RARE NOISE TO RELEASE ALBUMS BY
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Partners
Mark Aanderud & Hernan Hecht
Present a New Take
On the Piano Trio with their Highly Evocative
'RGB'
Bassist Stomu Takeishi
Joins the Inner Circle on Molé's Second
RareNoise Release
AVAILABLE IN STORES AND ONLINE ON DECEMBER 8, 2014
AND THROUGH RARE NOISE RECORDS
ON CD, VINYL AND HI-RES DIGITAL DOWNLOAD
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Mark Aanderud
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Piano, Keys, Electronics
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Stomu Takeshi
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Electric Bass
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Hernan Hecht
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Drums
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ABOUT THE LABEL - RareNoiseRecords was founded in late 2008 by two Italians, guitarist/arranger/ producer Eraldo Bernocchi and all-round music nut Giacomo Bruzzo. Located
in London, the label was created to present a platform to musicians and
listeners alike who think beyond musical boundaries of genre. For
further information and to listen please go to www.rarenoiserecords.com or https://www.rarenoiserecords.com/jukebox/mole/rgb/
New York, November 6, 2014 - Freedom, experimentation and telepathy are the watch words for RGB,
the latest transcendent collaboration of pianist-composer Mark Aanderud
and drummer Hernan Hecht under their collective name of Molé.
Joining the two longstanding partners on their second RareNoise outing
is the inventive Japanese bassist and longtime New York resident Stomu
Takeishi, whose highly expressive and adventurous low-end presence has
graced albums by such forward-thinking, cutting-edge artists as
saxophonist Henry Threadgill, cellist Erik Friedlander, trumpeter Cuong
Vu, saxophonist Patrick Zimmerli, pianists Myra Melford and Satoko Fuji.
Together these three refined, deep-listening musicians strike a rare
accord on pieces that range from meditative motifs to rhapsodic
crescendos, from spacious, ECM-ish soundscapes to turbulent, collective
jams.
It
was nearly ten years ago that Mexican-born pianist-composer Mark
Aanderud (now living in Prague) began playing with Argentinian drummer
Hernan Hecht. Their chemistry was immediate and natural, eventually
leading to the formation of Molé, a vehicle to explore their common
interests. As Aanderud explained, "Hernan and I do have certain unspoken
philosophies. We love sound, groove, freedom and songs. The first
things we did were all related to free music, with electronic elements
or not, but always with the idea of creating songs or forms in the
moment. We do have some incredible magic going on, as much as we can
play concerts or record without ever speaking of music, and never
repeating ideas or stop developing. This actually hasn't changed over
the years."
After
exploring their tight duet chemistry together on gigs, Aanderud and
Hecht began inviting other musicians into their inner circle to see how
it affected their music. "In the process of creation, we always
considered the possibility of working with more people to achieve
different characters, sounds and experience new artistic possibilities,"
explained Hecht. To date, those musicians who have stepped into Molé's
inner circle have included American saxophonist Tim Berne, Israeli
saxophonist Eli Degibri, Austrian saxophonist Edith Lettner, American
guitarists Jonathan Kreisberg and Mike Moreno, Mexican bassists Aaron
Cruz and Marco Renteria. Mole's hard-hitting 2012 RareNoiseRecords
debut, What's the Meaning?, featured Mexican upright bassist (and
Aanderud's boyhood friend) Jorge "Luri" Molina and New York guitarist
David Gilmore, whose impressive list of credits includes tours and
recordings with the likes of Wayne Shorter, Trilok Gurtu, Don Byron and
Steve Coleman's Five Elements.
On RGB,
with bassist Takeishi affecting the overall vibe with his intuitive
genius, things opened up and became more conversational and telepathic
in the process. "After What's the Meaning?, it became very clear
that the music we should continue doing had to go back to what we always
did, and that was to experiment," says Molé's principal composer
Aanderud. "And we always had Stomu in mind. We always loved his sound,
his approach and concepts. He is unique artist. We couldn't think of
anybody better for this, so we just decided to send him an email and
invite him to do a tour and record. Once he said yes I started composing
all the music thinking of the three of us. I wanted to do music that
would be as open as possible but that would provide a rhythmic and
structural base to start with. As you can imagine, Stomu absorbed and
exceeded the music."
From the meditative soundscape of "Sub-All" to the frantic funk of "Reasons," fueled by Hecht's slamming backbeats and Aanderud's hyper piano solo, to the suite-like "Trichromatic,"
which travels from an evocative rubato into to a free section in the
middle which resolves to a lyrical theme, this edition of Molé is
perhaps the most flexible and experimental of all. "Winip" opens
with a hymn-like refrain before heading into a heavy-duty Bad Plus-like
theme underscored by Hecht's big-as-a-house backbeats. "Freelance" has Takeishi pushing the envelope with effects before soloing over a drum 'n' bass groove by Hecht while "Rodriguez"
is Molé's unique take on the classic Clyde Stubblefield-Jabo Starks
funky drummer groove from classic James Brown bands of the '60s. The
extremely spacious "T-Overlap" leads into some provocative collective improv while "Ine Sest"
opens on a classical not with a piano etude by Aanderud before evolving
into a whimsically tuneful number underscored by Hecht's supple
brushwork. And the closing three-way conversation on "Wix," paced by an exacting and infectious 6/8 over 5/8 groove, is perhaps the best example of collective improvisation on the record.
