Release: January 25th
If you think you already know all sorts of unusual and unusual combinations of instruments and styles, you can now – for fun at least – think for a minute: have you ever heard of an album by trumpet and e-zither? The idea may seem a bit oblique at first glance. Translated by Lorenz Raab and Christof Dienz, however, it sounds as conclusive as it is exciting.
Tamara Lukasheva is considered beyond her generation as one of the outstanding voices of German jazz. Her unusually agile vocal expressiveness, which has been precisely refined over the past 15 years, not only leaves a deep impression on the jazz-savvy audience. Lukasheva’s music is independent and variable, moving in the field of tension of strong melodies, Eastern European influences, dynamic improvisation and emphasis.
Release: November 23rd
The guitarist, composer and performer Kim Myhr, whose previous Hubro release, ‘You | me’, received the accolade of a shortlist nomination for the prestigious Nordic Music Prize, composed the extraordinary music and text piece ‘pressing clouds passing crowds’ as a commission for the 2016 FIMAV-festival (Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville) in Quebec, Canada. It features Myhr on 12-string acoustic guitar alongside an expanded version of the celebrated Montreal-based string quartet Quatour Bozzini with percussionist Ingar Zach (Huntsville, Dans les Arbres) and the voice of the poet Caroline Bergvall, reading her own text.
release: 9.11.2018
It happens only rarely that musicians working with improvisation at the sharp end of experimental practice are so attuned to contemporary style and taste that their work reaches beyond “the serious” or “the popular” to come out the other side sounding like a genuinely new form resonating on both levels simultaneously. Building Instrument – the Bergen-based trio of Mari Kvien Brunvoll, Øyvind Hegg-Lunde and Åsmund Weltzien – are such a group. On new album, ’Mangelen Min’(following up the acclaimed self-titled Hubro debut from 2014, and ‘Kem Som Kan å Leve’ from 2016), they mix electronic echoes of the classical baroque, drums that sound almost melodic, fragile but powerful vocals, Balkan flavours and the kind of deep spacey synth sounds you might expect to find on the soundtrack to a feature film by Nicolas Winding Refn. The result is a continually diverting series of subtle and intricately nuanced musical settings where the rate of change never lets up. Yet the group’s massive sense of groove also makes this art that you can dance to.
release: 2nd November 2018
There is complexity in simplicity, and Sparrow Nights is Peter Brötzmann and Heather Leigh’s most enduring record to date, and their first studio album. A series of emotionally rich and boldly elucidated tonal and timbral exchanges played like compositions on pedal steel and reeds, the tracks (released as a 6 track LP and 10 track CD) are cold-forged minimalist blues motifs dragged from instrumental laments.
Release Date: 02.11.2018
A voice, a piano, and a couple of songs – that doesn’t sound like much, but in Clara Haberkamp’s case it is enormous.
In the past years the Berlin-based pianist most notably appeared with her trio with drummer Tilo Weber and changing bass players. She made no secret of the fact that she also likes to sing and does it very well. For the first time much less the jazz pianist, but rather the singer-songwriter Clara Haberkamp takes center stage on Neon Hill. In an almost magical way, her songs are catchy and complex at the same time. You definitely can’t sing along the first time, probably not even on the second or third listen, but already at first contact with the eardrum, the songs unfold their acoustic and spiritual bouquet that wants to be heard again and again.
“I’m trying to play the truth of what I am. The reason it’s difficult is because I’m changing all the time.” Charles Mingus
The radical discovery by Amir Abdullah of 5 two-track master tapes in the care of Hermine Brooks – widow of innovative Detroit drummer Roy Brooks – of the Charles Mingus Quintet recorded live in Detroit at Strata Concert Gallery is cause for some serious celebration.
These electrifying recordings took place during Mingus’ week-long residency in February 1973. They were broadcast live by drummer/producer and broadcaster Robert “Bud” Spangler for WDET FM – a public radio station dedicated to jazz – from Kenny and Barbara Cox’s multi-purpose home for Strata Records at 46 Selden. Entrance to the gig was $5 dollars in advance and $6 on the door.
With its previously released studio albums and spectacular concerts, the Kaleidoscope String Quartet (KSQ) has established itself internationally in recent years. The four Swiss between the late twenties and late thirties transcend the classical string quartet format into new dimensions, leaving behind genre boundaries and at times elicit their instruments from unconventional to unexpected tones. Already on curiosity, her second work published in autumn 2015, fascinated her with striking timbres and charismatic original compositions. All the more they amazed at subsequent performances by virtuosity, dynamic joy of improvisation – and consistent renouncement of any sheet music. The special challenge to play everything by heart “allows a free, risk-taking handling of the musical material and opens up spaces for development and deepening,” explains the first violinist Simon Heggendorn.
The 20th album, and just before the 20th anniversary! The legendary wonder orchestra, dining out of a seemingly inexhaustible pool of madly talented academic musicians under the direction of the renowned Norwegian bassist OLE MORTEN VÅGAN (MOTIF).
