^{Photo:Eigil Korsager}

^{Photo: Eigil Korsager}

1. Your Mother Eats Like A Platipus (m/tutti band på “svarstøt” i takt 18/19, 40/41 og 109/110 ) (attacca # Third Variation on a Mainstream Neurosis (= tidl. “Disko Skridsko”)
   (Stefan tafler til introduksjon av musikerne)
2. Stefan spiller utdrag fra Mussorgskys “Pictures at an Exhibition” (Gnomus mm)
3. Ballet Morbido In A Dozen Tiny Movements
4. Good Gracious (attacca til trommesolo, ritardando fra ♩= 95 til ♩= 70) (attacca til Neo Dada trommeintro)
5. Neo Dada (inkl. banjosolo m/strupesang)
6. A Shrimp’s Gotta Do What A Shrimp’s Gotta Do (strykekvintett, Oslo-urfremføring)
7. Ms Bezerra (åpner med stryk som spiller Intro + A + B, så starter alle fra toppen igjen, slik at når bandet kommer inn er låta fra begynnelsen som skrevet i partitur) (attacca: 4t komp etter siste refreng, så rett til Utopian Dance)
8. Utopian Dance
9. The Choko King
10. The Resurrection of Reidun Loge de Underskog

Read Google translated version in original context

Das zweite Album des norwegischen „Komponisten" Jono El Grande (eigentlich heißt er Jon Andreas Håtun) würde Mike Pattons Label Ipecac alle Ehre machen, ein wilder, aber dennoch sehr fokussierter Avantgarde-Progrock, bei dem selbst die krassesten Brüche innerhalb der Arrangements strengen Regeln folgen.

Ein erstaunlich aufgeräumtes Chaos, irgendwo zwischen Neo-Klassik, Jazz und folkloristischeren Einflüssen, die mal mehr nach Lateinamerika mal mehr nach Osteuropa klingen, auf jeden Fall aber eine sehr vitale Rhythmik besitzen.

Wirkt „Neo Dada" zu Beginn noch recht anstrengend und nervig, beginnt man schnell den feinen Humor des Norwegers zu schätzen, der hier zusammen mit seinem zwölfköpfigen Kammerpop-Orchester ein fast kindliches Vergnügen an den Tag legt, im Sinne eines Frank Zappa oder Henry Cow E- und U-Musik zu vereinen.

Und das alles noch richtig handgemacht ohne elektronische Hilfsmittel, und auch nicht improvisiert, wie man fälschlicherweise zuerst vermuten könnte. Nicht für jede Stimmung geeignet, aber definitiv eine Platte, die einem mehr zu bieten hat als die der üblichen avantgardistischen Krachbands, die mehr Wert auf Destruktion und Geschwindigkeit als auf ernstzunehmende Virtuosität legen, die auch bei so einer Art von Musik offensichtlich möglich ist.

Thomas Kerpen, Ox Fanzine (DE)

NEW PIECE FOR STRING QUINTET:

WORLD PREMIERE: Kick Cafe, Kristiansand, Norway, Sat 5 Sept, 7:00 PM.

PROGRAM:

1. Two Pieces From Utopian Dances (Released on Utopian Dances – 1999, revised for string quintet 2009)

2. A Shrimp’s Gotta Do What A Shrimp’s Gotta Do (world premiere)

3. Your Mother Eats Like A Platipus (Released on Neo Dada 2009, revised for string quintet 2009)

MUSICIANS:

• Violin 1: Ida Kristine Hansen

• Violin 2: Isa Caroline Holmesland

• Viola: Hannah Wilder

• Violoncello 1: Lisa Isabel Holstad

• Violoncello 2: Kaja Fjelberg Pettersen

• Conductor: Jono El Grande

Jono El Grande is raping a Bb clarinet on this legendary clip with his band Vidunderlige Vidda (‘the wonderful mountain plateau’) back in 1997. It is a one track recording from a rehearsal at Grünerløkka Lufthavn, and the song is completely improvised by the band. The guy dressed as a witch on the picture is Sjur Skjeldal, who usually played the drums. On this track he played on Jonos Fernandes guitar. The other musicians are Stein Stølen Bjerkaker on bass and Øyvind Brække on trombone.

«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

Musica Jazz (It)

…this fall. The exact date will be announced soon.

«Norway’s Jono El Grande wears his musical influences on his sleeve and a grand Zappaesque moustache on his top lip. He’s a self-confessed devotee of Frank Zappa, and Neo Dada has the same in yer face virtuosity and invention that typified the latter’s take on rock. «Ballet Morbido In A Dozen Tiny Movements» covers everything: nonsensical vocalising, frequent time signature changes, disconnected shifts to classical interludes and, of course, seemingly endless outbreaks of xylophone playing. But Neo Dada is far more than pastiche or tribute. The heavy riffing guitar on «Neo Dada» itself and «Three Variations On A Mainstream Neurosis» drag art rock into the present. His reputation in his native land owes much to dada-like performance, but he exuberance transfers clearly to the recordings.»

