Reviews 2130
Naturally, his hook-up with Norwegian outfit Fire! is of a different stripe to either of those releases, being a jazz rock blowout of epic proportions. "In The Mouth - A Hand" is a fierce old mess indeed. Of the session's four tracks, "And The Stories Will Flood Your Satisfaction (With Terror)" is the killer, building inexorably from dogged rhythmic repetition to drawn-out implications, maintaining intensity even as it twists itself out of shape. Even with Ambarchi´s sheet-metal skree, Gustafsson om biting form and drummer Andreas Werlin kicking seven shades out of his kit, bassist Johan Berthling emerges as the ensemble´s star player, bobbing and weaving his way through the tracks with a dexterity bordering on the superhuman.
The Wire (UK)
Over four monolithic drone workouts, Ambarchi wrestles furious chord clusters and explosive retches from his strings, at times approaching Keiji Haino at his most insularly demented. Johan Berthling on bass and Andreas Werliin on drums are the perfect rhythm section as foil to Ambarchi, setting up metronomic patterns which underlay his free-forming. Mats Gustafsson is curiously restrained, limiting his ecstatic sax blurting to the first two pieces here, after which he skilfully adds washes of organ and electronics to the densely layered mix. Not for the faint-hearted or sore of head, this is a spectacular volley of jazz-infused rock noise.
Rock-a-Rolla (UK)
Let me wager that this elemental LP from free-rock trio Fire! was recorded at CERN, the world's largest physics lab, with Australian musician Oren Ambarchi plugging his guitar straight into the Large Hadron Collider. It´s as if he´s converting a stream of radioactive energy into a gushing mass of distortion and feedback, egged on by biker-gang physicists equipped with superconductors for drums. Out of this deranged experiment a new life-form is born, expelling its first lungful in a hideous retching howl which tears through the speaker cone like an Alien chest-burster. Or perhaps that's just Nats Gustafsson's imperious sax. Either way, this is heavier thatn the Higgs Boson, and just as awe-inspiring.
The List (UK)
This album sees Oren Ambarchi joining forces with Norwegian experimental supergroup Fire! on a challenging but rewarding release. The tracks are long and there´sa wall of shifting noise as Ambarchi´s splinters of guitar and electronics repel and meld with Mats Gustafsson´s trademark bursts of muscular, shrieking saxophone. However, the stars of the show are the rhythm section, particularly when drummer Andreas Werliin locks into Krautrock groove, which in turn are probed and pressured by Johan Berthling´s fluid bass lines. An intense and occasionally transcending piece of work. 4/5.
Narc (UK)
You have to hear it loud, ideally very loud. The Swede Mats Gustafsson follows his path consistently and more and more conclusively, by merging free jazz with punk and industrial, thus taking the hermetic away from his powerfully overwhelming saxophone explosions. In contrast to his parallel trio The Thing, fire! Insistently repetitive patterns of drums and electric bass over which he puts hypnotic psychedelic drones with Fender Rhodes, organ and live electronics as rich sound surfaces. Once again, he has invited a fourth to enhance the taste: the Australian Oren Ambarchi, who in this context emphatically proves that not only the Norwegian Stian Westerhus is currently redefining the guitar.
Leipziger Volkszeitung (DE)
Mats Gustafsson likes to accentuate his trios with a fourth man: The AALY Trio w / K. Vandermark, The Thing w / Joe McPhee ... K. Vandermark ... Otomo Yoshihide ... Jim O'Rourke ... Barry Guy. Fire !, the association with Johan Berthling on the electric bass and Andreas Werlin on the drums, also got its own stamp from O'Rourke. And now Ambarchi is bringing new nuances into the fiery sound storms with his guitar, which Gustafsson heats up in addition to the tenor sax with Fender Rhodes and organ. The title recalls the scene in Lynch's Wild at Heart, where a dog snatches an injured man's torn hand. Chapters such as 'and the stories will flood your satisfaction (with terror)' and 'i am sucking for a bruise' underline the hard-boiled attitude with which the four go to work. Ambarchis Toughness has been beyond doubt with Sunn O))). But it is also needed to avoid being blown over when Gustafsson spits fire. The goose-bumping big wild TON is not the only iron in the Fire! The second 20-minute hold back patiently through repetitions long before the tenor sax begins to howl, even in the background, as if suppressed and suppressed, while in the foreground there is relentless repetition and stagnation. Gustafsson's screaming, which breaks out in vocals and remains screaming, seems half choked by layers of sound. A grumpy hold tone lasts for minutes on the scene and cannot be driven away by wild bass fingers and drumming. The flickering howl and dazzling broad sides of the organ shift the weight, immerse everything in luminous intensity, in bubbling magma, the flow of which gradually thins and solidifies. For the third 20-minute bass and cymbal tickling set a high tempo, the organ holds back dreamily, the guitar completely covered for a long time before it lines the organ sound as a bright whine, mixes with it gradually flickering. Meanwhile, the groove remains light-footedly mobile, as if the sound being dragged there was not a burden, but prey that should be quickly removed. The final hickey, self-sucked, is just a sluggish, electronically wound reverberation of bass rumble, in which Werlin sets the last two accents. The saxophone has been silent for half an hour. For the third 20-minute bass and cymbal tickling set a high tempo, the organ holds back dreamily, the guitar completely covered for a long time before it lines the organ sound as a bright whine, mixes with it gradually flickering. Meanwhile, the groove remains light-footedly mobile, as if the sound being dragged there was not a burden, but prey that should be quickly removed. The final hickey, self-sucked, is just a sluggish, electronically wound reverberation of bass rumble, in which Werlin sets the last two accents. The saxophone has been silent for half an hour. For the third 20-minute bass and cymbal tickling set a high tempo, the organ holds back dreamily, the guitar completely covered for a long time before it lines the organ sound as a bright whine, mixes with it gradually flickering. Meanwhile, the groove remains light-footedly mobile, as if the sound being dragged there was not a burden, but prey that should be quickly removed. The final hickey, self-sucked, is just a sluggish, electronically wound reverberation of bass rumble, in which Werlin sets the last two accents. The saxophone has been silent for half an hour. Meanwhile, the groove remains light-footedly mobile, as if the sound being dragged there was not a burden, but prey that should be quickly removed. The final hickey, self-sucked, is just a sluggish, electronically wound reverberation of bass rumble, in which Werlin sets the last two accents. The saxophone has been silent for half an hour. Meanwhile, the groove remains light-footedly mobile, as if the sound being dragged there was not a burden, but prey that should be quickly removed. The final hickey, self-sucked, is just a sluggish, electronically wound reverberation of bass rumble, in which Werlin sets the last two accents. The saxophone has been silent for half an hour.
Bad Alchemy (DE)
After jamming on the previous album by impro-experimental-psychjazznoise-whatever trio Jim O'Rourke, the three brought the free-guitar-tested experimental guitarist Oren Ambarchi to the studio for this work - Merzbow, John Zorn, Sunn o))), yes, also O'Rourke are only a few of the numerous collaboration partners with whom the free spirit made noise. While Johan Berthling screws crazy bass lines into the ground, Andreas Werliin sometimes whips almost drummer pattern like Roy Ayers through the area and Mats Gustafsson makes electro, Fender Rhodes, organ and saxophone insanities sound, Ambarchi sets idiosyncratic with his guitar, noisy, experimental sound carpets among the loosely structured four songs, three of which have around twenty minutes of playing time. Often you can only recognize the source instrument with a lot of imagination, and this is precisely the attraction of the whole: 'What the hell are they doing?' - The disc also remains exciting because the acoustic excess is always lurking and chiseling the listener's frown and grin in your face, so you could almost take part in a Jack Nicholson Lookalike contest if you regularly put on Fire! Works. Oh. How appropriate: A creative Fire! Work. Incidentally, the CD and LP versions differ in terms of the fourth song. The (I have) CD contains the song 'I Am Sucking For A Bruise', while the LP contains 'Possibly She Was One, Or Had Been One Before'. 'What the hell are they doing?' - The disc also remains exciting because the acoustic excess is always lurking and chiseling the listener's frown and grin in your face, so you could almost take part in a Jack Nicholson Lookalike contest if you regularly put on Fire! Works. Oh. How fitting: A creative Fire! Work. Incidentally, the CD and LP versions differ in terms of the fourth song. The (I have) CD contains the song 'I Am Sucking For A Bruise', while the LP contains 'Possibly She Was One, Or Had Been One Before'. 'What the hell are they doing?' - The disc also remains exciting because the acoustic excess is always lurking and chiseling the listener's frown and grin in your face, so you could almost take part in a Jack Nicholson Lookalike contest if you regularly put on Fire! Works. Oh. How fitting: A creative Fire! Work. Incidentally, the CD and LP versions differ in terms of the fourth song. The (I have) CD contains the song 'I Am Sucking For A Bruise', while the LP contains 'Possibly She Was One, Or Had Been One Before'. if you put on Fire! works regularly. Oh. How fitting: A creative Fire! Work. Incidentally, the CD and LP versions differ in terms of the fourth song. The (I have) CD contains the song 'I Am Sucking For A Bruise', while the LP contains 'Possibly She Was One, Or Had Been One Before'. if you put on Fire! works regularly. Oh. How appropriate: A creative Fire! Work. Incidentally, the CD and LP versions differ in terms of the fourth song. The (I have) CD contains the song 'I Am Sucking For A Bruise', while the LP contains 'Possibly She Was One, Or Had Been One Before'.
