TAYLOR'S FREE UNIVERSE
On-Plugged in Elsinore
Marvel of Beauty Records
MOBCD 008


The musical terrain trod by Taylor’s Free Universe is an arresting amalgamation informed as much by late 60s free jazz as it is by the edgy experimental rock of the late 80s and 90s (e.g., Belgian Dark Wave bands such as Univers Zero and Art Zoyd, as well as the more recent incarnations of King Crimson). Rather than reveling in past glories and tinkering with tried and true musical formulas, they have struck out on their own path. TFU’s spontaneous improvisations typically cover a lot of ground, and on their latest CD – On-Plugged in Elsinore – they leave practically no stone unturned. This time, the results are mixed, as their restless interplay and apparent desire to work with a zillion different electronic sounds and approaches leads to a certain lack of focus.

For this live set, TFU’s regular bassist Johan Segerberg is replaced by Peter Friss Nielsen, a veteran of the Danish new music scene and a frequent collaborator with saxophonist Peter Brotzmann. He isan amazingly propulsive player whose jagged lines simultaneously suggest multiple tonal centers and superimposed rhythms. Strangely, there seems to be almost no chemistry between Nielsen and TFU’s combustible drummer Kalle Mathiesen. To Mathiesen’s credit, his reticence behind the kit implies a certain immunity to free jazz / prog rock styled cliches. He actually uses his brushes more than his sticks, and demonstrates a finely honed sense of percussive coloration. On the minus side, his use of the sampler tends to be maddeningly lacking in substance. At times, he uses stock sound such as children’s laughter, cat’s meows, music boxes, and clocks chiming; each initially recognizable, and then digitally slowed down, or sped up. Cute, but none of it adds up to very much in the context of the group’s improvisations.

Electric guitarist Taylor, the nominal leader of the quintet, provides more than static atmospheric backdrops as the notes suggest. Though his leads are brief and intense (as on the CD’s final track), his shifting harmonic / timbral contributions set the group’s primary soloists (saxophonist Vogel and violin virtuoso Tassone) in an eerie aurora-like light. While Tassone seemsparticularly well-adapted to edgy prog-rock tendencies of the group’s sound, Vogel wears his jazz heart on his sleeve. His cutting alto sound is somewhat reminiscent of Jackie McLean’s, though a strong Ornette influence is palpable on Tight Little Waves and The Fifth Element. Though he is credited as playing alto sax exclusively, at times I would swear he is playing tenor. Listening to this CD, I found myself wondering what these guys would sound like as soloists in a different musical context.

Though the combination of rock elements, free jazz, and 21st Century electronics in Taylor’s Free Universe has provided some gripping musical adventures in the past (check out their previous CD – File Under Extreme), On-Plugged In Elsinore seems to fall prey to the same musical excesses - lack of focus, and a tendency to noodle - that have dogged free improvisors since the 1960s.


--Dave Wayne


Track Listing: 1) Amalie; 2) Picnic at Noon; 3) Tight Little Waves; 4) The Fifth Element; 5) Exit Elsinore; 6) Train


Personnel: Peter Friis Nielsen, electric bass; Karsten Vogel, alto saxophone; Pierre Tassone, processed violin; Robin Taylor, atmospheric guitar & effects; Kalle Mathiesen, percussives, samples, etc.