The Wire (UK)

^{«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, 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.»}

The Guardian (UK)

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^{«Norway’s Jono El Grande wears his musical influences on his sleeve and a grand Zappaesque moustache on his top lip. He’s a self-confessed devotee of Frank Zappa, and Neo Dada has the same in yer face virtuosity and invention that typified the latter’s take on rock. «Ballet Morbido In A Dozen Tiny Movements» covers everything: nonsensical vocalising, frequent time signature changes, disconnected shifts to classical interludes and, of course, seemingly endless outbreaks of xylophone playing. But Neo Dada is far more than pastiche or tribute. The heavy riffing guitar on «Neo Dada» itself and «Three Variations On A Mainstream Neurosis» drag art rock into the present. His reputation in his native land owes much to dada-like performance, but he exuberance transfers clearly to the recordings.»}

The Wire (UK)

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^{«Six years after Fevergreens, Jono El Grande finally followed suit with Neo Dada, an album that builds on the wacky Zappa-goes-Latin recipe of its predecessor to reach new Dadaist heights. El Grande (aka Norwegian composer Jon Andreas Hatun) writes very precise pieces of avant-progressive rock music that proudly wears the combined influences of Zappa, Gentle Giant, Henry Cow, and even a bit of Magma (Attahk-era in the title track’s chorus). The album is rather short (42 minutes) but packed with ideas and extremely fun if you are into this kind of seriously-non-serious complex meter music. El Grande is backed by a 13-piece band whose instrumentation is a hybrid between a chamber music ensemble (string quartet, bassoon), and Zappa’s 1988 band (especially in the keyboard sounds and heavy use of mallet percussion). The opener, “Neo Dada,” is a stunner: fast-paced, restless, and silly in pure Jono El Grande style, distilled to hit single length. If you can’t stand it, leave at once; if you dig it, please step inside, there’s a lot more to be enjoyed! Like what? Like the bassoon intro to “Oslo City Suite,” the deranged string quartet that is “Your Mother Eats Like a Platipus,” and the full-motion-Zappa feel of the third part of “Three Variations on a Mainstream Neurosis” (plus handclaps!). Neo Dada is late-era Zappa minus the scatological routines, plus an intentionally cheesy Latin element (think Señor Coconut). And if Fevergreens was already a strong effort, this album is better written, more assured, and extremely well executed. Highly recommended.»}

All Music Guide (US)

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^{«Jono El Grande is not of Latin or Hispanic origin. Actually, Norwegian Jon Andreas Håtun would have difficulty picking a more absurd name under which to release his music. Given the nature of his songs, though, he couldn’t have picked a more appropriate moniker. Whether in a studio or live-slapstic-show setting, Håtun subverts convention through musical and physical humor. However, the levity that allows El Grande to connect so easily with some may alienate others.}

^{A self-taught composer and guitarist, Håtun seems to have assimilated both the left-field rock leanings of Frank Zappa and the compositional styles of some 20th century giants (Stravinsky being a professed influence). While “prog” musicians have always embraced and incorporated the ideas of innovative composers, much less does one hear tropical sounds, throat singing, and laryngeal percussion written in complex, shifting meter. Despite the genre-hopping nature of Neo Dada, Jono El Grande always seems in control of his small orchestra, leading them through each dense passage with aplomb. He never lingers on a single idea for too long, and the album works equally well through track-by-track or album-as-a-whole listening.}

^{It’s clear that Håtun cares little for the supposed formal restrictions of genre, and his music is all the more enjoyable for it. “Ballet Morbido in Twelve Tiny Movements,” the most sonically diverse track here, sounds oddly normal, despite both a string quartet passage that leads into maniacal vocals reminiscent of Magma and baroque harpsichord figures transitioning into shuffling cabana music. With such wild and continuous variation, the eight minutes pass very quickly. In “Three Variations on a Mainstream Neurosis,” Håtun even turns the instantly recognizable 12-bar blues form on its head by unleashing guitar licks in 5/4 time, segueing into a free-form woodwind collage and then promptly into spy-movie chase music complemented by throat-singing.}

^{While this is complex, intricately composed music with fantastic instrumental interplay, it’s also very listenable. Zappa fanatics will no doubt deride the album for appropriating the iconoclast’s style, but in no way does it seem that Håtun is simply stealing ideas. He wears his influences proudly and pays them worthy homage on Neo Dada. Jono El Grande strikes a near-perfect balance between the traditional and the avant-garde, and his playful approach lends the album a great amount of accessibility without compromising his adventurous spirit.»}

Tiny Mix Tapes (US)

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^{«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 City 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.»}

Boomcat (UK)

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^{My favourite record label continues to make life easier for fans of progressive rock. No longer is it necessary to wait years between King Crimson sightings: now we need only plug into the Rune Grammofon pipeline’s endless stream of wildly imaginative Scandinavians. (For more, see Scorch Trio, Motorpsycho, and the Low Frequency in Stereo.)}

^{In terms of prog history, Norwegian wildman Jono el Grande leans more toward Frank Zappa than, say, Yes, which is a good thing. The two certainly share a taste for ring modulation, mallet percussion, and bogus pomp; Neo Dada’s mock-operatic title track could easily have emerged from the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen, and the creepy woodwinds and twisted synths that grace “Big Ben Dover” also display a certain Zappa-esque flair.}

^{Jono el Grande has a few tricks of his own, however. On the kaleidoscopic “Oslo City Suite” he writes gracefully for string quartet, then throws in moody Hawaiian guitar. “Ballet Morbido in a Dozen Tiny Movements” incorporates a gleefully absurd pirate-pixie-Viking chorus, skittering folk-dance rhythms, and several jagged yet memorable tunes. Whether he’s referencing the prog past or coming up with entirely new sounds, the man known to his mother as Jon Andreas Håtun is obviously the owner of a remarkable imagination, and the skills necessary to bring his dreams to vibrant life.}

Straight (CAN)

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^{«Jono El Grande is something of an oddball. Jon Andreas Håtun as he is known to his parents landed on Rune Grammofon six years ago with Fevergreen, a rather strange album which appears to fearlessly blend prog rock, pop, orchestral film music and jazz into one hell of a melting pot. Heading a formation of nine musicians, Jono El Grande brought down boundaries that no-one, with the exception of a rare few, ever considered could even exist.}

