Alternative Editions of Contemporary Music.

[cybot]

Venture Records from 1988....

[mcq]

Listening this afternoon to Hedwig Mollestad's second album, All Them Witches.  One of the finest guitarists to emerge in recent times, this exceptional and perfectly formed album is an amalgam of her varied interests - Seventies Rock, Eighties metal/thrash, progressive modern jazz and Japanese noisecore - filtered through a very finely tuned musical sensibility.  References abound to Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin on one hand, followed by Voivod and Slayer, interspersed with an immersion in the soundworlds of Keiji Heino and Merzbow combined with an appreciation of Last Exit, John Zorn's Naked City and the great Tony Williams' jazz power trios Lifetime and Arcana, all brought together with the intensely schooled discipline of Robert Fripp.  And yet, despite the breadth of these influences, it all flows and merges together beautifully.  Tellingly, there is no post-modern sense of mockery in the Seventies and Eighties Rock/Metal quotes.  Mollestad loves this music deeply and you get the sense that, whilst Sabbath and Voivod may not be considered in some quarters to be as "cool" as, say Sharrock or Heino, to her it's just another facet in her musical DNA.  Also, despite her undoubted gifts as a musician, she does not flaunt her virtuousity.  This is, first and foremost, a band record.  All of the experimental influences are integrated by the adherence to the rhythmic groove.  Crucial to the primal impact of this band sound is the use of a double bassist rather than an electric bassist which extends upon and develops the textures .  Listen to the third track, Lake Acid, introduced by the chthonic larger than life bass of Ellen Brekken - who reminds me a little of Michael Henderson on Miles Davis' Seventies bands or Bill Laswell  although both of these used electric basses -  and then Mollestad cuts across the groove with a ferociously charged solo that recalls the force of Sonny Sharrock in Last Exit.  And not a note is wasted.  She makes her point with concision and devastating impact and then winds down the music after five minutes.  And then there is the almost telepathic musical interplay of the breathless Indian Driving.  This is an exceptional artist to be followed very closely.

[cybot]

Listening this afternoon to Hedwig Mollestad's second album, All Them Witches.  One of the finest guitarists to emerge in recent times, this exceptional and perfectly formed album is an amalgam of her varied interests - Seventies Rock, Eighties metal/thrash, progressive modern jazz and Japanese noisecore - filtered through a very finely tuned musical sensibility.  References abound to Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin on one hand, followed by Voivod and Slayer, interspersed with an immersion in the soundworlds of Keiji Heino and Merzbow combined with an appreciation of Last Exit, John Zorn's Naked City and the great Tony Williams' jazz power trios Lifetime and Arcana, all brought together with the intensely schooled discipline of Robert Fripp.  And yet, despite the breadth of these influences, it all flows and merges together beautifully.  Tellingly, there is no post-modern sense of mockery in the Seventies and Eighties Rock/Metal quotes.  Mollestad loves this music deeply and you get the sense that, whilst Sabbath and Voivod may not be considered in some quarters to be as "cool" as, say Sharrock or Heino, to her it's just another facet in her musical DNA.  Also, despite her undoubted gifts as a musician, she does not flaunt her virtuousity.  This is, first and foremost, a band record.  All of the experimental influences are integrated by the adherence to the rhythmic groove.  Crucial to the primal impact of this band sound is the use of a double bassist rather than an electric bassist which extends upon and develops the textures .  Listen to the third track, Lake Acid, introduced by the chthonic larger than life bass of Ellen Brekken - who reminds me a little of Michael Henderson on Miles Davis' Seventies bands or Bill Laswell  although both of these used electric basses -  and then Mollestad cuts across the groove with a ferociously charged solo that recalls the force of Sonny Sharrock in Last Exit.  And not a note is wasted.  She makes her point with concision and devastating impact and then winds down the music after five minutes.  And then there is the almost telepathic musical interplay of the breathless Indian Driving.  This is an exceptional artist to be followed very closely.

