ON-PLUGGED IN ELSINORE (WITH PETER FRIIS NIELSEN)

This was a live concert done by Robin Taylor and his band and it features bassist Peter Friis Nielen. We also get Karsten Vogel on sax, Pierre Tassone on violin and Kalle Mathiesen on drums. Robin adds guitar and electronics. I should mention that these are improvs and the music is for the most part minimalistic and difficult. At least for me this is difficult music to get into. Not a lot of melody.Some refer to this as experimental Free Jazz. This was up for an award at the Demnark Music Awards.

"Amalie" has what sounds like picked guitar and bass that come and go. Sax before 2 minutes as the bass continues. Cymbals 3 minutes in and violin replaces the sax around 6 minutes.Tough going. "Picnic At Noon" is minimalistic and eventually various sounds start to come and go. No melody. The mood turns dark and the guitar comes to the fore late along with violin.

"Tight Little Waves" is again a track with not much going on. Sax before a minute and bass becomes more prominant after 4 minutes. "The Fifth Element" is significant as a title, and if you've ever visited the Progressor web-site you'll be familiar with this term. Actually it's Robin's user name on another site as well. Sax and violin eventually lead then the guitar and bass take over. Sax is back after 7 minutes as the song slowly evolves and changes.

"Exit Elsinore" and the final track are the two songs I can enjoy. This one is dark and spooky and sax comes in just before 2 minutes. Some vocal expressions before 8 1/2 minutes. Drums come to the fore after 10 1/2 minutes. Sax a minute later as the haunting atmosphere continues. "Train" opens with sax and these bass sounds that come and go.It starts to pick up before 1 1/2 minutes. Best part of the album right here as the guitar grinds it out. Sax is back after 3 minutes. It gets more intense after 5 minutes.Violin before 7 minutes. It settles back later.

So a good album but if I want to listen to this style of music I would be inclined to reach for something else.