Christian Skår Winther | Magnus Skavhaug Nergaard | Joakim Heibø Johansen | Mats Gustafsson | Ich Bin Nintendo & Mats Gustafsson | Va Fongool Records

Christian Skår Winther: Electric Guitar | Magnus Skavhaug Nergaard: Electric Bass | Joakim Heibø Johansen: Drums | Mats Gustafsson: Baritone Saxophone

Recorded by Chistoffer Brenna live at Lillesalen Konsertserie, Oslo, March 2012. Mixed, mastered and destroyed by Lasse Marhaug. All music by Ich Bin Nintendo and Mats Gustafsson

Tracklist: 1. Start First [7:19] 2. End [3:19] 3. Second [17:51

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The three wildlings in ICH BIN N!NTENDO

trooped up with The Thing’s critically acclaimed saxophone player, Mats Gustafsson, on their debute album released in october, 2012. Recording it during a live gig in Oslo, they managed to fully absorb the ultimate scolding energy of trembling musicians the album deserved and would not get from any studio. To fulfill the noise-soundscape to this record, Lasse Marhaug mixed and mastered it to perfection.

ICH BIN N!NTENDO is a purely improvised trio and can be compared to bands like The Ex and the more experimental releases from ZU. Though, in the company with Mats Gustafsson, the closest comparison would be, if anything, the Original Silence recordings.

«There is not a second of rest, no attempt to form a linear structure or to show off with virtuosic or technical playing; just a complete release of raw energy, with no inhibitions.» – All About Jazz, Eyal Hareuveni

«It ain’t soundtrack music to your first kiss, or music you jog to, or music for sweet dreams. It’s a tad bit headache music, and bit o’ revolutionary music» – 6.9/10 Bad Sounds Magazine, Essi Tam

«It’s a killer!» – Freejazz-stef, Martin Schray

«A great disc of highly charged and intense music, which also holds some interesting variations in approach, which seem to me a rarity in this particular musical genre.» – Vitalweekly.net

«All told this is a very effective & intense shot of improv/ noise jazz with all parties creating a wonderfully rewarding & noisy chaos» – 4/5 Musiquemachine.com, Roger Batty

«Med gitar, bass og trommer vrenger de ut lydmasse uten nåde» – 4/6 Aftenposten, Arild R. Andersen

«Jeg ser for meg halve publikum hoppende opp og ned. Jeg ser for meg den andre halvdelen med fingrene i ørene. Jeg ser for meg bakteppet i storsalen på Chateu Neuf dekket med Marshalkabinett.» – Jazzinorge.no, Arthur Kay Piene

«Un seul impératif, une seule contrainte: tout évacuer – haine, colère, rage; mais aussi joie, bonheur – en un seul cri d’une demi-heure intense.» – Improv Sphere, Julien Héraud

«Meine absolute Empfehlung! PS: Lärm auf hohem Niveau dürfte die trefflichste Kurzbeschreibung sein!» – Kulturterrorismus, Raf

«Een beest van 28 minuten furie en adrenaline.» – Enola.be, Guy Peters

 

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6 thoughts on “Christian Skår Winther | Magnus Skavhaug Nergaard | Joakim Heibø Johansen | Mats Gustafsson | Ich Bin Nintendo & Mats Gustafsson | Va Fongool Records

  1. Young Norwegian power trio Ich bin N!ntendo is a sonic heir to European power outfits such as the Swedish-Norwegian trio The Thing, Italian punk-jazz trio Zu, and Dutch quartet The Ex. Its affinity with Swedish sax titan Mats Gustafsson of The Thing, who guests on this live recording, is obvious. Both enjoy exploring and pushing the physical aspects of their instruments into utter intensity.

    This debut album was recorded live in Oslo, later “mixed, mastered and destroyed” by noise artist Lasse Marhaug. More accurately, Marhaug managed to inject some sonic coherence into the dirty, reckless noisy soundscapes of these four musicians, enveloping them in a crisp, vibrating sound.

    From the first second, the approach on the first two brief tracks is clear and simple: fast and muscular, with total surrender to the highest volume possible to bear. There is not a second of rest, no attempt to form a linear structure or to show off with virtuosic or technical playing; just a complete release of raw energy, with no inhibitions.

    The third track, “Second,” is longer, at about 17 minutes, in an album that clocks at a mere 28 minutes. On the this track, Gustafsson’s powerful playing can be appreciated. His baritone sax soars over the noisy and distorted chaos and supports the trio’s violent sonic outbursts. The trio is willing to take more risks and, on this longer soundscape, references earlier high-octane sound explorers such as the late American guitarist Sonny Sharrock and the Finnish guitarist Raoul Björkenheim.

    Not for the faint of heart.

  2. I’ve listened to this thrice, only because Mats G was involved. Wonder how many times the perpetrators have listened it themselves. Like sat down, concentrated, listened to it. But instead of discussing tragic band names with irresponsible punctuation use (speaking of which, I just read an utterly crap crop of “hipster Norg music blogs” at HISS!G), here’s three approaches to this music.

