[017] JOHN HEGRE "COLORS DON'T CLASH" CD

FINALLY, HERE IT IS! AN ALBUM WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR SINCE STARTING THE LABEL A FEW YEARS AGO AND IT WAS WORTH WAITING EVERY MINUTE. WHILE MAINTAINING A BUSY RELEASE AND TOUR SCHEDULE WITH JAZZKAMMER (NOW CALLED JAZKAMER, A DUO WITH LASSE MARHAUG) WHICH RECENTLY INCLUDED THEIR NEW GLORIOUS METAL ALBUM FOR SMALLTOWN SUPERSOUND (APTLY TITLED „METAL MUSIC MACHINE“), THE „PANIC“ CD ON THE BOTTROP-BOY LABEL AND CONCERTS ALL OVER THE WORLD (INCLUDING SOUTH AMERICA, SOUTH EAST ASIA, JAPAN, ETC.), HIS MARVELLOUS „BALLADS“ DUO ALBUM WITH MAJA RATKJE ON DEKORDER AND COUNTLESS OTHER COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS, HE HAS BEEN WORKING ON HIS SOLO DEBUT ALBUM WHENEVER TIME ALLOWED.

RETURNING TO HIS ORIGINAL INSTRUMENT THE ELECTRIC GUITAR, HEGRE HAS PRODUCED AN EXTREMELY DIVERSE ALBUM MUTATING FROM HYPNOTIC COMPUTER-LOOP DRONES TO SOME GLORIOUS FREE ANALOGUE NOISE, FROM ABSTRACT BANJO-LIKE SKETCHES TO THICK WASHES OF SLUDGY DOOM METAL AND ROARING NOISE ROCK, FROM DIVINE ELECTROACOUSTIC SOUNDS TO OTHERWORLDLY COUNTRY-ESQUE AND CLASSICAL GUITAR PICKING, ALL WITHIN ONE TRACK, AND OFTEN ALL AT ONCE, WITH SMALL AND SIMPLE MELODIES LURKING WITHIN HUGE DRIFTS OF SOUND. AND NOT ONE ELEMENT SOUNDS OUT OF PLACE HERE, IT’S RATHER LIKE THE COLLAGES OF SEEMINGLY INAPPROPRIATE BITS AND PIECES CREATE A TOTALLY UNIQUE SURREAL AND CREEPY ATMOSPHERE. DOZENS OF SMALL DETAILS SUDDENLY APPEAR FROM NOWHERE, TRANSFORMING EVEN THE MOST BRUTAL NOISE ATTACKS INTO COMPLEX TEXTURAL ARRANGEMENTS, MAKING THIS THE MOST ESSENTIAL GUITAR ALBUM OF THE YEAR.

THE TITLE? IT´S A QUOTATION FROM THE LATE PHILIP CHARLES LITHMAN AKA SNAKEFINGER. AT THE END OF AN INTERVIEW FOR THE JULY NUMBER OF THE NORWEGIAN MUSIC MAGAZINE PULS IN 1987 HE WAS ASKED IF HE HAD ANY FINAL MESSAGE FOR THE NORWEGIAN PEOPLE, AND HE DID, HIS MESSAGE WAS "COLORS DON´T CLASH, DON´T WORRY THEY NEVER DO".  HE DIED OF A HEART ATTACK ON JULY 1ST, SAME DAY AS HIS SINGLE "THERE´S NO JUSTICE IN LIFE" WAS RELEASED.

BRAIN DAMAGING SLEEVE DESIGN BY YASUTOSHI YOSHIDA OF GOVERNMENT ALPHA!

EARLIER THIS YEAR JAZKAMER, HEGRE'S DUO WITH LASSE MARHAUG, RELEASED METAL MUSIC MACHINE, A FINE COLLECTION OF BLACK-BONED HYMNALS AND PULVERISING THRASH METAL. THESE ROCKIST TENDENCIES SPILL OVER INTO HEGRE'S LATEST SOLO ALBUM, FOR WHICH HE RETURNS TO HIS ORIGINAL INSTRUMENT, THE ELECTRIC GUITAR. IT BEGINS WITH A FIELD OF HIGHLY PROCESSED PASTORAL GLICH AND SINE TONE THAT RECALLS THE WORK OF FENNESZ, OR OREN AMBARCHI AT HIS SIMPLEST AND MOST BUCOLIC, AND GRADUALLY SHIFTS ONTO A MORE MEANDERING PATH. JOINED BY JORGEN TRAEN AND DAVID AASHEIM ON BASS AND DRUMS RESPECTIVELY, HEGRE SUMMONS UP SWATHES OF MAGNIFICENT FREE NOISE, SEAMLESSLY CUT AND SPLICED WITH CLASSICAL AND COUNTRYESQUE PICKING AT A STATELY AND CONTROLLED PACE THAT NEVER JARS.

A LOW-END DRONE AND INDUSTRIAL RUMBLE ARE MOMENTARILY PUNCTUATED BY A BANJO'S HILLBILLY CANTER, BEFORE RETURNING ONCE MORE TO AN OMINOUS METAL SLUDGE, EACH PART ENHANCING THE SINISTER AND SURREALIST AIR THAT UNDERPINS HEGRE'S BOLD CREATION. SONIC MINUTIAE MOVE TO THE FORE, BECOMING THE CENTRAL THEME BEFORE RECEDING INTO THE SHADOWS ONCE MORE, LEAVING BEHIND SKETCHY SPECTRES OF WHAT HAS ALREADY PASSED. IT'S LIKE A SLOW MOTION TAKE ON JOHN ZORN'S NAKED CITY, BUT STRIPPED OF ALL THAT GROUP'S CLOWNING AND GRANDSTANDING.

THE TITLE IS TAKEN FROM A QUOTATION BY THE LATE PHILIP CHARLES LITHMAN, AKA SNAKEFINGER, AND IT PERFECTLY DESCRIBES WHAT IS GOING ON HERE. THE DISPARATE ELEMENTS NEVER APPEAR INCONGRUOUS, A FUSION OF STRANGE PARTICLES THAT COMBINE AND SOMETIMES COLLIDE TO CREATE A WONDERFUL NEW WHOLE.

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