ELEPHANT9

The musical exploration of Elephant9, despite apparently being framed in jazz/rock fusion, is focused more on the textures, colors and diverse sounds -mostly psychedelic- that result from amalgamating the different keyboards, and not so much on the construction of melodies, improvisations (although there are some solos, they are sporadic and simple) or interactions of the instruments as usual in the genre, resulting in a work without much appeal where the other instruments (bass and drums) rarely stand out - they even give the impression of having been played on some midi instrument, thus frustrating any expectation of musical emotion. Perhaps as background music it has some interest.

Volume I had just the Elephant9 guitar-less trio. Guitarist Reine Fiske is added here and he mostly plays along without getting in the way. It beefs up the texture but I have a feeling I wouldn't have missed him if he weren't there. As with Vol. 1, fantastic playing and the ideal thing for those who want to let everything go, get in the groove and let the flow of these voluminous jams take you away. Unfortunately, I'm terrible at that kind of thing. The last track is my favorite, with Deep Purple-like riffing, a hot Fiske solo spot, a crisp 5/8 section, and a slam jam over the Hot for Teacher groove.

-- The first review for this album --

ELEPHANT9 is described as an offshoot project from members of Norwegian groups Shining and Supersilent, but this recent album is already their fifth, so it seems to be a permanent project. In previous albums the trio of keyboardist Ståle Storlökken, bassist Nikolai Haengsle and drummer Torsten Lofthus were joined by guitarist Reine Fiske, but now it's just the three of them again. Actually this information and all these artists are brand new acquantances to me.

The music is progressive and organic instrumental fusion leaning towards avant-garde. Main composer Storlökken plays Hammond, Rhodes, piano, Eminent 310, Mellotron and Minimoog, perhaps the Hammond being the most present of them. The rhythm section is one of the most powerful I've heard in a while. The opening track 'Way of Return' is in a slow tempo, concentrating on a slightly creepy atmosphere, while 'Actionpack 1' is very hectic. Mellotron makes me think of King Crimson tracks such as the second album's instrumental 'Devil's Triangle'. 'Farmer's Secret' features thick Hammond sounds familiar from the late 60's - early 70's organ-oriented prog and fusion, and also the Moog makes it feel very closely related to vintage progressive rock. This track is one of several highlights.

'Dancing With Mr. E' -- like the album in general -- is reminiscent of the most hectic Canterbury fusion (Egg, National Health), and it also contains a drum solo. What an energy from the whole trio! I'm not usually deeply fond of intense, avant-ish music but this album is a very positive surprise right from the first listening. 'Mystery Blend' is another slow and creepy track. One definitely cannot blame the album for sounding the same all the time. The dynamic variety and the vintage-sounding wide range of keyboards both guarantee that listening to this 36-minute album is an exciting ride. The unpredictability meets groove and the pure joy of playing. If you enjoy organ-centred fusion and want some wild energy, remember the name ELEPHANT9.

Ok, so we all know by now that Rune Grammofon (label) has spawned some pretty great bands in the last decade or so (Food, Krokofant, Panzerpappa, Motorpsycho and Bushman's Revenge, just to name a few). All of these bands are talented, creative and very prog or fusion or symphonic oriented. So it is no surprise that Elephant9 continues the label's trend. At this concert the 1st thing you will notice is the excellent sound for a live event. Those engineers at the BBC know their business. The music is like having an early Emerson or Dave Stewart suddenly being invited to form a trio with Cobham and Laird or Tony Williams and Tony Newton (circa New Tony Williams' Lifetime). In fact, this reminds a bit of William's first ever fusion group, Emergency, minus McLaughlin. Of course, this has a more up to date energy and it is jaw dropping just how tight and fast some passages are in this music, especially this being live. The compositions are great vehicles for these musicians to really dig in, without ever loosing site of the various cells within the long pieces. Although it is all very raucous, there is never a sense of them getting out of control or getting into free cacophony. If any of references mentioned are to your liking you can't miss with this excellent lp. Recommended to prog and fusion fans.

