V/A – The Blasting Concept (label sampler)
July 31, 2010Comments Off
The blasting concept are: Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, Ken Vandermark, Lasse Marhaug, Thurston Moore, Mats Gustafsson, Paal Nilssen-Love, Joe McPhee, John Hegre, Håvard Wiik, Jim O`Rourke, Peter Brötzmann, Massimo Pupillo, Cato Salsa Experience, Terrie Ex, Yoshimi
Smalltown Superjazzz (yes, 3 Zs!!!) was born in 2005. The label sprung out of Smalltown Supersound as a result that we wanted to release more free jazz and avantgarde stuff, and the fact that there were to many great albums we had to turn down as we had prioritize on the Supersound label. We also felt that there were not many jazz label like our favorites from the 60s, ESP and BYG. But the real turning-point came when a friend of ours went into Rough Trade shop in London with a Smalltown Supersound t-shirt and and the guys behind the counter said that they loved the label, but one of them said he only liked the avant garde stuff and the other one only liked the electronic stuff. That was when it was decided to split the label in two. If the guys at Rough Trade couldn`t see the whole picture, then who could?
We decided to slowly build the label and at the same time slowly separate the two labels. Its now 3 years since the split and more and more people are aware of the differences and the fact that Smalltown Superjazzz and Smalltown Supersound are now two different labels. This compilation is the definitive move.
With Superjazzz we wanted to create a label with a unique identify, a label that would release free-jazz, avant garde, psychedelia and noise. We wanted the label to have a core of musicians. The core is centered mainly around Mats Gustafsson and Paal Nilssen-Love, but as you see on this compilation the same names goes around over and over again. We are extremely proud to be able to release music by great legends such as Peter Brøtzmann and Joe McPhee as well as some of the best of today`s punk meets avant artists; Terri Ex (from The Ex), Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Yoshimi (from Boredoms, OOIOO, Free Kitten) and Jim O`Rourke.
Smalltown Superjazzz is obviously inspired by the before-mentioned BYG and ESP labels, but we also the punk DIY attitude of labels like SST (Blac Flag, Husker Du, Minutemen) and Touch & Go (Big Black, Jesus Lizard). Note that former SST employee Ray Farell has written the liner notes for the album and the album title is borrowed from SSTs groundbreaking compilation with the same name. We wanted to have a label with its roots in the 60`s free jazz but with the DIY attitude of the 80s punk/hardcore label. Like a meeting between Black Flag and Albert Ayler. Maybe. Anyway. Decide for yourself, here is our blasting concept. Hope you like it.
TRACKLISTING:
Jazzkammer – Freemix Norwave (Thurston Moore remix)
Peter Brötzmann/Paal Nilssen-Love/Mats Gustafsson – Bullets Through Pain
The Thing with Joe McPhee – The Thing
Free Fall – Accidents With Ladders (for Nate McBride)
Mats Gustafsson & Yoshimi – Soundless Cries With Their Arms In The Air
Lasse Marhaug – Alarmed And Distressed Duckling
Original Silence – Argument Left Hanging – Rubber Cement
Offonoff – Clash
Ken Vandermark/Paal Nilssen-Love – First On The First
Two Bands and a Legend – Nation Time
Joe McPhee & Paal Nilssen-Love – Today
Diskaholics Anonymous Trio – Three Collectors Of Bird Note (edit)
Diskjokke with Indonesian project at Øya Festival
July 31, 2010Comments Off
Diskjokke will collaborate with the Indonesian project Gamelan at Oslo`s Øya Festival.
The Thing
July 31, 2010Comments Off
“Absurdly cool” (DJ MAGAZINE)
The trio of Mats Gustafsson, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten, and Paal Nilssen-Love was established in February 2000 during a series of concerts and a recording in Stockholm. The recordings were released in Sweden by the label Crazy Wisdom/Universal. This trio is a long wanted collaboration where the German, British and American tradition of free music is melded together in this Swedish-Norwegian trio where the energy is at its peak. The repertoire is collected from the music of legendary trumpeter Don Cherry who spent many of his years living in Stockholm. These are tunes that are rarely played and represent a period in Cherry’s life that was to inspire the Swedish jazz scene. Cherry’s son, Eagle Eye, wrote the liner notes for the CD (Gustafsson/Flaten/Nilssen-Love, “The Thing”, Crazy Wisdom) that was released in Europe in Spring 2001. The trio toured Sweden and Norway in February 2001 with American multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee who rarely appears in Scandinavia. The band recorded their next CD with Joe McPhee which was released in August at Oslo Jazzfestival 2001. The repertoire consists of compositions by James Blood Ulmer, Frank Lowe, PJ Harvey, White Stripes and Joe McPhee. The Thing with Joe McPhee, “She Knows…” was released on Crazy Wisdom/Universal.
