Reviews RCD2188
Kvartetten Spunk can godt kjennast som eit forstyrrande element i kvardagen. Eg blir i alle fall suffered forstyrra av korleis Maja Ratkje, Hild Sofie Tafjord, Lene Grenager og Kristin Andersen gir meg hakeslepp gang etter gang etter gang. I fjor fylte kvartetten heile 20 år og no kan begge setta frå jubileumkonserten på Nasjonal Jazzscene nytast på plata "Still Eating Ginger Bread For Breakfast" (kanskje fordi det blei spelt inn i desember?). For a cons det var! Og for a plate det har blitt! Innanfor collective, fri improvisasjon he ei plate på nesten 80 minuttlenge, men er he det så mykje som Skal skje og feirast, at det må vi nesten unne dei. Frå mystisk og smått aggressively plystring, scraping, susing, pusting og rassling, til vakre, atmosfæriske, meditative passasjar og lydlandskap. Spennet av uttrykk, stemningar, digital and analog effects, og ikkje minst ulike instrument er for mykje å gjengi her, anna enn å seie. The heal har blitt miksa og produsert til eit fantastisk velklingande og klårt lydbilete. All nye møter med Spunk he purely glede.
Jazznytt (NO)
This live album was recorded by Spunk at their 20th anniversary concert at Oslo's Nasjonal Jazzcene venue in 2015. Through uncanny intuition the Norwegian group create almost animalistic sounding improvised pieces here, with Maja SK Ratkje having produced and mixed the end result of this performance. Her own growling scat on the second set here is similar to the kind found on her collaborative work with Saka on the 2016 album Rasaka - though on Spunk's "First Set" she takes more of a background role. The first movement from this set is comprised of low trembling vocals and whistling theremin, like the amplified yet deeply textured sounds of creatures devouring or calling out, or tones that mimic respiration or rocking coastal waves. There are subsections within each track which allow different timbres to become more prominent in the set. A later passage in this first side, for example, features high pitched noise which pans from left to right, like the call of a coastal bird. "Second Set" altogether features more high pitched tones and more melodic, pitch-bent vocal performances.
The Wire (UK)
Spunk har alltid imprisoned because of improvisation music and ingen av de senaste årens utgåvor är "vanligt" studio album. Dvd: n Light är inspelad på Heine Onstad Kunst-senter, 6cd-boxen (!) The well-tempered spunk inside tolv tematiska conserver, ett samarbete med Joelle Lerandre spelades in på Moldes jazz festival och ildventura Botanica ar en bearbetning av music scapadestill en. Spunk har spelat i alla möjliga slags sammanhang, jag såg dem en gång på en scen på Göteborgs paradgata Avenyn. Blickar och commenter från förbipasserande blev en lika vständiglig del av upplevelsen som själva upkeep De två konserterna på Still Eating Ginger Bread For Breakfast är inspelade i samband med gruppens 20-års-jubileum förra året. You can see the double in my stack. Jag känner igen de olika musikiska rösterna och samspelet i groups, velvetidigt det det att attttacka deras unika egenskaper på nytt Maja Ratkje changes to roast särskilt mycket i början av skivan utan ägnar sig mer åt theremin, oscillatorer och andra apparatus. Först i slutet av den första och på den andra preserved sjunger hon, med ljus röst, vackert och mystiskt, och gör vid några tillfalls nästintill overkliga ljud med stämmbanden. Hild Sofie Tafjords valthorn förvandlas till en vidunderlig Klanglåda. Lene Grenager spelar cello, fysiskt, från snabba rörelser till långsamma linjer. Krisfin Andersens blåsinstrumet can tassa fram för att senare smälla av i korta fyrverkeriet De två jubileumskonserterna visar att Spunk kan vara så mycket. I början av den första rör sig musiken som svartkrypt i Hayao Miyazaki's film Min granne Totoro. The microscope is of the same type as the location. Det kan gränsa till noise, försvinna in i ett dronemoln, acoustics and electronics glider ihop, smalter samman, ljudande element som utmanar varandra. Marchy sekvens approximately in the middle of the andra preserved när det känns som att vara ombord på en stor båt, fasttejpad i maskinrummet. Jag slickar i mig ljuden. Uppslukas av Spunk. Jag slickar i mig ljuden. Uppslukas av Spunk. Jag slickar i mig ljuden. Uppslukas av Spunk.
