Fire! Orchestra

Fire! is Mats Gustafsson (saxophones and Fender Rhodes), Johan Berthling (bass, electric guitar and Hammond organ) and Andreas Werliin (drums).

Previously they have released three great albums on Rune Grammofon:
"Fire!: You Liked Me Five Minutes Ago" (2009)
"Fire! with Jim O´Rourke: Unreleased?" (2011)
"Fire! with Oren Ambarchi: In The Mouth A Hand" (2012)

You see they are not afraid to invite guests, but now they have totally lost control!
Check out their guest list for the "Fire! Orchestra: Exit!" (2012), their new Rune Grammofon album:

Mariam Wallentin: voice, Nadine Byrne: voice, organ, Emil Svanängen: voice, Nicolai Dunger: voice, Sofia Jernberg: voice

Niklas Barnö: trumpet, Magnus Broo: trumpet, Thomas Hallonsten: trumpet, organ, Mats Äleklint: trombone, Per Åke Holmlander: tuba

Anna Högberg: alto sax, Mats Gustafsson: tenor sax, Jonas Kullhammar: bass saxophone, Elin Larsson: tenor sax, Fredrik Ljungkvist: baritone sax, clarinet, Christer Bothén: bass clarinet, guimbri

Andreas Söderström: guitar, Reine Fiske: guitar, Sören Runolf: guitar, David Stackenäs: guitar

Sten Sandell: synth, harmonium, piano, Joachim Nordwall: electronics

Johan Berthling: electric bass, Joel Grip: bass, Joe Williamson: bass, Dan Berglund: bass
Andreas Werliin: drums, Thomas Mera Gartz: drums, Johan Holmegard: drums, Raymond Strid: drums.

And they really made a great party, playing big band-free jazz-krautrock, or something you may find in that direction.

Music: Fire!
Lyrics: Arnold De Boer

Go get it!

If you buy one of the 500 copies on white vinyl, you also get the CD.

The album was recorded 13 January 2012. 3 months later Thomas Mera Gartz passed away.

PNL Records

Paal Nilssen-Love, who must be Norway´s hardest working drummer, has got his own record company too, called PNL Records.
The latest from the company, to arrive in this house, is a duo with Nilssen-Love and and Terrie Ex (guitar), recorded in 2009. Four tracks, ten - fourteen minutes long, containing improv, noise jazz and rock in a fine mix.
Coverdesign as usual by Lasse Marhaug, and painting by Gebrekristos Solomon (Ethiopia).

Most releases on PNL are CDs, but they throw in some vinyl for change (pressed in limited quantities). A couple of the records have been released in cooperation with Pica Disk.
The closer you get to Paal Nilssen-Love, either on earth or in cyberspace, the easier to get the albums.

So far, I believe this is the complete PNL discography (please correct me, if I´m wrong):

Lasse Marhaug & Paal Nilssen-Love: Stalk (PNL 001, 2007)
Nils Henrik Aasheim & Paal Nilssen-Love: Late Play (PNL 002, 2007)
Magnus Broo & Paal Nilssen-Love: Game (PNL 003, 2008)
Sten Sandell Trio: Face of Tokyo (PNL 004, 2009)
Paal Nilssen-Love: 27 Years Later (PNL 005, 2010)
Paal Nilssen-Love & Anders Hana: AM/FM (PNL 006, 2010)
Paal Nilssen-Love: Miró (PNL 007, 2011)
Slugfield (Nilssen-Love, Marhaug, Ratkje): Slime Zone (PNL 008, 2012)
Lasse Marhaug & Paal Nilssen-Love: No Combo LP (PICA 028/PNL 009, 2011)
Anders Hana & Paal Nilssen-Love: Hosanna and Parallel Sevens 10" (PNL 010, 2011)
Fire Room (Nilssen-Love, Marhaug, Vandermark): Wels 2008/11/08 LP (Pica 030/PNL 011, 2011)
Terrie EX & Paal Nilssen-Love: Hurgu! (PNL 012, 2011)
Double Tandem (Nilssen-Love, Vandermark, Baars): Cement (PNL 013, 2012)

(The list was corrected 23 June 2012, and I hope it´s OK now!)

Added 25 July 2012:
Bradford, Gjerstad, Nilssen-Love: Dragon (PNL 014, 2012)
Frode Gjerstad Trio: Hide Out (PNL 015, 2012)

Sten Sandell Trio live in Japan

EigenKino uploaded a fine video of Sten Sandell Trio live in Japan (18 October 2010).
Some members of the audience are pretty close to the musicians here!
The musicians are  Sten Sandell (p), Johan Berthling (b) og Paal Nilssen-Love (dr), and don´t forget to put "Live in Tokyo" (PNL 2009) on your wish lists.

