Triopean Edition: nonkeen & GoGo Penguin
By Aaron Stein Feb 17, 2016 • 12:19 pm PST
nonkeen: the gamble
As far as band backstories go, the one for German trio nonkeen – including the fall of the Berlin wall and instruments being smashed by runaway carousel seats – feels like the kind of tale that wins an Oscar for best foreign picture. From these unlikely origins comes an unlikely monster of an album, the gamble, a debut which isn’t quite a debut, which finds the reunited childhood friends straddling the wall between improv and composition, electric and acoustic, ambient and dance. There are layers of headspace and groovespace to uncover here in what I consider the year’s first must-listen.
GoGo Penguin: Man Made Object
While slightly more traditional, but no less exhilarating, our second trio from Europe, GoGo Penguin make their debut on the legendary Blue Note label and make it count with Man Made Object. The British threesome joins a growing number of piano trios that are reinventing the standard from the inside out. The sound on this album is superbly mixed, the bass and drums seem to pop together into a single four-limbed entity mutating and fusing electro-ambient beats with minimalist jazz lines. It’s dense and yet highly listenable, pensive while still incredibly exhilarating and plenty of beauty all around.
