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Rune Grammofon
Spunk 'Still Eating Ginger Bread For Breakfast, The 20th Anniversary Concert' CD
£12.49
Rune Grammofon
Spunk 'Still Eating Ginger Bread For Breakfast, The 20th Anniversary Concert' CD
£12.49
"Last time I heard SPUNK was phenomenal! They are among the most exciting improvising groups in the world right now". Fred Frith
Formed in 1995, SPUNK comprises four of Norway's most innovative musicians: Kristin Andersen - trumpet and recorders Hild Sofie Tafjord - french horn, toys, live processing and sampling Maja S. K. Ratkje - voice, theremin, oscillators, live preocessing and sampling Lene Grenager - cello.
Free collective improvising is one of the most demanding ways of making music: the pitfalls are many - self-absorption, incoherence, certain standardized "gestures" of free jazz, lack of dynamics, humourlessness - but SPUNK are alert to the dangers. Bold, sometimes witty, always alert, they make engaging music, and keep the sound of surprise alive.
They have no fear of bringing the music to the brink of anarchy - they are interested in extremes as well as subtleties - but their instincts as composers-in-action also serve them well. Most of all, perhaps, SPUNK convince by the force of their own convictions. As Maja Ratkje says: "Music has to be strong. It deals with communication in an extremely direct fashion, within its own language.
This is something that makes it vulnerable, but also, potentially, a bearer of great poetic power". For their 20th anniversary concert in December 2015 they moved from the exotic concert sites of previous years to Oslo's Nasjonal Jazzscene, home of the most interesting local and international jazz and impro concerts in the capital.
Still Eating Ginger Bread For Breakfast is a recording of that concert - divided into two sets - as on the evening. It is also SPUNK's ninth album since their 1999 debut Det Eneste Jeg Vet Er At Det Ikke Er En Støvsuger, all on Rune Grammofon. One would think that the Ginger Bread title would come from the same Pippi Longstocking universe that gave name to the group as well as their early albums, but not so.
According to Maja it simply came to them as an absurd association. In tune with much of their music making, one would be tempted to add.
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