http://www.atomicjazz.com/documents/reviewspage.php en-us Tue, 01 Feb 2011 07:32:57 -0500 Tue, 01 Feb 2011 07:32:57 -0500 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Plenty has been written about the intersection - past and present - between members of the Swedish/Norwegian collective Atomic, and Chicago's Ken Vandermark's countless projects. Most telling, perhaps, is this simple fact: were Atomic American-based, there's little doubt it would garner similar accolades from a considerably larger audience unafraid of the kind of fearless experimentation that's been the quintet's signature since convening around the turn of the millennium. Retrograde is the group's fifth release and ...

http://www.atomicjazz.com/documents/reviewspage.php?entry_id=1266921604&title=atomic---retrograde---review-by-john-kelman--all-about-jazz Reviews http://www.atomicjazz.com/documents/reviewspage.php?entry_id=1266921604&title=atomic---retrograde---review-by-john-kelman--all-about-jazz Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:40:04 -0500 Named after an Ornette composition, Feet Music is the debut album from Atomic , and is the exception to the Jazzland rule in that it lacks the distinctive beats and rhythms of Oslo Nu-jazz. (Maybe this is why it is released on the Jazzland Acoustic imprint.) Atomic are an acoustic quintet with a classic sax/trumpet/rhythm-section line-up and no added frills, yet their music is completely at home on Jazzland, having the energy and air of ...

http://www.atomicjazz.com/documents/reviewspage.php?entry_id=1266921446&title=atomic---feet-music---review-by-john-eyles--all-about-jazz Reviews http://www.atomicjazz.com/documents/reviewspage.php?entry_id=1266921446&title=atomic---feet-music---review-by-john-eyles--all-about-jazz Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:37:26 -0500 The Swedish-Norwegian quintet Atomic was founded five years ago as an antithesis to the "frosty tundra bite of ECM lyricism," as Atomic's label, Jazzland, describes Atomic's raison d'etre. But things seem to have changed on this, their third studio recording, Happy New Ears!, (not including a Ken Vandermark collaboration, Nuclear Assembly Hall, Okka Disk, 2004). The members of Atomic - Swedish/Stockholm-based reed player Fredrik Ljungkvist and trumpeter Magnus Broo; and Norwegian/Oslo-based pianist Havard Wiik, bassist Ingebrigt ...

http://www.atomicjazz.com/documents/reviewspage.php?entry_id=1266921289&title=atomic---happy-new-ears---review-by-eyal-hareuveni--all-about-jazz Reviews http://www.atomicjazz.com/documents/reviewspage.php?entry_id=1266921289&title=atomic---happy-new-ears---review-by-eyal-hareuveni--all-about-jazz Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:35:36 -0500 The Norwegian-Swedish quintet Atomic may be considered the Scandinavian equivalent of Chicago's Vandermark 5. Atomic's compositions, like Ken Vandermark's, are loaded with clever references to the history of modern and free jazz, and both groups' players know how to integrate these influences without losing their original voices. The architecture of the compositions is very tight, with well written and complex ensemble passages, but at the same time they are very fluid, flowing with exciting rhythmic ...

http://www.atomicjazz.com/documents/reviewspage.php?entry_id=1266920943&title=atomic---the-bikini-tapes---review-by-eyal-hareuveni--all-about-jazz Reviews http://www.atomicjazz.com/documents/reviewspage.php?entry_id=1266920943&title=atomic---the-bikini-tapes---review-by-eyal-hareuveni--all-about-jazz Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:35:29 -0500 Boom Boom is the second release from Atomic, a five-piece acoustic outfit from Norway. The cd comes in a rather lovely cardboard digipak in typical Jazzland style with liner notes by Ken Vandermark. ‘Toner Frän För’ begins proceedings with wistful unison line lamentations which frequently pause for delicate, delicious percussion interludes from Nilssen-Love. There’s something of the spirit of Miles Davis’s Nefertiti in the piece, but with a less steely and warmer heart. The title ...

http://www.atomicjazz.com/documents/reviewspage.php?entry_id=1266920609&title=atomic---boom-boom---review-by-colin-buttimer Reviews http://www.atomicjazz.com/documents/reviewspage.php?entry_id=1266920609&title=atomic---boom-boom---review-by-colin-buttimer Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:35:17 -0500 In the liner notes to Atomic's second release, Ken Vandermark asks, "Who gives a shit about saving jazz?" Nobody, and everyone. You see, jazz has always profited (not monetarily) from its constant flux. Its destruction has always been its salvation. Smashing Ornette Coleman's saxophone wasn't an effective PR stunt, and wardrobe malfunctions don't get the attention of jazz audiences. New approaches to music making do. The folks in accounting might only want to remaster the old ...

http://www.atomicjazz.com/documents/reviewspage.php?entry_id=1266921126&title=atomic---boom-boom---review-by-mark-corroto--all-about-jazz Reviews http://www.atomicjazz.com/documents/reviewspage.php?entry_id=1266921126&title=atomic---boom-boom---review-by-mark-corroto--all-about-jazz Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:35:07 -0500 To claim that such and such a musician proves that jazz is not dead is just as big (if not bigger) a cliché as declaring jazz dead. That said, listening to a group that merrily goes beyond (or around) the technical difficulties of contemporary jazz so as to simply expend their youthful energies and make some noise, still evokes a special kind of pleasure. Furthermore, just because Norway is a cold country doesn't mean the ...

http://www.atomicjazz.com/documents/reviewspage.php?entry_id=1266920508&title=atomic---boom-boom----review-by-mwanji-ezana Reviews http://www.atomicjazz.com/documents/reviewspage.php?entry_id=1266920508&title=atomic---boom-boom----review-by-mwanji-ezana Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:21:48 -0500