Joe McPhee is a legend within modern jazz music. With many recordings on different labels with musicians from the world, he has established himself as a contemporary, improvising musician above all. Today he is active in several groups including Trio X and the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, where he first met Mats Gustafsson.
Mats Gustafsson is currently Sweden’s and perhaps Europe’s most well-known artist within free improvised music. He has established himself as a saxophonist with a broad repertoire of extended techniques on level with Evan Parker and John Butcher. He has also been inspired by the “Brötzmann-school” which demands volume above all else. Mats is also known through AALY trio and collaborations with Jim O´Rourke, Thurston More, Jaap Blonk, Paul Lovens and Barry Guy among others.
Since their first collaboration in 1992, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and Paal Nilssen-Love have established themselves as Norway’s heaviest rhythm-section through their work with the group Element. Today they are active in School Days with Ken Vandermark, the Scorch trio with Raoul Björkenheim, and Atomic.
Original Silence
July 31, 2010Comments Off
“Picture Ornette Coleman sitting in with the Stooges (the old Stooges, that is) as they tear through “L.A. Blues” and you’d be in the neighborhood of free jazz/noise rock/construction noise hybrid Original Silence” (Pitchfork)
Original Silence is:
Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth)
Terrie Ex (The Ex)
Jim O`Rourke
Mats Gustafsson (The Thing),
Paal Nilssen-Love (The Thing, Atomic)
Massimo Pupillo (Zu).
The band was put together by Mats Gustafsson, known from his work with Sonic Youth, Peter Brotzman, David Grubbs and groups like Diskaholics Anonymous Trio and The Thing among others.
The recordings on this album was recorded live on the Original Silence Italian tour, the 30th of September 2005 in Teatro Arisoto, Reggio Emilia, Italy, to be more specific. This is the first in a series of recordings from Original Silence. There is obviously lots of early Sonic Youth, The Ex and Scandinavia free-jazz in this album. But you can also hear their many influences from Black Flag, to drone rock, to Albert Ayler, to Boredoms, to noise, punk, Dead C, Merzbow, 1960s minimalism and The Stooges et al. In other words everything we love, all mixed together!
This is 100% improvised rock. A spontaneous, monumental, raw and harshly beautiful out-rock masterpiece!
Two Bands and a Legend
July 31, 2010Comments Off
Two Bands and a Legend is:
The Thing with Joe McPhee and Cato Salsa Experience.
The meeting between The Thing and Cato Salsa Experience started at the Kongsberg Jazzfestival in Norway in 2004, when The Thing was offered the chance to invite their favorite rock band Cato Salsa Experience, for a special collaboration. The show was a success and this also led to the critically acclaimed EP “Sounds Like A Sandwich” on Smalltown Superjazzz. It was immediately decided that the two bands and the legend should go into studio to record a fullenght album. The result is the self titled album “Two Bands And A Legend”. On the album the bands do their own versions of tracks like “Who The Fuck” by PJ Harvey, “Baby Talk” by James Blood Ulmer among others. The CD is the perfect pairing of the dirty 60s influenced free-jazz that of The Thing and the raw and minimalistic garage rock of Cato Salsa Experience. Most tracks on this album was recorded in one take only with no overdubs. Liner notes by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth says it all:
Is this superjazz?
Does The Thing want to rock the fuck out?
Is Paal Nilssen a love machine?
Do Cato & Bård rip the shit outta guitar?
When McPhee & Gustafsson intro guitar to “Louie, Louie” do you know it’s the best throwdown yet of that klassick since Black Flag?
Does PJ Harvey rule and do these guys love her?
