| Barrel
Fire is The Gordon Grdina Trios' most brutally
driving, raw, dynamic record to date. The collaboration between
GG3 and Mats Gustafsson at the 2009 Vancouver International
Jazz Festival was recorded and Barrel Fire is the first set from that
night. There are few edits in order to retain the natural raw power of
the original concert. The band expands and explodes through the melodic
sketches with inherent interest in the raw dynamic energy of group
improvisation. The group sounds at times like a freight train screaming
down the tracks in the dark recesses of your city but as the Oud takes
the fore ground we are reminded of the sensitive and delicate reflection
in this darkness. There are moments of silence and individual exploration
filled with the intensity of the search. The search to let go to what
will become. The band owes as much of a debt to the energy of bands like
The EX, and The Dead Kennedys as it does to the primal melodic sensibility
of Albert Ayler and the sophistication of Ornette Coleman. This
music is engaging and gripping, an onslaught.
The Gord
Grdina Trio is based out of Vancouver, BC and has been a working
touring ensemble since 2005. The Trio consists of Gord Grdina
(guitar, oud), Kenton Loewen (drums) and Tommy Babin (bass). They have
collaborated with many of the world’s top improviser’s such
as Fredrik Ljungkvist, Eric Boeren, Wilbert De Joode, Michael Moore, Jerry
Granelli, Michael Blake, Jeb Bishop, Kent Kessler, Mark Helias, Ingebrigt
Haker- Flaten and Fred Longberg-Holm. They have toured throughout
North America and Europe regularly since 2005.
Gordon
Grdina is a guitar/oud player that is constantly reinventing
himself while retaining an individual voice. Aside from the GG3 he leads
the East Van Strings, Haram, and Sangha. He also records and performs
regularly with Dan Mangan and The Crackling.
Kenton Loewen has been a seminal member of the Vancouver
improvising and rock communities performing in such wide ranging groups
as the anarchist punk band Submission Hold, art pop group Mother Mother,
The Now Orchestra, Tanya Tagaq, and the Coat Cooke Trio. He is currently
with Dan Mangan and is the leader/songwriter for The Crackling.
Tommy Babin started his career in Montreal playing with
Jorane, Thomas Hellman, and Les Projectionnistes before moving to Vancouver
in 2005. He has played with great jazz and world musicians
like Daniele D’Agaro, Hamid Drake, Joel Miller, Ramachandra Borcar,
and Paul Plimley. He currently leads Benzene, and Sendero Luminoso.
Mats Gustafson was born 1964 in Umeå, Northern
Sweden. He is a saxplayer, improviser and composer. Mats works as a solo
artist and tours internationally with Peter Brötzmann, Sonic Youth,
Merzbow, Jim O´Rourke, Barry Guy, Otomo Yoshihide, Yoshimi and in
working groups The Thing, Sonore, FIRE!, Gush, Boots Brown, Swedish Azz
and Nash Kontroll. Mats is a member of the Barry Guy New Orchestra, the
Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet and the NU – ensemble. Mats has
done over 1600 concerts and has appeared on at least 150 records in Europe,
North America and Asia.
Press:
"...this is a stunner." - The
Province
"There
is so much power behind the drum hits, so much pent-up frustration in
the guitar entanglements and as usual, Gustafsson makes the sax sound
like a rabid beast rather than a musical instrument. Seek this recording
out." - Beat Route
"Grdina's guitar and oud playing acts
as a good foil to Gustafsson, with Babin and drummer Kenton Loewen supplying
just the high-octane rhythm section required. Thrilling stuff." -
All About Jazz
"After
its initial impact, relentless fury soon becomes one-dimensional, but
Grdina and his rhythm section leaven Gustafsson's bluster and he responds,
making this music for repeated listening as well as catharsis." -
The Wire
"Fast-paced
heads, smoking improvisations, and a high level of interaction between
everyone." - Monsieur Délire
"...the resulting sound is as violent
as the cover art." - Pop Matters
"Free,
yet focused, intense and over-the-top, this is one of heaviest discs I've
recently reckoned with." - Bruce Lee Gallanter (Downtown
Music Gallery)
"Egged
on by a worshipful audience, the band rips through five pieces like a
rabid dog on the attack, the musicians' sound at times reminiscent of
Naked City in intensity and of Ornette Coleman's (original) Prime Time
in harmolodic approach." - Textura
"...from acid-toned string-tickling
skitter to boring-down relentlessness..." - Paris Transatlantic
Magazine
"There
is freshness and vitality to the performance, tight ensemble playing,
power, subtlety - what's not to like?" - Hour
"It’s
stirring stuff, and the band’s ability to infuse jazz with this sort
of manic skronk is not something I’ve encountered much beyond bands
like Ultralyd, Universal Congress of, or John Zorn during his Naked City
and Painkiller era." - Foxy
Digitalis
Album
Review: All About Jazz
Album
Review: Pop Matters
Album
Review: Foxy Digitalis
Album
Review: Paris Transatlantic Magazine
Album
Review: Hour
Album
Review: Exclaim!
Album
Review: Left Hip Magazine
Album
Review: (Free) Jazz Alchemist
Album Review:
Spontaneous Combustion
Album
Review: Montreal Mirror (Scroll Down!)
Album
Review: Jazz Word
Feature:
The Province
Album
Review: Textura
Album
Review: Beat Route
Article:
Top Ten of 2010 / The Province
Album
Review: Monsieur Délire
Album
Review: Downtown Music Gallery
Links:
gordgrdina.com
matsgustafsson.com
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