A while back, 'mellotronstorm' facilitated the discovery of a French band, a Magma-offshoot called One Shot which really blew my mind, offering up a technically dazzling form of jazz I like to call 'heavy-jazz' with oodles of profuse and nervous bass guitar, cataclysmic drumming (spirit of Christian Vander), buzzing echelons of nicely distorted e- piano, synthesizers and organ as well as some diagonal guitar rushes that defy gravity. The same reviewer also passed on his admiration for Elephant 9, a skilled Norwegian band that features the near-mythical guitar slinger Reine Fiske of Landberk fame. His style is a spicy mix of U2's the Edge, Robert Fripp and Phil Manzanera, a style best described as impenetrable and enveloping, at times fiery and rasping. Definitely one of prog music's originators of new horizons. The keyboards are manned by Stale Storlokken (Motorpsycho,Terje Rypdal) whose main weapon of predilection is the much distorted Fender Rhodes, an electric piano that is just as mythical in prog as the mighty mellotron or the powerful Rickenbacker, as well as the said beastly mellotron, a slew of Mini-Moogs synths and Hammond organ. Nasty bassist Nicolai Eirletsen (Moster!) fuzzes the box effectively, fostering a deep buzz that permeates the tracks with a forceful shove, a very obligatory rudder for this kind of oppressive music. The drums are frantic, effective and polyrhythmic in the skilled hands of Shining's Torstein Lofthus. The whole is akin to a controlled hurricane of sound, both devastating and magnificently powerful. The antithesis of wimp or fluff.

The condensed obscurity is quite sullen and abrasive on the 14 minute+ opener "Occidentali" with its trilling guitar work that scours the space between sound and fury, raging bass on the rampage, taking no prisoners. The 4 instrumentalists get to show their talents, displaying both energy and subtlety, each carving out their part of the forest with apparent ease. Everything played here just lunges out and grabs the jugular, like a soundtrack for a demented personality, with a hint of perversion, dysfunctional and totally apathetic to any outcome. The mighty mellotron proves why it's the instrument from hell (the first models were impossible to subdue, hissy little machines), as it storms its way through, unremitting.

To have the sheer courage of tackling a cover of the otherwise slightly wimpy Stevie Wonder classic "You Are the Sunshine of my Love" is jaw-dropping especially in view of the fact that this makeover prefers a way darker extremity, barely a hint of the original, creating a deliberately slow burning groove that is more cosmic than ghetto, full of moody brooding sounds including Hammond organ shuffled angst and a relentless binary beat that hammers the drive home. Fiske slowly develops into a sizzle, displaying pitiless axe pyrotechnics that will maintain your mouth agape. Linear and spooky.

The torment level is maintained with the creepy "Abhartach", a more circular and hypnotic mood, laced tight with some divine mellotron strings, as well as loads of distorted effects. The unforgiving electric guitar rasps, shaves, slices and purees like a blender gone berserk, the keyboards flinging gory notes all over the studio floor, a sweat- drenched and dirt-laden display of sombre power jazz-rock, brutally propelled by a rhythm section gone cray-cray. This is oblique, manic, insane and deranged music.

Surrender yet? No? Elefant 9 will slay the disbeliever by shoving not one but 2 colossal and no-holds barred 20 minute+ epics back to back, right down the gullet and the hell with the consequences. If you can't handle it, buzz off now! "Kungsten" wastes little time reigniting the booster rockets, smoke spewing from every note, as if rage was the main fuel propellant. Lofthus' drumming is outright exceptional, both rapid and fierce, presumably infused by the spirit of Keith Moon, as he just bangs like a lunatic. Inexorably, the reptilian bass crawls through the percussive storm, deliberately coiling in hypnotic sequence, relentlessly crushing and suffocating the arrangement into submission, as one asks how long can Lofthus maintain such an aural tornado? The menacing keys and portentous guitar act as a catalyst of pain and despair, threading harshly the confines of endurance. Suddenly, the calm sets in, unexpected and eerie, as spectral rivulets of effervescent notes color the canvas, confusion slowly settling in. This is just a breathing space, for a echoing Canterbury-like fuzz organ shatters the calm one more time, imagine Hatfield and the North or National Health going hot and heavy for a moment. Fiske and Storlokken trade barbed wire licks that shatter the once peaceful disposition thoroughly. Grit, grime and shudder. Okay, that worked, how about another round? Back we go to pastoral sprinklings of acoustic guitar, shafts of suave bass lines and gentle drum rolls. This is quite mesmerizing in its simplicity and patent gorgeousness. What command of both earth and sky! Dizzying contrasts really give this piece a stunning feel. The obligatory ramping up of the speed is required to finish this sucker off and the pedal is slammed way into the metal. Brute.

