April / June
(Rococo - RCC021) LP $15.00 (Out-of-stock)
April/June was recorded in two different sessions at Julie Mittens’ rehearsal room in the first part of 2006 in Leiden, Netherlands. For this cyclical work (round like an LP) there's no side A or B. Begin and conclude where you please. The tracks do not really start or end and seem to add to each other after a while. Although it feels like a relaxed ride at times, April/June was recorded at intense volume levels. Limited to 325 copies.
The Julie Mittens
(Holy Mountain) Used CD $6.00 (Out-of-stock)
This Dutch power trio specializes in extended improvisation at extreme volumes. Inspired by John Coltrane’s The Olatunji Concert: The Last Live Recording and the knowledge that Fushitsusha has more to do with Thelonius Monk than Blue Cheer, guitarist Aart-Jan Schakenbos, bassist Michael van Dam, and drummer Leo Fabriek consistently wreak havoc with lavish, textural, speaker-blowing meltdown jams; they surge with psychedelic power and a stellar rhythm section on the four studio recordings here. They “walk a harrowing path between amplifier anarchy and balanced interaction, never failing to make the two meet,” says Dusted. “Schakenbos provides the skyscraping as he warps and mutilates single notes with the centrifugal force of massive feedback. Van Dam either drops terrifying bass bombs that fill the vacuum Schakenbos leaves in his wake, drones ominously, or dialogues. Fabriek, however, harnesses the others’ energy, as he resists the urge to flail away, and instead inserts a fill when it increases tension, thumps steadily when a groove is needed, or colors when space beckons.”