Thursday, August 19, 2004  

Jaga Jazzist, "Serafin I Jungelen (Jomba vs. K-Mart & Ravi '97 Mix)"
from Magazine EP (Smalltown Supersound, 2004; rec. 1996)
Lars Horntveth, "The Joker"
from Pooka (Smalltown Supersound, 2004)
Lars Horntveth, "Tics (Four Tet Remix)"
from The Joker EP (Smalltown Supersound, 2004)
Motorpsycho + Jaga Jazzist Horns, "Doffen Ah Um"
from In the Fishtank EP (Koncurrent, 2003)
Motorpsycho, "Sunchild"
from Demon Box (Voices of Wonder, 1993)

Jaga Jazzist is the best-known band to come out of the Smalltown Supersound stable, and it's easy to hear why on great records such as A Livingroom Hush and The Stix. Jaga features jazz-smart horn arrangements and harmonies as well as dance-club-ready drums and electronic gizmoez. Post-rock? Pah! Post-jazz, baby!

The "Serafin" remix is off Jaga's newly reissued 1998 EP, but the O.G. version comes from the band's 1996 debut CD, Jaevla Jazzist Grete Stitz (which is out of print and way ready for a loving Smalltown reissue). Lars Horntveth is one of Jaga's main peeps (there are 10 of them, for cripe's sake); his solo CD, Pooka, and the first single, "The Joker," are all killer / no filler, just like the wig rockin' Phyllis Diller. Go to Smalltown's Pooka micro site to download the original version of "Tics."

Horntveth does some string arranging on the side for fellow Norwegian bands such as the very popular Motorpsycho, who teamed up with Jaga for the Mingus-proppin' improv "Doffen Ah Um." But Motorpsycho have been around since 1989, releasing enough albums and EPs to fill up a Pearl Jam-sized bin at your local Norwegian CD store. Motorpsycho's music tends to be all over the place, from heavy rawk to country to punk, but the track I posted could have come straight off a 1991 Superchunk single or a 1986 Dinosaur Jr. demo. It rockets me back to American indie rock's Golden Era, making me want to dig through my 7-inch collection and dust off my Greg Ginn transcriptions.

BTW, Scissorkick is still hosting two songs by Jaga Jazzist, "Day" and "Animal Chin," right here. And if you don't already love Long Fin Killie---and I think only about 4 people do---Scissor K is hosting tracks by them as well. Long Fin's first album, 1995's Houdini, is a stone-cold classic.

More about Smalltown Supersound soon, as I did an interview with founder Joakim Haugland while in Oslo; he's a really nice, earnest, and motivated guy. I could probably learn something from him. But in the meantime, just scoot over to BubbleCore or Midheaven and buy some of Smalltown's many, many produkts. And if you have any rare Sonic Youth material lying around, by all means send it to Joakim; dude luvs the Youth even more than my buddy Sonic Tom.

Posted by CP | Link |

---