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Some cuts are a bit overdone, but the overall package is superb. Something I have not experienced in a long time. A wonderful listening experience.
I therefore write this review without having heard none of the previous EST albums. Of course, I knew it was a Swedish jazz trio. This is the first CD of EST I have both listened to and purchased.
I am impressed about the experimentation and the depth of the compositions, and it gets into the deepest of the deepest within my soul. One of my 2008 favorite albums. That said, I have no standards to gauge this work against from the perspective of the own evolution of this group over time.
So I am reviewing this, say, as if I had liked the cover at the store and picked it up.
I'd opt for soundquakes.I can appreciate what E.S.T. This CD is a hard one to embrace even while admiring the skill required to pull off this live in studio recording. The whole effect feels like the music was dissolved and reconstituted in some form that has the features of music, but not necessarily arranged in the manner to which we are accustomed. The music picks up on some of the more experimental and expressionist directions from earlier E.S.T.
I find that reviewing the music of E.S.T. has accomplished with "Leucocyte" but I will never quite warm up to these free improvisations but I will always have this nagging sense of wondering what might have been next had Mr. I've heard the term soundscapes associated with these "songs" but maybe that is too passive a depiction. makes me want to unleash superlatives--the "-est" adjective forms, fittingly--and not all of them positive by any means.
recordings and ramps up those elements, pushing harmony and structure to the background. Svensson not died. "Leucocyte" caps off a grand run of recordings by this trio, but I wish there were more to come. The late Esbjörn Svensson show his mastery of grand piano and his fascination with electronics; Dan Berglund spends a great deal of the recording coaxing sounds from his double bass that remind me some of the music from Kubrick's film version of 2001 A Space Odyssey; interestingly, I think Magnus Öström is the standout on this recording as at times his drums and percussion are the only thing keeping it grounded, though the extensive set of staccato drumming in parts of Premonition would not invite repeated listening.
They have done and (unfortunately) gone.Goodbye Svensson. Do not hesitate to listen. You'll dive, never die. The last of EST is the best of EST. Some "noisy rock", some "electronics", some "avant-jazz", some "trio lyricism" and some "heavy metal" without eclectism.There are two beautiful suites, "Premonition" and "Leucocyte"; plus four weird cuts.
"Still" and "Ajar" seem like throwaway songs to me. You can hear the beginning of this sound on 2006's "Tuesday Wonderland". The "Leucocyte" suite is also intense, though not as showily. This ranks as one of the better 2008 discs, and is at the higher-end of 4-star discs. Then, the disc really gets going with "Premonition:Earth". I wasn't too familiar with Esbjörn Svensson until his untimely 2008 death. "Leucocyte" is a good indication of what I was missing, and a sad indication of what we'll miss in the future. "Premonition:Earth" combines the piano trio with some glitchy (but musical) electronic sounds.
"Jazz" is, per the title, the jazziest song on the disc. Since this CD is so good, it's a shame they won't be able to continue down this path. The overall effect is (to compare to young American groups) like The Bad Plus meets Chicago Underground Duo. "Still" and "Ajar" keep it from being a through-and-through classic. isn't the first group to combine jazz and electronics this way, but they put their own twist on it, and they play it very well. Towards the end, the snare hits of Magnus Öström start duelling with electronic-drum-kit-sounding snare hits. E.S.T. Many of E.S.T.'s discs start with a quiet song, and "Decade" is a short quiet one.
"Leucocyte: Ad Interim" is simply 60 seconds of silence. "Premonition:Contorted" backs off the intensity, but is still good. The most important sections of the CD are the two-part Premonition and the four-part "Leucocyte" suites. It's very intense, and very good.
With the release of Leucocyte, Svensson's trio goes out with a bang.Some reviewers have found this a little too avant-garde and experimental for their tastes. My favorites by far are Premonition (dig the machine gun intensity of Magnus Ostrom's percussion). Now it appears that Leucocyte will be the final one unless the remaining members dig up some unreleased out-takes or even some fully realized compositions that somehow never made the cut. At one point, I thought I heard my tea-kettle whistling until I realized that I hadn't put the water on yet.Though the music may take some getting used to for those who expected a reprise of past E.S.T. Earlier this year, I was saddened to read that Esbjorn Svensson, one of the most innovative keyboardists in modern jazz, had drowned.
Listen to it with an open mind and see if you don't come to enjoy it as I have. release, but its certainly one I will play with some regularity. outings, several listens without other distractions should eventually bring most of those folks around to appreciate what a fine piece of work this is overall. in a whole new and often discordant light.Leucocyte is not my favorite E.S.T. On Leucocyte, they take this experimentation to a new level. Leucocyte, the sprawling four part composition that closes the album, has its ups and downs but forces the listener to hear E.S.T. has experimented previously with ambient background noises to augment the core of the music. If you want something slower and more peaceful, Still offers nearly ten minutes worth of meditative relaxation.
It was only in the last several years that I have really gotten into his trio and I eagerly looked forward to every release. and Jazz. Now let's have those out-takes and the other half of this session alluded to in another review. E.S.T. Listen to this in the dark, and you will begin to imagine that some funny things are going on in your house.
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