^{With Neo Dada, Håtun and his colourful big band revive their shambolic fanfare and progress further into prog-jazz-watnot land, relentlessly kicking the ghost of Zappa out of the way to make way for their own exotic vision. As ominous electric guitars are placed directly against delicate string work, medieval-sounding themes come crashing on toy pianos and nostrils are dimmed good enough to be credited as instruments, there is, it seems, very little logic in all this chaos. If anything, Fevergreen is remembered as a gentile pastoral promenade in comparison, but this apparent anarchy is, in fact, a well rounded and regimented affair. Behind its eccentric attires, Neo Dada hides truly delightful moments, like the delicate string interlude heard just past the half way mark on Oslo Coty Suite, or the cheesy synth which flutters aimlessly over Big Ben Over. Everything is there for effect, yet, also serves the purpose of the record itself, creating an utterly oblique fantasy land.}

^{Whatever Jono and his troop pile on this record manage to somehow find a place and this is certainly no mean feat. Of course, at times, this album is just too baffling for words. When, following the rather ornate Your Mother Eats Like A Platipus and the relatively tamed Big Ben Over, Three Variations On A Mainstream Neurosis bursts into an aggressive slab of power pop, it seems as the whole thing as just spontaneously combusted around the band and is totally beyond any hope of repair. To add to the confusion, the various members take turn to provide vocal contributions, on Neo Dada (Hans Martin Austestad), Ballet Morbido In A Dozen Tiny Movements (Jono) or Choco King (Bård Bratlie), often disguising their voice by veering into guttural depth or pirouetting falsettos to push the theatricality of the compositions to the limit.}

^{Whereas Fevergreen demonstrated a certainly degree of restraint, Neo Dada sees Jono El Grande and his orchestra intrepidly hurling any genre that is likely to throw the lot off balance into the mix, and vigorously stirring it all until it becomes surprisingly palatable. In all respects, this latest effort is more demanding, and not as instantly likeable, than its predecessor, and it occasionally suffers from the band’s heavy-handed approach, but the musicianship feeding this infernal machine is such that, in the end, the pluses far out-weight the minuses.»}

The Milk Factory (UK)

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^{«Mischievous composer Jono El Grande commences his third album with a flatulent blast of sax reed (courtesy of Erik Løkra), his own histrionic, lion-tamer vocals and a flurry of comedic, arachnid xylophones; and the rest of “Neo Dada” continues this crazy-paving trajectory in much the same, scatterbrained way. “Ballet Morbido In A Dozen Tiny Movements” is an itchy, scratchy waggledance and “You Mother Eats Like A Platipus” is a ducking, diving dervish for neurotic strings. Totally nuts, and therefore, another triumph for Norwegian label Rune Grammofon.»}

Plan B (UK)

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^{«Mr Jono El Grande leads a slightly temporally displaced chamber-prog ensemble, operatic somewhere between Gentle Giant and the lighter side of Univers Zero. Clearly in thrall to the genre´s salad days, El Grande mostly seems happy to resculpt those times in a politely academic manner, but there are oddities: “Big Ben Dover” fuses wibbly keyboard flourishes with the theme to a perma-tanned 1970s British afternoon game show… though intricate, lush and cleverly composed, with a strongly implied narrative feel, “Neo Dada” is at the same time reserved and cautious.»}

Rock-a-Rolla (UK)

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^{«This Norwegian composer´s mini-art rock orchestra may have strong Zappa overtones yet it´s no imitation. Very melodic, incredibly quirky; imagine a score that´s as nuts as the surreal cinema of Jodorowsky.»}

Jazzwise (UK)

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^{«Med albumet “Fevergreens” viste Jono El Grande at det innenfor landets grenser befant seg komponister og musikere med ambisjoner og evner som gjorde det mulig å komme opp med grensesprengende rockemusikk som ikke sto tilbake for det som kom fra det store utland. At El Grande har en forskjærlighet for Zappa, var ikke til å unngå å merke seg ved gjennomlytting av “Fevergreens”. På “Neo Dada”, hans nyeste fremstøt på platefronten, henger fortsatt en skygge av onkel Frank i kulissene, men den er kanskje ikke fullt så tydelig som forrige gang. Men det er feil å si at El Grande “gjør en Zappa”, for “Neo Dada” er så mye mer enn det. Siden forrige gang har horisonten blitt utvidet atskillige grader, og den musikalske sjangerblandingen er ganske så imponerende. I ulike deler og varianter dukker det opp innspill som henter inspirasjon fra Gentle Giant [noen riktig fine linjer og pianosnutter som hensetter meg til noe rundt “Aquiring The Taste”, Henry Cow [buldrete fagottlinjer over kompleks rytmikk], Magma [maskulin og tøff vokal på noe jeg antar er tullespråk], canterburyprog [det litt lett vimsete og småpoppete] og selvfølgelig Zappa [særlig i den eksellente bruken av melodisk perkusjon]…..alt er lytefritt fremført uten at det noensinne er i nærheten av å bli sterilt. Det låter så lett, så lett, men er likevel akk så vanskelig å realisere uten inngående kjennskap til instrumentet sitt. “Neo Dada” er et album så proppfullt av gode ideer og innfall at det egentlig burde vært anmeldt etter flere uker med kontinuerlig gjennomlytting. Men jeg tar ikke munnen for full hvis jeg sier at dette helt klart er en av årets skiver, sine lyter til tross. I Jono El Grande har Norge en komponist og utøver som ikke lar seg stoppe av sjangerkonvensjoner og dilldall. Sett pris på det, og gi denne skiva en snurr i din CD-spiller.»}

Tarkus (NO)