    Call it art. Art in a PVP purple crocodile, ornamented in styrofoam pyramids of poo-poo. Call the statue “Twiggy”, put it a modern art museum, call it symbolism, repression, a statement on the non-elliptical nature of some conundrum. Call it art the way a hoodlum from Queens will throw out TVs from the second floor, let it smash on the street, jumbled with a bunch of broken desks and ripped up couches. Take a picture, put it in a museum and call it art.

    You get what I mean. When I used to live in Nottingham, every two weeks we had these promoters who’d bring in bands like this, you know, improv-jazz-noise stuff. You know, the joyous racket. Another joyous racket. Incestuous locals always putting together a hodge podge of 30 minute raucous in the basement of pubs, with a loyal following. I guess I was one. Occasionally invited professionals, Ruins-sounding acts from New York, or bands sounding like Cleveland’s Scarcity of Tanks or Sunburned Hand of the Man. Japanese fill in the blank. Some more easily to apprehend then others, depending where they went to school, and how poor they were. The richer, the more incomprehensible, I guess. Some people have less liberties to detract from a semblance of a song. Unless you’re plain gifted, born to deconstruct Miles Davis’s peanuts into gold.

    Approach number two: be the numb nut ding-dong with long greasy hair mindlessly nodding along.

    Approach number three: There is no approach number three. This is senseless shit you fuck, stop wasting my time.

    My approach is a combination of the three. Music like this you consume and dispose, put back on the shelf to collect dust. It ain’t soundtrack music to your first kiss, or music you jog to, or music for sweet dreams. It’s a tad bit headache music, and bit o’ revolutionary music.

    Aptly titled tracks, “Start First”, “End”, then the final twenty plus minute track, “Second”. To dig into the nitty gritty good stuff, you gotta endure long intros. In fact, the whole process, as most live performances go, improves chronologically and after significant repetition. Opener “Start First” unfortunately reminds me of the randomness and anonymous nature of aforementioned pub nights. Preaching to the choir.

    Numero dos only continues to solidify the fact that no underground noise professional makes a career outta singular hits or tracks, but rather, connected pieces of a larger (burp) montage. That’s why it seems like so many noise artists disseminate so fucking much shit. It’s my fucking ouevre, man!

    Last track takes a turn for the better. We really begin to see the welding of four forces (Christian Winther on guitar, Magnus Neegaard on bass, Joakim Heiboe on drums, and Kenny, I mean Mats G sax.) Snakey guitar riffs, plummeting bass and good rhythms. Hard, catchy punk moments, a bit like early Noxagt. Not to mention Lasse Marhaug behind the knobs, involved with mixing and mastering. The sound quality is alright. This track is pretty alright. Dig in.

  3. Like many Germans I am a soccer fan. And I was just watching my favorite club being beaten by its “worst” enemy. It was not a simple defeat, it was humiliation – and I watched it until the bitter end. After that I needed something really strong – something like Ich bin N!ntendo feat. Mats Gustafsson.

    You need the following ingredients:

    1 electric guitar (played by Christian Skår Winther)
    1 electric bass (played by Magnus Skavhaug Nergaard)
    1 drum kit (played by Joakim Heibø Johansen)
    1 baritone saxophone (you should definitely use Mats Gustafsson).
    a handful of Captain Beefheart blues and heavy rock riffs
    some 60s psychedelia sliced by brutal saxophone shrieks
    a handful staccato punk drumming
    a teaspoon of Frank Zappa and Peter Brötzmann, and some Jimi Hendrix guitar effects
    a thudding bass
    some distortion sounds
    the good old Lasse Marhaug mix and mastering

    Preparation:
    Take the basic ingredients (guitar, bass, drums, sax), chop them apart and mash them in a food processor. Then pop and empty a bottle of water. Fill the bottle with the basic ingredients, the Beefheart blues and heavy rock riffs, the sliced psychedelia. After that shove the staccato punk drumming, the distortion sounds, the thudding bass, and the Zappa/Brötzmann/Hendrix ingredients inside the bottle, too. Last but not least you have to stand the whole explosive mixture carefully in the Lasse Marhaug mix and mastering freezer and leave it for about half an hour so everything freezes around the bottle. Then take it out of the freezer and shake it thoroughly.

    It tastes a bit like Original Silence, Naked City or Evan Parker/John Wiese, if you need any references.

    I gulped down a good mouthful to swallow down the pain my favorite club’s defeat left in my throat and immediately felt better. But you can enjoy this mixture just for fun as well. It’s a killer!

