Kuzu - All Your Ghosts in One Corner (October 2021 Catalytic-Sound)

"But their ability to construct musical tension in an almost agonizing way reaches a new peak on All Your Ghosts In One Corner. Drawing on these musicians’ love for a range of weighty musical expression from doom metal to the deeply-rooted spirituality of saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, this record perfectly captures the depth of the abyss into which we faced. And yet this record isn’t about fear. Redemption is found in the life-affirming energy of these performances, which reflect a will to survive in the band’s committed focus and tenacity. These are spontaneous rituals performed to brace an entire community for the upcoming storm." - Aerophonic Records

1. One Fell Swoop 06:21

2. Scythe Part 1 05:27

3. Scythe Part 2 18:09

4. Scythe Part 3 15:27

5. Year Of The Rat 10:02

Dave Rempis – alto/tenor/bari saxophone

Tashi Dorji – guitar

Tyler Damon – drums

Track 1 & 5 recorded March 13th, 2020 at The Sugar Maple, Milwaukee

Track 2, 3, 4 recorded March 12th, 2020 at Elastic Arts, Chicago

Recorded/mixed/mastered by Dave Zuchowski

Design by Make Amazing

Produced by Dave Rempis

PREORDER

Kuzu - The Glass Delusion (March 5, 2021 Astral Spirits)

KUZU is a hard-charging but patient trio that came together in the fall of 2017, after saxophonist Dave Rempis, a stalwart of the Chicago improvised music scene, worked with both Tashi Dorji (guitar) and Tyler Damon (drums) individually as part of a lengthy solo tour of the U.S. that he undertook in the spring of that year.  Dorji and Damon’s work as a guitar/percussion duo has become well-known, a highly refined and specific language developed through relentless touring and recording over the last few years, with a sound that straddles improvised music, rock, and any number of as-yet-undefined territories.  These two provide an incredibly fresh take on the possibilities inherent to spontaneous composition.  Superimposing Rempis into this mix was a logical next step after the relationships they’d forged individually.  The trio’s debut record Hiljaisuus (“silence” in Finnish…) was released on LP by the well-known label Astral Spirits in summer 2018, and on cd by Aerophonic Records in January 2019.  Their sophomore release Purple Dark Opal came out on Aerophonic Records in February 2020, and the band finished their second full-length US Tour in mid-March as the COVID crisis descended on the world.  Their fall 2020 debut tour of Europe was postponed until fall 2021, but their next LP release The Glass Delusion is anticipated on Astral Spirits in early 2021.

Musically, these three create a highly focused pallet of sounds. At times, spacious gestures carve up the canvas with the austerity of a calligrapher, while at others those sparse gestures build into an unstoppable tsunami of energy. Those waves are never impulsive or impetuous though, they ebb and flow logically and patiently out of simple and clearly defined sources. Rempis’ penchant for pentatonic melodies and rough and tumble timbres combines seamlessly with Dorji’s thick, raw sound and singular approach to intonation, buttressed by Damon’s rapid-fire yet powerful stickwork, to produce a music that’s exquisitely detailed at any one point in time, yet carries the narrative arc of their often set-length explorations without ever losing its coordinates. In this music you can hear the many hours together in a van roaming the hills of Tennessee and Pennsylvania, the plains of Texas and Illinois, and the forests of North Carolina and New England, trading playlists ranging from jazz icons like Pharaoh Sanders and Yusef Lateef to Scandinavian black metal bands like Craft and Darkthrone. While this isn’t a new thing in creative music – broad ears are a trademark of musicians in this world - what makes the pairing so unique is the truly organic way in which they string these influences together into a coherent sound. 

This isn’t a Frankenstein pastiche of bits and pieces held together with duct tape and glue, and a paper-thin conception. This is an emotionally deep and sincere effort to join genuinely disparate influences arrived at only through patient toil. When we ask if Rempis is channeling Coltrane, or a Turkish clarinet player; does Dorji sound like a Delta bluesman, or a southeast Asian rocker from the 70’s; is that Art Blakey or John Bonham rolling out through Damon’s toms; the answer is undoubtedly all of the above. And yet, despite the breadth of the trio’s inspirations, their music never collapses under the weight of its aspirations, fearlessly carving out a new corner in the broader sonic landscape.

1. It Simply Becomes Jammed Part 1

2. It Simply Becomes Jammed Part 2

3. Gnash

Dave Rempis - alto/tenor/baritone saxophones

Tashi Dorji- guitar

Tyler Damon - drums

Pre-order

Kuzu - Hiljaisuus (ASTRAL SPIRITS 2018)

KUZU is a hard-charging but patient trio that came together in the fall of 2017, after saxophonist DAVE REMPIS, a stalwart of the Chicago improvised music scene, worked with both TASHI DORJI (guitar) and TYLER DAMON (drums) individually as part of a lengthy solo tour of the U.S. that he undertook in the spring of that year. Dorji and Damon’s work as a guitar/percussion duo has become well-known, a highly refined and specific language developed through relentless touring and recording over the last few years, with a sound that straddles improvised music, rock, and any number of as-yet-undefined territories. These two provide an incredibly fresh take on the possibilities inherent to spontaneous composition. Superimposing Rempis into this mix was a logical next step after the relationships they’d forged individually. 

The trio’s debut record HILJAISUUS (“silence” in Finnish…) is a highly focused and bold debut statement. Featuring spacious & light gestures that build and give way to an unstoppable tsunami of energy. Those waves are never impulsive or impetuous though, they ebb and flow logically and patiently out of simple and clearly defined sources. This trio pursues every gesture with tenacity, passing them back and forth until they’ve explored every facet of an idea. Through it all, Kuzu emerges as a unit and not as a meeting of individuals. We can't wait to hear where these guys go next! 

Look for Kuzu to hit the road this fall in support of "Hiljaisuus" with a Texas tour in August 2018 as well as a 2 week east coast tour in October.

Dave Rempis -- alto/tenor/baritone saxophones 

Tashi Dorji -- guitar 

Tyler Damon -- percussion 

Recorded in Chicago, September 13th, 2017 @ Elastic Arts 

Recorded, mixed & mastered by Dave Zuchowski. 

Artwork by id m theft able 

Produced by Nate Cross 

All music copyright 2018 - Rempis (ASCAP), Dorji (BMI), Damon (BMI

1. Fontanelles 1 21:59

2. Fontanelles 2 08:13

3. Gash 14:39