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^{«Den selvlærte bråkebøtten Jono El Grande legger for dagen en imponerende musikalsk energi. Vel har det gått lang tid siden den snurrige «Fevergreens» 2003, men «Neo Dada» vil tydeligvis ta igjen tapt tid i ren eksplosjonsfare. Det tretten personer store bandet opererer et sted mellom frijazz, ironisk symfonirock, Frank Zappafusion og ren trass, og sørger for at de syv sporene på albumet glir uforutsigbart mellom underholdning og «vanskelig» knirking, hvining og uling. Det høres ut som om noen har satt opp en kabaret i helvete, med The Residents som produsenter og hele Rock in Opposition-gjengen som kreative konsulenter. Ekskursjonene i strykerbasert samtidsmusikk på «Your mother eats like a platypus» brekker brutalt opp albumet, før Jono igjen zapper av gårde i lekeverdenen sin på «Big Ben Dover». Når Jono vil, er albumet vakkert som et kaleidoskop, for andre ganger å forsvinne inn i sin egen navle.»}

Bergens Tidende (NO)

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^{«Jono El Grande. Hvilken ektefølt artigkar! Første gangen jeg hørte og så noe av ham var da jeg tok en av mine mange runder på et av landets folkebibliotek. Hans debut, Fevergreens, hadde gått meg fullstendig hus forbi før jeg plutselig stod med omslaget i hånden på Musikkavdelingen på Trondheim Folkebibliotek. Og hvilken debut det var! Jeg hadde store problemer med å koble den humoristiske Poirot-Hawaii-Zappa-duftende miksturen som Fevergreens var full av med den ganske så pompøse omgangskretsen som Jon Andreas Håtun (alias Jono El Grande) er kjent for, der prinsessegemalen Ari Behn nok er den mest prominente. Men nok om det; dette handler jo tross alt om musikken.}

^{Håtun er nok den aller morsomte komponisten jeg vet om. Der han på den forrige plata holdt seg i et (relativt) akustisk miljø, slår stormannsgalskapen denne gangen ut i full blomst. Fagott, strykerkvartett, står side ved side med kazoo og strupesang. På et eller anna mystisk vis greier Håtun å mikse alt dette sammen; og han gjør det slik at det høres ut som den naturligste ting i verden.}

^{Plata kan grovt sett deles inn i to hoveddeler, som skilles ad av en utflukt til den klassiske musikken. De tre første låtene utgjør den første delen, hvor et berg av melodiske temaer sjongleres i et forholdsvis strengt lydbilde. Melodiene har et tydelig Håtunsk preg, og tonespråket er gjenkjenbart fra Fevergreens, men samtidig låter det fullstendig anderledes. Kompleksiteten og ikke minst størrelsen (både på låtene og ensemblet) har vokst kolossalt. Ensemblet er et tradisjonelt rockeband, utvidet med blåsere og en strykerkvartett. Motivene er ofte svært korte; de kan nesten karakteriseres som brokker, noe som også en tittel som Ballet Morbido In A Dozen Tiny Movements indikerer. Brokkene repeteres, speiles og settes sammen på stadig nye måter i løpet av låtene; og ofte benyttes komposisjonstekniske metoder hentet fra den klassiske tradisjonen. Navn som Stravinsky, Bartok og spesielt Schostakovich spøker i bakgrunnen. Håtun har åpenbart også fått dilla på synkoperinger og rare taktarter, noe som gir de tre første låtene et herlig weirdo-dansant preg. Blandingen av komplekse og virtuose komposisjoner, banale melodier og til tider utrolig humoristiske instrumentelle veivalg (bare hør på allsangen i tidligere nevnte Ballet Morbido…) gir skiva en sterk egenart og en stor dæsj herlig selvironi. Minner dette om Frank Zappa, sier du? Damn right!}

^{Jeg nevnte tidligere en utflukt til den klassiske musikken. Your Mother Eats Like A Platipus er et stykke skrevet for strykekvartett. Her synes jeg den godeste Jono El Grande faller gjennom på flere måter. Den virker for det første utrolig malplassert; midt mellom storslagne og humoristiske prog-rock-epos. Håtun forsøker, for det andre, å være alvorlig, og (slik jeg oppfatter det) hevde seg som en klassisk komponist. Resultatet ender opp i en blek pastisj i landskapet midt mellom Bartok og Schostakovich.}

^{I låtene som følger denne låta viker El Grande litt fra den veien han la opp til i de tre første låtene. De solistiske bidragene trer tydeligere fram, og han flytter seg mer mot et rent rockeuttrykk basert på bassganger og groove. For meg mister han med dette noe av sin egenart, og den siste delen av skiva virker rett og slett ikke særlig inspirert. Jovisst, random, umelodiske saksofon-soloer er festlige, men når det er egentlig er det eneste som skjer i låta Three Variations On A Mainstream Neurosis føler jeg meg litt snytt. Hva skjedde med den kompakte og strenge kompositoriske stilen i første del? Avslutningslåta Choko King er i viss grad en retur til det innledende tonespråket; men greier likevel ikke helt å engasjere.}

^{Men sett under ett er Neo Dada et interessant utspill fra en av Norges morsomste og rareste komponister. Møtet mellom post-rock-estetikk, banaliteter, humor og klassiske kompositoriske teknikker iscenesatt av et stort ensemble er helt klart underholdende.»}

Musikkguiden Groove (NO)

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^{«Jevnt over er “Neo Dada” en seier for kreativiteten og adjø til all sunn fornuft.»}

Oslostudenten (NO)

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^{«Jono el Grande macht uns den Zappa: 12 Musiker versammelt der Norweger für „Neo Dada“ um sich. Ein Album, das Jazzrock à la Herny Cow mit Neuer Musik, Folk, Hard Rock und viel Witz miteinander verbindet. Tollkühnes Teil.»}

Choices KD (DE)

