Are you ready for the new releases of
De Beren Gieren & BRZZVLL?
Get ready, because within a month the long-expected albums of BRZZVLL, Waiho, and De Beren Gieren, Dug Out Skyscrapers, will be released on Sdban Ultra! Both bands will cross the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK to present this new repertory to you. BRZZVLL already kicked off last weekend: their showcase concert during the Belgian Jazz Meeting resulted in a lot of positive feedback. Next up is September Jazz in Bruges. Dug Out Skyscrapers from De Beren Gieren then will premiere at the B-EST Festival in Flagey (12/9).
De Beren Gieren: Dug Out Skyscrapers
Fulco Ottervanger (piano), Lieven Van Pée (double bass) & Simon Segers (drums)
Better than anyone else, De Beren Gieren know how to blend an avant-garde sound with melodious pieces and references to the great classical composers of the 20th century. They effortlessly shift from more rigidly styled compositions to improvised sections and thus reveal the pulsating and ominous futuristic sound of a new world. More so than in previous albums, on Dug Out Skyscrapers harmonies and compelling grooves interact and disclose the future of the past... the album’s ‘Leitmotif’. Like dedicated archaeologists from the future, De Beren Gieren use subtle electronic effects to uncover the potential of their acoustic instruments layer by layer. The piano echoes further, the drums split up into even more numerous fragments and the bass reaches deeper still into its musical universe. The compositions take on a 3D-dimension in this acoustic view-master and haul the listener from recognition to renewal, from nostalgia to exaltation.
Vincent Brijs (saxophone), Andrew Claes (saxophone, EWI & darbuka), Dries Laheye (electric bass), Jan Willems (keys), Geert Hellings (guitar), Maarten Moesen (drums) & Stijn Cools (drums)
Like The Heliocentrics, BRZZVLL is a band mainly known for its repeated collaborations with strong frontmen. After two inspiring adventures with poets & ‘Nuff Said brothers Anthony Joseph ('Engines') and Amir Sulaiman ('First Let’s Dance'), BRZZVLL resolutely strikes the instrumental chord on this new album. The septet performs in its most quintessential form: a cast-iron instrumental core.
Don’t expect compelling afrobeat rhythms but a full sound alongside a range of intonations that unveil the various spectra of these virtuoso musicians. Laid-back sax lines alternate with sharp guitar riffs, backed by the repetitive trance of two duelling drummers. The album is brimming with heavy grooves, to which the musicians associate uplifting saxes or futuristic keyboard or EWI sounds: a psychedelic cocktail of ‘space meets funk’, not mentioning a cheeky wink at the universe of Sun Ra and similar others.
Spellbinding, ominous sounds intersperse with cheerful impetuosity. Each track subsumes a sort of inherent tension, evolving towards a new balance: hope vs. despair, old vs. new, tradition vs. futurism, mellow vs. impassioned, mesmerizing vs. liberating... BRZZVLL are the shamans of a new musical world!
The standard-bearer on the cover, as well as the title Waiho (Maori for ‘leaving’), refers to what the album epitomizes: a journey to a new world. A world in which opposites harmonize, differences merge without ever lapsing into a monotonous sludge. A world in which colours point out & contrast. A world which blurs the boundaries between the sounds from a glorious past and the sounds foreboding a captivating futuristic new world.
CALENDAR: SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER
09.09 BRZZVLL @ September Jazz, Bruges (BE)
12.09 De Beren Gieren @ Flagey, Brussels (BE)
22.09 BRZZVLL @ De Spil, Roeselare (BE)
27.09 Aka Moon: The Scarlatti Book @ Palais des Beaux-arts, Charleroi (BE)
28.09 De Beren Gieren @ Handelsbeurs, Ghent (BE)
30.09 De Beren Gieren + BRZZVLL @ Nona, Mechelen (BE)
05.10 De Beren Gieren @ THSH, Birmingham (UK)
06.10 BRZZVLL @ Handelsbeurs, Ghent (BE)
07.10 De Beren Gieren @ Marsden Jazz Festival, Marsden (UK)
07.10 BRZZVLL @ CC Diest, Diest (BE)
08.10 De Beren Gieren @ Vortex, London (UK)
12.10 BRZZVLL @ De Casino, Sint-Niklaas (BE)
15.10 De Beren Gieren @ Vrijstaat O (KAAP), Ostend (BE)
24.10 Aka Moon: 25 Years @ Festival des Libertés, Brussels (BE)
28.10 Aka Moon Trio @ Sunnyside Festival, Reims (FR)
Find more Aubergine concerts here