"I had written eight songs for this record," says Aanderud. "Some, like 'Winip,' 'Reasons,' 'Wix' and 'Rodriguez',
had a lot of notes. So I thought I had to balance it and add some songs
that would be easier and would provide an atmosphere for creating
something. So I wrote other four songs -- 'Sub-All,' 'Ine Sest,' 'Freelance' and a fourth one that became the ending part of 'Winip.' But for the recording I thought we should start playing something free, and that was 'T-Overlap.' I liked it so much that I proposed to do another free improvisation which became 'Trichromatic.'
After that we just went on to do what was planned. There is a lot of
experimenting in the music, but there is very precise stuff. There are
no chords on this music. There is no structure for improvisation either.
Some ideas are very chromatic with hard rhythms and others are just the
simplest I could think of. But there was always a direction towards
improvisation."
Aanderud
is also quick to point out, "I had some clear influences for writing
this music. Tim Berne was one, Paul Motian another. I was also inspired
by other bands like Aphex Twin, Massive Attack, Lamb or Sigur Ros and,
of course, Cuong Vu, Peabody and many other bands that may be of
inspiration." While eight of the titles on RGB were composed by
Aanderud, his kindred spirit Hecht is a key component in the band's
overall sound. "In this Molé project, Mark is the composer and I create
opportunities for the music to thrive," says the inventive and flexible
drummer. "I'm involved in the creative process of interpreting the
songs. In this environment, our aesthetics work together." Adds Hecht,
"I think we are part of a worldwide movement, a generational shift that
has fewer stylistic prejudices. I am interested in music that is broad,
not determined by a style. I like breadth of concepts and the
possibility of being in infinite change, refreshing me, trying to find
freedom for the child in me and permit manifestations to occur in music;
a deep love of life and nature, a freshness to grow and advance in
years, sure to shape a better person and hopefully help make this world
a better place for everyone."
In
the company of the extraordinarily sensitive and expressive bassist
Stomu Takeishi, Aanderud and Hecht make some startling sonic discoveries
together on RGB.
TRACKS
1. Sub-All
2. Reasons
3. Trichromatic
4. Winip
5. Freelance
6. Rodriguez
7. T. Overlap
8. Ine Sest
9. Wix
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Hungarian Power Trio
Joins Norwegian Saxophone Icon
Kjetil Møster
On Provocative New Collaboration For
RareNoiseRecords
JÜ Meets Møster
AVAILABLE IN STORES AND ONLINE ON DECEMBER 8, 2014
AND THROUGH RARE NOISE RECORDS
ON CD, VINYL AND HI-RES DIGITAL DOWNLOAD
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Àdàm Mészáros
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Guitar
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Ernö Hock
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Electric Bass
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Andràs Halmos
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Drums
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and
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Kjetil Møster
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Saxophones & Clarinet
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ABOUT THE LABEL - RareNoiseRecords was founded in late 2008 by two Italians, guitarist/arranger/ producer Eraldo Bernocchi and all-round music nut Giacomo Bruzzo. Located
in London, the label was created to present a platform to musicians and
listeners alike who think beyond musical boundaries of genre. For
further information and to listen please go to www.rarenoiserecords.com or https://www.rarenoiserecords.com/jukebox/ju-moster/jmm/
New York, November 6, 2014 - Worlds collide when the raucous Budapest-based power trio JÜ (consisting of fire-breathing guitarist Àdàm Mészáros, fuzz-bassist Ernö Hock and the remarkably flexible drummer Andràs Halmos) joins Bergen-based saxophonist Kjetil Møster
for this subversive meeting of the minds on RareNoise Records. A
powerful manifesto for ecstatic, exploratory, envelope-pushing music
mixed by Bill Laswell and mastered by Michael Fossenkemper. JÜ Meets Møster bridges the gap between free jazz and hellacious, distortion-laced, guitar-driven hardcore rock.