The last monster is "The Above Ground Sound", a cataclysmic jam that starts out faint and uncluttered, an austere rumble at first with hypnotic notes and a palpable obscurity that slowly evolves into a gargantuan detonation, almost Crimsonian in spirit, as the percussives percolates and the guitar grinds. Insane, unhinged, screwed to the hilt, the lingering emotions are disconcerting to the point of torture. As per norm, a surprise mid-section of acoustic guitar seizes the day and deflects the pain. Fractal shards of sound, another maddening binary tempo and a rustling organ foray add to the pleasure. The insistent keys and rippling guitars recall the finer moments of the Fripp-Summers masterpiece "I Advance Masked" but here muscled along by a steamroller beat. Ebb and flows, peaks and valleys, elation and depression, it's all available within the tight confines of this epic piece. As the arrangement heads for the checkered flag, Reine Fiske's guitar torches the track with incandescent and phosphorescent runs, making one only wonder what would the "Below Ground Sound" come across like? The glorious dual note finale is beastly stuff that would make anyone smile!

Though not for the faint of heart, and thus not really ideal for background music while doing chores, this is the kind of prog you sit down and let it overcome and overwhelm you. And if you get crushed in the process, well maybe you are a musical masochist after all.

4.5 shiny pinnacles

"Silver Mountain" is the latest offering from ELEPHANT9 and yes guitarist Reine Fiske is back. I was surprised how different this album is when compared to the previous ones. Guldbamsen mentioned a Krautrock vibe which I completely agree with but i'd also mention Miles Davis electric period as having an influence despite there being no horns on this album. Just the way they jam and the way the organ often seems to boil under the surface. I kept waiting for them all to break out but it rarely happens here. This is a trippy album that is often subdued and comes across as being improvised jams. The thing is we get four lights out musicians who have done something really special here in my opinion.

It's hard not to say that keyboardist Stale Storlokken is the star here. His work with SUPERSILENT, MOTORPSYCHO and Terje Rypdal to name a few is incredible to say the least. He plays Fender Rhodes, Hammond Organ, mellotron, synths and a variety of keyboards to perfection and they are often distorted thankfully. Bass player Nicolai Eilertsen who plays with MOSTER! and BIG BANG could be more prominent in the mix but his playing is amazing. Reine Fiske(PAATOS, DUNGEN, LANDBERK) is prominent at times but takes a role not so dissimilar to the one James Mac Gaw from MAGMA has, and he is fantastic as usual. Drummer Torstein Lofthus from SHINING and other bands is a definite leader here as his drumming is very upfront and impressive as it could possibly be.

This is a long one, a double vinyl album clocking in at 76 minutes but much like "Bitches Brew" the time flies by. "Occidentali" has such a trippy sound to it with percussion and mellotron standing out early on. A calm arrives after 3 1/2 minutes and it's quite spacey. It kicks back in at 5 1/2 minutes and they are just killing it here. Check out the drums and keyboards! Nasty stuff. Distorted keyboards after 7 1/2 minutes followed by a calm after 8 minutes. Mellotron follows a minute later. A catchy beat with distorted keys and more kick in around 10 minutes to the end. Nice. "You Are the Sunshine Of My Life" is spacey and experimental to start with not a lot going on. Some pulsating organ joins in. This is so enjoyable, so trippy. Love the intricate guitar lines as well.

"Abhartach" sounds so good with that beat, distortion and mellotron. It's very repetitive until a change arrives after 2 minutes. Keyboards come to the fore and man can he play, so innovative! The mellotron is back before 6 minutes then it all turns more intense. "Kungsten" kicks into gear suddenly around 30 seconds in with drums out front as other sounds come and go. The drumming is outstanding! There's this intensity that makes me think this is about to explode at any second but it all stops before 7 1/2 minutes as relaxed organ runs come in. It kicks back in before 10 minutes with some Canterbury styled distorted keys. Nice. They're jamming and the organ and guitar are destroying it big time 13 minutes in. A change follows as it turns mellow and beautiful until the elephants stampede the soundscape after 18 minutes. My God!

