Uuskyla Øgrim & Berg - Svuku (August 4, 2021)

Free jazz power trio Uuskyla Øgrim & Berg’s music is an oblique and deconstructed but red-hot mix of jazz, rock, and several other styles in between. It’s taut and metallic, sprung, flexed and sinuous, hitting hard on the recoil. This trio shows how much the Scandinavian scene remains vibrant and with names that deserve to be more recognized worldwide.

1. Svuku 14:11

Peeter Uuskyla drums

Tellef Øgrim guitar

Anders Berg bass

Pre-order

Musiconspiracy - Do I The In? (2021 Simlas Produksjoner)

«This was recorded live at Alchemia in Cracow in September of 2007 and has excellent sound. I had not heard of Polish drum wiz, Jacek Kochan, before we got a half dozen discs of his from Not Two & Gowi. After reviewing a few of them I was impressed with his playing, arranging and the varied personnel on each disc. This new disc also has an inspired line-up of musicians from Austria (FH), Norway (TO), Poland (JK) and the US (JF). Each player has contributed two pieces as well as three great groups improvisations. Starting with Joe Fonda's "Song for My Mother", the rhythm team hits their stride quickly with some twisted fretless guitar and Miles-like electric trumpet upfront.

What is great here is how well the guitar and electric trumpet play together and sound similar. On "Golden Angel", the bowed bass, el. guitar and mutant trumpet seem to complete each other's line as they swerve around one another and bend their notes close. The band swings hard on "Feed the Hamster" with Franz taking that great Electric Miles-like tone and squeezing it higher. The ever-incredible Joe Fonda sounds splendid throughout as his bass buzzes underneath all of the action, creating a tight connection with Jacek's uplifting drums.

All four of these musicians are play wonderfully throughout, exchanging ideas, tossing riffs back and forth and consistently surprising us with their tight, interconnected tapestry. Another outstanding disc from the folks at Not Two.» (Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery)

2. Golden Angel 03:50

3. Feed the Hamster 05:44

4. Famous Disappearing Act 03:17

5. Ectoplasmatics 09:16

6. Summer is Far 05:20

7. Before or After 08:06

8. For Mingus 07:38

9. Restless Apple 06:18

10. Organic Boots 03:40

11. Choose the Mud 06:12

Recorded at Alchemia, Kraków, Poland in September of 2007

Joe Fonda b, Franz Hautzinger trp, Jacek Kochan d, Tellef Øgrim g

Pre-order

Uuskyla Øgrim & Berg - Oslo Hærverk (SIMLAS 2018)

The formation of the power impro trio Uuskyla Øgrim & Berg towards the end of 2016 was merely three weeks later followed by the release of their first album Ullr. A concert at the Gothenburg club BrÖtz in October the same year was recorded, initially not for release, but when Gunnar Backman at Brakophonic Studios managed to repair the rather rudimentary recording (done with a mic on a Zoom recorder placed in front of the drum set) the concert was released on the album called LAIV. Several months later the trio was invited to play at Kafé Hærverk in Oslo. The three Scandinavians had at this point proven their ability to create music from the near-to-nothingness of the instant here and now, using their combined musical luggage and a strong sense of freedom. So here comes five "tunes" or "stretches" from that inspired evening in front of an enthusiastic Oslo audience.

1. Tlaxkon 12:42

2. Stay Peaceful 11:42

3. Ofilikki 06:21

4. No Temple No Homes 07:46

5. Close To Closed 09:00

Peeter Uuskyla drums

Tellef Øgrim guitar

Anders Berg bass

The Leif - The Leif (SIMLAS 2018)

For a long time, they were merely two Oslo neighbours, each with an incurable guitar addiction. They had both played in bands all their lives, for almost 80 years put together. Tellef Øgrim mostly in jazz, rock and improvisational groups, while Magnus Tenge more solidly belonged in rock music. 

When they met they happily stuck to uncommitting small talk about music, guitars, amplifiers and effects. Maybe the occasional “do you prefer 0.10 or 0.09 gauge strings” question. 

In the end, there was no way around the unavoidable and they went down into Tellef’s basement with no greater commitment than to jam for a while. 

After months of intense experimenting and songwriting, it became clear that the two guitar players had more in common musically than they had thought. 

Several café concerts in Norway and Sweden and then half a year of intense work with the duo’s debut album have made the two electric guitarists into a closely interacted, poetic, melodic rock-jazz duo with their own instrumental compositions at the set list. 

Even if it sometimes can get loud, it is not an aim in itself. The Leifs ambition is to leave their listeners with the notion that an evening with the duo’s self-styled “Americana jazz music” or “wind-warped, instrumental rock-jazz” (both authentic stamps left by listeners) was worth leaving the couch for. 

In Mai 2018 Simlas produksjoner released the duo’s album digitally, on vinyl and on CD.

About the name 

Magnus’s middle name is Leif. Tellef is an old combination of the names Tor and Leif. Hence the band name. Except also that the word Leif sounds almost as the English word for the period between birth and death of an organism. Somewhat. 

1 Notes From A Big Sleep (Øgrim)

2 Bromma (Tenge)

3 Juli (Tenge)

4 The Departure Of Mr D (Øgrim)

5 The Ladder (Øgrim)

6 Daniel (Øgrim)

7 (Hvis du skal av på) Darbu (Øgrim)

8 Lopskow (Tenge)

9 Laridae (Tenge)

10 Itsà

Magnus Tenge: guitars

Tellef Øgrim: guitars