KONSTRUkT with PETER BRÖTZMANN – Eklisia Sunday (reissue LP-2016)

Label: Holidays Records – HOL-095
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition / Country: Italy / Released: Jul 2016
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded at Eklisia, Gümüşlük, Bodrum on the 15th of May, 2011.
Feat. Hüseyin Ertunç, Doğan Doğusel, Barlas Tan Özemek
Limited Edition of 350 copies
Artwork – Canedicoda
Mastered By – Rafal Drewniany
Recorded By – Barlas Tan Özemek, Umut Çağlar
Contact Info: Via Tolmezzo 12/4, 20132 Milano, Italia
Matrix / Runout (Side 1 runout, etched): HOL-095 A K PB
Matrix / Runout (Side 2 runout, etched): HOL-095 B K PB

side 1
A1  -  I, II ................................................................................................................... 14:13
A2  -  III ....................................................................................................................... 9:12

side 2
B1  -  IV .................................................................................................................... 12:35
B2  -  V ....................................................................................................................... 9:41

Personnel:
Peter Brötzmann / tenor & alto saxophones, clarinet
Korhan Futaci / tenor & soprano saxophones
Hüseyin Ertunç / acoustic piano, küstüfon, gong
Barlas Tan Özemek / electric guitar
Umut Çağlar / electric guitar
Doğan Doğusel / double bass, küstüfon
Özün Usta / double bass, djembe, gong, bells 

Korhan Argüden / drums, old k zildjian cymbals

Free jazz outfit KonstruKt might be considered the most evolved improvisational band working in jazz today. They were founded in Istanbul, not in the hotbeds of jazz, London, New York, Chicago, Wuppertal, or Krakow, their isolation is the key to their success. Although this band was formed in 2008, their free jazz ears date back to the 1960s. The band has absorbed the lessons of John Coltrane's Interstellar Space (Impulse!, 1967), Peter Brötzmann's Machine Gun (FMP, 1968), and more recent works by Ivo Perelman, William Parker, and Joe McPhee.

Eklisia Sunday was recorded live in front of a small audience on May 15th, 2011 at Eklisia - an old chapel built in the 17th century in Gümüşlük, a small village near Bodrum. This improvisation features the KonstruKt collective with Peter Brötzmann, their guest from a 2008 recording Dolunay (re:konstruKt, 2010). The quartet's basic lineup of Korhan Futaci (saxophone), Umut Çağlar (electric guitar), Özün Usta (bass), and Korhan Argüden (drums) is augmented here by an additional bassist, guitar, piano, and saxophone.

This large-ish ensemble, to KonstruKt's credit, makes much more than noisy energy jazz. The music is presented in four lengthy parts, each with a nuggets (maybe blocks) of artful music making. The LP opens with a saxophone (it's Futaci) wandering among his quartet before Usta's djembe drum sets the pulse. While the large ensemble slowly joins in, the structure of the piece remains. A coherent groove and consistent energy is sustained, as the piece burns itself into exhaustion, some gentle guitar notes are played over delicate reed work. This recording is divided into five parts is a nomadic opus. The piece sustains a shamanistic energy through percussion, bells, double electric guitars, and ever-spiraling- upward saxophones. The rhapsodic vibe throughout organizes and highlights this excellent date. Peter Brötzmann is in top form...    I recommend...!

(Review by M. C.)

If you find it, buy this album!

KONSTRUkT and AKIRA SAKATA – Kaishi / 開始: Live At Kargart (2LP-2015)

Label: Holidays Records – HOL 085
Format: 2 x Vinyl, LP, Limited Edition, Gatefold / Country: Italy / Released: Jul 1, 2015
Style: Free Jazz, Space-Age, Free Improvisation
Recorded live at Kargart, Istanbul, Turkey / January 17th, 2015.
Edition of 200 copies
Illustration [Cover Drawing] – Canedicoda
Lacquer Cut By – Alessandro Di Guglielmo at Elettroformati, Milano
Recorded By – Rammy Roo
Mixed By, Mastered By – Korhan Futacı
All music improvised by KonstruKt and Akira Sakata
Contact Info: Via Tolmezzo 12/4, 20132 Milano, Italia
Matrix / Runout (Side 1 runout, etched): HOL-085 A K AS
Matrix / Runout (Side 2 runout, etched): HOL-085 B K AS
Matrix / Runout (Side 3 runout, etched): HOL-085 C K AS
Matrix / Runout (Side 4 runout, etched): HOL-085 D K AS

side 1
A  -  Part I .................................................................................................................. 18:12
side 2
B  -  Part II ................................................................................................................. 18:29

side 3
C  -  Part III ............................................................................................................... 16:37
side 4
D  -  Part IV ............................................................................................................... 16:34

Line-up/Musicians:
Akira Sakata / alto saxophone, clarinet, voice
Korhan Futacı / tenor, alto and soprano saxophones, flute, loops [instant loops]
Umut Çağlar / el. guitar, violin, reeds [zurna, gralla], kalimba, percussion, tape echo
Özün Usta / double bass 

Korhan Argüden / drums, cymbal [old K zildjian cymbals]

Another chapter in the ongoing series of live recordings of the quartet KonstruKt. Islington Mill in Salford, Greater Manchester, is a hotbed of musical insurgency and invention. Resident analogue-synth expert Sam Weaver (who is an auxiliary member of psychedelic/exploratory rock/electronic group Gnod) is curating the Samarbeta music residency at the huge repurposed building in the summer of 2015. As part of this project, he has invited the blazing Turkish free jazz unit KonstruKt, over from Istanbul to stay at the Mill. Their visit culminates in two performances on 12 August 2015. There are also Bristol and London live dates planned. To give you a taste how brilliant those performances were, here is KonstruKt in action on home turf, earlier that year, playing with veteran Japanese free-jazz, a key figure of the Japanese Free Jazz movement since the 1970s saxophonist and marine biologist, Akira Sakata.

Konstrukt are a group dedicated to improvising not only within themselves, but with outside guests. Following records with Joe McPhee and Peter Brötzmann, Akira Sakata to join them Live at Kargart in Istanbul on January 17th 2015, where they played continuously for 70 minutes, improvising around psychedelic themes. This jam is one of the most psychedelic act of the band so far, with Sakata's growling shomyo-alike chant finding the perfect setting - like a snake charmer - in a jungle of constantly reinvented sound.

Double LP on Holidays Records.

If you find it, buy this album!