"The Above Ground Sound" has a Krautrock vibe to start as we get this repetitive jam of keys and drums mostly. It's fairly minimalistic really. It's getting more intense 5 1/2 minutes in until it's just plain nasty. A calm follows before 8 minutes with acoustic guitar as a beat and organ join in. It's building 11 minutes in until we get another calm before 12 1/2 minutes then experimental sounds start to come and go as the drums rumble relentlessly. The guitar starts to scream before another calm arrives 18 1/2 minutes in as this beat with a Krautrock vibe takes over with distortion as it trips along.

You can't go wrong with any of the four studio albums this band has released but this one and "Dodovoodoo" are my favourites so far. One of the best from 2015 for sure.

I met the elephants of Elephant9 thru fellow Norwegians Motorpsycho, with which they share several collaborators and a penchant for English word-play, although musically the bands are quite different. Elephant is free-form ("jazzy"), keyboard-dominated (in fact, their line-up doesn't feature a guitarist, although a guitarist works with them sometimes) heavy jam band. There are almost no self-evident melodies or grooves to speak of, except maybe for the foundation of the first part of Freedom's Children. A few tracks are quiet, or have quiter sections (the ominous, but slow-building first part of Atlantis, for example), but the rest amounts to white-noise thunder to my gentle ears. Definitely an acquired taste, and I dare someone to tell me they can take this in just one sitting.

Norwegian trio Elephant 9 offer their most dense, complex and varied work to date with their third studio album `Atlantis'. Joined by quietly renowned guitarist Reine Fiske of Dungen, Landberk and the defining Paatos release with their debut `Timeloss', this instrumental album is endlessly delirious, aggressive and deeply immersive. The comparisons in the past to Emerson, Lake and Palmer are mostly vanquished, instead the band offer something far more deranged and messy, very heavily psychedelic and, if anything, some evocative and subtle ambient passages and wilder sonic outbursts share more in common with Krautrock, a factor only deliciously highlighted by the stripped back and occasionally murky production.

With an ominous foghorn-like beckoning and a rattle of intent, opener `Black Hole' tears the album to life, a battery of ferocious unceasing pummelling drums, blitzkrieg Hammond, Fender Rhodes and piano runs and bass so thick it's virtually a slab of concrete, all lurching in and out of the dirtiest of unexpected grooves. `The Riddler' opens crystalline and dream-like before racing through a propulsive heavy groaning blast of Hammond fury, with a tasty spiralling Rhodes melody weaving around. Fiske now enters the album for the twelve minute title track, a gradually unfolding kraut/heavy psych improvisation of droning guitar and Hammond organ atmospheres that initially reminds of little traces of the spiritual era Santana band albums and early Pink Floyd, before taking a darker turn with a building drum-beat, stalking bass, unhinged electric piano and distorted guitar grinding bristling with danger.

The gentle acoustic guitars and shimmering electronics of `A Foot in Both' call to mind both the early Agitation Free and Popul Vuh albums, and the aptly named ten minute `Psychedelic Backfire' is an infernal march of harsh electronic drones and crushing plodding electric guitar doom before settling into slinking bass and Hammond grooves. `A Place in Neither' is an almost funky and brisk fusion interlude, and the album closes on a near-fourteen minute jam `Freedom's Children', a frantic, fun and relentless crash of acid rock fuzzy wailing guitar fire, thrashing driving beats, swirling keyboard violations and grumbling pulsing bass all swept up into a vacuum of noise.

`Atlantis' demands endless replays to truly appreciate, an Initially quite intimidating work that takes it's time to reveal so many subtle layers in amongst all the noise and bluster. It's sure to be a more divisive work for followers of the band, and probably those interested in the E.L.P-like qualities often associated with the group will be in for a bit of an abrupt shock, and very likely may want to put their heads through the wall! But the album is an absolute triumph of exploratory heavy prog, and is Elephant 9's defining statement to date.

Four stars.