Sorry it's me again! I've been raving about Hedvig's band a long time now but as usual nobody passed any remarks....until now. Thanks Paul you have just made my day :) Oh brilliant write up too as per usual.....I take you've heard Shoot too?

[cybot]

Couldn't resist playing this now! I think it's even better than the follow up much as I love it too. One thing that stands out is her total control/tone on the slower numbers eg Dooms Lair. Great title :)

[mcq]

Shoot was an excellent debut, artistically fully-formed and strikingly diverse in its influences, but All Them Witches to me was both a development and refinement of that sound to produce a work that is even more special.  This afternoon I listened to it three times in a row and each time I emerged utterly energised and eager to hear more.  It is genuinely compulsive listening in a way that reminds me of how I felt listening to Miles' Jack Johnson, Last Exit and Naked City for the first time.  Also, Voivod's Dimension Hotross, which I haven't heard in a long time but was a crucial step in my musical education along with Slayer's Reign In Blood. The kind of music that takes you down strange new roads and dusty cul-de-sacs where you discover some amazing music. I haven't yet heard the new album, Enfant Terrible, though I'm eager to hear it.  According to the following review, it's a heavier sounding record but it also loses some of the eclecticism of the first two albums:

http://thequietus.com/articles/15356-he ... ble-review

Mollestad is an artist that I'm genuinely excited about and it will be very interesting to follow her development.  Hopefully she will continue to follow her own path and won't get sidetracked.

[cybot]

Shoot was an excellent debut, artistically fully-formed and strikingly diverse in its influences, but All Them Witches to me was both a development and refinement of that sound to produce a work that is even more special.  This afternoon I listened to it three times in a row and each time I emerged utterly energised and eager to hear more.  It is genuinely compulsive listening in a way that reminds me of how I felt listening to Miles' Jack Johnson, Last Exit and Naked City for the first time.  Also, Voivod's Dimension Hotross, which I haven't heard in a long time but was a crucial step in my musical education along with Slayer's Reign In Blood. The kind of music that takes you down strange new roads and dusty cul-de-sacs where you discover some amazing music. I haven't yet heard the new album, Enfant Terrible, though I'm eager to hear it.  According to the following review, it's a heavier sounding record but it also loses some of the eclecticism of the first two albums:

http://thequietus.com/articles/15356-he ... ble-review

Mollestad is an artist that I'm genuinely excited about and it will be very interesting to follow her development.  Hopefully she will continue to follow her own path and won't get sidetracked.

Oh Christ I didn't know she has a new album in the pipeline! That's fantastic news! Thanks for letting me know. I'll read the review later and hope against hope that it's available on vinyl :) I don't care if it's heavier and less eclectic. It's Helvig doing her magic :) I hear about you wanting to hear more. The albums are way too short!



https://soundcloud.com/rune-grammofon/h ... io-arigato - sample from new album....


I've just ordered my vinyl copy from Norman Records :)))))))

[cybot]

On its way. Can't friggin' wait. Coolest looking guitarist EVER :)

[mcq]

I bought it today in HMV, Dermot, and I've been playing it on repeat for the last couple of hours.  Much like the first two albums, this is invigorating, life-enhancing music of the highest order.  Behind the primal rhythmic groove, it is extremely inventive music which rewards close listening.  The level of musical intuition on display here borders on the telepathic.  Rather like All Them Witches, this is more of a gradual refinement of Shoot than a radical overhaul.  However, Shoot was so fully formed in its maturity that no such overhaul is required. The development here is in the textural density of the band sound which appears to thicken and intensify with every listen.  Crucial to the band sound is bassist Ellen Brekken.  It is worthwhile listening to her contributions very closely and hearing just how much Mollestad feeds off her.  The delightfully named Arigato, Bitch is a fine example of this.  About two minutes into the track, Mollestad drops out, Brekken subtly shifts the time signature, drummer Ivar Loe Bjornstad locks into the groove and Mollestad just listens and listens, takes a breath and then launches into a quite  extraordinary solo, breathless in intensity, ferocious in attack, a model of invention and perhaps the best thing she's ever recorded.  Comparsons to Sonny Sharrock, Pete Cosey and Fred Frith are not far-fetched.  I mention Pete Cosey because I remember his work with Miles in the 1974/5 bands where he would work off bassist Michael Henderson's grooves in the same way.  (One other thing: Mollestad's references to rock and metal remind me of Pete Cosey's and Sonny Sharrock's rhythm and blues backgrounds and their love of this music which filters through in the many bluesy riffs which they incorporated into the  most experimental of musical contexts.)    It beats repeating: Mollestad is a very gifted musician with an extraordinary future ahead of her.

