Sidsel Endresen is a versatile artist and one of the most prominent singers in Norwegian jazz since the 80’s. Fusion, chamber jazz and Paul Simon interpretations are some of the efforts she is best known for. In this duo, she leaves both language and tonality behind, and instead lets her voice move freely in what sounds like part Nordic folk music, part speaking in tongues. Endresen moans, smacks her tongue and sounds like a bird in an intriguing and unpredictable interaction with guitarist Stian Westerhus. He’s played with jazz nobility such as Arve Henriksen as well as experimental ensembles like Jaga Jazzist. Using a bow, he makes his electric guitar sing like a saw. Notes bounce like echoing drums or woodpeckers. Their debut album, the live recording “Didymoi Dreams”, won them a Norwegian Grammy Award for best jazz in 2012. Since then, a second album has been released, which proves this duo is still on an odyssey in the outer reaches of the jazz galaxy as we know it. This is music best approached with open ears and mind.

Her coarse sound collages have gained acclaim from Pitchfork, The Wire and other publications that tend to label Klein’s work as “experimental electronic music,” along with Hype Williams and Micachu. However, Klein herself has about zero percent patience with music machines. A dedicated DIY artist, she prefers to work with found sounds collected on her cell phone: a crackling door, a piano, the sound of a Nigerian priest … which she then edits. Her voice is the most important instrument in the mix, fragmented into a kind of r’n’b jigsaw-puzzle where the pieces don’t quite match. She grew up in religious households, between London and Nigeria, where gospel was the only music she heard. Klein is not embarrassed to admit she has little interest in the experimental music scene she supposedly belongs to. Instead, her most important influences are Andrew Lloyd Webber, Brandy and the TV series Love and Hip Hop Atlanta.

PUSTERVIK | JUNE 9 2018 | 01.00

Simone Trabucchi appears to be involved in pretty much all things cool and underground in Milan. He started booking punk shows in a basement at 16, and soon began putting out his favorite bands on his label, Hundebiss Records. He has released his own trippy electronic music under the moniker Dracula Lewis, and is also part of the art duo Invernomuto together with Simone Bertuzzi. Their film Negus uses Lee Scratch Perry’s ritualistic bonfire in Trabucchi’s hometown as a starting point and then sets out to investigate Italy’s dark past as a colonial power in East Africa. The same theme was also the spark for Simone Trabucchi’s new musical project, Still, which can only be described as maximized lofi dance hall, a collage style party music with italo synthesizers and no shortage of surprise moments, owing to an impressive line-up of guest singers on the album I, voices from the Afro-Italian diaspora. From rudeboy chant to sexy soul to spoken word, it’s a sumptuous feast for the senses.

Kamelen N’goni, or “Young Person’s Harp”, is a stringed instrument that has gained wide acclaim after being used by artists like Oumou Sangaré. Among its younger virtuosos, Abou Diarra stands out in particular. After his father’s death, he left his hometown and went on a long journey through the Mandinka region in West Africa, his instrument the sole companion in his travels. Sangaré walked 4000 kilometers and visited everything from sleepy villages to the big city of Bamako to collect both ancient folk songs and contemporary pop music. Abou Diarra’s own compositions are characterized by this eclectic approach. On the album Koya, named after his mother who also sings on the record, Mandika and Wassolou traditions are mixed with vibrations from both reggae and jazz. Bluesy harmonica notes howl along with cascading melodies from his Kamelen n’goni. With a gentle tenor voice and calm narrative style, Abou Diarra sings songs about travel and exile.

One of Mali’s biggest stars since three decades: Grammy-winner Oumou Sangaré is known for repeatedly reinventing the wassoulou, the popular African music style with ancient roots in the southwest of Mali. It’s a music loaded with stories and messages, often performed by female artists. In the case of Oumou Sangaré, the songs have often dealt with matters concerning women’s rights, criticising polygamy and forced marriage. It was none other than Ali Farka Touré who encouraged the label World Circuit to pay attention to singer and composer Sangaré, then only a teenager. The company signed her in 1990, and agents in Europe, Asia and Africa took notice of the new sensation. Suddenly, the young singer and composer found herself on what seemed like an endless tour. But Sangaré is not the type of artist who releases an album every year, and other projects were calling her. She formed a family, started a hotel with a stage where she also performed, and launched her own car, the Oum Sang. In spite of all this, she regularly returned to music. Recently, she worked in Paris and Stockholm, resulting in the phenomenal comeback album Mogoya (released on NoFormat). Here, wassoulou music is reshaped into a global dance music of the future. To top it off, she is joined on her new album by none other than afrobeat legend Tony Allen on drums.

Brace yourself to be knocked out by a frantically beautiful experimental punk attack from Yogyakarta. Zoo’s dual drummers slam meaty beats that make the hardest hardcore seem wimpy by comparison. Topped off with an electric bass drenched in effects that resemble a complete ensemble of stringed instruments, Zoo boasts a rhythm section featuring  members from underground Indonesia’s various punk and metal projects. At the core of Zoo’s sonical lava flow stands Rully Shabara, the versatile vocalist who switches seamlessly between doomsday growls, whispers, screams and operatic vibrato vocals. Shabara is known as one half of Senyawa, a duo combining traditional Indonesian elements with experimental noise. Formed in 2004, this ceaselessly morphing project proves a powerful vehicle for Shabara and other members to create a narrative about the awakening of a post apocalyptic society, one album at a time.