Mats/Morgan — On Air With Guests

Some tracks presented on On Air With Guests have previously been released on Live in 1998, on which the tracks were played almost for the first time. Since then the band had grown and the tunes changed a bit. The opportunity arose to invite guests these sessions are presented here. The first versions of these tracks were pretty amazing already but this time they are insane!

The band might be as tight as a computer but they have a groove impossible to get from any kind of 'humanizer'. Recorded live in the studio for a drum-instruction video called Trum (where the livesongs were alternated with daily drumexercises and listening tips) and the sound is crystal clear. Once you put the cd in the player and pressed ‘play’ you will be in awe of the impeccable rendition of En Schizofrens Dagbok, a hallucinatory, almost hysteric track. Hysteric would also the word for Advokaten on which Spoonman (yes, from the Soundgardensong/video) guests on spoons and other objects along with UAE-labelmate Simon Steensland on Theremin. The Sol Niger Within-medley that the duo of Morgan Ågren and Fredrik Thordendal (Meshuggah) is probably as close as you will get to a liveperformance of that notorious piece. Jonas Knutsson (who also happened to play on Sol Niger Within) jumps in on Chicken: the most traditional jazzrock track on the album. Still, the tempo and precision with which it is performed is unique. Etage A-41 one of those psychotic tracks again while in She’s Louder Than Me, But I’ve Got The Microphone features the Jimmy Ågren Band and some amazing slideguitar by Morgan’s brother. Luckily there are a few breathers like Ta Ned Trasan and Min Häst because overall the tempo is high and a bit hyper (to put it mildly).

On Air With Guests is a funny and funky album with great musicianship and a generous amount of positive energy. It’s completely instrumental which is no problem at all, but personally I hope the upcoming album will feature some of those cute songs by Mats. I think the Mats/Morgan Band inject the typical ’70’s genre of jazzrock with a new, playful energy that’s undeniably based on a tradition but can’t be called ‘traditional’ either.