I do wonder what direction will Mollestad take next.  Will she be tempted like fellow Rune Grammophon artist Susanna Wallumrod to record an album on ECM?  That would be interesting and it would open up the possibility of working with Terje Rypdal, Eivind Aarset or Nik Bartsch.  It would be a big mistake, however, to abandon the exceptional musicians in her current band.

[mcq]

Listening tonight to Nik Bartsch's Ronin.  The music is built on a series of repetitive cell structures, organically shifting from within, and incorporating elements of Reichian minimalism, gamelan, ambient trance, and a deep-rooted love of funk music.  There are opposing forces at work here in the juxtaposition of the physical groove of the music tempered by the  formal clarity of Bartsch's direction of this music.  This music also occupies a borderline between composition and improvisation in the way the polyrhythmic pulses and repetitive rhythmic motifs are organically bound within an interlocking pattern that forms the internal cellular structure which, in turn, form part of the modular whole.  Like Anthony Braxton, Bartsch avoids composition names and utilises "modul" numbers instead. One of Manfred Eicher's most interesting signings to ECM.

[cybot]

I bought it today in HMV, Dermot, and I've been playing it on repeat for the last couple of hours.  Much like the first two albums, this is invigorating, life-enhancing music of the highest order.  Behind the primal rhythmic groove, it is extremely inventive music which rewards close listening.  The level of musical intuition on display here borders on the telepathic.  Rather like All Them Witches, this is more of a gradual refinement of Shoot than a radical overhaul.  However, Shoot was so fully formed in its maturity that no such overhaul is required. The development here is in the textural density of the band sound which appears to thicken and intensify with every listen.  Crucial to the band sound is bassist Ellen Brekken.  It is worthwhile listening to her contributions very closely and hearing just how much Mollestad feeds off her.  The delightfully named Arigato, Bitch is a fine example of this.  About two minutes into the track, Mollestad drops out, Brekken subtly shifts the time signature, drummer Ivar Loe Bjornstad locks into the groove and Mollestad just listens and listens, takes a breath and then launches into a quite  extraordinary solo, breathless in intensity, ferocious in attack, a model of invention and perhaps the best thing she's ever recorded.  Comparsons to Sonny Sharrock, Pete Cosey and Fred Frith are not far-fetched.  I mention Pete Cosey because I remember his work with Miles in the 1974/5 bands where he would work off bassist Michael Henderson's grooves in the same way.  (One other thing: Mollestad's references to rock and metal remind me of Pete Cosey's and Sonny Sharrock's rhythm and blues backgrounds and their love of this music which filters through in the many bluesy riffs which they incorporated into the  most experimental of musical contexts.)    It beats repeating: Mollestad is a very gifted musician with an extraordinary future ahead of her.

I do wonder what direction will Mollestad take next.  Will she be tempted like fellow Rune Grammophon artist Susanna Wallumrod to record an album on ECM?  That would be interesting and it would open up the possibility of working with Terje Rypdal, Eivind Aarset or Nik Bartsch.  It would be a big mistake, however, to abandon the exceptional musicians in her current band.

Oh, oh, ohhhhhh! Thanks for that Paul. Again I can't wait....