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Jono El Grande is a sparky Norwegian composer whose music is as uncategorisable as it comes. But where his earlier album Fevergreens was obsessively in thrall to his eclectic influences, Zappa and Captain Beefheart, Neo Dada sounds much more confident, exuberant, artful and bloody-minded. This is intricate music, and the musicians sound as if they’re having a ball regardless of what anyone might think, rather like the classical equivalent of Millwall supporters. Despite bonkers titles such as Ballet Morbido in a Dozen Tiny Movements and Three Variations On a Mainstream Neurosis, Jono El Grande makes loud, clattering and unneurotic instrumental music, with the odd bit of cod-opera singing and Circulus-like medieval prog. Oslo City Suite also features some outstanding rock bassoon-playing by Embrik Snerte, another name to watch.

NEW PIECE FOR STRING QUINTET:

«Sono ormai rari i gruppi che abbiano la possibilità – forse anche la voglia – di provare parecchio per affrontare con precisione e disinvoltura la pagina scritta; ancor meno se parliamo di organici dal settetto in su e di partiture piene di metri composti, ardite soluzioni armoniche, assetti mutevoli, cambi frequenti. Figurarsi poi se a comporle è uno stravagante autodidatta che le porta in scena con gusto beffardo dell’assurdo ed è noto in patria per i propri cappelli, per torte e gemelli da camicia a lui intitolati e perché padrino della figlia della principessa Märtha Louise. Con tutto ciò, la musica potrebbe essere mero contorno e invece vibra di fantasia e originalità, pur senza nascondere l’influenza di Zappa (e dei suoi padri putativi Stravinskij e Varèse) su certe figurazioni melodiche, sul ruolo della marimba e sullo spirito sempre divertito. Impronte magmiane sono state rilevate da molta critica, mentre agli Henry Cow indicati dallo stesso Jono si potrebbero aggiungere altri gruppi di quell’area come Univers Zero (con un uso del fagotto forse più affine al suo) o Stormy Six (per il modo di inserire il violino nella scrittura) e soprattutto gli svedesi Samla Mammas Manna, il cui tipo di umorismo musicale (prossimità geoculturali?) viene più volte alla mente.» – Achilli

This is the kind of album you could stow away in a time capsule only for the generations to come to be baffled that it ever existed. Neo Dada is an aptly titled piece of modern compositional fusion that chops and changes between heavy duty prog-jazz, chamber music for strings and Frank Zappa-esque mutant pop. Jono El Grande follows his nearly-as-deranged Fevergreens album of 2003 with this impressively scaled-up sequel. Jono takes the role of composer, band leader, arranger and producer on Neo Dada, leaving much of the playing to an orchestra of followers faced with the daunting prospect of having to detangle their way through a barrage of ideas. Any given track presents a slew of manic identity shifts – take for example ‘Oslo Coty Suite’: at one stage electric guitar and violin shadow each other impeccably through a tricky modal solo, only for the jolting Henry Cow-isms to be halted by a string motif (with a whiff of Saint-Saens’ ‘Danse Macabre’ about it) steering the composition in a different direction. There’s more incredible string work to be found on ‘Your Mother Eats Like A Playpus’, a gleefully complex piece whose pranksterish title hardly reflects the level of craft and toil that informs the score and its execution. Highlights and ear-befuddling thrills are never in short supply on Neo Dada, but ‘Ballet Morbido In A Dozen Tiny Movements’ warrants a special mention; it shifts from honky-tonk piano riffing (as if it were a silent film soundtrack) into Jethro Tull-style baroque folk via romantic string quartets, playful 17th century harpsichord outings, analogue synth flourishes and very, very strange vocal exercises. All this takes place within eight minutes, perfectly illustrating the exhausting intricacy of this album and its manifold twists and turns. Marvellous and ridiculous in equal measure.

Original review here