Jari Haapalainen Trio: Fusion Machine

Short sharp shocks, describes the music of Fusion Machine. The twenty-eight minutes of sound is Jari Haapalainen's knuckle sandwich of a recording. Actually it's thirteen jabs, hooks, and uppercuts; let's call them the track list. The disc contains no composition longer than two minutes-fifty, the shortest, "Flykten Från Djursholm" (Escape From Djursholm), is just 1:34.

The Jari Haapalainen Trio performs a familiar type of compressed mayhem, a sort of punk haiku music that draws as much from the Minutemen as it does from Louis Armstrong's 78 gramophone sides that lasted the equivalent length of "Risk För Halka" (Risk Of Slipping). Opening with the drum break, the piece ignites with funk/rock bass and brawny saxophone into a speed freak tangle. Haapalainen, who occupies the drum seat here, is known to play guitar in the indie rock/punk outfit The Bear Quartet and has produced the popular band, The International Noise Conspiracy. What Haapalainen does best here is mash the energy of garage rock, a thumping baseline of Daniel Bingert with the talents of saxophonist Per 'Texas' Johansson. Only a badass would have the name of Texas, and make that a double badass for a Scandinavian. Johansson can be heard in Mats Gustafsson's Fire! Orchestra, Torbjorn Zetterberg's Hot Five, and Barry Guy's The Blue Shroud. His saxophone withstands, or is it defies(?), the onslaught of drum and electric bass matching the quick shifts with strapping notes. The trio works speed-freak sounds "Flykten Från Djursholm," a hardcore ballad "Ingrid 15," some stomping funk "Jag Har Fångat Ett Troll," monster rock "Heavy Metal Americano," and the tightest of tightrope walking pieces "Ingrid 20," a showcase for Johansson's breath control. This trio revives the jukebox smash hit (delete extra space) with a wallop.