Black Motor - "Vaarat Vastukset" CD - DS008

CD edition still in store. Listen to it on Spotify:

1 Yksi Sinulta Puuttuu (10:59)

2 Hard Man Anthem (5:30)

3 Aamen (5:43)

4 Vaarat Vastukset (7:52)

5 Alma (6:06)

6 Vainila (6:57)

Credits
Arranged By – Black Motor
Double Bass, Bells, Voice – Ville Rauhala
Drums, Bells, Gong, Flute [Bamboo], Voice, Artwork By – Simo Laihonen
Mixed By [Additional], Recorded By [Additional], Edited By [Additional] – Juha Timonen
Mixed By, Recorded By – Jussi Suonikko (tracks: 3, 4, 5, 6), Laura Jaatinen (tracks: 1, 2)
Photography – Anonymous
Photography, Mastered By – Jussi Suonikko
Saxophone [Tenor], Saxophone [Mouthpiece], Voice – Sami Sippola


Notes
Recorded at Pyynikki Hall, Tampere 9 December 2007 (1 & 2) and at Old Väs, Tampere 11 March 2008 (3, 4, 5 & 6).

Press release:


They hark back to New Thing sounds and Organic Music Society with tons of intelligence and no bad revisionism. They are "black" in the ice. They are not free-folk. They are a trio from Tampere (Finland) comprised of Sami Sippola (saxophones), Ville Rauhala (double bass/electric bass) and Simo Laihonen (drums). They revealed their wonderful skills and jazz abilities through a QBICO vinyl in late 2007. They've made the second greatest album, a timeless jazz recording full of sensational moods. They won't let you escape from such tremendous beauty...



Praise for the album:

"It's always nice to start the week off with a bit of chamber jazz. Especially when the chamber's a torture one and it contains a trapped Austrian girl whose mouth has evolved into a plaintively wailing saxophone over the course of many lonely years. Vaarat Vastukset is Black Motors' follow-up to the LP they did a while back on Qbico (look at me pretending I've heard of these before) and it's a pleasantly dour clunk n' scrapealong noodlefest guaranteed to give any listening avants hard-ons. It does brighten up from time to time, taking a more traditional (though still highly freeform) approach to prove they've got the chops to know what the rules are and exactly how they're breaking them.. Although I do always like the idea of punk-jazz played by people with no skill whatsoever. It's a 'recommended' from me, particularly loving the bit towards the end of the first lengthy track where a tribal beat kicks in unexpectedly to form up the chaos."
(NORMAN RECORDS - UK)


"Given the menacing group name and the cover’s dour processional, I’ve got to say I expected a little more doom and gloom from Black Motor. And while much of the music here does have a chaotic and somewhat sorrowful slant, it is done so in a more refined and traditionally bluesy angle as the unit explores the six original compositions within.
In fact, Black Motor has little to do with Black Sabbath or Motorhead and everything to do with “Yasmina, a Black Woman.” A trio comprised of Sami Sippola, Ville Rauhala and Simo Laihonen, the group pushes the boundaries of post post-fire improvisational discourse on this disc, mixing equal parts AACM, Albert Ayler and Pharaoh Sanders while infusing their sound with a textural, ritualistic approach that manages to carve out their own corner in the free jazz world.
One of the units main strengths is their willingness to pull at will from any number of instruments. Ranging from the expected (tenor sax, double bass, drums, voice) to the underused (bells, gong, bamboo flutes) the group explores an open and fertile dialogue driven by more by mood than mode. Perhaps this is no more clearly visible than on the opening “Yksi Sinulta Puutuu,” whose gentle bamboo flutes begin the album atop clattering chimes and a scraping double-bass. It’s an odd combination of sounds, the flute as smooth and fragile as it is and the bass as grating, but each addition serves to amount into a confusing playfulness underlined by Sippola’s screeching sax utterances.
Elsewhere the group explores more overtly melodic material, as with “Aamen,” whose saxophone line sounds like a military call that walks the line between Ornette Coleman’s momentum and Ayler’s own marching excursions. At times his tone even resembles early Gato Barbieri, raspy and deep but nimble as well as it bounces along atop Rauhala and Laihonen’s explosive rhythmic backing.
On the closing “Vainila,” the group once again highlights their strength for subtly stretching improvisational vocabulary as a snaking bass squeal writhes above a dancing drum rhythm and sax bellow. For a group like this it’s tough to say anything new, and indeed this is hardly a redefinition of the forms they’re working in. But these players have such simpatico and are so well versed in their dialogue that it’s tough not to forget how much fun and how listenable this kind of music can be. It is this ability to intermix the more interesting explorative sound excursions with strong compositional material that positions Black Motor as an important and under-known presence in today’s free jazz community."
(FOXY DIGITALIS)


"Finland. Jazz. Not exactly a combination that was self-evident when I found this assignment in my virtual office tray - Scandinavian neighbors Sweden have a far more notable (fusion) history in this field to my knowledge. But at first listen it becomes rather apparent that the colorful bunch that makes up Black Motor isn't all that intelligible, nor is the brand of jazz they bring on Vaarat Vastukset.
While the sax, drums and upright bass are the base of Black Motor's sound, they've expanded their instrumentation with some of the finer weirdling background-fillers such as strings of bells and chimes, flute, chants and mantras. As a whole, this album is one you're not likely to use when you like a jazzy vibe over Sunday brunch; this album is ideal for the late nights, when the level of Jack Daniels drops under it's label and conversations are limited to a few strenuous "yeahs" (or other states of low brain-activity). As such, Vaarat Vastukset works very well for those experienced in the field of mind-altering music, with its lengthy episodes of krautesque jazz explorations.
Now don't get me wrong, if the jazz department of your collection only contains a Miles Davis collection box and a Best Of John Coltrane, this might still push your buttons in the right order. Throughout the album, the experimental jazz approach prevails but still offers mellow resting areas and groovy bits of "drunken rhythms;" one even encounters some parts the listener could hum along with after a few listens. Some of those intermezzos call the soundtrack Baise Moi to mind, or at least the closing four tracks composed by the hand of Jan Varou.
In all, if an experimental three quarters of an hour doesn't scare you off and you can handle your jazz, it is well worth checking out this album. The production is as organic and solid as you'd find it on late sixties- early seventies prog or krautrock albums. I realize that this album can take some effort on the listener's behalf at first, but it gains much in depth once you find your way in Black Motor's sonic universe."
(THE SILENT BALLET)