Artist: Taylor’s Free Universe Album: 9 Eleven: Live at Copenhagen Jazzhouse (2007) Label: Marvel of Beauty Records Website: http://www.progressor.net/robin-taylor Reviewer: Bill Knispel

Track List: Disc 1 1 Phantom Power 2 A Serious Offer 3 Free-Bop 4 Marion Crane 5 Sindal Mornings Disc 2 1 Boom! 2 Texas Flangers 3 Sub-Language 4 Peacock 5 In Spirit of... And the flow of material from Danish multi-instrumentalist Robin Taylor shows no signs of slowing up. A small voice deep inside keeps telling me that I could make a living just reviewing Robin Taylor’s prodigious output. And it bears some comment: Taylor has released 23 albums since 1991, either solo, as part of the composed ensemble Taylor’s Universe, or as part of the free group Taylor’s Free Universe. His output covers a wide range of instrumental material…composed, melodic pieces, ambient textures and soundscapes, or completely improvised free music. The name on the label is generally a good indicator of what the contents will offer; albums released under Taylor’s name alone tend to lean toward ambience and space, while albums under the Free Universe moniker will contain the most difficult and complex material. 9 Eleven is a 2 CD set recorded live at the Jazzhouse in Copenhagen on the referenced date in 2002. Taylor is joined by his long time collaborator/partner in musical crime Karsten Vogel, founder member of Secret Oyster, as well as a crack ensemble of electronic musicians, each doubling on violin (Pierre Tassone), bass (Johan Segerberg) and drums (Kalle Mathiesen). Compositions are lengthy, with no single track clocking in under 6 minutes. This gives the band the opportunity to stretch out, finding space for each individual musical voice in the piece. It can also lead to lengthy stretches of music that might sound atonal or meandering, but there is generally something happening to draw interest, rather than the sound of 5 musicians in search of a plot. Disc 1 opens with “Phantom Power,” a dark and eerie composition juxtaposing distorted guitar, flight of fancy saxophone (courtesy of Karsten Vogel), and scattershot drumming breaking up any patterns. Underneath the opening moments, the sound of a camera is heard auto-advancing through dozens of frames; my assumption is that these are samples triggered by Kalle Mathiesen, but I’m not 100% sure. Taylor’s guitar is thick and distorted, and he wrings notes from it in an almost feral manner. This leads, after a short burst of applause, into the quietly building “A Serious Offer.” If any comparison can be made, it would likely best be some of the improvisational side shown by the 1980’s quartet King Crimson line-up, specifically on tracks such as “Indiscipline” or “Industry.” Staccato bursts of sound, heavily treated and processed, with brief melodic figures fractured by the edgy, avant improvisational nature of the beast. This is not a song to be listened to late at night, with the lights off…unless you have no plans on sleeping. “Free Bop” is the longest exploration on the first disc, clocking in at just over 10 minutes. A vew moments of choked hi-hat gives the illusion that the track will lead the band toward more structured areas, but the interlude is shattered by wild bursts of squawking sax, angular guitar chords, and thrumming bass guitar. There is a definite bop underpinning to the piece, but the free nature of the composition takes the dominant role. “Marion Crane,” a nine-minute piece composed by Taylor and bassist Segerberg, follows “Free Bop” in sequence. Percussive bass opens the track, followed in short order by some keening, and sustained notes that could be either Taylor or violinist Tassone. The track elicits some comparison to the darker instrumental flights taken by the 1973-1974 King Crimson, but with a decidedly heavier leaning toward jazz than rock. Tassone’s violin is most easily recognised on “Sindal Mornings,” which closes out the album’s first disc. If ever there were a perfect song for a short film based on the H.P. Lovecraft story “The Strange Music of Erich Zann,” it is this. Eerie, with bent notes and lines flying from all sorts of impossible directions, this is alien music at the core. Disc 2 doesn’t let up any, either. While the compositions may be briefer in general (3 of 5 tracks are under 7 minutes), this is balanced by a pair of tracks in excess of 10 minutes, including the 17-minute album closer “In Spirit Of…”. “Boom!” opens this second half of the album, with sampled voices, dominating bass work, and Vogel’s sax singing ascending and descending sales between melodic interludes. For free music, this piece is amazingly together, sounding like an intentionally composed piece of music. It may well be the easiest piece on the album, from the standpoint of listening. Percussive loops and samples lead into the 10-minute “Texas Flangers,” and any illusions that the second half of 9 Eleven might be easier to digest are quickly swept away. The heavily electronic nature of this piece creates even more disconnect from structured music, with a coolly mechanical sound that remains somewhat inviting despite the less human nature of the sound. Two more “brief” compositions (“Sub-Language” and “Peacock”) rest between this and the epic album closer “In Spirit Of…”. I’d liken this to a threnody (a song or hymn of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to the dead), and while I have no idea what the motivation (subliminal or otherwise) behind the composition is, seeing as how it is credited to the whole group, it works for me as that. It’s somber and sorrowful, and this feeling is evoked by each instrumental voice. It’s a composition of despair, and it’s easy to get lost in it here. On 9 Eleven, Taylor’s Free Universe once again shows that they are among the top flight of improvisational ensembles currently working in progressive music. At nearly 95 minutes, it may be a touch too much to handle in one sitting, but repeated listens will reveal new musical elements as the layers are peeled away, one after the other. Band members: Robin Taylor: guitar, electronics Pierre Tassone: violin, electronics Karsten Vogel: saxophones Johan Segerberg: basses, electronics Kalle Mathiesen: drums, electronics