EINNICKEN RECORDS NODS OFF | Lococycle REVIEWS "Nods Off are an eclectic, if not somewhat schizophrenic trio pulling together elements of harmolodics, funk, and free improv into a package that passes by the ear (18 too-short minutes) almost as quickly as the music itself moves. I am reminded, on the rock side of their equation, of the Minutemen, and on the jazz side, of Joe McPhee, Ornette Coleman, and strangely enough, Franz Koglmann, not necessarily in that order. Yet this music does not sound overly derivative, nor does the fact that it is a fusion of sorts make it a "fusion" record. In fact, for once I am not even slightly put off by the presence of electric bass (Larsson's sound remains organic, and does not lay a gloss over the group as electric bass often does).    Instruments are used in manners both traditional and vanguard, as tools of song and tools of sound. For instance, Wistrand's horn work on the quasi-funky "Almost Lost" is rich, throaty, and melodic. In the next track, however, his soprano is ricocheting mightily from loose parameters defined by sawed cymbals and a below-the-bridge bass pizzicato. "In Absurdum" throws them into an all-out free jam with only a deeply buried three-note theme to hold it together. Rather than comingoff as experimenting for experiment's sake, the trio appear confident in all of their elements. Magicians and prodigies they're not, but this is a group full of good ideas an the strength to make them work." Scot Hacker Cadence 10/1994 (USA) "The Swedish jazz trio Nods Off plays an especially disciplined form of free jazz: most of the eight tracks on this EP are under two minutes long! Such brevity, combined with the fact that the recording was made live in the studio, bespeaks a band that knows what it's doing. Reedplayer Stefan Wistrand, bassist Stefan Larsson and percussionist Peter Olsen say their piece, then shut up - no noodling around. Even in such short time spans, they achieve some variety, ranging from the bagpipe-like closer "Johosea" to the start- and-stop phrasing of thewell-titled "Stop & Go!" Mark Sullivan Option No. 55 1994 March/April (USA) "19 minutes of intense, free improvisation, eight numbers - that! It's no saving of graces from Stefan Wistrand (sax, cl), Peter Olsen (perc) and Stefan Larsson (el b)." Sören Friis Jazz Special 13/1993 (Denmark) "These musicians show us a counter-picture to the desolate scene of the popular music of today. They're not trying to persuade us. They know if we'll get the chance, we do dare to think for ourselves. For the sake of improvised music this group is a blessing in these days when rock music is being pumped up by the anabole stereoids of the music market and the once rebellious jazz music simultaneously has become marketable as background buzz in the supermarkets and as a trip in nostalgia for arrived fifty-somethings." Bjarne Moelv Folket (Sweden) "...this record is a necessity, at last, it was almost 20 years ago..., so go for it boys! And YOU, listen to it CAREFULLY, over and over again, or like a background, from every side, "ambush" in sight. It's actually short, but good, like a dwarf with 20 kids." - Roland Vila Örebro Kuriren (Sweden) "...the three musicians, reedplayer Stefan Wistrand, bassist Stefan Larsson and percussionist Peter Olsen, shows a fine feeling for togetherness." -Lennart Blomberg Göteborgs-Posten (Sweden) "Saxophonist Stefan Wistrand, percussionist Peter Olsen and bassist Stefan Larsson - with a past with such different acts as Lolita Pop, Lokomotiv Konkret, Memento Mori and Eugene Chadbourne - hits hard with a style somewhere between Ornette Coleman's "harmolodics" and German avant gardism that vibrates with a strength just as rare as desirable." -Peter Bornemar Eskilstuna-Kuriren (Sweden)   © 2010 Einnicken Records All rights reserved.