The album opens on an explosive note with a turbulent tenor sax-drums breakdown between Møster and Halmos on "Dear Johann" which takes on the feel of latter day John Coltrane or free jazz icon Albert Ayler jamming with the Allman Brothers Band on "Whipping Post" or vintage King Crimson on "21st Century Schizoid Man. "Bhajan"
opens on a darker, more mysterious vibe before building to a potent
crescendo, with Møster wailing on baritone sax, which is steeped in the
tradition of Jimi Hendrix's bold jazz-rock anthem "Third Stone From the
Sun." Møster stretches freely with baritone sax on the moody and
spacious "Morze" while "Hassassin," full of slamming unisons and fierce overblowing by Møster, is an intense showcase for drummer Halmos.Mészáros adds
another frantic six-string onslaught at the tag of this intense
offering. The four intrepid musicians explore collectively on the more
atmospheric "KJÜ" and they close out the collection with the expansive, 15-minute "One,"
which makes dramatic use of echo to create an otherworldly texture
before building to a powerhouse conclusion of thunderous proportions.
"This
collaboration came about because I got to know Andras after he attended
the very first concert of my own band called Møster! at Kongsberg Jazz
Festival in Norway," explains the esteemed saxophonist. "One of my own
goals with my own group is to show that different genres are not
necessarily as far away from each other as one might think today. Up
until the mid-80's, musicians and artists from completely different
musical directions were collaborating and drawing inspirations from one
another. I dream of the times when Velvet Underground would go to Sun Ra
concerts and use the inspiration in their own music. Or to hear the
mythical collaboration between Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix. (My theory
is that the music industry needed the segregation of musical genres to
increase their sales, making people incapable of using their musical
taste and to think for themselves, since the record labels already told
them what the music was and who should buy what genres.) So I guess
Andras heard some reflections of his own thoughts in my music and
invited me to play with some Hungarian soulmates called JÜ. In
describing his process of collaboration with JÜ on this RareNoise debut,
Møster offers, "What surprised me was that they use some of the same
compositional approaches to improvisation as I do. So the compositions
are just skeletons, and we put meat on them as we improvise. And some of
them, like KJÜ, is all free improvised, but as we go we talk
about sound textures, instrumentation, temperature, forms and shapes. It
might sound academic or intellectual, but it's done very intuitively".
Regarding
his own influences that came to bear on this rare encounter with JÜ,
Møster explains, "For me, Coltrane has without a doubt been the
strongest influence on my life as a musician. I've had many incredibly
strong, overwhelming, physical experiences listening to him. And his
approach to music has learned me a lot. And seeing how he influenced
Albert Ayler, John Gilmore, Roscoe Mitchell, Pharoah Sanders, Wayne
Shorter, to name a few, has expanded that influence, since they also
influenced me a lot.
As
for the open-mindedness that he exhibits as a musician on this project
and others, Møster says, "I do play very many different kinds of music
and with many different bands. This past summer I played with Röyksopp
and Robyn, an amazing Norwegian rapper named Lars Vaular and my long
time electro-rock band Datarock.I find the same kind of open-mindedness
in the members of JÜ. They all play and like very different kinds of
music. So we can play on very different references, talking musically
together in different languages, or mixing languages, so to speak.
Halmos
started playing music relative late, at age 17, but soon found himself
in a band that played complex compositions with odd meters. "Over the
last 20 years or so I've played in many bands in many styles but I've
always stayed in the underground circuit as a musician," he explains.
"In the last 11 years I've made my living as a concert promoter for
bigger venues and festivals, bringing acts that never played in Hungary
before. As an organizer, I've had a chance to spend time with many of my
musical heroes like drummers Joey Baron, Kenny Wollesen, Billy Martin
and learned a lot from them. I also had chance to study and play with
drummer Hamid Drake and bassist William Parker as a member of a workshop
big band at the Mediawave festival. The two of them introduced me to
Gnawan music and encouraged me to study it. In fact some of the first
things we ever played together in JÜ were based on those trance-like
Gnawan patterns. Guitarist Mészáros
was initially inspired by the Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin records
his father turned him on to. "From age 10 we always had a guitar at
home," he recalls. "I played but never got too serious about it until
high school when I actually forced myself to listen to and learn jazz
because I felt like this was what I had to do to get a degree in music
and to be a high level player. And, of course, players like John
Scofield, John McLaughlin and Bill Frisell just blew my mind." By 2005, Mészáros
grew tired of formal music studies and began playing in pop-rock bands,
traveling across Europe and earning money along the way. By 2007, he
started to get involved in experimental and improvisational music, which
led to his encounter with Hock and Halmos. Bassist Hock
began playing at age 15. "My main influences were hardcore and metal
back then which changed almost immediately when I was introduced to the
double bass at age 21," he recalls. "First it got me into Hungarian folk
music, then later jazz, and that was followed by a variety of genres
(classical music, hip-hop and electronic music, music from Morocco and
other parts of Africa, Avant - Garde and free music.)"
TRACKS
1. Dear Johann
2. Bhajan
3. Morze (for Ágoston Bèla)
4 Hassassin
5. KJU
6. One
PRESS CONTACT
Antje Hübner
hubtone PR | New York
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