Bill Laswell Blixt Rar

The three players contribute really nice, simple and powerful heads that the band use as a springboard for their powerful improvisations around the themes. Recorded almost completely live in the studio, the emphasis is on the spontaneity and great musicianship of the players.
Guitarist Raoul Björkenheim emerged from Finland in the 1980s with Edward Vesala, started his own group Krakatau who recorded two self-released albums and then recorded two more albums for ECM. We're long-time supporters of his work, having worked with Raoul on Cuneiform for over 15 years. As anyone who has ever seen him perform can tell you, Raoul is a seriously major – if under-appreciated – guitar hero. Most recently, he has kept an active profile with Scorch Trio, with whom he has released 4 albums.
Bassist Bill Laswell has been a major figure in creative music for 3 decades as a performer as well as a producer. Emerging as one of the earliest figures in the unbelievably creative 'downtown' sound movement in the late 70s, he produced early 'punk/jazz' classics with Curlew, Material and the aforementioned Massacre. The list of major names in jazz and rock he has worked with since that time is voluminous; his productions and/or the releases he has appeared on have sold millions of copies and some have directly changed the face of popular music. His stamp is on literally hundreds of albums, the majority of them characterized by a sound fusing the energy of punk with the bone-rattling rhythms of dub and funk.
Drummer Morgan Ågren was voted the #1 best fusion drummer in the Modern Drummer Readers Poll of 2010! A Grammy Award-winning musician on both sides of the Atlantic for his work with Zappa's Universe, He's one of the most amazing drummers out there today; and there are a lot them vying for that title!. He has worked with keyboardist Mats Öberg as Mats/Morgan for over 30 years (since he was 14 and Mats was 10!) and together they have released 8 albums.

Blixt, the jazz fusion/progressive rock trio of Bill Laswell on bass, Raoul Bjorkenheim on guitar and Morgan Agren is a powerful one filled with tricky lead statements and intricate improvisational sections. Laswell is famous as a legendary producer and musician on the 'downtown' improvisational scene in New York city, while Bjorkenheim, late of Finland (an improvisational hotbed all its own filled with great composers and musicians) has had his profile rise with tenures in the fusionesque band Krakatau and The Scorch Trio as well as an excellent disc he cut in the company of the great rhythm team of William Parker and Hamid Drake. The trio jumps right out of the gate, going for the throat with 'Black Whole' developing a fast and torrid cosmological groove that threatens to engulf the musicians in energy. They shift gears into the percussion centered interlude 'Moon Tune' speaking of a lunar influence that casts a diffuse blue light over the proceedings. 'Shifting Sands Closing Hour ' and 'Ghost Strokes' take the musicians to a more abstract direction, developing spooky landscapes of smeared guitar and drums with rumbling, ominous bass underneath. The group drops it back into overdrive with 'Drill Beats' 'Storm' and '4-4-4-4-2-2-2-5-2.' These are short tracks of great intensity, where the group is able to stop and turn on a dime almost telepathically, The Ramones of intricate jazz fusion, hit hard and fast and take no prisoners. Despite the complexity of the music, it remains quite listenable and enjoyable for a wide range of music fans. Whether a fan of punk rock, jazz fusion or progressive rock, there is something for everyone here.

Bass– Bill Laswell
Drums– Morgen Ågren
Guitar– Raoul Björkenheim