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^{«Neo Dada reimt sich auf Zappa und für den ist in Norwegen keiner mehr zuständig als Jon Andreas Håtun, genannt JONO EL GRANDE, ein schillernder Gitarrendandy und fotogener Hutträger mit Kultstatus. Das Titelstück als Einstieg klingt mit dem Gesang von Hans Martin Austestad noch eher Samla-Mammas-Mannaesk, doch mit dem Zickzack des ‚Ballet morbido in a dozen tiny movements‘, beschallt von Keyboards, dem Sopranogebläse von Erik Løkra, malletbetüpfelt von Håkon Mørk Stene und mit humorigem Lalalachor gibt El Grande seinem schnauzbärtigen Inspirator alle Ehre.»}

Bad Alchemy (DE)

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^{«Neodadaisme er en temmelig ny kunstbevegelse med den tilsynelatende paradoksale hensikt å gjenoppta standardene og konvensjonene til en gammel kunstbevegelse hvis intensjon var å kvitte seg med standarder og konvensjoner innen kunst. Dette tatt i betraktning, er Jono El Grandes tredje album utrolig passende titulert. «Neo Dada» er et slående konsist stykke prog/klassisk/rock ganske midt imellom Frank Zappas instrumentalverker for band og Mr. Bungle bare uten psykosen. Der noen spor heller over i kjedsomhet («Oslo City Suite») er andre dypt tilfredsstillende («Ballet Morbido In a Dozen Tiny Movements»), og som helhet er det lekent, optimistisk og ypperlig spilt, fylt av xylofon, variasjon og konvensjon. En finfin plate, alt i alt, men hvordan Hr. Grande har fått det for seg at Zappa-hyllester er spesielt avantgarde er det ikke undertegnede forunt å begripe.»}

Dagbladet (NO)

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^{«Norwegian art-rock composer/guitarist Jono El Grande is an artist whose fanciful music is different around every turn. Influenced by Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, King Crimson and Igor Stravinsky, Jono’s tunes weave through theatrical, progressive, classical, and absurdist styles. This album’s title, also the name of one of Jono’s band members, is an apt musical characterization of the wild songs that are found inside.»}

Alarmpress (US)

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^{«Do we need a new dada? The answer this album poses is a resounding “maybe.” The music of Jono El Grande falls somewhere in the overlap of a Venn Diagram that includes Magma and the kind of semi-orchestral Frank Zappa you find on his early 1970s albums (200 Motels, Waka Jawaka, The Grand Wazoo, and the material recorded in the mid-seventies that ended up on Sleep Dirt and Studio Tan). The short review for Neo Dada is therefore easy: if you don’t like either of those references, you won’t like this. This album is a host of “Strictly Genteel” and “The Adventures of Gregory Peccary” references, and most of the solos sound ripped directly from “The Ocean is the Ultimate Solution.”}

^{This album features some great tracks and some less great tracks, but given the ambition here the best way I can think of to explain why is to talk a little about what happens when you rub Zappa and Magma together, because the two don’t make quite as harmonious a union as you might expect, and not just because you’re piling one kind of difficult onto another. The Zappa-isms give a very distinct levity to the zeuhl aspects of Neo Dada, but the problem is that zeuhl itself isn’t unfunny. What makes it seem superficially grandiose and overbearing is that fact that zeuhl as an idea about music—and I’m not talking about how it sounds, since fans of Ruins and Magma and Dün and etc. will tell you how unalike these bands sound—is set-up as a foreign language (both literally, in terms of the created languages it often employs, and musically) that you have to decipher to get the humor. Or anger. Or pain. Or whatever. Zeuhl as an aesthetic form is like any approach to culture that asks you to step inside it and learn it from the inside out.}

^{Now, there are people who don’t care to do that, and there are a lot of absolutely perfect reasons why you might not want to, starting with: why bother creating a new world when we barely have a grip on our own? Science fiction fans might have an answer for you, but, again: it just depends on what is your cup of tea, above and beyond whether you actually like zeuhl music—and here I do mean the way it sounds. But here’s why Zappa is entirely different: for all of his innovative approach to composition, Zappa was never really interested in depth. Or emotion. Aside from maybe “Watermelon in Easter Hay” and theoretically maybe “Sofa” I’m not sure there are many instances where even the pretty parts of his discography aren’t inordinately satisfied with how they explicitly mock what they themselves are—and even the two examples I listed above are meant to be bogus pomp as much as they are melancholic. In other words, Zappa’s music is all surface, all the time, and in that sense Zappa’s music is a very specific kind of pop music whereas Magma’s music, say, is very specifically not. There’s nothing to learn with Zappa; whether you like his music or not entirely depends on whether you think an insanely complex Ruth Underwood percussion solo wedged in the fleeting space between two rock riffs is just as funny a joke as Father Oblivion making pancakes with sperm. Or whether either of those things is a substantial commentary on rock music. It’s all punchlines, is the point, and you’re left to hope that it sounds interesting while doing that, and not in the “did you hear that shit that Terry Bozzio just played?” way. Unless you’re that kind of music fan. If you are, then check out Crack the Skye, or that new Korn album.}

^{It’s hard to tell whether Jono El Grande is explicitly trying to merge these two ideas: the Zappa stuff is incredibly apparent—and at times, derivative—whereas the zeuhl stuff may well simply be a byproduct of his attempts to make the Zappa stuff not derivative. Either way, he does his best fusion on the title track, which rides a King Crimson slowcore riff in between Underwood-style percussion fills and Magma-style lyrics. It’s a brilliant little track that gets to have it several ways, and the lovely synth squiggles over the off-time mid-section are a gorgeous update to the section of the song where Zappa would normally have inserted a big-time slowed-down guitar solo. But check the other side: “Ballad Morbido in a Dozen Tiny Movements” and “Big Ben Over” just sound way too much like somebody trying to sound exactly like Zappa, and while neither is accompanied with the groans you might expect to be elicited from a musician in 2009 trying to sound exactly like Zappa in 1974 the extent to which you like these two tracks will depend entirely on the extent to which you like a track like “Big Swifty.”}