Do we blast through hate?
Mongezi Feza, man – total beautiful African sweet charge, can you drink this to the boss rock zone playlist?
Does Alva Melin’s groove jam “The Nut” destroy yr mind b4 ignition to free life 4-ever?
And will you thank the rock n roll gods for that love groove coda?
Can you shout out James Blood Ulmer!?
Can you shout out James Blood Ulmer rules supreme and heavy and these cats blow a masterful “Baby Talk”?
Are you cramped?
Can you find yr mind?
Can you shake yr ass?
Is it Nation Time!?
This CD answers all those questions and the answer resounds: YYYYYYYYYESSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!
I shit you not.
thurston moore – western massachusetts – 2005
Free Fall
July 31, 2010Comments Off
Ken Vandermark – clarinets
Håvard Wiik – piano
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten – doublebass
The trio Free Fall was organized by bassist Ingebrigt Haker Flaten, reedist Ken Vandermark, and pianist Haavard Wiik in 2001 as an opportunity to work together in a chamber music environment without percussion. Inspired in part by Jimmy Giuffre’s classic group with Paul Bley and Steve Swallow, the group quickly found its own way of working with velocity, space, sound and time, after it first met. The trio has always only performed their original compositions, and released its first album of this material, called “Furnace,” to great acclaim in 2002. The album was released on Mac`s (of the punkrock group Superchunk) jazz label, Wobbly Rail (an imprint of Merge Records). After playing in Europe and the United States, Free Fall went back into the studio during November, 2004, to record its second album, this time for the Norwegian label Smalltown Superjazzz. Entitled “Amsterdam Funk,” the new album highlights the development of communication and compositional strategies by the band over the last few years. In addition, the recording includes freely improvised performances for the first time. On the tour previous to these studio sessions the band used pure improvisations as their encores, and it made a good deal of sense to include Free Fall’s approach to this kind of material on “Amsterdam Funk” as it represents a parallel and equally powerful way of performing by the trio.
Ken Vandermark/Paal Nilssen-Love Duo
July 31, 2010Comments Off
“An intense, intimate, engaging clash of drums and reeds, each provoking the other””(Tom Hull, VILLAGE VOICE)
KEN VANDERMARK (USA): SAXOPHONES & CLARINETS
PAAL NILSSEN-LOVE (Norway): DRUMS & PERCUSSION
Their first duo album “Dual Pleasure” (released in 2002 on Smalltown Supersound) was hailed as a masterpiece, and among others nominated for Norway`s Alarm Award (the alternative and “cool” Grammy). The sequel, Dual Pleasure 2, was become another mastodon. And no less than a double album. Paal and Ken`s duo is a kickin` and groovy piece of independent underground jazz. A clash between the highly influential and innovative Chicago and Scandinavian jazz scenes. And a clash of the titans!
Vandermark and Nilssen-Love started their collaboration in 2000 when the group School Days was formed. One year later they started FME, a trio with bass player Nate McBride. After this it seemed very natural to define a duo. The first occasion for this format was when they recorded the CD ”Dual Pleasure” for Smalltown Supersound in Oslo during the summer of 2002. Shortly after this they performed their first duo concert at Molde International Jazz Festival. Their musical expression results from the influence of several traditions, both geographic and historical. In this duo, Vandermark and Nilssen-Love use free improvisation as a means to explore all levels of dynamics, density, rhythm, timbre, form and tonality. The results of their work are experienced as intense, exhilarating, and boundary breaking. Raw music with brutal beauty!
Ken Vandermark was born in Warwick, Rhode Island. Since 1982 he has been seriously exploring the possibilities of improvised music. Vandermark is known for the work with his own quintet the Vandermark 5, the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, the Territory Band, Spaceways Inc., and the DKV Trio. In 1999 Vandermark was awarded the MacArthur Fellowship, previous recipients of this prize in the field of music include Cecil Taylor, Anthony Braxton and Max Roach. He has also been was voted ”Talent Deserving Wider Recognition” in the critic’s poll of the American jazz magazine Down Beat, both as composer and as a tenor saxophonist, every year since 2000. Aside from the schools of music influenced by the history of jazz, his music has been greatly impacted by sources like “Mississippi” Fred McDowell, James Brown, John Cage, the Ex, Gyorgy Ligeti, Sly and the Family Stone, Morton Feldman, Lee “Scratch” Perry, and various traditional musics from around the world.
