cannot have a second "Why" or another insane bad trip like "grimace_smoking_weed.jpeg". But then "Cool World" is exclusively made out of bangers, too. Beginning with the opener "I Am Dog Now", "Camcorder", "Tape", "Masc", "Milk Of Human Kindness"... so much killers, I already know that I'll have to miss great tracks for a lack of time when I'll hopefully see them live again.
Chat Pile live
I also think that on this album it's even more appearant that probably no other band has internalized the raw sound and brutal precision of Godflesh's rhythm section as much as Chat Pile - with a very real drummer instead of a machine, mind you. Yet while the Oklahomans carry this influence openly on their sleeves, it never comes of as a copy, because it's applied too creatively and always combined with all those Post Punk, Hardcore, Grunge and Noise Rock influences which form Chat Pile's distinct sound. And on top of that there's of course Raygun Busch's no fuck's given narrative vocal performance, which pulls it off to be so resigned yet fascinating at the same time.
Chat Pile are bleak and bitter, but also just brutal fun. Their "Cool World" feels old school, but actually offers a sound of our time. And echo of rage and anger from the Eighties and Ninetines, still perservering and even amplified by the ongoing shitshow of the present. The hype remains deserved!
Hui! Ab und gibt es ja noch Veröffentlichungen, die viel früher als erwartet aus dem Presswerk kommen. Jazz In Britains monumentaler 3-CD-Rückblick auf Gordon Becks Gruppe Gyroscope, die 1973 nur ein einziges eigenveröffentlichtes Album auf Kassette rausgebracht hat, ist eine davon.
Glück für mich, konnte ich mir dank ebenfalls vorgezogener digitaler Veröffentlichung auf Bandcamp doch das ganze, beinahe vier Stunden lange kolossale Ding auf der Hin- und Rückfahrt zum Laibach-Konzert in Hannover anhören. Und es hat einen Grund, dass ich dies hier erwähne...
GORDON BECK'S GYROSCOPE - Progress (3CD) (1973/2024)
Das Wachstum meiner Musiksammlung hat sehr viel mit Zufall zu tun. Bin ich z.B. gerade in der Laune, eine bestimmte der viel zu vielen Promo-Mails, die alleine durch Abos über Bandcamp ständig eintrudeln, nicht sofort zu löschen? Weckt ein Stichwort so sehr mein Interesse, dass ich gleich reinhören muss? Denn ich bin ganz ehrlich: Vielleicht hat er irgendwo in der Tiefe meiner Sammlung ja ein, zwei Credits, doch Hand aufs Herz: Ich hatte keine Ahnung, wer Gordon Beck ist. Den Bandnamen fand ich aber irgendwie spannend genug, um in den einen Promotrack reinzuhören und ziemlich schnell zu entscheiden: drei CDs davon? Hell yes!
Als ich mir diese um Rehearsal-Demos, Liveaufnahmen und Radioauftritte erweiterte Sammlung rund um das damalige Album "One, Two, Three... Go!" dann im Auto erstmals anhörte, hatte ich beinahe alles, was ich unmittelbar vor Vorbestellung gelesen hatte, schon wieder vergessen. Himmel, ich konnte mich kaum an den Namen des Bandleaders erinnern - und hatte tatsächlich nicht einmal mehr eine Ahnung, welches Instrument er überhaupt selbst spielte.
Ich habe das dann zu einem Ratespiel gemacht. In Führung lagen wegen des prägenden Sounds das Vibraphon, gefolgt von Bass und Schlagzeug, da die Band viele überraschende rhythmische und metrische Wechsel hinlegt, was ja im Jazz ja traditionell Bassisten- und im hier auch einfließenden Rock überwiegend Drummer-Expertise ist.
Doch Pustekuchen! Die Auflösung folgte tatsächlich noch während der nächtlichen Autobahnfahrt mit einem Radio Broadcast, dessen Ansagen hier mit eingeschlossen wurden und die Band vorstellen. Gordon Beck war tatsächlich neben der Komposition für Klavier und elektrisches Klavier verantwortlich. Und sobald man dies weiß, ist es auch absolut logisch, denn ein Thema, welches sich bei aller Abwechslung rundherum wie ein roter Faden durch diese Aufnahmen zieht ist die durchdringende klangliche Kombination von Elektroklavier und Vibraphon. Und diese zentrale Idee bei Gründung der Gruppe war es auch, die mich sofort ansprach.
