Showing posts with label Simon Segers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Simon Segers. Show all posts

Sunday, February 11, 2018

Black Flower - Intermediate State (SDBAN RECORDS 2018)



Musicians make albums. But in this case it’s different. The four tracks on this ten inch release were created in between. It's an intermediate piece that sits between two albums, reflecting on a series of special moments and special evolutions of Black Flower. 

The inspiration came from Salvador Dali's creative dreaming ritual. With a pair of scissors in his hand, he sat back, closed his eyes and slid into sleep. The moment his body and mind enter deep sleep, the scissors dropped and waked him up. Dali then started painting using the inspiration he gathered from his dreams. These paintings can be considered the result of an intermediate state between consciousness and subconsciousness, a zone between being awake and sleeping. 

Black Flower has derived four dream-tracks from their individual intermediate state, materialised into microscopic grooves on a black vinyl disc.


- ‘Almaz’ occurred as the first dream. It became Black Flower's very first cover song. An Ethiopian traditional, famous thanks to legendary singer Mahmoud Ahmed. Immediately, this dreamy track pulls you deeply into the intermediate state.

- ‘Maqam Tizita Saba’ was a vision about an unexpected connection between the Arabian and the Ethiopian world. Black Flower utilised an extended musical scale, beginning with the peaceful, consonant Ethiopian Titzia, and fusing it with the upper structure of the dissonant Arabic Saba scale.

- In the ‘Good Side of Bad’, Black flower commemorated its recent collaboration with Dijf Sanders’s latest album which is a groovy patchwork between electronics and his field recordings in Indonesia. Samples from this part of the world pass by just like that. No distance is to big in the intermediate state.

- ‘Fly High Oh My’ happened just before the scissors fell back on the ground. Strong energy propelling high into the ecstatic sky.


Sunday, July 30, 2017

de beren gieren - dug out skyscrapers (SDBAN RECORDS 29 September, 2017)






In the space between expectation and surprise, you will find Dutch-Belgian acoustic-electronic piano trio de beren gieren (The Bear Vultures), providing robust evidence that gold can still be mined from the union of piano, bass and drums. Based on the compositions of pianist Fulco Ottervanger, the trio use the power of improvisation on the quest for a new form and create a multi-layered, kaleidoscopic work of art.

de beren gieren has been hailed as one of the hottest acts on the Belgian jazz scene and this September, the band will release their fourth studio album, the highly anticipated ‘dug out skyscrapers’, via Sdban Ultra. Raw energy, impressionist melodies and complex structures are generated via piano, bass and drums provoking polyrhythmic soundscapes with unexpected twists and sudden turns.

With ‘dug out skyscrapers’, the trio trace back the essence of what characterizes their sound. An electro-acoustic approach weaves a spherical world of sound with added dynamism, humour and more than a touch of melancholy, projecting us forward into the future.

de beren gieren hold the unique ability to change mood suddenly in a way that constantly holds the listener’s attention. This is a sound full of joy and vitality and confirms their reputation as one of the most adventurous jazz trios of the Benelux.

Formed in 2009, the band were in-house residents at the prestigious Vooruit Arts' Centre in Ghent for four years and have received three awards at the distinguished International Jazz Hoeilaart competition which promotes young jazz musicians across Europe and the rest of the world.

‘A Raveling’ (2013), the band’s second album, was widely praised and resulted in de beren gieren’s international breakthrough. The follow-up a year later, ‘The Detour Fish’, captured the band’s live sound at the Ljubljana Jazz Festival in Slovenia and featured burgeoning Portuguese trumpeter and improviser, Susana Santos Silva. 2015’s ‘One Mirrors Many’ received widespread recognition with influential jazz magazine Jazzism describing the release as the “most influential album of 2015-16”.

de beren gieren have performed across numerous jazz stages throughout Europe and have collaborated with numerous musicians including Marc Ribot, Louis Sclavis, Joachim Badenhorst, Jan Klare and trumpeter Susana Santos Silva.

de beren gieren are Fulco Ottervanger (piano), Lieven Van Pée (bass) and Simon Segers (drums)

Sdban Records is an independent record label, obsessed with sixties and seventies grooves. It is the youngest member of the N.E.W.S. Records family, based in Ghent, Belgium. The label has recently expanded, focusing on contemporary talent. SDBAN Ultra is the sister label focusing on today’s lively jazz and funk scene, which is simply too exciting not to be explored.

Recently released on Sdban: René Costy ‘Expectancy’, ‘Let’s Get Swinging (Modern Jazz in Belgium)’, ‘Funky Chimes: Belgian Grooves from the 70’s’. Recently released on Sdban Ultra: Black Flower ‘Artifacts’, STUFF. ‘old dreams new planets’. Coming soon on Sdban: V/A – ‘Discophilia Belgica (Belgian Private Press Disco, Synthpop & Oddballs)’ + Jack Sels ‘Retrospective’. Coming soon on Sdban Ultra: BRZZVLL – Waiho.