^{Okay, but it’s more complicated than that, because why “Big Swifty”? This rock/jazz/orchestral stuff worked for Zappa when he was playing it with his small mid-seventies jazz rock group that featured stellar musicians like Underwood. But once he moved away from band-based recordings into session musician-laden studio-sheen stuff like what was supposed to be released on Läther his material went off the rails a bit. Jono El Grande thankfully avoids the overuse of directionless fretless bass tone that permeated Zappa’s late seventies work or the even stupider “reggae” stuff he did in the 1980s, but his work on Neo Dada inadvertently highlights the uneven nature of Zappa’s discography, especially when removed from the context of…Zappa’s discography. I.e. “Inca Roads” (or even better, the live “Inca Roads” from You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore 2) was and will always be better sounding and a better song than “Big Swifty,” or “The Adventures of Gregory Peccary.”}

^{Now, I know I’m going on a lot about Zappa in a review not about Zappa but hang with me: it’s really amazing to me just how similar parts of this album sound to the types of compositions Zappa was pursuing early in his solo career—just check that guitar riff in “Olso Cody Suite” that starts up around 1:45; I wracked my head trying to figure out what track it was ripping off and then realized the answer was “most of them.” But with nothing as technically complex as “RDNZL” or “Approximate” or immediately gripping and finite as “Florentine Pogen” or “Andy” or rocking as “Zombie Woof” or “Shove it Right In” or even as pretty as “Peaches on Regalia” at least half of this album is taken up with the kind of bland, emotionless, snarky music that most Zappa fans, I think, will acknowledge that, amidst the sheer mess of work Zappa released in the 1970s, is secondary; it resembles the non-“RDNZL” tracks off of lesser albums like Studio Tan and Sleep Dirt which are not so much notable for themselves as they are for the way they complement, explain, and elaborate the better songs on better albums like One Size Fits All. Jono El Grande seems inordinately interested in the building blocks of Zappa’s mid-seventies style, but hasn’t really built much with them yet, I mean. And the fact that he hasn’t is reinforced by how much this material sounds like Zappa’s mid-seventies style. Etc.}

^{So let’s talk about the other half of the album, because that’s what’s actually exciting. The rest of the songs on Neo Dada sound and don’t sound like Zappa; the deja vu normally accompanies a specific chord phrasing or riff moreso than the entirety of a song. “Your Mother Eats Like a Platipus,” for example, rides a string quartet brilliantly, a beautiful little string composition that is difficult without being obtuse. “Choco King” features Zappa-style mallet lines but everything else is a zeuhl bonanza; the violin treatments are fascinating, and the kazoo raunching in the background counteracts the plodding foreground. “Three Variations on a Mainstream Neurosis” also owes a lot to Magma, though the sax solo towards the end is all Zappa. But the contrast between the two is fascinating, as this thin reed warbles above an expansive and gloomy guitar grind. This type of material is much more original; it owes to the past, but it sounds very much like a new kind of these musics.}

^{Neo Dada isn’t really hit or miss; it’s more hit or “meh.” The too-Zappa tracks are still interesting compositions; I just wish that he hadn’t worked so hard to get the production and arrangements to sound exactly like his source material. Those tracks are a bit too slick, and they add nothing new to musical vocabulary. I mean, it’s one thing to learn how to do somebody else’s thing really well, I guess; it’s quite another to be inspired by somebody else’s thing to do your own. Neo Dada (mostly) isn’t new. And the conclusion you might draw from the fact that it’s made me think so much about Zappa albums I haven’t listened to in over a decade is maybe the only subtext it has. Which is a shame, since what’s good here is really fun.»}

CokeMachineGlow (US)

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^{«In 2004, Jono El Grande won the Norwegian ‘Hat User of the Year’ award. As amusing as this sounds, it isn’t particularly surprising given the man’s reputation for eccentric live shows, which usually involve outlandish costumes and often take their cue from Dadaist performance art. And it’s Dadaism that’s most instructive when approaching his second full-length album, not least because it’s titled ‘Neo Dada.’ Because like the movement from which it takes much of its inspiration, ‘Neo Dada’ appears to reject conventionalities such as logic and reason in favour of a wholehearted embrace of irrationality and surrealism. It’s a genre-bender of an album, belonging to a tradition stretching back to the likes of Zappa and Beefheart, and it won’t be assimilated without a fight.}

^{Beginning with the title track, Jono El Grande (real name Jon Andreas Håtun) and his accompanying band drag us into an often vivacious, sometimes gloomy, and sometimes tragic-comic world of saxophones, keyboards, strings and guitars playing odd-time melodies and riffs in dense, careering compositions. Fortunately, he knows how to direct his sometimes schizophrenic creations (although just as Jung said about Dadaism, they may be too idiotic to be schizophrenic) into satisfying progressions with satisfying endings. This is especially evident on the title track, which after a jumpy tour through claustrophobic violins, tense vibraphone and funereal guitar reaches a hushed, secretive bridge of saxophone that’s gradually lifted by a building drum roll into a screeching, staccato finale.}

^{After this relatively uniform number however, all the succeeding pieces become more sprawling and stylistically multifarious. This is hardly a problem in itself, but some may find the genres delved into a little outdated and tasteless. Track 2, ‘Ballet Morbido in a Dozen Tiny Movements,’ begins with an intro of vaudevillian piano before taking in, among many others, the Canterbury Scene via some courtly harpsichord and medieval guitar. Even though El Grande seamlessly weaves each phrase and movement into the other with patience and fluency, everything on this track sounds a little kitsch, particularly his wordless, jabbering vocals, and in the end it all may come down to how much you enjoy irony.}

