The Squid's Ear Magazine


Rasmussen, Mette / Tashi Dorji / Tyler Damon: To The Animal Kingdom (Trost Records)

Three young improvisers, Danish alto saxophonist Mette Rasmussen, US drummer Tyler Damon and US guitarist Tashi Dorji in an exhilarating album of free jazz recorded at Array Space, in Toronto, Canada, in three extended dialogs of creative, exploratory and powerful collective improvisation, a great new trio of players to keep an eye on.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Mette Rasmussen-alto saxophone

Tashi Dorji-guitar

Tyler Damon-drums


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UPC: 9120036682542

Label: Trost Records
Catalog ID: TROST 167CD
Squidco Product Code: 24723

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2017
Country: Austria
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Array Space, in Toronto, Canada, on June 18th, 2016, by Joe Strutt.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Mette Rasmussen is a Danish alto saxophone player currently making her base of operations in Norway. She builds off of a wide range of influences, and demonstrates all of them on this album moving from free jazz to abstract soundscapes with equal facility. This is a very exciting album with Rasmussen joined by Tashi Dorji on guitar and Tyler Damon on drums, beginning with To The Animal Kingdom which plunges right in at the deep end raw and guitar and saxophone met by pummeling drums.

The music is very exciting with blistering shards of guitar sparking off against gale force saxophone and drums. Rasmussen has a very raw and appealing tone to her instrument, playing with a heart on her sleeve emotion that is very powerful, and leads the group into some over the top full band interplay. Torrential sounds burst forth with deep and guttural saxophone illuminated by flashes of guitar and the epic rhythm set of the drums. The trio breaks into a section of uneasy calm, as if pausing for breath before long tones of saxophone branch out and begin to howl as the maelstrom returns and carries to group to the conclusion.

"To Life" is the second track and there are raw scrapes of guitar and ominous breathy saxophone meeting choppy sounds to form an uneasy opening. The group coalesces into a tight organic unit that builds the volume and intensity back up with thrashing drums and frantic morse code sounding notes from Rasmussen's saxophone, segueing into a thrilling collective improvisation of all out passion from the three musicians. This massive twenty minute plus track is consistently engaging due to the dedication of the musicians to ceaseless exploration, building to a full on assault with deep rhythmic drive underpinning the proceedings. The music opens up to evolve into a spacious section that is yearning and present, creating interesting textures as they build back up to the end of the track, playing with urgent physical power.

The final track, "To the Heavens and the Earth," begins with pointillistic guitar and low tones of saxophone and percussion. They develop scratchy music that gradually folds in some more harrowing sounds that unite the group into a cohesive whole. The volume increases as great slabs of sound are conjured with blustery saxophone leading to a scalding trio improvisation. Bleats of saxophone with choppier guitar and drums lead the music into a more open and abstract section, with subtle saxophone framed by spacey and haunted guitar and drums that gradually build in as the track concludes.

This was an excellent album of very exciting free jazz, with three very talented and focused musicians meeting on common ground and creating spontaneous and powerful music."-Tim Niland, Music and More


Get additional information at Music and More

Artist Biographies

"Mette Rasmussen is a Danish saxophone player based in Trondheim, Norway. She works in the field of improvised music, drawing from a wide range of influences, spanning free jazz to textural soundwork. Rasmussen works on exploring the natural rawness of her instrument - experimenting on what the saxophone is capable of in sound and expression, with and without preparations. Much in demand, she has performed with the likes of Alan Silva, Chris Corsano, Ståle Liavik Solberg, and with her Trio Riot group with Sam Andreae and David Meier."

-Cafe Oto (https://www.cafeoto.co.uk/artists/mette-rasmussen/)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Tashi Dorji grew up in Bhutan, on the eastern side of the Himalayas. Residing in Asheville since 2000 and soaking up a vast array of music. Along the way, Dorji developed a playing style unbound by tradition, yet with a direct line to intuitive artistry. His recordings feature improvisations that spasmodically grow along tangential, surprising paths. All references break loose during a composition, as Dorji keys into his own inner world.

His compositions drag the listener into a labyrinth of warbling tones, where each sound seems to jump out and replace the eerie silence that would otherwise occupy the atmosphere. The textures remain sustained in the reverberation as the vibration of the strings dwindle and ascend. The experience is one equally disorienting and reflective, in which Dorji's musicianship brings haunting beauty and mindfulness to the listener. After a handful of releases on various labels since 2009, Dorji presented his debut LP on Hermit Hut, the label created by Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance) in 2014. Since then Tashi has released music in various formats on labels like Bathetic Records, Cabin Floor Esoterica, Blue Tapes, Marmara Records, Feeding Tubes,VDSQ & MIE."

-Tashi Dorji Website (https://tashidorji.com/music/)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Tyler Damon (b. 1987, Cincinnati, OH USA) is a Bloomington, Indiana based artist whose work aims to reveal obscured and untold narratives via drums/percussion & free improvisation.

Tyler is currently involved in extended duo exhibitions with guitarist Tashi Dorji and bassist Darin Gray (as Duo Oninbo). He also regularly performs as a soloist.

Often recognized for his contributions to the shapeshifting outfit Open Sex, other collaborators have included Mette Rasmussen (as a trio w/ Tashi Dorji), Mars Williams, Daniel Carter, Peter Maunu, Ken Vandermark, Little Howlin' Wolf, Kent Kessler, Albert Wildeman, Dave Rempis, Jason Adasiewicz, Ingebrigt Håker-Flaten, Robert Beatty, Ross Hammond, Ed Ricart, Jon Lorenz, Chris Trull (of Grand Ulena, Yowie), Brian Sandstrom (of NRG Ensemble), Muyassar Kurdi, Steve Marquette, Kevin Harris, Mark Hosler (of Negativland), Matthew Setzler, Keith Jost, Thom Nguyen (as Manas trio), Sarah Louise, Matt Shuff (as the Vulgar Mudflaps), Curt Oren, Matthew Schneider (Moon Bros), John Morton (of X_X), Craig Bell (of X_X, Rocket From The Tombs), Nathan Warrick (as Canned Hamms Blues Band), Circuit Des Yeux (Haley Fohr), Homme (Sima Cunningham & Macie Stewart), Lech, Sir Deja Doog's Love Coffin and Sitar Outreach Ministry, among others.

Tyler has toured extensively in North America and is also regularly engaged with other artists, musicians and heads of various sorts across the American Midwest. From his home base of Bloomington he operates his own label, Yoke, and hosts the long-running free-form/experimental radio program Melody Unasked For on Bloomington, IN community radio station WFHB. From 2010-2015, he was a principal curator of "out" music in the Bloomington area, namely at The Artifex Guild and the now-defunct House at the Bottom of the Hill. He has been described by Darin Gray as "the up-and-coming young drummer in the Midwest and a voice that will be active for years to come." Tyler's recorded output has been primarily offered by the labels Magnetic South, Family Vineyard, Auris Apothecary, Astral Spirits & Yoke."

-Tyler Damon Website (http://www.tylerdamon.com/bio/)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. To The Animal Kingdom 9:19

2. To Life 22:45

3. To The Heavens And Earths 13:15

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
Trio Recordings

Search for other titles on the label:
Trost Records.


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