Republic of Jazz: ØRA FONOGRAM

Showing posts with label ØRA FONOGRAM. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Wako - Urolige sinn (ØRA FONOGRAM August 31, 2018)

Wako will release their third album 31st of August 2018. A live album recorded in the legendary Norwegian studio, Athletic Sound. The band explores the possibilities for the quartet, and as a listener you will always get a surprise for each listening. Wako has through the last years gone a new direction inspired by improvisation and textures, mixed with simple but well done compositions and ideas, and they play this mix in a way Øra is very proud to represent.

Walco © Signe Fuglesteg Luksengard

About their release: "Urolige sinn" – the new album from Wako – is equal parts atmosphere and energy. Smoky moods envelop runaway train rhythms, while the contemplative can seem like a mask for a chaos ready to erupt at any second. This is a series of dramaturgical tone poems, triple-distilled concepts, their purity and brevity carrying only the essential sounds – but you shouldn't take this as meaning "minimalism": here it means intense concentration, perfect focus. There is a build and release of tension, occasional hints of a threatened dissonance in the midst of melody, or glimpses of golden harmony emerging from chattering agitation. There are technicolour highways through chiaroscuro dreamscapes. There is what could easily be the incidental music for an urban hallucination of a heated conversation between Pharoah Sanders and Man Ray, or Erik Satie antagonized by Friedrich Nietzsche. Traces of joy mix with stains of sorrow, the everyday life intertwines with sinuous and wandering reveries.

This is realism walking in expressionist shoes along a well-paved path. That path was created by Wako, both as a collective and as individuals. Where similar groups would regard a "jazz composition" as merely a framework for an extended solo (or three), Wako operate as a unified musical consciousness, thinking, dreaming, reacting and planning together. While pianist Kjetil André Mulelid and saxophonist Martin Myhre Olsen each take individual composer credits on several tracks, the group coherence and synergy means that bassist Bárður Reinert Poulsen and drummer Simon Olderskog Albertsen are integral to the final delivery of the music. The Wako philosophy is one of "music first"; "Urolige sinn" is that philosophy made flesh.

Walco © Signe Fuglesteg Luksengard

About Wako:
Coming from the vanguard of the New Wave of Nordic Jazz, Wako are one of the most dynamic and innovative groups on the scene. Touring extensively since 2015, they have honed their stagecraft and performances, garnering a solid fanbase and critical acclaim along the way.

Described as having "buoyancy and originality" by Terje Mosnes (Jazz i Norge - Norway), as possessing "a very personal and distinctive sound" (Mike Collin, London Jazz News - UK), and as creating music that "would melt even the blackest heart" (Bird is the Worm – USA), Wako have brought their ever-evolving musicianship and creativity to impressive live renditions of their work across Europe, including collaborative performances with Oslo Strings and with Norwegian trumpeter ne plus ultra, Arve Henriksen. The scope of their musical reach is always finely attuned in equal measures to audience, environment and source material, meaning not only is each concert superlative, but also a unique experience. In short, Wako are one of the most impressive young live acts today, signalling a healthy future for jazz in Norway and beyond. Individually, the members are part of different bands and projects, such as Hegge (Norwegian grammy award winner 2017), Megalodon Collective (Norwegian grammy nominee 2016,Espen Berg trio (NTNU ambassadors 2016), Kjetil Mulelid Trio, Kjemilie and the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra with Chick Corea.

Wako is:

Kjetil André Mulelid - piano

Bárður Reinert Poulsen - double bass

Martin Myhre Olsen - alto & soprano sax

Simon Olderskog Albertsen - drums & percussion

Production:

Produced and arranged by Wako

Recorded by Dag Erik Johansen on the 2nd and 3rd of October 2017, at Athletic Sound, Norway

Mixed and mastered by Karl Klaseie at Greener Mastering

Cover photo by Anders Beer Wilse: “Skavlet føre” 1909

Cover design by Christian Meaas Svendsen

Tracklist:

1. Jernvilje

2. Skavlet føre

3. Skumring og det som hører til

4. Den endeløse planen

5. Du gråter aldri

6. Elisabeths vise

7. Revelje

8. Snart blir jeg far

9. En liten halvtime senere

10. Skogens uklare omriss

11. Svovelpredikant

12. De som viste oss rundt

13. Langt, langt der nede

All compositions by Wako, except:

2, 9, 13 by Kjetil André Mulelid

6, 7, 8 by Martin Myhre Olsen

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Emmeluth's Amoeba - POLYP (ØRA FONOGRAM March 16, 2018)

Emmeluth’s Amoeba - POLYP

Øra Fonogram, OF125

Release: 16.03.18

Signe Emmeluth will release her debut album mars 16th on Øra Fonogram with her quartet Emmeluth’s Amoeba. An album consisting of four strong Nordic voices searching for the natural dance and flow within improvisation and music.

Øra Fonogram with her quartet Emmeluth’s Amoeba. An album consisting of four strong Nordic voices searching for the natural dance and flow within improvisation and music.

POLYP

An album which moves beyond the expected and leaves the listener with music which is grippingly raw, quirky and frail.

The album consist of a variety of free improvisations and compositions by Emmeluth. Inspired by free jazz and classical music from the 20th century is the foundation of which Emmeluth’s Amoeba moves upon into a polyphonic muddle. The title track POLYP is referring to the dancing movements of the naval plant and the feeling of lacking gravity associated with being under water which is a theme throughout the record. Big ears and good intuition are the foundations upon which the band creates an ensemble sound, where the roles of the instruments are challenged as well as the gravity points in the music are shifted. The music is turned up-side-down and moves rapidly in changing directions by consensus. Preparations and extended techniques are added to the broad palet of sounds available to the musicians, from which they effortlessly draw upon and follow the flow of the music. Space and chaos, lyrical yet mysterious melodies and fierce dramaturgy are united in playful playing, where curiosity is a keystone.

“I hear music and sounds in shapes and colours, and i’m therefor often inspired by visuals. For me it’s fascinating to see if I can bring my visual thoughts in to a auditiv experience. We want to create a complete picture of sound that explores different aspects of movement, acoustic and electronic sound, tone, rhythm and harmonics. What is sound? Cacophony, euphony, everything is sound and together it is music.” - Signe Emmeluth

Signe Emmeluth (25) is a Danish saxophone player and composer, currently living in Oslo (NO). Emmeluth has lately become a leading voice of improvised music in the Nordic countries with her bands as KONGE (Mats Gustavsson, Ole Morten Vågan og Kresten Osgaard) and OWL(duo with Karl Bjorå). She is also known through her corabollations with artists like Paal Nilssen-Love, Pascal Niggenkemper, John Edwards and Mette Rasmussen.