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Russell / Beresford / Edwards / Liavik Solberg: Will It Float?
by John Eyles
Will It Float? features Norwegian drummer Ståle Liavik Solberg in the company of three of London's most esteemed improvisers, guitarist John Russell, bassist John Edwards and keyboardist Steve Beresford on objects and electronics. The genesis of this album can be traced back to the recording of the excellent No Step (Hispid, 2014) which paired Liavik Solberg and Russell. The success of that duo convinced the drummer to put together a quartet consisting of more musicians from the British improv scene. ...
read morekÖök: Imber, Wiltshire
by Eyal Hareuveni
kÖök is a Norwegian minimalist duo featuring guitarists Jørn Erik Ahlsen and Stian Larsen, the sonic aesthetics of both are inspired by the highly personal improvised language of free jazz guitarist Marc Ducret and the ambient landscapes of Alva Noto (aka Carsten Nicolai). The duo began working together in 2010 and recorded a self-titled album for FMR Records in 2012, then released Live in Leipzig with bassist John Hughes a year later. Imber, Wiltshire is a ...
read moreKÖök: Imber, Wiltshire
by Mark Corroto
Tom Waits sung (spoke) the following lyrics on his Mule Variations (Epitaph, 1999) LP, “What's he building in there?/What the hell is he building In there?/He has subscriptions to those magazines.../He never waves when he goes by/He's hiding something from the rest of us.../He's all to himself.../I think I know why..." But, of course he has no idea.Neither do Norwegian guitarists Stian Larsen and Jørn Erik Ahlsen, the protagonists from the electronics duo KÖök. Their improvised ...
read moreBrute Force: Brute Force
by Eyal Hareuveni
Faithful to its name, the young Norwegian noise-improv trio Brute Force is determined to make its point loud--loudest by any standard--and clear. This trio's brutal sonic raison d'être derives its reckless power from negation of improvisational forms in jazz and rock, the classic trio format, and even daily life in peaceful Norway. Revolt is the essence. Surprisingly, this trio--guitarist Karl Haugland Bjorå, bassist Egil Kalman and drummer Ole Mofjell--began to work as an acoustic trio (guitar, ...
read moreThe Jist: The Jist
by Eyal Hareuveni
The Norwegian duo The Jist--vocal artists and electronics player Natalie Sandtorv, and guitarist Torgeir Hovden Standal--take the experimental concept of improvised meetings between innovative vocal artists and guitarists to its noisy extremes. This concept was pioneered by the master vocal artist Sidsel Endresen and highly inventive guitarist Stian Westrhus (Didyomi Dreams, Rune Grammofon, 2012) and later was presented in a much gentler, still highly poetic version, by vocalist Hanna Gjermundrød and genre-blind guitarist Petter Vågan (Renedition Of A Whisper, Gigafon, ...
read moreAs Deafness Increases: As Deafness Increases
by Mark Corroto
Do not attempt to adjust the speed setting on your turntable. The music delivered by As Deafness Increases is indeed punk, or perhaps noise. It's just that the punk presented is at a glacial pace, or maybe it's the noise of Merzbow performed as if there were a sleeping baby in the room. Released by the often obstreperous label Va Fongool, the same outfit that gave us the thrashing band ICH BIN N!NTENDO, the distortion band MUMMU, and ...
read moreIch Bin N!ntendo: Look
by Eyal Hareuveni
A year has passed since Norwegian punk-jazz trio Ich Bin N!ntendo released its debut release with Swedish sax titan Mats Gustafsson and fortunately little has changed in its uncompromising, raw approach. The worries that the Nintendo corporation might sue the trio evaporated and its members gathered experience in less tougher and noisier outfits--guitarist Christian Skår Winther as a solo improviser; him and electric bassist Magnus Nergaard in the experimental-art rock outfit Karokh and the improvising trio Monkey Plot; and drummer ...
read moreLana Trio: Lana Trio
by Eyal Hareuveni
The Norwegian groupLana Trio attempts to find a delicate balance between intense, free jazz to exploration of more open-ended and non-idiomatic free improvisations. The three musicians began to play together after meeting at Sund Folk college in 2007. Trombonist Henrik Munkeby Nørstebø is the most experienced player of the three. He collaborates regularly with Swedish master improvisers as double bassist Nina de Heney and drummer Raymond Strid, member of the Skadedyr group and the trio As Deafness Increases. He has ...
read moreAs Deafness Increases: As Deafness Increases
by Eyal Hareuveni
The musicians of the new Norwegian trio As Deafness Increases (borrowing its name from the composition of Paul Rutherford and drummer Paul Lovens from their duo album, Po Torch, 1978)--double bassist Inga Margrete Aas, Guitarist Rudolf Terland Bjørnerem and trombonist Henrik Nørstebø Munkeby met in the Czech Republic in the summer of 2010 while they played and recorded with the Önczkekvist improvising orchestra. All three graduated from the music academies in Oslo and have a classical education and experience with ...
read moreChristian Winther & Christian Meaas Svendsen: W / M
by Eyal Hareuveni
W/ M is a double album that feature two debuts as solo artists of two young and promising Norwegian improvisers, both spinning out of the creative environment around the Music Academy in Oslo. Guitarist Christian Winther, a member of the punk-jazz trio Ich Bin N!ntendo, genre-bending trio Monkey Plot and the free improvisers collective Mummu, and double bassist Christian Meaas Svendsen, a member of the modern jazz quintet Mopti, the duo Duplex with saxophonist Harald Larssen, Andrea Kvintett and Paal ...
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