Elephant9 - Psychedelic Backfire I and II

by Maarten Schiethart

published: 6 / 8 / 2019

Elephant9 - Psychedelic Backfire I and II

Label: Rune Grammofon
Format: CD

Furious freeform jazz recorded at a North Oslo cafe on double CD by experimental trio Elephant9

Review

Elephant9 played the Bistro near Kampen Park in Winter 2019, a couple of blocks up North from Oslo's city centre. I wasn't there to witness it but I try to imagine how it might have felt. I like to think that it was like Chicago aeons ago with obstinate musicians, performing to an open-minded audience, which under the circumstances is the best audience one could wish for. The double CD documents the evening when bass player Nikolai Hængsle, Stále Storløkken on organ and Torstein Lofthus on drums seemed to be on spiritual form. The playlist includes a nearly impossible to recognize instrumental cover of Stevie Wonder's 'You are the Sunshine of My Life', a track of which I must admit now was a waste of my newspaper boy money - but I was only twelve or thirteen years of age when I decided to buy Stevie Wonder's 'Talking Book'. It wasn't much later that I bought my first Captain Beefheart LP and Elefant9 possibly cover the song with a similar mindset of disposition. Elefant9 are far too generous to credit the track to Stevie Wonder. It's become a track obviously of their own. Stále Storløkken was responsible for the groovy keyboard music on the first CD - the first hour of the concert, Nikolai Hængsle for the hefty bass play on the second CD, with Torstein Lofthus on drums backing up all of the time, and combined must have sped up the digestion of the audience in the bistro. They sound extremely energetic on this wild double CD. Try to imagine what Emerson, Lake and Palmer plus the Mahavishnu Orcfhestra might have sounded like, high on energy. Forget about the tedious 1970s meanderings of the outfits mentioned above. This trio got really wild and breathe new life into freeform jazz and prog rock. At one level this must have been a baffling performance with its relentless grooves, furious improvisation, manic drills, screeching keyboards. Wish I had been there, back in January 2019.