^{But ‘Neo Dada’ is redeemed not only by its unwillingness to take itself too seriously, but also by its irrepressible exuberance. ‘Three Variations on a Mainstream Neurosis,’ with its zippy riff in 5/8, sounds like the demented theme tune to some comic book television series, and it sees El Grande’s guitar trade off with kinetic horns and then at one point brilliantly mirror the rising-falling notes of a crazed slide whistle. There’s a comparable abundance of energy in ‘Oslo City Suite,’ whose bobbing sax and rapid-fire violin simmer and sweat with an oddball tension that finds its release in a ‘70s-tinged 6/4 riff. And there’s no getting away from the fact that the music on the album is in the main very tightly composed, with ‘Your Mother Eats Like a Platypus’ – a stylistically unified track reminiscent of something a Bartok string quartet might produce – proving that El Grande has a firm grasp of dynamics and drama.}

^{So ‘Neo Dada,’ despite its occasional contempt for fashionable taste, is an effervescent, colourful and intricately crafted album. It’s also one well worthy of winning the award of ‘Best Album Associated with A Previous Winner of A Norwegian Hat User of the Year Award.’»}

ExperiMusic (UK)

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^{Jon Andreas Hatun, a Norwegian musician who performs under the monicker Jono El Grande, sometimes leading “The Luxury Band” in Dada-inspired performance art pieces, is one of those half-artist/half-musicians that you never quite know how seriously to take. He attended art school in Bergen, and has taught himself composition—perhaps as a result, his songs are an enthusiastic but ragged jumble of 20th century classical music tropes, pop melodies, simple percussion, and even scraps of opera. The experience of listening to Neo Dada, his second CD for Rune Grammofon, is thus rather disorienting. But you have to give El Grande the benefit of intent, and there are certainly elements of arresting, at times compelling, musical theatre across the album. “Ballet Morbido in a Dozen Tiny Movements”, a standout, is like a leftfield classical version of Kaada’s Spaghetti Western sensibility. “Three Variations on a Mainstream Neurosis”, somewhat closer to rock with its heavy bassoon or saxophones, reinterprets the classic 1-4-1-5-4-1 progression through a cacophony of bird-like wind instruments, rising to a frantic, atonal climax. Cycling quickly through klezmer, jazz, and prog-rock, Jono El Grande presents an intriguing if a little ADD interpretation of experimental music.}

PopMatters (US)

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^{«Eén van de meest flamboyante figuren uit de Noorse muziek Jono El Grande komt na 6 jaar eindelijk met zijn derde album (en tweede cd) Neo Dada. De Noor Jon Andreas Håtun, want zo heet hij echt, wordt met de navelstreng om zijn nek geboren. Het is meteen al een bijzonder joch en dat is hij. Zo bedenkt hij op 10 jarige leeftijd al een band, die enkel in zijn hoofd bestaat als concept en zonder geluid. Daarna gaat hij schrijven, schilderen en uiteindelijk muziek maken. Hij speelt dan nog steeds vooral in conceptbands, nu met geluid, waarmee hij dan eenmalig optreedt. Daarna werpt hij zich op als de art-rocker Jono El Grande en is in het bijzonder door Zappa beïnvloedt. In 1999 brengt hij zijn eerste lp uit, wat in 2003 een vervolg krijgt met zijn debuut cd Fevergreens. Een prettig gestoorde en eigenzinnige mix van avant-garde, jazz en rock. Nu is er dus een tweede cd. “Dada” suggereert wellicht dat het om simplistische muziek gaat, maar het nieuwe simplisme van Jono is een heleboel. Alleen de 13 gasten op zang, keelpercussie, keelzang, kazoo, saxofoon, fagot, drums, percussie, marimba, vibrafoon, keyboards, synthesizers, violen en cello geven al iets weg over de grootse aanpak. De eigengereide composities, waarin Jono zelf onder meer zingt, gitaar en synthesizer speelt, verworden nooit tot ondoordringbare gedrochten maar blijven speels en in redelijke mate toegankelijk. De muziek wordt ook regelmatig opgeleukt met grappige geluiden. Het weet je meteen in te pakken, waar het speelse en energieke karakter zeker aan bijdraagt. Prog-rock, rock in opposition, jazz, klezmer, kamermuziek en avant-garde vormen hier een steeds weer verrassend en meeslepend hoorspel. Denk aan een cocktail van Zappa, Uz Jsme Doma, Captain Beefheart, Kaada, Birdsongs Of The Mesozoic, Magma, The Residents, King Crimson, Gentle Giant en Curlew. Daar wil ik dan wel aan toevoegen dat Jono El Grande echt zijn eigen stijl heeft ontwikkeld. En die mag er wezen dacht ik zo!»}

Caleidoscoop (NL)

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^{«Un sacré loustique ce Jono El Grande. Compositeur, orchestrateur et guitariste, ce Norvégien est un grand excentrique adepte des spectacles live déjantés. On pourrait en dire autant de sa musique sauf que depuis Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, on a définitivement compris que la contre-culture rock pouvait ne pas être vue que par le petit bout de la lorgnette. L’option underground et contestataire n’est plus nécessairement synonyme de chaos conceptuel ou de boxon « punkoïde ».}

