This Saturday, April 27th, we’re organizing our next label event – in conjunction with PlusEtage. This time is the first duo gathering of guitar experimentalist MATTHEW GRIGG (a fascinating guitarist from Bristol, UK, founder of the interesting Unknown Tongue label and organizer of a very successful concert series) and Dutch percussionist and sound painter FRISO VAN WIJCK, known for his numerous collaborations with the finest of the free impro and free jazz in The Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, etc.
Note : this concert takes place at the aula of the Cultural Center Baarle-Hertog/Nassau (where the original venue of PlusEtage is situated). All info and tickets here.

UK’s MUSIQUE MACHINE just published a review of our CARLOS ‘ZINGARO’/GUILHERME RODRIGUES/JOSÉ OLIVEIRA’s ZWOSCH ZWOSCH ZWOSCH release. The album is available through our store.

“Zwosch, Zwosch & Zwosch is an improv release that wonderfully swings between the manic and seared, to the more moody and atmospheric. It’s an album/ release that truly keeps the listener firmly on their toes throughout its nearing thirty-three-minute run.

The release brings together three Portuguese improvisers- Carlos “Zíngaro” – Violin, Guilherme Rodrigues – Cello, and José Oliveira – Percussion. The album consists of a recording of a set from the Festival DME – Lisboa Incomum on the 30th of July, 2021.

The single track featured here rolls in at thirty-two minutes & fourteen seconds. We open with a blend of rattling percussive drags, neck saws/pulls, and sudden crashes/ runs. As we move on we go from manic string swoons ‘n’ swipes blended with darting/ shifting percussive tones. Though to drops into broodingly moody droning/ simmer- which are edged by scuttling scraps & rubs. Onto rapidly tightening bass runs, fiddling swoons, and playful ethnic percussive rolls & shifts.

Throughout the three players nicely shifts from one place to the next- with both a feeling of true freedom & flare, yet there are also moments of mood/ near melody too. And I could have easily listened to these three for another half an hour or so, as their playing is both rewardingly eventful and atmospherically fired.

Zwosch, Zwosch & Zwosch is a wonderfully unpredictable improv ride, and you really don’t know what’s around next sonic corner. And this maintains even after a few plays, so it most certainly deserves revisits.”

Their DEFIANT ILLUSION album just received a short but very nice review on the MOORS MAGAZINE from the Netherlands. The album remains available here.

“Bassist Gonçalo Almeida kennen we al van diverse projecten, want deze Portugese free jazz-avonturier gaat het avontuur graag aan, dus elke keer als ik zijn naam zie staan ga ik er even voor zitten, want dan staat er iets bijzonders te gebeuren Defiant Illusion laat zijn samenwerking horen met wat onverwachte partners op het muzikale avonturenpad. Violist Maria do Mar speelt al jaren in de Portugese avantgarde-scene, en dat zij en Almeida een klik hebben vind ik niet zo verwonderlijk. Verrassender is Carla Santana, die akoestische geluiden en elektronica op een verbluffende manier weet te mengen, terwijl José Lencastre met zijn saxofoons op een subtiele manier kleur brengt in de toch al subtiele muziek die hier gecreëerd wordt . De vier musici maken het zichzelf, elkaar en de luisteraar niet gemakkelijk, maar als je er op je gemak voor gaat zitten, koptelefoon op, ogen dicht, en je laat de muziek het even helemaal overnemen, zul je ontdekken dat alles hier klopt, tot in de kleinste details. Improvisatie met soms ruwe randjes, maar ook harmonieuze, ingetogen, bijna verstilde delen. Laat je door dit viertal mee op reis nemen door onbekend muzikaal terrein en geniet! Want deze muziek is veel toegankelijker dan je op het eerste gehoor misschien zou kunnen denken.” Moors Magazine – The Netherlands

The next event in our series, with the help of PlusEtage, is the duo gathering of guitar experimentalist MATTHEW GRIGG (a fascinating guitarist from Bristol, UK, founder of the interesting Unknown Tongue label and organizer of a very successful concert series) and percussionist FRISO VAN WIJCK.
This concert takes place at the aula of the Cultural Center Baarle-Hertog/Nassau (where the original venue of PlusEtage is situated). All info and tickets here.

Veteran critic ROBERTO MANDOLINI wrote a nice review on the newest release of GARUDA TRIO + RODRIGO PINHEIRO. The review of their TONGUES OF FLAMES got published on the Italian ONDAROCK website. Get your copy here.

“Il sassofonista Hugo Costa torna a pubblicare sulla belga A New Wave of Jazz in compagnia dei connazionali Hernâni Faustino (contrabbasso), João Valinho (batteria) e Rodrigo Pinheiro (pianoforte), stella luminosa dell’imperdibile scena free jazz portoghese. Le tre improvvisazioni di “Tongues Of Flames” sono state registrate durante il mese di luglio del 2022 a Lisbona (Namouche studios) e pubblicate ad inizio 2024 su CD dall’etichetta di Dirk Serries (nella solita edizione di 200 copie con copertina disegnata da Rutger Zuydervelt). I diciotto minuti della prima traccia in scaletta, “Raw”, esprimono l’essenza del suono liquido e allo stesso tempo dinamitardo del quartetto: il contrabbasso disegna lentamente un groove lunare e per quasi sei minuti sassofono, pianoforte e batteria cesellano morbide note in assonanza con i timbri del cordofono; quindi un’accelerazione costante porta le voci degli strumenti in primo piano per dar vita alla lunga coda che prende fuoco come i blues siderali di David Murray. La magia si ripete nella più breve, omonima, “Tongues Of Flames”, dove Costa e Pinheiro si alternano in due assolo in cui dimostrano di aver raggiunto una sintonia tutta da ascoltare, muovendosi tra volumi e spazi multidimensionali. Ancora accenti blues aprono i quindici minuti di “If We Dance”, dove il dialogo tra i quattro musicisti diventa talmente fluido da apparire nel trascinante finale come una sola voce. “