Doch daneben bietet diese Werkschau natürlich sehr viel mehr. Und sie klingt auch oft nach sehr viel mehr als fünf Musikern, viel cineastischer, orchestraler. Doch tatsächlich waren Gyroscope ein Quintett. Neben Beck, auf dessen Biographie - wie schon von Trevor Tomkins' "For Futere Reference" bekannt - im dicken Booklet detailliert eingegangen wird, gehörten Frank Ricotti am Vibraphon, Ron Matewson an Kontrabass und Bassgitarre und Tony Levin (nein, nicht der King Crimson-Bassist!) am Schlagzeug dazu. Außerdem bei allen Aufnahmen bis Mitte 1973 noch Brian Smith an Tenor- und Sopransaxophon und Flöte, auf der zweiten Hälfte der Stücke abgelöst von Stan Sulzmann.
Musikalisch spannen Gyroscope Bögen von amerikanischem Bebop zu eher britischen klassischen Einflüsse der Marke Neil Ardley, von tanzbarem Latin zu wilden improvisierten Timingsprüngen. Der Free Jazz verlässt aber ebenso wie die Jazz Fusion-Ansätze niemals den Raum der Komposition. Und trotzdem fühlen sich viele Stücke enorm frei an und ufern bis über zwanzig Minuten aus. Und fast nie geht es hier um die Hervorhebung eines Solisten, während der Rest der Band zurücksteht. Nein, es herrscht fast immer ein kompletter, aus der Synergie aller Einzelteile geformter Bandsound, bei weitem nicht so rock- oder blueslastig wie bei Colosseum, sich aber gerade mit dem Alleinstellungsmerkmal des Vibraphon/Elektroklavier-Konzepts auch weit von traditionelleren Jazz-Ensembles emanzipierend. Der Grund warum ich "Progress" sofort haben musste, ist das großartige Gleichgewicht zwischen allen Elementen. Gordon Beck verweigerte es, sich festzulegen und dachte eher, je breiter er sich aufstellt, desto eher ist für jeden Hörer etwas dabei. Und tatsächlich sind für mich im Grunde die ganzen beinahe vier Stunden dabei. Diese Sammlung ist ein irre spannender Blick in ein sicherlich zu obskures Kapitel angelsächsischer Jazzgeschichte.
Was vielleicht ein wenig seltsam wirkt ist, dass ausgerechnet der allererste Track einige hörbare, wahrscheinlich durch Abnutzung der Originalbänder entstandene Fehler enthält, was einen unbedarften Hörer sicherlich abschrecken kann. Die Reihenfolge ist halt streng chronologisch, beginnend mit der sicherlich auch weniger professionell mitgeschnittenen Probe für den ersten gemeinsamen Auftritt. Zum ersten Reinhören empfiehlt sich von daher vermutlich eher, weiter in der Mitte, bei den sauberer ins Jetzt geretteten Aufnahmen zu beginnen.
Als kleine Bonbons enthalten CD 2 und 3 noch jeweils einen exklusiven Bonustrack, der nicht im Bandcamp-Download enthalten ist. Einmal hören wir Beck einen Song erklären und bekommen einen kleinen faszinierenden Einblick in den Arbeitsprozess - und ganz am Ende wähnt man sich kurz auf einem Monty Python-Album, wenn man den Chef goofy herumalbern hört. Zumal sich der Mann auch sehr nach Eric Idle anhört. Ist natürlich nicht essentiell, aber so eine gewaltige Zusammenstellung überschäumender Kreativität mit debilem Furzhumor zu beenden, das ist schon ein witziger Abschluss.
Nicht so witzig ist leider, dass die prall gefüllten Scheiben leider je nach verfügbaren Abspielgeräten eventuell nur dekorativen Wert haben können. Bei mir spielen sie auf jeden Fall leider nicht in jedem Player. Gerade da ja ansonsten bei Jazz In Britain so viel Liebe in die Veröffentlichungen gesteckt wird, ist das schon ein Wermutstropfen. Zum Glück kann ich z.B. im Auto ja auch genauso gut die rein digitale Variante spielen.