Paal Nilssen-Love was born in Stavanger on the west coast of Norway, but he now lives in Oslo. Nilssen-Love has, during the last couple of years, established himself on the international scene as a powerful drummer with high energy and creativity. In 2002 he was “Artist in Residence” at Molde International Jazz Festival, a title Chick Corea and Pat Metheny held in previous years. After 7 days and 9 concerts at the festival, Down Beat stated, “His week at Molde proved a revelation: Nilssen-Love is one of the most innovative, dynamic and versatile drummers in jazz.” He is part of The Thing (together with Mats Gustafsson), School Days (with Ken Vandermark and Jep Bishop), Atomic (Jazzland Records) and Scorch Trio (with Raoul Björkenheim)
Diskaholics Anonymous Trio
July 31, 2010Comments Off
Thurston Moore – Guitar
Jim O’ Rourke – Synth
Mats Gustafsson – Saxophones and live-electronics
Diskaholics Anonymous Trio is Thurston Moore and Jim O’Rourke from Sonic Youth and the Swedish free jazz icon Mats Gustafsson. The trio released their first self titled album in 2001 on Crazy Wisdom/Universal. Weapons of Ass Destruction, their second album, is released worldwide on Smalltown Superjazzz. DA Trio creates a pulsing, massive and monumental sound. Free-jazz, noise, electronic ambience, Tony Conrad 60`s style minimalism, drone music and punk all mixed. The result of these three titans clashing together is an intense blow-out. Raw, grandiose and brutally beautiful.
K-X-P live in Lofoten, Norway
July 31, 2010Comments Off
In the history of WEIRD concerts, this one will do pretty well. K-X-P playing live at a art-festival in the north of Norway in a tent covered in dry fish… Under a dry fish roof. With a sauna. And people dancing. With fishes. You can see some of it here:
K-X-P: K-X-P (out now)
July 31, 2010Comments Off
Out now on CD and download.
You can buy the CD here
K-X-P is a drums, bass and synth trio from Helsinki, Finland, born out of the fire and ashes of the seminal Op:l Bastards and The Lefthanded, both of which were led by Timo Kaukolampi. The band is comprised of Timo Kaukolampi (electronics, vocals), Tuomo Puranen (bass and keyboards) and rotating drummers Anssi Nykänen and Tomi Leppanen. The band mixes electronics, krautrock, noise, and even rockabilly into a hypnotic and minimal motorik groove inspired by Raymond Scott, Moondog and Martin Rev, and remindful of Spacemen 3, This Heat, 23 Skidoo, Suicide and NEU!.
The musical background of K-X-P’s members varies wildly, ranging from the disco-idiotism-turned-into-spiritual-hide-and-seek of Op:l Bastards, to the fusion and free jazz explorations of Pekka Pohjola, of which Anssi Nykänen was a member, and Jimi Tenor, in which Tuomo Puranen played, to the Kraftwerk-ish visions and East European soulscapes of Tomi Leppanen’s former band, Aavikko. Timo Kaukolampi is possibily best known as Annie’s main producer and co-writer; he’s the individual who connected Annie with Smalltown Supersound and led to STSS releasing her 2009 album, Don’t Stop.
K-X-P initially began to form in 2006 when Timo gave Smalltown Supersound some demos of a new project he was working on. Smalltown Supersound’s Joakim Haugland was completely blown away and in an effort to convince the not-yet-formed band to become an official unit, he booked them a gig in Oslo in 2007. Gradually forming around very loosely organized studio sessions based on Timo Kaukolampi’s programmed ideas, the Finns turned into the groove entity that is now K-X-P. The self-titled album was finally delivered to Smalltown Supersound in December of 2009.
Glasgow’s Optimo has been a strong supporter of the band from the beginning. Before K-X-P finished recording the new album, Optimo remixed their “18 Hours of Love”. He has also invited the band to be one of the final performers to play at his legendary Sunday club in Glasgow, Subclub, in late April 2010.
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