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Scorch Trio: Melaza
by John Kelman
Human nature may tend towards resisting change, but shaking up a group--even one with a longstanding and successful lineup--can sometimes drive the music in subtly different directions. Losing Norwegian drummer Paal Nilssen-Love may have seemed like a blow change for Scorch Trio, but recruiting Frank Rosaly--who moves around in the same circles as Nilssen-Love, playing with fellow Chicagoan modernists like saxophonist Dave Rempis and cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm--turns out to be the perfect move for this decade-old improvising power trio. Melaza ...
read moreScorch Trio: Brolt
by John Kelman
First impressions may be lasting, but they're sometimes not as all-encompassing as they should be. Scorch Trio--the Norwegian/Finnish power trio featuring guitarist Raoul Bjorkenheim, bassist Ingebrigt Haker Flaten and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love--may appear to be a pedal-to-the-metal improvising power trio, a sense supported by Luggumt (Rune Grammofon, 2004). Still, over the course of three albums culminating with Brolt, the trio's electrified form of free improvisation reveals far more at work than a group simply flailing away with reckless abandon.
read moreScorch Trio: Luggumt
by Ty Cumbie
The opening notes of Luggumt have justifiably provoked comparisons with Jimi Hendrix. Guitarist Raoul Björkenheim gives an emphatic nod to the psychedelic rock god, then takes the electric guitar to places even he might never have reached had he lived as long. Luggumt , the second recording from this Finno-Norwegian trio, begins with an undiluted jolt of aggressive sonic energy and then moves on to gentler statements, all daringly exploratory and bravely expressive. Later on, the ghost ...
read moreScorch Trio: Luggumt
by John Kelman
One listen to Kjale Hole" on Scorch Trio's sophomore effort, Luggumt , and you quickly realize that this may be one of the most aptly-named groups on the scene today. Blistering in its intensity, the trio combines the searing energy of a rock power trio with the broadest freedom and exploration that jazz has to offer. Kind of like Jimi Hendrix meets Albert Ayler, but with a more elastic Scandinavian time sense.
This comes as no surprise given that Scorch ...
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