Noisy-Neighbors (DE)
The music wakes up quietly, swells up, becomes a stream of desert sax cascades, bass rumors, rising guitar pads and drum architecture. The core of Fire! is a Swedish trio around the energetic saxophone wildbolt Mats Gustaffson with the power bassist Johan Berthling (tape) and the youngster Andreas Werliin (wildbirds & peacedrums). After last year's album with Jim O'Rourke, Fire! already on fire again, this time with guitarist Oren Ambarchi. Four long pieces, the last two of which have a comparatively calm aura, make the associations smolder. There is a dark pulse in this sound suction, which develops a psychedelic noise note, hooks it up hypnotically and discovers strange soundscapes with the whirring abstractions of Ambarchi's guitar techniques. Gustaffson blows his soul out of the horn and always remains clearly recognizable, while the other instruments often enter a sound molasses that pushes on with furor and ignites dynamics even in the wide and loud sound walls. But the ear can increasingly open itself into the sound and perceive more and more subtleties. Terror and destruction are in the air, but also a sublime that has nothing to do with the desire to perish, but is rather a burning glass that bundles what is left of the emotions. Concentrated splendor. 4/5. But the ear can increasingly open itself into the sound and perceive more and more subtleties. Terror and destruction are in the air, but also a sublime that has nothing to do with the desire to perish, but is rather a burning glass that bundles what is left of the emotions. Concentrated splendor. 4/5. But the ear can increasingly open itself into the sound and perceive more and more subtleties. Terror and destruction are in the air, but also a sublime that has nothing to do with the desire to perish, but is rather a burning glass that bundles what is left of the emotions. Concentrated splendor. 4/5.
Jazz`N`More (DE)
The tenderness of their compatriots from Ballrog goes to the berserkers of Fire! around saxophonist Mats Gustafssonab. This time the psychedelic jazz rockers with a free jazz twist have brought in guitarist Oren Ambarchi as a reinforcement. The Australian has already played with John Zorn, Sunn 0))), Jim O'Rourke, Merzbow or Evan Parker - so there is a lot going on in terms of noise. After all, the album is also called "In the Mouth - a Hand". That is quite a clear description for "full in the face".
Choices (DE)
Not only for his force chamber jazz trio The Thing, Mats Gustafsson likes to invite illustrious guests, for example Otomo Yoshihide or Jim O'Rourke or - see below - Neneh Cherry. His Fire! Threesome also hereby welcomes a loaded musician, namely none other than Oren Ambarchi, who has already done the drums for Keiji Haino (and O'Rourke), does solo electrolysis and plucks and tugs and strings the guitar here catapulting them through effect devices. The expanded ensemble cultivates Coltrane's art form of hymnic ecstasy on the first piece of his second record, "A man who might have been screaming". A descriptive title for which Gustafsson, like the others, got the necessary inspiration from the writer Robert Creeley. Track # 2, "And the stories will flood your satisfaction", on Fender Rhodes, bass and drums pushes irresistibly forward, tenor sax and guitar join in loudly, a friendly carnage can take place well prepared. The third piece, "He wants to sleep in a dream", shows - as in all the pieces gathered here - the bass player Johan Berthling as an experienced driver behind the scenes, while electronics and flat rudder sounds set the tone in the front. Number four varies between the recordings, depending on which one you choose. "Possibly she was one, or had been one before" as a subscriber to a (promo) CD escapes my knowledge, but the record players escape "I am sucking for a bruise". For the first time without the connection of a drive shaft, Gustafsson, Berthling, Werliin & Ambarchi conjure up parapsychedelic spheres. Spooky, but nothing less intense than the vigorous numbers before. This second Fire! Record is seething with instrumental and energetic wealth, and yet lives, if you take its title at face value, from hand to mouth. And she lives splendidly!
Freestyle (AT)
Det er en brutal kamp om frekvensene vi får høre, og mens fuzzeffektene spruter, overtonene hyler og cymbalene vasker over lydkolossen, skrur aller unegegripelig nok volumet videre opp for å høre mer, mer, mer! Det er en fascinerende grøt av Controllert, improvisert kaos, som med sin enkle, nærmest selvfølgelig formoppbygninger både er paralyserende og engasjerende på samme tid. Saksofonen og gitaren jages på vill flukt av trommer og bass i en paranormal dronepsykedelia, vi får tre spor på mellom 18 og 23 minutter, før det hele ender i et nærmest apokalyptisk kjølvann, hvor lydstillasene elegant kolliderer med hverandre i s "In The Mouth - A Hand" he et eksempel på nok en vellykket koalisjon for Fire! -Trioen - som ser ut til å ha funnet en suksess-oppskrift i å vinne inspirasjon og energi fra gode samarbeids-partnere. 5/6.
Bergens Tidende (NO)
Det sitt namn med rette, bandet som cheerful Fire! og kan setje kva forsamling som helst i brann med den rå krafta i musikken. Mats Gustafsson vann i fjor Nordisk Råds Musikkpris og er både saksofonist, råkøyrar med live elektronika, og spelar fender rhodes, John Bertlinger er handfast bassist, Andreas Werlin på trommer, og på det tredje albumet etter «Unreleased» and «You Liked Me Five Minutes Ago »har dei gitaristen Oren Ambarchi med på« In The Mouth - A Hand ». Han er av australsk opphav med ei sterk merit list. Titlane på dei fire spora kan du også lese som vers, "A Man Who Might Have Been Screaming / And The Stories Will Flood Your Satisfaction / He Wants To Sleep A Dream / A Am Sucking For A Bruise". Det he dei fire linene på cd-versjonen, "Possibly She Was One, Or Had Been Before" he nytt fjerde spor på vinylen, og det he full gas heal vegen. Fire!
Dagsavisen (NO)
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