Und eine enorme musikalische Schatzkiste ist dieser Hybrid aus Wiederveröffentlichung und Raritäten-Compilation so oder so.
In my imagination the mission statement of Oranssi Pazuzu has always been derived from the essential cognition that the syllable psych is both part of the terms psychedelic and psychotic.
Considering this the ever-morphing Blackened beast from Finland couldn't be more consistent on its latest traumatic trip.
ORANSSI PAZUZU - Muuntautuja (CD) (2024)
All the trademarks are there once again: The ubiquitousness of Black Metal aggression and Psychedelic overflow. The endlessly spiraling angularity of weird beats, dissonant riffs and eery textures. Those inhumanly vocals with an incredible range of mentally unhealthy sounds...
From early on Oranssi Pazuzu have shaped themselves into a stunningly unique entity within the Extreme Metal kingdom, with each release solidifying and sharpening their profile, yet never safely repeating what they did the last time. "Muuntautuja" is no exception in that regard and sees the band continuing the path from the horror trip under the Northern Lights towards the claustrophobic terror of a dystopian mega city.
So this time the role of unsettling synths, weird electronic glitches, cold Industrial clanks, robotized vocal distortion, white noise - everything which adds civilizational angst - is even more prominent. There are several instances on the album, where the storm of sheer Noise becomes completely unreasonable, demolishing and swallowing everything in its way.
Oranssi Pazuzu's way of "easing" the listener into those completely bonkers excesses is to keep the rhythms comparatively simple. This music may be demanding, but despite the initial impression and the arrangements still being very complex, at least during the first half, you cannot blame einsteinian time signatures. The title track for example turns out to be based on a 4/4 Trip Hop beat. Yet almost every layer on top of the rhythm section is complete insanity.
It's only towards the end that also the measures dial up to brain-melt mode. At the same time the ten-minute core piece "Ikilkäärme" for a long time focusses much more on clean yet spooky guitar sounds and very laibachian piano work. And the closer "Vierivä Isva" abandons Metal almost completely in favour of a John Carpenter style dark Ambient instrumental. In the end the band always finds that sweet spot between abhorrent sounds embedded in an overwhelming unsettling atmosphere and just being intriguing and unbelievably good at whatever it even is they're doing.
Ultimately what makes "Muuntautuja" stand out in comparison to many other exceptional Extreme Metal albums on which bands are flexing their experimental muscles is that Oranssi Pazuzu have not only carved themselves their completely own niche; they don't even wait for other bands to catch up to their sound, but keep exploring and developing their unique space in exciting mind-fucking and annihilating ways. I have said before that I count the Finns among the most relevant innovators (and also greatest live bands) in Metal today - and this album only underscores that with a big black poisonous Sharpie.
There may be better Metal albums which have come out this year - I didn't listen to them all! -, but it's pretty safe to say that you don't need to call a friend to have enough fingers to count them. Murhaavan hyvä!
Laibach knew exactly why they released this digital EP on the day before the election in the Divided States of America.
LAIBACH - Strange Fruit (download) (2024)
It doesn't flatter mankind at all that one of the most critically acclaimed and culturally significant songs of the last century is about racist lynchmob killings. And even when Billie Holiday or Nina Simone sang it, its meaning went beyond the direct initial meaning to a bitter universal truth about the human condition.
Today "Strange Fruit" sounds cold, minimal and bleak. The heavy expressional grand piano of Sašo Vollmaier, ominous Ambient noises and the sonorously snarling voice of Milan Fras define Laibach's version. There is no redundant meat, this is Laibach reduced to their bare bones. Every note is effective, meaningful, draws you in. You cannot flee from the hopelessness of this vision.
"Racism is a virus that mutates, taking on different forms as it adapts to a changing environment. Its mutation is made harder to observe by it being deeply embedded, not only in our traditions and institutions, but also in our unconscious lives" explain Laibach themselves, continuing that their interpretation "is aimed at this new context of eternal but ever-changing and adpative racism."