4.5 stars. Norway's own ELEPHANT9 are back trampling everything and everyone in their path. This time they've brought along Swedish guitar legend (in my world he is) Reine Fiske to add his psychedelic and fuzzed out guitar to the mix. I guess this was just in case we weren't all freaked out enough by their first two studio albums. Yes i'm holding up my white flag, please take me prisoner !

We get two songs before Reine arrives so lets look at them first. "Black Hole" is a 9 minute ride into chaos as the drums pound with relentless precision as the bass digs deep and the organ just flat out spreads it's nastiness all over God's green earth. Not for the faint of heart people. It's even haunting towards the end just in case your hair wasn't yet standing up straight. "The Riddler" is more about atmosphere until it kicks in hard before 1 1/2 minutes. My God ! It does settle back and yet this is far from being anything close to calm as they continue to storm the soundscape. Man the drumming is so impressive and the organ is simply nasty and anything but normal. "Atlantis" is calm to open with floating organ-like atmosphere and more. Things start to build 2 minutes in it would appear but then it settles back. Beautiful stuff here as Reine's guitar cries out. A change before 5 minutes as a steady beat takes over as the organ and guitar continue. The guitar is almost screaming 7 minutes in as Reine starts to rip it up. This continues to the end.

"A Foot In Both" has Reine on nylon- string guitar while the bass player strums a 12 string acoustic on this one.Guitar and keyboards lead early. Cool stuff and fairly laid back too. Drums after 3 1/2 minutes help out. Good song. "Psychedelic Backfire" is slow to build but there's something evil about to burst forth you just know it. Dark is the word after 2 minutes. It's like waves of dark psychedelia coming down on us again and again until a change 5 minutes in. Growly organ, a beat, bass and guitar then start to lead but there's still no light. Great ending too in this amazing track. "A Place In Neither" is brighter and more alive as drums and electric piano standout in this short 2 minute tune. "Freedom's Children" opens with some excellent guitar and organ as the drums pound. So good. It settles back after 2 1/2 minutes then kicks in again quickly. Great sound ! Check out Reine after 5 1/2 minutes. Nice. This is intense the rest of the way like a runaway train.

Man i'd love to see these guys in concert with Reine on stage with them. My kind of music !

Third album (if you don't count a vinyl-only live album) from this Norwegian keyboard-lead trio, but this time with the addition of a famous Swedish guitarist called Reine Fiske (Landberk, Paatos & Dungen) for over half the seven tracks. Basically, you're dealing with the usual Elephant9 album (even down to the boring-as-usual Rune-Grammofon label artwork) but with the notable input from one of Scandinavia's most exciting and "out-there" (as in psych) guitarist, which adds a considerable element that can answer Storlokken's wide array of keyboards that include a Rhodes, a Hammond, a Minimoog and piano. Oh yeah, bassist Ellertsen plays also some acoustic 12- strings as well.

Even the opening Black Hole sounds like the chaotic quagmire announced in its title, but the power and interplay between the three compadres is simply irresistible: you'll have the sound up to 11 in no time. A Foot In Both is a much quieter and pensive affair, where Ellertsen's 12-strings guitar takes the lead role above the moog and organ layers. The title track opens on smooth keyboard layers, but gradually Fiske's guitar draws the controlled chaos with its feedback

The long anxiogenic thunder rolls of Psychedellic Backfire suggest that we're in the last throes of the lost mythological Atlantis civilization, where the tsunami waves attack regularly the cliffs of what were once a continent and now only a chaplet of reef. Once the waves have done their destruction, the booming bass and sinister Hammond drones are describing explosion of pockets of molten magma flowing from your speakers and coming in contact with whatever's left of Atlantis' trade goods storage buildings.

Elsewhere, the dominating element in the short A Place In Neither is the demented Ellertsen bass riff. Hendrixian feedback guitar is dominating the first part of the 13-mins+ Freedom's Children, which sports its name quite well. The middle sections speeds up and goes bonkers gradually and starts saturating until its chaotic and explosive end.

Well, despite the addition of Fike, Atlantis is certainly well in the artistic line of E9's discography, while adding a little "je-ne-sais-quoi" (guitars of course) as icing on the cake; and I take the bet that it's probably going to be the apex of the band, unless they add more musicians