  4. A trio of Christian Skar Winther (electric guitar), Magmus Skavhaug Nergaard (electric bass( and Joakim Heibo Johansen (drums) team with baritone saxophone player Mats Olof Gustafsson on March 20th of this year to play a concert, and three pieces cut (my guess actually) ‘Start First’, ‘End’ and ‘Second’ by Lasse Marhaug. A hell of racket of free noise jazz music in twenty-eight minutes, cleansing all ears and all thought, I guess. ‘Second’ is the longest cut, but essentially there isn’t much difference between the three pieces, although here they drop down a bit without losing their aggressive playing. Slow here in this ‘Second’, with an almost reflective mood, if such a thing is possible at all, faster in ‘End’, which is almost like a punk song. A great disc of highly charged and intense music, which also holds some interesting variations in approach, which seem to me a rarity in this particular musical genre.

  5. Bon, depuis les années 90, avec Painkiller, Naked City, The Ex, puis Zu et The Thing, on a vu une grande vague de musiciens associer étroitement le punk au free jazz, tout en intégrant progressivement la noise qui se développait parallèlement. Sans Aucun doute, le trio norvégien ICH BIN N!NTENDO se place dans cette tradition. Christian Winther (guitare électrique), Magnus Nergaard (basse électrique) and Joakim Heibø Johansen (batterie) se sont récemment associés pour former ce trio entre noise et musique improvisée instrumentale (pour la guitare électrique saturée), sans oublier l’aspect punk de la section rythmique qui joue aussi bien sur des rythmes binaires énergiques que sur la déconstruction. Un mélange de free jazz et de punk encore renforcé par la présence d’un des chefs de file de ce “mouvement”, le saxophoniste suédois qui a fondé The Thing: Mats Gustafsson.

    Une collaboration puissante et énergique, avec un son volontairement criard et crade (mixé par Lasse Marhaug). Une musique qui couine, qui gueule, qui hurle, qui blaste, qui tape, et qui sue. Oslo, 2012? ça ne fait pas rêver. Le quartet nous plonge dans des caves malsaines, où se réunissent des désaxés genre le héros d’Oslo, 31 août. Mais contrairement à ce dernier, les quatre musiciens veulent se battre, lutter, et crier leur rage. L’énergie doit sortir. L’inertie n’est pas à l’ordre du jour. Un seul impératif, une seule contrainte: tout évacuer – haine, colère, rage; mais aussi joie, bonheur – en un seul cri d’une demi-heure intense.

    Oui c’est bien le genre de truc qu’on a déjà entendu, qu’on se plaît à écouter dans des squats sordides, ça n’a rien d’original, mais ça marche toujours – parce que c’est honnête, sincère, et toujours aussi puissant.

  6. Extremen Free Jazz mit “leichtem” Hang zur Atonalität zelebrieren der Ausnahmesaxophonist MATS OLOF GUSTAFSSON & ICH BIN N!NTENDO auf ihrer ersten selbst betitelten Kooperationsarbeit, die ungeübten Ohren garantiert als pures Chaos vorkommt und hingegen Fans ein Schmankerl der Extraklasse sein dürfte.

    Ihre erste Kollaboration bringen die Norweger über den jungen heimischen Verlag Va Fongool raus, der erst über einen kleinen, aber feinen, Backkatalog verfügt, wo MATS GUSTAFSSON & ICH BIN N!NTENDO perfekt reinpassen. Für einen brillanten Sound sorgte Lasse Marhaug, welcher das Mastering der improvisierten Liveaufnahmen vom 20. März 2012 in Oslo übernahm, die Christoffer Brenna tätigte.

    Auf lupenreine Stringenz verzichten die Herren von ICH BIN N!NTENDO & MATS GUSTAFSSON, deren Zusammenspiel vor allem durch massive Intensität auffällt, wofür vordergründig Gitarre & Saxophon stehen. Alleine das durchdringende Saxophon von MATS GUSTAFSSON sorgt für totale Vereinnahmung, wenn sie/ er auf dieses äußerst eigenständige Soloinstrument abfährt, das entweder total verschreckt oder magisch anzieht. Hinter ICH BIN N!NTENDO stecken die Musiker Christian Skar Winther (Gitarre), Magnus Skavhaug Nergaard (Bass) & Joakim Heibo Johansen (Schlagzeug), die gemeinsam mit MATS GUSTAFSSON vorrangig an das einstige John Zorn Projekt Naked City gemahnen, aber auch an Original Silence, deren Strukturen ähnlich komplex bis zerstörerisch aus den Boxen schallen. Freunde improvisierter Klänge finden in den drei Tracks (Spielzeit knapp 30 Minuten) von ICH BIN N!NTENDO & MATS GUSTAFSSON ein durchweg unvorhersehbares Highlight vor, hingegen Anhänger ausgefeilter Melodien gehen im im norwegischen Chaos unter, das aufgrund seiner Dichte einer Walze gleicht – Wahnsinn!

    Fazit:

    Free Jazz Freaks wie Noisejunkies sollten das selbst betitelte Zusammenspiel von ICH BIN N!NTENDO & MATS GUSTAFSSON unbedingt antesten, welches vor allem durch seine massive Intensität überzeugt – meine absolute Empfehlung! PS: Lärm auf hohem Niveau dürfte die trefflichste Kurzbeschreibung sein!

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