Multinational band SHRUNKEN HEAD SHOP is a self-described collective of musicians, and from descriptions and who arranges website information and similar I kind of presume that US composer and instrumentalist Willie Oteri is one of the driving forces of this project. “Live in Germany” is their first album, and was self released through Bandcamp in the late summer of 2013.
As a reviewer I’m fairly often encountering music that explores territories and styles where my knowledge and interest is severely limited, and I’ll readily admit that Shrunken Head Shop is one such case. There are certain types of experimental that doesn’t really fascinate me on a general level, and there are certain styles of music that doesn’t engage me too much nor too often. Again I can put check marks besides both statements as far as this production goes. Hence the rating that follows.
But whether you enjoy a production on a personal level or not is one thing, describing the music in a manner that may help it to find an audience is another one entirely. And I’ll start by stating that the opening few minutes of Legend of Litfass had me nodding along in pure glee, with cries of pure ignorance exclaiming “Garbarek!” and “Twelve Moons” in this initial phase, due to certain similarities in mood and atmosphere more than anything else. Of course the song quickly started to change character after that, from the initial tight, spirited and rich mood this excursion transformed inta a gradually more searching, less cohesive affair, where individual instrument details, dissonances and chaotic tendencies gradually took over this creation as the arrangements toned down in pace and intensity, concluding in a dramatically different manner 24 minutes or so after it started.
At this point I might add that Shrunken Head Shop is an ensemble that explores the universe of instrumental, improvised jazz, and of a kind that hovers somewhere in between tags such as experimental, avantgarde and free form. As this album unfolds we’re taken to a fair number of challenging places too I might add, from minimalistic plucked instrument excursions to tight, bass and drums driven sequences supplemented by Otri’s always elegant guitar playing, a violin used in conventional and not so conventional ways and a bit of electric trumpet too. The latter has the greater majority of the limelight in Whales of the Black Forest, the trumpet mainly catering for the Whales associations stated while the violins may be the detail references by the Black Forest. Unless this particular recording was taped in Schwarzwald of course.
The twenty minutes long jam Celebration of the Tsantsa adds some bluesy flavors to the palette of the band, while Tracks of the Mystery Ape opens up in a minimalistic guise then settles in a more tight and elegant jazz-oriented manner, with a twisted dark instrument detail, presumably from the bass, soon dominating this mere 8 minutes long affair.
At just over 5 minutes, concluding track Wrath of Bernd ends this album in a tighter and cohesive manner with cold plucked violin details and warm, elegant guitar soloing settling as effective contrasts in a tight little construction that defragments towards the end, the violin taking the lead for a folk-music oriented finale.
It is a very well made album of it’s kind, and unlike many other instrumental improvised jazz productions I’ve come across this is also a rare case of a band exploring such waters with a fair degree of self control. The, at least as I experience it, usual grind of instruments at constant war with each other for attention and showcasing whose the most flamboyant performer isn’t an issue on this album at all. The instruments tend to shy away from the dramatic, at least from the overly dramatic, and instead careful, controlled arrangements with space and room for all instrumentalists is a key feature here. A certain emphasis on atmospheric-oriented landscapes is another key detail worth taking note of, and one might even describe this production as fairly delicate and frail at times.
As far as music goes, I suspect that the target audience for this one is a fairly limited one. Experimental, instrumental improvised jazz, with a certain emphasis on subtle and atmosphere oriented details, is a short description of what Shrunken Head Shop does provide on “Live in Germany”, and if you feel that this description hits home with you chances are good that you’ll enjoy this production. As far as comparisons go I can’t really make one though, as this is a type of music where my knowledge is severely limited.
My rating: 64/100
