Krokofant - Krokofant vinyl lp + CD (due to size and weight, this price for the USA only. Outside of the USA, the price will be adjusted as needed)
SKU
05-RLP 3154LP
"Cross-breed a crocodile and an elephant and you might end up with an ungodly hybrid: a Krokofant. Familiar to Norwegians from a popular kids' song, a real life Krokofant would be a lumbering, trumpeting beast with a fearsome array of teeth in its snapping jaws. Which pretty much sums up the music made by the Krokofant trio on their debut LP for Rune Grammofon. The young, semi-improvising power trio -- Tom Hasslan (guitars), Axel Skalstad (drums) and J�rgen Mathisen (saxophone) -- typify a new and invigorating movement currently sweeping across the Nordic region: hard boiled improvisation and strong instrumental personalities bolted onto rock beats and driving rhythms. Live, Krokofant pull no punches, sounding off like some unholy three-way marriage of early '70s jazz rock (Mahavishnu Orchestra, Terje Rypdal, Ray Russell), the sprawling progressive odysseys of King Crimson and Henry Cow, and the fierce heat of Peter Br�tzmann's harsh free jazz ensembles. Originally a guitar and drums duo, Tom and Axel met at a guitar shop in Kongsberg, a town in southern Norway famous for its annual jazz festival, where they developed a strong bond playing free music together. In 2012 they hooked up with saxophonist J�rgen, who already had a reputation in musical circles after playing in groups like Shagma, The Core, and Zanussi Five. When the duo eventually decided to capture their unruly sound at the proudly analog Engfelt & Forsgren Studio in Oslo, they invited J�rgen to join them, and the group was properly born during the sessions you can now hear on Krokofant. They ally a strong discipline (check the precision riffing of the intro to "Supermann") with wide, exploratory arcs (the closing, balladic epic, "Castaway"). Tom's agile guitar and J�rgen's snaking sax are always fighting to break out, just held in check by Axel's tough, rhythmic tumble (which gets almost funky on "Bodega"). "Our mission: more prog to the people!" says Tom. "Or having a good time playing what feels right in the moment." Krokofant: once bitten, never forgotten."
- LabelRune Grammofon
- UPC7033660031544