Jazz Articles about Atomic

About Atomic

Album Review

Formed in the spring of 2000, Scandinavian “supergroup" Atomic recorded and released their first album Feet Music (Jazzland) in 2001. The years since have been remarkably stable for the quintet; they have produced albums at an impressive rate of about a disc a year, including two collaborations with Ken Vandermark's School Days group. The only change of Atomic personnel occurred in 2014 when drummer Paal Nilssen-Love left to be replaced by Hans Hulbækmo, with no cataclysmic effect on the music, ...

Album Review

Atomic: Pet Variations

Read "Pet Variations" reviewed by Vincenzo Roggero

by Vincenzo Roggero
February 25, 2019

Sentirli e vederli dal vivo è un'esperienza auspicabile e appagante, il palco è la dimensione ideale per rimandare all'ascoltatore tutta l'energia della loro musica, una miscela esplosiva di free jazz, avanguardia, funky, tradizione europea. Stiamo parlando degli Atomic tra i primi a ribellarsi alle sonorità di un jazz scandinavo marchiato ECM e diventati nel corso degli anni, di numerosi tour e di quattordici dischi, gli alfieri di una musica nordica iconoclasta. Ma se il live è scarica ...

Album Review

Atomic: Pet Variations

Read "Pet Variations" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
February 9, 2019

The Scandinavian supergroup Atomic has always pushed back against “tradition," be it the customary sound of Nordic jazz or--maybe more importantly--what most believe to be the avant-garde. Each member has a thriving career outside the quintet: bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten with The Young Mothers, The Thing, Rempis Percussion Quartet, and his own trio and quartets, drummer Hans Hulbækmo with Moskus, pianist Håvard Wiik with Ken Vandermark and the Wiik Trio, saxophonist Fredrik Ljungkvist's work with Gard Nilssen's Acoustic Unity and ...

Album Review

Atomic: Six Easy Pieces

Read "Six Easy Pieces" reviewed by Karl Ackermann

by Karl Ackermann
April 5, 2017

Founded in 2000, the Swedish/Norwegian group Atomic has remained true to their uncommon blend of American and European influences over the years. With only one lineup change since their inception, the quintet continues to pay homage--in equal parts--to the post 1960s era in the US, and the inherent innovations of Europe's northern-most region. With Six Easy Pieces the group sounds much as they did with their debut Feet Music (Jazzland Recordings, 2001) but with years of synergy to enhance their ...

Album Review

Atomic: Lucidity

Read "Lucidity" reviewed by Vincenzo Roggero

by Vincenzo Roggero
September 4, 2015

"Laterna Interfruit," il brano iniziale, è un'indovinata miscela di accattivanti groove ritmici e atmosfere nordiche, di assoli calibrati e di timbriche inusuali, di esplosioni free e di canonici riff di matrice boppistica. Sono queste le coordinate entro le quali si muove l'intero Lucidity, settima prova discografica dell'ensemble norvegese denominato Atomic. Le oscillazioni ora verso il versante più orecchiabile ora verso quello più sperimentale garantiscono molteplicità di sollecitazioni, di riferimenti, di intrecci, di umori che sta all'ascoltatore saper ...

Album Review

Atomic: Lucidity

Read "Lucidity" reviewed by Troy Collins

by Troy Collins
March 28, 2015

Living up to their name in performance and on record, the all-star Norwegian quintet Atomic challenges preconceived notions regarding the stereotypically introspective nature of Nordic jazz. Inspired by the unbridled spirit of 1960s American “Fire Music" and the post-war school of European free improvisation, Atomic eclipses the meditative lyricism of influential local legends like Jan Garbarek and Terje Rypdal, exemplifying the broad stylistic diversity of contemporary Scandinavian jazz.Formed in 2000, the original lineup brought together trumpeter Magnus Broo ...

Album Review

Atomic: Lucidity

Read "Lucidity" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
March 24, 2015

There's an inference on this Norwegian ensemble's webpage bio that its blend of free-jazz and dynamic mode of operations is the antithesis to their fellow countrymen's largely quaint or ethereal jazz output evidenced on ECM Records, for example. However, it's not that these innuendos or tenets are viewed as negatives, but the highly respected musicians comprising Atomic have been vigorously pushing the envelope since 2000. They are restless spirits who dish out a horde of cleverly arranged tonal ...