Colin Stetson & Mats Gustafsson: Stones

Colin Stetson (alto, bass sax)
Mats Gustafsson (tenor, baritone sax)
Stones (Rune Grammofon; 2012)

This is an unbelievable meeting of two enigmatic performers and composers on the avant garde scene at the moment. Mats Gustafsson and Colin Stetson have been stamping their imprint on the jazz for well over a decade now. Their first ever collaboration is the probably the best way to experience it--live!

Stones presents a sheer blizzard of sound with a slow building and haunting overture on "Stones That Rest Heavily." Gustafsson and Stetson exchange passages of long drags and bellowing echoes that are tugboats moving through cavernous space. Sound bounces back and forth, all around.

"Stone That Can Only Be" has humour but also a small hint of blues passes through in some notes. Almost unrecognizable, but the movements are encompassing and enjoyable. "Stones That Only Have" feels like a piece from Stetson's recent New History Warfare II, if it weren't for Gustafsson breaking the door down. The battle that engulfs the second half of the piece is sublime.

This is a unique and fiery date that may not appeal to everyone. But if you are fan of both Colin Stetson and Mats Gustafsson, Stones is one of the best collaborations in improvised music you'll hear this year.

The Thing w/Neneh Cherry: The Cherry Thing

The Thing w/Neneh Cherry
The Cherry Thing (Smalltown Supersound; 2012)
The Cherry Thing Remixes (Smalltown Supersound; 2012)
Neneh Cherry (vocals)
Ingebright Haker-Flaten (bass)
Paal Nilssen-Love (drums)
Mats Gustafsson (sax)

For a group that has already covered Groove Armada, PJ Harvey as well as reconstructing free jazz over the last 15 years in various forms, The Thing teaming up with avant punk, soul wordsmith, Neneh Cherry is really nothing out of the ordinary. Together they have created the poetic, Cherry Thing. And it really demands your attention.

A rustic fusion of love and social consciousness through Cherry's lyrics and The Thing's ability to timely move from gentle to aggressive with superb balance. "Cashback" illustrates this agility with funk and free thinking and harsh lyrical content that knocks you back and keeps you fully engaged. Nilssen-Love, Gustafsson and Haker Flaten cut a crisp and incisive groove that on "Too Tough To Die" (written by Martina Topley Bird). With Cherry at the helm, she and the trio really make the piece their own. Slightly unrecognizable but completely excellent.

The ballad "What Reason Could I Give" beautifully closes the session with shimmering echo treatments on Cherry's vocals with an emotional backdrop of notes by the trio. Lovely stuff.

What better way to follow this superb session than with an equally unexpected but blistering re-interpretation, The Cherry Thing Remixes. Opening the album with the lovely closing number of the original "What Reason Could I Give" is even more haunting with muted and echo chamber piano notes clashing against 80's electro drums. Really turns the piece into a ghostly journey through love and despair.

"Accordion" is fierce with a mixture of pulverizing keyboards and treble effects that later creates a dreamlike atmosphere for a piece that originally hung on Cherry's rhymes. Now, engulfed in anthematic electronics yet still holding its effectiveness. "Golden Heart" is layered with tribal beats and wah wah guitars creating a hypnotic mixture that slowly builds but never overspills. Just as intense as the original but with more of a swirling romanticism.

One of my favourite groups, The Thing continue to do the creative and the challenging with every project. In both The Cherry Thing and The Remixes they have managed to capture the vibe of the avant garde and the dance floor with unbelievable results. These are two richly rewarding projects that should not be missed.

Fire!

Fire! (trio)

Mats Gustafsson (sax, keys)

Johan Berthling (bass, organ)

Andreas Werlin (drums)
(photo: Johan Doden Dahlroth)

Of all the many projects Mats Gustafsson has been involved in, Fire! is probably one of my favourites (outside of his mainstay, The Thing). The Swedish trio put on a mixture of heavy rock overtones, hypnotic psychedelia and free jazz motifs all culminating in unbelievable sound and rhythm. Since their formation in 2009, the group have quickly forge a place in the avant consciousness of this listener and I'm sure many of you. Crossing the various styles previously mentioned--all the while making sound seamless and inviting.

You Liked Me Five Minutes Ago is a great starting point. The performances are intense but the sound low-key and meditative. Berthling plays a big role in "But Sometimes I Am" and "If I Took Your Hand." His playing feels like the heavy heartbeat of dying days. "You Liked Me Five Minutes Ago" is humorous and infectious. Hand claps and two-toned notes from Gustafsson increase and revolve like a haunted carousel ride and quietly fade into the distance.

Unreleased? sees the trio teaming with guitar/sound manipulator, Jim O'Rouke, creating a more muscular yet cerebral sound. Gustafsson and O'Rouke stretch the lines to a breaking point. Berthling and Werlin add depth and a small melody underneath the distortion of the opening piece "Are You Both Still Unreleased?" "Please, I Am Released" and "Happy Ending Borrowing Yours" expands the groups focus with more improvising, yet still coming together solidly at the end to psychedelic effect. Werlin and O'Rouke both lead the charge with blistering lines that come crashing against the screeches of Gustafsson horn. 

A similar tone is taken on the trio third album, In The Mouth - A Hand. This session also filled out by guitarist, Oren Ambarchi. Gustafsson sounding energized and the quartet challenging each other at every turn. Now the trio have been playing together for over 3 years between their own projects. They sound full and ever expanding.

The droning and avalanche of sound on "A Man Who Might Have Been Screaming" and "I Am Sucking For A Bruise" are intense and almost reminds me of mid-period Spiritualized (circa "Cop Shoot Cop") and Can. "He Wants To Sleep In A Dream" sees Ambarchi and Gustafsson repeating one tone for a majority of the piece until the entire group finally gather for a cacophony of sound that is intense but somehow funky in same aspect.

With Fire!, Mats Gustafsson has an outlet for themes that may not work with his other groups. And with his bandmates experience in other more rock-centric outfits makes for challenging and creative sessions. Fire! isn't for everyone but I think you need to really sit and hear it all the way through before you get the full breath of ideas. Great stuff.

Sonore: Live At Cafe Oto

Sonore (trio)

Live at Cafe Oto (Trost; 2012)

Peter Brotzmann (tenor, alto sax, clarinet, taragato)
Ken Vandermark (tenor sax, clarinet)
Mats Gustafsson (baritone sax)

When this trio gets together you can always expect high decibels and sonic architecture. Live at Cafe Oto is probably the shorter but most palatable of the four albums this trio has recorded. There's still a lot to digest over the span of four songs  in just under 40 minutes.

Each musician attacks the notes with aggression but also a sense of beauty, as they softly create and destroy patterns. "Fragments For An Endgame" comes swirling down upon you like hail drops through a funnel. The tones are sharp and crisp with spikes that build and build. They hit there peak quickly before descending further into a overpowering arpeggio.  The trio is all the while improvising each note. But these three have played together so often they know each other movements and changes down to a tie.

"Le Chien Perdu" see Brotzmann rip through the scales at will. The piece has a perfect balance between Brotzmann's howls and improvised segues accompanied by subtle tones of Vandermark and Gustafsson around the edges. "Oto" is just sheer fire in the well. The trio let loose a wall of sound but shift effortless back and forth between blistering chords changes and gentle swathes of harmonics. Only to end with a resounding joyful call to arms, New Orleans style.

Live At Cafe Oto is powerful stuff and by far the best Sonore record to date. Highly Recommend.