Orkester journals (SE)
Anyone who takes aesthetics to the extreme as they do on the cover of Still Eating Gingerbread for Breakfast (RCD2188) trusts other stimuli. Or simply on the traction of the name SPUNK. The recording of the two sets of their 20th Anniversary Concert on December 2nd, 2015 in Oslo tickles the thirst for adventure like ants in the long stockings. Kristin Andersen's trumpet & recorder sounds, the growling cello by Lene Grenager, the booming and roaring French horn by Hild Sofie Tafjord, the vocalization, the Theremin and the oscillators by Maja SK Ratkje, she and Tafjord with live processing and sampling, too suck you into a dream river where there is no stopping. Everything changes, fluctuates, whistles, chugs and whines, scrapes, squeaks and howls. With a swelling arousal curve, the first 44 min. halfway up a maximum of Brownian cauldron turbulence. With fluttering tin, whistling glissandos, boring trills, thick cheeks. Then the pressure subsides again, the Valkyries relax and loll, grab a cigarette, chew on blades of grass. Centaurs' hooves clatter and twitch in the background, ringing bells, the groove doesn't want to tear off. Knocking industriously, with twitching flute, snorting nostrils, skewed plumage, moody singsong to the sound of music box and odds and ends. Ratkje celebrates high peaks, Tafjord does Alphorn, time flows like honey. Because, as is well known, all lust wants eternity. The second 35 minutes begin with Attacco, as a riot in the box, controversial, panting, creaking, with pounding paws, mustaches that sniff a harmonica. Ferret alarm, Time-lapse hectic rush The French horn also does not bring peace, mouths press, bubble, tug at the sheet metal, Maja blows, the bow buzzes and scratches. What rattles, swarms, simmers, flutes, lives, even lives very much. Motor hum hangs over it like a shadow, triggers alarm and panic, leaves mourning and complaining. But spunk would not be what champions would have breakfast if, in the darkness of the horn, choked out gagged throats and new signs were emerging.
Bad Alchemy (DE)
A live album on the occasion of the twentieth birthday of the Norwegian improvisation quartet Spunk (in German: either spout, tinder, sperm or licorice, named after the Danish manufacturer). Must have been a memorable evening, back in December 2015 in Oslo's jazz and improv club Nasjonal Jazzscene. With two glorious sets, tonally located between the cacophonic space opera, wired jungle atmosphere, total darkness and god-sparkling joy, the four ladies delight a hopefully consciously alert and exultant audience that can hardly hear their ears because of the ever so spectacular and ingeniously flowing changing textures still want to be able to trust. Very impressive indeed, what is happening there. As so often, we can only be thankful that the artists took the trouble to record on their birthday together, free up the cosmic sounds on Still Eating Ginger Bread For Breakfast, the director's chair for the head cinema and let our imagination run wild. Most of them probably won't be able to watch as many films as the four Norwegians performed musically that night. Entropic and unpredictable like a lucid dream, sweet like a gingerbread and powerful like the licorice Alps. Strong, strong, strong! We congratulate and look forward to the next big anniversary - with all our hearts. Most of them probably won't be able to watch as many films as the four Norwegians performed musically that night. Entropic and unpredictable like a lucid dream, sweet like a gingerbread and powerful like the licorice Alps. Strong, strong, strong! We congratulate and look forward to the next big anniversary - with all our hearts. Most of them probably won't be able to watch as many films as the four Norwegians performed musically that night. Entropic and unpredictable like a lucid dream, sweet like a gingerbread and powerful like the licorice Alps. Strong, strong, strong! We congratulate and look forward to the next big anniversary - with all our hearts.
