drone / jazz

Last year, I reviewed 'Werl', a cooperation between Aidan Baker (Caudal, Nadja) and ​Tomas Järmyr (Motorpsycho, Zu). I loved the album, and apparently so did both musicians. They turned the cooperation into a live duo and simply named it "Werl". Today, exactly a year after it was recorded in Hamburg, Werl releases  'HH.2016.09.08'.

The album contains two lengthy tracks and explores the regions of ambient, drones and free jazz. Aidan's drones open the set but you just know that Tomas is presents from the very beginning, doing something unexpected with his drums and cymbals.

Of course, after a while all hell breaks loose and before you know it you'll be entangled in an array of drones, noises, drums and whatnot. If you share my musical taste, you'll love it too. I love how the music pulsates and progresses. I love how there is not a dull moment to be found on this album. Drone jazz seems to be the new thing in the world of experimental music and I couldn't be happier about it. If you are into acts like Yodok III and A-Sun Amissa, Werl definitely earns a place on your record shelves. I can't wait to see this live...


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dark jazz / ambient / experimental

In my previous review (read), I wrote that Finnish one-man project J. Kill and Mr. Mule had evolved into a full band. The whole thing has become more serious instead of an experimental playground so the band decided to change their name to Käki, which means cuckoo. The music however is still exciting and immersive as ever. So I guess it's only natural that I throw their first four albums into one big review.

"Katoa" means "disappear". This is the first album, a solo effort. Jere recorded this after four days in isolation in a basement studio. It took him twelve hours to complete the album but the result is quite interesting. It combines dark jazz with something I can only describe as gritty Americana music. The songs are slow, lingering blends of jazz, drones and ambient but in a way they also come close to some cosmic, psychedelic jams. I think this stuff is perfectly suited for fans of Dale Cooper Quartet and the Dictaphones or Bohren Und Der Club of Gore and I think I will have to mention these names again real soon.

jazz / experimental

In the past few years, Dutch heavy jazz combo Dead Neanderthals have truly been making a name for themselves. With exploding gigs, an intriguing blend of jazz and grindcore and loads of energy, this duo have shocked and awed audiences far and wide. Including me. I've been a fan since the first time I saw them live. So much that they even ended up in my upcoming book, Cecilia's World. Now that the pre-order for their next album has been kicked off, I think it's finally time to write a few words about this remarkable album. 'The Depths' will be released on August 18 but you can (and should) pre order it right away. The CD version is limited to 500 copies.

What is so special about this album? Well, you can say that Dead Neanderthals recorded it using the biggest reverb/delay effect they could find. Each member of the duo was placed on a different side of a 100 meter long air tunnel. Obviously, such a tunnel creates loads of echoes, delay and reverb on its own and there is no way of manipulating or controlling those sounds. So, to be able to make the recording, Dead Neanderthals had to adapt a completely different way of playing. Below this articles, you can find a documentary about the recording process, filmed by Dick van Aalst and Inge Hondebrink.

The most notable difference between this album and most of their previous work is the tempo. Coming up with hyperspeed drums and even blast beats would make no sense and only result in noise and chaos. So this album is a lot slower than what we're used to from this duo. The four tracks, 'Surface', 'Descent', 'Glimpse' and 'Decompression', are jazz experiments with sax and drums. The whole thing begins with careful exploration of the possibilities, perhaps a bit hesitant at first. Yet, gradually, Dead Neanderthals open up and showcase their full force. 

'Glimpse' is my favorite track on this record. It's an impending tune that seems to nudge towards the dark jazz scene and sounds more atmospheric than experimental. Of course, there is still a lot of delay and reverb, creating this eerie and haunting sound, which I like a lot. But in all, this is a successful experiment, one that certainly fits in with all your other Dead Neanderthal or experimental jazz records. So obviously this one comes highly recommended. It's their calmest record to date, and an experiment that can be repeated anytime.


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psychedelic / experimental / jazz 

And now for something completely different. Today, we've had death metal, ambient, neo classical and metalcore, and now we're diving right into the world of genre-restrictions-ignoring music, guided by American band Crown Larks and their latest effort 'Population'.

The album contains ten songs, and none of them is a normal, easy-digestible pop song. Instead, Crown Larks throw vintage psychedelic rock, free jazz and noise rock into the blender and pour some strange, complex tunes into your ears. The end result is something perplexing, something Zappa would love.

Bands that come to mind include Zappa but also Unsane, Can, Faust, Boredoms, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Melvins, Zu, Ween, Black Dice and Primus. I would also add some free jazz bands but I don't know that many jazz combos. Then again, that is already an impressive list of bands and perhaps a confusing one too. But rest assured, everything about this album is confusing. Here are some questions that have come up.

-Are the people on the cover having sex or are they strangling each other?
-Are those electronics or analog instruments?
-How the fuck am I going to describe this to our readers?

Fact remains, even though I don't really know how to categorize this album, I'm enjoying the hell out of it. This is definitely one of the most confusing albums I've ever heard but it's also a damn good one. There is a certain playfulness throughout the entire album, which somehow provides the band with their own sound, even with the massive whirlpool of genres and influences they have mixed together. 

So if you love anything between krautrock, psychedelic rock, drone folk and jazz, you should really check out this album. It's a bit like an instrument store coming to life and creating all kinds of mesmerizing tunes at night. As far as I'm concerned, this is a highly interesting piece of work with plenty of highlights and plenty of surprises. These songs are going right into my day-to-day playlist and I suggest you do the same.


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drone / ambient / jazz

Aidan Baker is a busy man. In the past few months I have been reviewing albums from his bands Caudal and Whisper Room. He has been cooperating with people like Karen Willems and Tomas Järmyr. However, he still seemed to have some time left to record and release solo albums. 

On 'The Silent World' Baker plays guitars, drums and bass. He calls it "underwater jazz/rock" and in a way, that covers the load quite well. The album contains three elongated tracks in which Baker explores and crosses the borders of his well-known drones and ambient.

You can hear the influences from the drummers Aidan Baker has been working with as he takes on an experimental, free jazz inspired approach to that particular instrument. Everything else can easily be compared to all his previous work, with drones, soundscapes and strange experimental pieces of audio. Perhaps, that more experimental approach makes this album somewhat more difficult to digest but it's nonetheless a classic Aidan Baker piece.

I think it's safe to say that after krautrock and space rock, Aidan Baker now carefully delves into the world of jazz. As usual, he does it his own way, which results in something interesting and at times highly immersive. Fans of Aidan Baker can blindly trust this album to be satisfying, that's for sure. So go ahead, treat yourself to another delightful musical experience and add this album to your already impressive collection.


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