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May 2008
gig reviews

Sleepthief
Lotte Anker
Oriole
Ian Shaw
Pippo Matino
Puma
Eddie Parker's Twittering Machine
Arun Ghosh
Evelyn Petrova and Alexander Balanescu
Julian Siegel Quartet

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May 2008 gig reviews by Chris Parker

Puma

Thursday 15 May

Fraud fans will already be familiar with Puma's spokesperson Stian Westerhus, and the style of utterly distinctive guitar playing and electronics he contributes to that band's uncompromising sound.

With this trio, Puma Ð completed by ¯ystein Moen (keyboard/electronics) and Gard Nilssen (drums) Ð he operates in a similar manner, producing guitar noise interspersed with the occasional line that sounds as if it might coalesce into a riff or even a theme, but never quite does Ð Puma's music is basically free jazz, but not as we know it, Jim.

This is not the Evan Parker/Keith Tippett or even the Peter Brštzmann species of the animal; this is the in-your-face, full-on post-punk or Ð possibly more relevantly Ð post-John Zorn article, replete with blasts of industrial-strength noise, crackling and howling electronics, the odd still period emphasised by quiet bleeps and whirrs, all underpinned by Nilssen's pounding, thrashing drums and sporadic cymbal-splashes.

The hospitality of the Norwegian scene to such music is underlined by the band's having received that country's Young Jazz Musicians of the Year award in 2006; it's difficult to imagine them receiving a similar accolade here, although their one 45-minute set did meet with a reception the warmth and volume of which somewhat belied the audience size. The programme promised music that 'cuts with a blunt saw and a slow drill through any attempt to genre-decide' Ð this was certainly delivered, in spades.

 

 

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