Fire!: unreleased? (2011)

John Kelman

Senior Editor since 2004

With the realization that there will always be more music coming at him than he can keep up with, John wonders why anyone would think that jazz is dead or dying.

Recent articles (2,379 total)

Published: August 12, 2011

Moving from the studio to a live performance at Tokyo's SuperDeluxe club in the fall of 2010, Fire! both pares down and expands the sonic purview of its 2009 Rune Grammofon debut, You Liked Me Five Minutes Ago. Pared down in that saxophonist Mats Gustafsson Mats Gustafsson
b.1964
reeds , while still tripling on Fender Rhodes and live electronics, sticks solely to the deep-bodied baritone saxophone this time around. Bassist Johan Berthling focuses monolithically on electric bass, eschewing the electric guitar and double-bass of the trio's debut. But while Gustaffson, Berthling and drummer, Andreas Welin work with a slightly more restricted palette, the addition of guest guitarist/synthesist/harmonicist Jim O'Rourke Jim O'Rourke
lends unreleased?'s four freely improvised pieces a far broader landscape, and a different kind of density.

The trace elements of Fire!'s debut—In a Silent Way-era Miles Davis Miles Davis
1926 - 1991
trumpet and hints of Soft Machine Soft Machine

band/orchestra in Berthling's hypnotic, fuzz-toned bass—are gone, as the group's voice emerges more vividly; linked, perhaps, a little more closely to another of Gustafsson's projects, The Thing The Thing
, though that trio, with bassist Ingebrigt Haker Flaten Ingebrigt Haker Flaten
} and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love Paal Nilssen-Love
b.1974
drums , is both inherently more organic and more extreme. Still, Gustafsson—who is only rivaled by Peter Brotzmann Peter Brotzmann
b.1941
reeds (with whom he plays in the German reed man's Chicago Octet/Tentet) in his ability to fill large buildings with a single, unamplified horn—doesn't shy away from intense expressionism, especially towards the end of the nine-minute ..."please, i am released," where O'Rourke's space-aged synth and overdriven guitar octaves create a psychedelic arch over Berthling and Welin's relentlessly throbbing pulse, as the saxophonist screams with unrelenting abandon.

There aren't exactly respites like You Liked Me's ethereal "But Sometimes I am," or overt blues references like the Robert Johnson Robert Johnson
1911 - 1938
vocal -meets-Captain Beefheart Captain Beefheart
1941 - 2010
vocal of its brief title track, but there are dynamic ebbs and flows to give this forty-minute set its shape. "by whom and why am i previously unreleased?"—at just over three minutes, the disc's only track under nine—combines O'Rourke's effected guitar, acting more as a percussive dovetail to Welin's toms, and Gustafsson's extended baritone techniques, tonguing to create his own erratic pulses. As the 17-minute closer, "happy ending borrowing yours," begins with otherworldly sounds—gradually building in volume, over a tumultuous bottom end of bass and drums, to a howling climax of noise and throbbing electronics—the group ultimately shifts gears towards a visceral 6/4 pulse anchored by Welin's firm backbeat and Berthling's persistent ostinato. Viciously hypnotic, it provides a foundation for O'Rourke's unconventional guitar sonics and upper register multiphonics from Gustafsson, into which the saxophonist gradually introduces live electronics to further broaden his coverage, as Welin strengthens the pulse underneath.

Gustafsson's never been for the faint-at-heart, but with Fire! he's come his closest yet to an accessible version of reckless abandon. With the hard rock-edged complexion of Fire! and the addition of O'Rourke to the mix, unreleased? has the potential to appeal to fans of Thurston Moore, early Golden Palominos and a more rhythm-heavy Supersilent Supersilent

band/orchestra , while becoming even more inextricably linked to the more groove-driven aspects of The Thing. For those with extreme dispositions, unreleased? is the perfect catalyst.

Track Listing: Are you both still unreleased?; ...please, i am released; By whom and why am i previously unreleased?; Happy ending borrowing yours.

Personnel: Mats Gustafsson: baritone saxophone, Fender Rhodes, live electronics; Johan Berthling: electric bass; Andreas Welin: drums, percussion; Jim O'Rourke: electric guitar, synthesizer, harmonica.

Record Label: Rune Grammofon
Style: Modern Jazz

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Date	Venue	Tickets
Jun26	SESC Santos Santos, Brazil
Jun27	Sesc Ribeirão Preto Ribeirão Preto,
Jun28	Sesc Araraquara Araraquara,
Jun29	Sesc Belenzinho São Paulo,
Jul11	Copenhagen Jazz Festival Copenhagen,
Jul12	Copenhagen Jazz Festival Copenhagen,
Jul13	Sambiblioteket Härnösand,
Jul20	Konfrontationen 2013 Nickelsdorf,
Jul21	Konfrontationen 2013 Nickelsdorf,
Aug02	Sajeta Sajeta,
Aug04	Off Festival Katowice,
Aug07	Jazz am Augusto Lisboa,
Aug09	Alarme Berlin,
Aug13	Liseberg Göteborg,
Aug15	Blow Out! Oslo,
Aug16	Reykjavik Jazz Reykjavik,
Aug29	Mulhouse Music Festival Mulhouse,
Aug30	Mulhouse Music Festival Mulhouse,
Sep03	Jakobs Kyrka Stockholm,
Sep04	Lunds Domkyrka Lund,
Sep07	Uppsala Konserthus Uppsala,
Oct08	Alchemia Krakow,
Oct09	Alchemia Krakow,
Oct10	Alchemia Krakow,
Oct11	Alchemia Krakow,
Oct12	Manga Krakow,