Ultimately this "Strange Fruit" is a soundtrack to the failure of humanity. To the hatred, pain and destruction it brings. To the anti-social dystopia we are spiraling into faster and faster every day. To the crippling disappoinment in our terribly stupid race, which is eating me up from inside today.
I knew this rendition of the song was powerful since I experienced it live in Hanover two weeks ago. But I couldn't have anticipated how much I would need this work of art right now for my emotional balance and staying sane in the face of global decline of societal dignity.
So of course I'm gladly taking it thrice on this EP, in two alternate studio version and one live recording, even if all three tracks sound very close to each other. After all this is peak Laibach at their most theatrical and real, combined with the quiet elegance of modern Einstürzende Neubauten.
Und ewig lockt das Motorboot! Sonntag gind es für mich wieder einmal an Bord der neben den Elbbrücken anliegenden MS Stubnitz, Es lockten Drone-Gitarren-Meister aus Kanada - und es überraschte eine Gruppe aus China, auf die ich gar nicht vorbereitet gewesen war.
HYPNODRONE ENSEMBLE
Eins, zwei, drei Schlagzeuge, rechts, links und hinten auf der Bühne. Das war ja schon vom Aufbau her eine Ansage. Und es zeigte, dass man immer pünktlich zu Konzerten kommen sollte, z.B. falls die Gruppe, die man als Headliner erwartet hatte, doch schon als erstes dran ist.
Mit den Bandleadern Eric Quach aka thisquietarmy und Aidan Baker (den ich hier neulich erst mit Nadja gesehen hatte) standen die Zeichen beim Hypnodrone Ensemble natürlich auf Drone und Ambient. Dazu der hypnotische Drive von drei Drummern und ein unkonventionell auf dem Kopf, mit der höchsten Saite oben gespielter Bass.
Klar, die Krönung wäre gewesen, wenn wie auf dem formidablen Livealbum "The Problem Is The Sender - Do Not Temper With The Receiver" Wundersängerin Otay:onii mit von der Partie gewesen wäre. Doch auch in seiner natürlichen instrumentalen Form war es ein besonderer Trip, in diese Improvisationen zwischen Post-, Noise- und Kraut-Rock einzutauchen. Alleine das rhythmische Surround-Sound-Erlebnis, direkt vor der Bühne von Drums galore beschallt zu werden! Dazu die sich eh großzügig im Schiffsbauch verteilenden Bassfrequenzen und es geht klanglich eigentlich gar nicht mehr besser. Fantastisch!
Das einzige, was mich ein wenig störte, war dass ich gerne noch gute zwanzig Minuten mehr davon vetragen hätte. Aber anderseits ist es ja auch gut aufzuhören, solange das Publikum noch Hunger auf mehr hat.
NARABARA
Die Chinesen NaraBara waren danach in vielerlei Hinsicht das Gegenteil: Statt drei Drummern nur ein Schlagzeuger, der aber groovte wie drei. Statt aus im Prinzip minimalistischen Versatzstücken aufgetürmter Freiform super komplexe Kompositionen, die zwischen Jazz Fusion, mongolischer Folklore und unzähligen weiteren Einflüssen zwischen Trip Hop, Disco, R'n'B und auch der einen oder anderen psychedelischen Note eine unwiderstehliche Party zwischen urbaner Moderne und nomadischer Tradition entfachten.
Für den mongolischen Anteil war vor allem Sänger Yider verantwortlich, der nicht nur Pferdekopfgeige, Spießlaute und Flöte spielte, sondern auch immer mal zwischen seine normale Stimme etwas Kehlkopfgesang einwarf. Und all dies mischte sich kongenial mit dem unglaublichen tighten Zusammenspiel der restlichen Gruppe, die noch Keyboards, Gitarre und dem unverschämt funkigen Bass des neuesten Bandmitglieds Fred Grenade vom Inselstaat Mauritius mit einschloss.
Dass NaraBara auf ihrer ersten Europatour nicht nur das Publikum auf dem Elbkutter total geflasht haben, zeigte sich nach der Show am Merchtisch, wo sich herausstellte, dass ihr aktuelles Album "Hamt Zamin Hümüs" leider schon ausverkauft war. Absolut heißer Nu Jazz-Shyce!