PNL 5 and 6

I just want to point out two new releases on Paal Nilssen-Love´s record company PNL:
Paal Nilssen-Love: "27 years later" (PNL005, 2010)
Paal Nilssen-Love & Anders Hana: "AM/FM" (PNL006, 2010).

"27 years later" is a solo drum album, recorded live at the Molde International Jazz Festival in 2002. This must be one of the best solo drum albums I have got. The other one I have is Paal Nilsen-Love´s "Sticks and stones" (SOFA 2001). I think it IS possible to concentrate and dig drum solo playing on record, for short time spans.

"AM/FM" is 33 minutes of improv/noise with Nilssen-Love and guitarist Anders Hana (Noxagt, MoHa!, Ultralyd), recorded live at Tou Scene in Stavanger in 2004. The first half of the piece has got its moments of rock & noise, but the album finally ends in what´s close to silence (I now most albums do in the end, but look some minutes further back then). Great album!

Cover design: Lasse Marhaug (and since I´m a very shy guy, I only show the front cover of the AM/FM album).

Both albums have previously been released on Utech Records (2005) (150 copies of each).

This is he PNL-discography (the company that is!) so far:
Lasse Marhaug and Paal Nilssen-Love: "Stalk" (PNL001 2007).
Nils H. Asheim and Paal Nilssen-Love: "Late Play" (PNL002 2007)
Magnus Broo and Paal Nilssen-Love med "Game" (PNL003, 2008)
Sten Sandell Trio: "Face of Tokyo" (PNL004, 2009)
Paal Nilssen-Love: "27 years later" (PNL005, 2010)
Paal Nilssen-Love & Anders Hana: "AM/FM" (PNL006, 2010).

The Godforgottens

In January I suggested that you should try to get Sten Sandell Trio´s great "Face of Tokyo". I don´t regret that, but what happens when they invite trumpet player Magnus Broo, and Sandell finds a Hammond B-3 organ in the studio? The result might be even better, and they call themselves The Godforgottens. "Never Forgotten, Always Remembered" was released on Clean Feed in 2009. I call it jazz, but may be completely wrong. It doesn´t matter anyway, as long as the music is as exciting as this, and it´s made by Magnus Broo (tp), Sten Sandell (p, org), Johan Berthling (b) and Paal Nilssen-Love (dr).
2009 was quite an average year for Paal Nilssen-Love I guess, participating on 15 albums.
(And who made the dramatic cover? Anyone with a CD version out there, might be kind enough to comment?).

Sten Sandell Trio

Sten Sandell Trio´s new album is out on Paal Nilssen-Love´s record company PNL. "Face of Tokyo" (PNL 004, 2009) is 70 minutes of hot improvisation (2 tracks), recorded in Tokyo in February 2008. The trio is Sandell himself (piano, voice), Johan Berthling (bass) and Paal Nilssen-Love drums. Sometimes I think I hear a koto in here, but I guess it´s just Sandell inside the piano. Some guttural singing and samurais on the cover, adds an eastern feel to the album. Play loud, and enjoy. If you find it, that is. I bought my copy at the All Ears festival, but sometimes it is pretty hard to find where they sell some of the great records made. The PNL albums are not on iTunes or eMusic either. Suggestions?

In addition to this album, there are three others on PNL, all of them with covers designed by Lasse Marhaug:
Magnus Broo/Paal Nilssen-Love: "Game" (PNL 003, 2008)
Nils Henrik Asheim/Paal Nilssen-Love: "Late Play" (PNL 002, 2007)
Lasse Marhaug/Paal Nilssen-Love: "Stalk" (PNL 001, 2007).

Evan Parker og Sten Sandell

Here you see half of Townhouse Orchestra (my Moldejazz 2008 blog post), Sten Sandell and Evan Parker, doing a church concert at Hagenfesten, Dala Floda (July 2009).

Townhouse Orchestra

Townhouse Orchestra played the small Forum venue in Molde today. What a band: Evan Parker (saxes), Sten Sandell (p), Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (b) and Paal Nilssen-Love (dr). I will never quite understand how musicans are able to improvise like this, and serve lots of energy and great solos for 75 minutes, but what do I care. (I wil not understand why a small venue like this is not packed for these guys either!).
As far as I remember, this was the first time ever I heard Evan Parker live, but I certainly hope it was not the last. Wow, what a great performance!