^{Aujourd’hui des compositeurs rock assimilent naturellement l’idée qu’avant de briser les codes fatigués du langage musical, il est préférable d’en connaître d’abord la grammaire sur le bout des doigts. Et la grammaire, l’autodidacte Jon Andreas Håtun, alias Jono El Grande, la connaît plutôt bien. Adepte de Captain Beefheart, King Crimson, Gentle Giant ou encore Igor Stravinsky, le bonhomme est capable de coucher sur papier des partitions dignes de la musique de chambre d’Edgard Varèse, tout en y mêlant le style ébouriffant et humoristique de Frank Zappa.}

^{Ce joyeux drille a de toute évidence puisé allègrement aux sources du rock in opposition nordiques, entre les complexes embardées de Samla Mammas Manna – un des fondateurs du mouvement – et la musique klezmer d’Alamaailman Vasarat, sans oublier l’énorme influence de Gentle Giant et de la musique contemporaine. Jono El Grande s’est même fendu d’écrire dans ce dernier style une longue et magnifique pièce intitulée « Your Mother Eats Like a Platipus ». Comparé à l’album Fevergreens sorti en 2003, Neo Dada abandonne l’ascendant orchestral du big band pour se diriger vers un son plus rock et moderne irréprochable d’une part, et de l’autre les finesses acoustiques de la musique de chambre, le tout, et c’est une performance, dans une osmose parfaite.}

^{La sophistication n’est pas nécessairement synonyme d’intellectualisme ou de complexité, c’est avant tout un puissant moyen d’expression dont Jono El Grande a su parfaitement se saisir. Fruit du travail d’orfèvre de cet hypertalentueux musicien, Neo Dada convainc donc largement et valide la démarche casse-gueule d’une avant-garde ambitieuse mais toujours stimulante, accessible et terriblement colorée.»}

Progressia (FR)

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^{«Οι Jono el Grande δεν είναι από τα πολύ γνωστά ονόματα της αγαπημένης νορβηγικής ετικέττας Rune Grammofon. Δικαίως κατά την γνώμη μου, αφού το πρώτο του άλμπουμ του αφρικανικής καταγωγής Jono και της παρέας του, ήταν σαχλαμαρίτσα. Το Neo Dada είναι πολύ πιο δουλεμένο και προσπαθεί να δικαιώσει τον υπερβολικό του τίτλο. Οι βασικές αναφορές είναι στo prog των 70’ς της βρετανικής σκηνής, το Rock In Opposition και cult σχήματα όπως οι Magma. Οι ενορχηστρώσεις είναι πλούσιες σε βαθμό υπερφίαλο, που όμως λόγω της ανάλαφρης διάθεσης της μπάντας δεν κουράζουν, αλλά αντίθετα όσο αυξάνεται η πολυπλοκότητα, τόσο πιο ευχάριστη γίνεται η ακρόαση. Πράγματι, τα εναρκτήρια κομμάτια του άλμπουμ με την Zappική τους παράνοια ξεχωρίζουν. Αργότερα, όταν προσπαθούν να παίξουν στα όρια της νεοκλασσικής μουσικής και του easy-listening ακούγονται λιγότερο φρέσκοι. Τότε, σε κερδίζουν, έστω, με τους χιουμοριστικούς τους τίτλους, όπως είναι το “your mother eats like a platipus”.»}

Soundeyet (GR)

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^{«Asa cum Dada exista chiar inainte sa fie inventata, muzica lui Juno El Grande suna a lucruri pe care le-ati mai auzit, dar recitate in ritmuri ciudate care transpun cuvintele in sensuri ciudate, in masuri ciudate, framantate de structuri muzicale care suna prea aproape de limbile vechi ale pamantului pentru a parea futuriste, in formule suficient de inovative incat sa nu para invechite.}

^{Daca va plac Residents sau Frank Zappa, atunci delectati-va cu “Neo Dada”, ultima compozitie a norvegianului Jono El Grande.»}

Babylon Noise (Ro)

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^{«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.»}

Musica Jazz (It)

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^{«Das zweite Album des norwegischen „Komponisten" Jono El Grande (eigentlich heißt er Jon Andreas Håtun) würde Mike Pattons Label Ipecac alle Ehre machen, ein wilder, aber dennoch sehr fokussierter Avantgarde-Progrock, bei dem selbst die krassesten Brüche innerhalb der Arrangements strengen Regeln folgen.}

^{Ein erstaunlich aufgeräumtes Chaos, irgendwo zwischen Neo-Klassik, Jazz und folkloristischeren Einflüssen, die mal mehr nach Lateinamerika mal mehr nach Osteuropa klingen, auf jeden Fall aber eine sehr vitale Rhythmik besitzen.}

^{Wirkt „Neo Dada" zu Beginn noch recht anstrengend und nervig, beginnt man schnell den feinen Humor des Norwegers zu schätzen, der hier zusammen mit seinem zwölfköpfigen Kammerpop-Orchester ein fast kindliches Vergnügen an den Tag legt, im Sinne eines Frank Zappa oder Henry Cow E- und U-Musik zu vereinen.}

^{Und das alles noch richtig handgemacht ohne elektronische Hilfsmittel, und auch nicht improvisiert, wie man fälschlicherweise zuerst vermuten könnte. Nicht für jede Stimmung geeignet, aber definitiv eine Platte, die einem mehr zu bieten hat als die der üblichen avantgardistischen Krachbands, die mehr Wert auf Destruktion und Geschwindigkeit als auf ernstzunehmende Virtuosität legen, die auch bei so einer Art von Musik offensichtlich möglich ist.}»

Ox Fanzine (DE)

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.

On the new release Blårollinger (avantgarde music for kids with various artists) from dBut Redords Jono El Grande contributes with the lo-fi electronic composition “Ode til Arne Nordheim I – III” (“Ode to Arne Nordheim I – III”).

Video clip

Live at Blå (Bleu/Blue), Oslo, May 14 2009. Solo parts from ‹‹Good Gracious››, originally released on the album Fevergreens.