zukanican

zukanican - the stumbling block (pickled egg, 2009)

"The Stumbling Block is Zukanican’s second album and third release on Pickled Egg Records. Recorded in 2007-8 at The Kif in Liverpool the 8 track album mirrors the band’s live performances perhaps more than their other releases. The album was recorded and mixed by Zukanican and studio trickery has been kept to a minimum; what you hear ‘is was’".

Pickled Egg trae de nuevo a un cuarteto que, personalmente y gracias a ana, supuso uno de los grandes hallazgos del nuevo milenio. Zukanican continúa por la senda del electronic free-funk-jazz de su predecesor, hipnosis rítmica, furtivos en la noche, in crescendos explosivos... las nuevas grabaciones suenan igualmente expansivas pero descaradamente más groovies. Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Liquid Liquid, Kluster meets La Düsseldorf en la preferida 'koanish' y la fluctuante y nebulosa 'penny dance test'. Algo de canterbury debe haber ya que aún sigo creyendo que el bajo de Tom Sumnall continúa en la senda de '1984' de Hugh Hopper, hasta de Slapp Happy podríamos hablar aquí. Creo que volveré a decir aquello de: mi cabeza da vueltas, explosivo, catártico y sensual.

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foto: peripheral anomaly

zukanican

zukanican - horse republic (lazily spun related - pickled egg, 2006)

hoy, haciendo el día más bonito, Zukanican, cinco hombres fascinantes y un disco maravilloso, de los que hay que escuchar muchas veces para que se conviertan en imprescindibles, lleno de matices, de guiños. combinación infalible de Can, Rauhan Orkesteri, Soft Machine, Sun Ra, The Tower Recordings, Wooden Wand, Davenport, Sculptress y Art Ensemble of Chicago. imaginad un disco como Future Days arreglado y producido por Clay Ruby, con todas las simpatías puestas en Billy Bang, Valerio Cosi y No Neck Blues Band. imaginad Impressions de blue trane con invitados como Ghost. o mejor no imaginéis nada...Horse Republic es un disco que merece la pena descubrir. sería injusto si no lo fuera. saxo, percusiones africanas, clincs, boooms ...el delirio. Thingyo, la única que se aleja un poco del tono general del disco, y tal vez la que menos impacta, me recuerda a canciones como Moss Trumpeter de Ooioo. Bug Hunter (sutil y explosiva), Where are the Casualties? (vertiginosa), Ringa Roga (trepidante) y Trawling for Horses (auténtica sinfonía marina en clave free jazz, síntesis perfecta de su inabarcable universo) son sencillamente impresionantes.

“Theremin battery, skippy keys, s-bending bass, drill pattern drums, siren organ in continuum, other pulses muscling in on the action, a diversion into free-funk with sci-fi white noise cutting across.”

“…Zukanican can safely be categorized as uncategorizeable”

“…..free jazz fragments flutter by like psychedelic moths attracted by the fire”

“….. their free-flowing improvisations, tasty Krautrock grooves and jazz flourishes immediately paint a huge aural canvas with thick layers of colors borrowed from just about everyone from Coltrane and Sun Ra to The Soft Machine and Bablicon.”

Ray Dickaty: saxophones & flute
Phil Lucking: trumpets
James Pagella: drums and percussion
Harry Sumnall: synths and percussion
Tom Sumnall: bass

'Thingyo' (mp3)

'Leak winks' (mp3)

nalle

nalle - by chance upon waking (pickled egg cd, 2006)

"Nalle is the Finnish word for teddy bear or little bear and as this gatefold card cover is adorned with Hanna Tuulikki's exquisite drawings of bears, trees and more, I'm sold on it at once! Nalle is a trio: Hanna, Chris Hladowski (Scatter) and Aby Vulliamy (One Ensemble of Daniel Padden). They play an exotic selection of stringed and percussive instruments in a style that's tinged with hints of North African, Eastern & Northern European musics. You might call this "folk", although that falls short of describing the beguiling noise they make together. Pinning Hanna's voice down in a few words is the hardest part of all... at once she can sound childlike and as though she's a conduit for some ancient force from the depths of a stone-age well! Nalle have something unique to offer. That's a rare thing and this album is one to cherish"

"Nalle play a relaxed and explorative set which works its way through a stunning amalgam of folk, psyche, improv and drone. Slow-strumming, madrigal-esque folk mutations, somewhat in the vein of Fursaxa, long notes hanging suspended in the air like mean, mystical old albatrosses. A masterclass in drone, teasing blissful feedback textures from bowed bouzouki, clarinet, and a fine array of pedals"

sunne song & midwinters dream

....más aquí y aquí