free style (AT)
So far, so good, and bad. Not a single musician there? This is easily caught up with SPUNK, the women's quartet of improv par excellence, also worldwide. Kristin Andersen, Hild Sofie Tafjord, Maja SK Ratkje and Lene Grenager are in top form on "Still Eating Ginger Bread For Breakfast, The 20th Anniversary Concert" (rune grammofon), recorded on December 2, 2015 at the Nasjonal Jazzscene, Oslo. On the 43-minute "SPUNK 20 First Set", SPUNK build a terrific arc of tension with hundreds of unorthodox noises that are generated on conventional instruments as well as with live processing, sampling, recorders, toys and oscillators. All of this grows organically due to the decades of interaction, even if at first some seems to get mixed up. After minute 11, different bird sounds suddenly chirp. Alienated French horn and trumpet sounds turn into worn, long-lasting tones from minute 14 and soon take the cello on a roller coaster ride. From minute 21, Maja Ratkje and her Theremin start an orgiastic ride on the sphere and when the wings are retracted, Ratjke sings a folk song that, despite some odd ingredients, exudes a pleasant sound. High sound density, intuitive anarchy and subtle elements: SPUNK unite all this phenomenally over long distances, even in the entertaining 34-minute "SPUNK 20 First Set". From minute 21, Maja Ratkje and her Theremin start an orgiastic ride on the sphere and when the wings are retracted, Ratjke sings a folk song that, despite some odd ingredients, exudes a pleasant sound. High sound density, intuitive anarchy and subtle elements: SPUNK unite all this phenomenally over long distances, even in the entertaining 34-minute "SPUNK 20 First Set". From minute 21, Maja Ratkje and her Theremin start an orgiastic ride on the sphere and when the wings are retracted, Ratjke sings a folk song that, despite some odd ingredients, exudes a pleasant sound. High sound density, intuitive anarchy and subtle elements: SPUNK unite all this phenomenally over long distances, even in the entertaining 34-minute "SPUNK 20 First Set".
Skug (AT)
Elles sont quatre dans Spunk mais elles pourraient être trentedeux. Oui Lene Grenager (violoncelle), Kristin Andersen (trompette et flûtes), Hild Sofie Tafjord (cor d'harmonie, live processing) et Maja Ratkje (voix, theremin, oscillateurs, live processing & sampling) forment un grand orchester à elles quatre ( je n'ose pas dire ”à elles seules”). Still Eating Ginger Bread For Breakfast est le neuvième CD de Spunk et c'est surtout l'enregistrement du concert que ces dames ont donné à Oslo fin 2015 alors qu'elles fêtaient (que l'on fêtait) leur vingtième anniversaire. Vingt ans, c'est vieux pour un orchester mais celuici est encore vert, à tel point qu'il ne rechigne pas à jouer, par exemple, du piano-jouet. Corn cette éternelle jeunesse n'est pas qu'une question d'instrument. Car la fraîcheur est indispensable à ce genre de musique qui rappelle (dans une version acoustique, allez) le Brown Rice de Don Cherry, d'autant que la trompette d'Andersen (genre NP Molvaer mais en plus étrange) y joue un grand rôle . A peu de piano à pouces maintenant, et voilà que la première plage du CD s'envole. A la fraîcheur il fallait ajouter de la légèreté ... qui manquera pas mal à la piste suivante. L'impro est plus brute, la voix fait des manières, les live electronics faiblissent de seconde en seconde. C'est l´effet que m´avait déjà fait Spunk: c´est beau et inventif mais pas toujours (remarquez, ”pas toujours”, c´est toujours ça). Andersen (genre NP Molvaer mais en plus étrange) y joue un grand rôle. A peu de piano à pouces maintenant, et voilà que la première plage du CD s'envole. A la fraîcheur il fallait ajouter de la légèreté ... qui manquera pas mal à la piste suivante. L'impro est plus brute, la voix fait des manières, les live electronics faiblissent de seconde en seconde. C'est l´effet que m´avait déjà fait Spunk: c´est beau et inventif mais pas toujours (remarquez, ”pas toujours”, c´est toujours ça). Andersen (genre NP Molvaer mais en plus étrange) y joue un grand rôle. A peu de piano à pouces maintenant, et voilà que la première plage du CD s'envole. A la fraîcheur il fallait ajouter de la légèreté ... qui manquera pas mal à la piste suivante. L'impro est plus brute, la voix fait des manières, les live electronics faiblissent de seconde en seconde. C'est l´effet que m´avait déjà fait Spunk: c´est beau et inventif mais pas toujours (remarquez, ”pas toujours”, c´est toujours ça).
Chroniques Le Son De Grisli (FR)