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THE THING with Barry Guy
METAL!
NoBusiness Records NBLP 47/48. 
Limited edition of 600 records


Mats Gustafsson – baritone, tenor and slide saxophones
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten – bass (left chanel)
Barry Guy - bass (right chanel)
Paal Nilssen-Love – drums

Recorded live at Saint Catherine’s Church, Vilnius, 
Lithuania on 3rd April, 2011 by Arunas Zujus. 
All compositions by Mats Gustafsson (STIM), 
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (TONO), Paal Nilssen-Love (TONO) & 
Barry Guy (PRS), except “Ride the Sky” by Lightning Bolt, 
“Praseodymium” by Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (TONO) & Barry Guy (PRS) and “Neodymium” by Mats Gustafsson (STIM) & Paal Nilssen-Love (TONO). Mixed and mastered by Arunas Zujus at MAMAstudios. Design by Oskaras Anosovas. Produced by The Thing and Barry Guy. Executive producer – Danas Mikailionis. Co-producer – Valerij Anosov



Side A 
1. Lanthanum 
2. Cerium 

Side B 
1. Praseodymium 
2. Neodymium 

Side C 
1. Promethium 
2. Samarium 
3. Europium 

Side D 
1. Gadolinium 
2. Terbium 
3. Dysprosium 
4. Ride the Sky

NoBusiness Records NBLP 47/48. 
Limited edition of 600 records



A double LP called Metal! (No Business NBLP 47/48) has hit the 
streets and it's a kicker. It's a group called the Thing with 
guest bass master Barry Guy. In sum this is an all-star 
free-avant jazz lineup. Barry and Ingebrigt Haker Flaten handle 
the bass duties. They expertly, madly scrabble and scumble power 
arco and pizzicato lines in a kind of humming and thrumming 
hornet's nest of fire and chaos. Mats Gustafsson hits the ground 
at a run on baritone, tenor and slide saxophone. Paal 
Nilssen-Love, perhaps the reigning king of manically slashing, 
metallically clattering free drums, gets a froth to combust 
spontaneously throughout. 

So you have four sides of wildly free music. Mats' baritone is 
grainy, blasphemous to jazz order, his tenor is no less 
compacting and his slide sax slithers. The two-bass team are 
astoundingly brash. Paal gets very impolite. 

In short it's all a manic, panic attacked contemporary world 
needs to portray itself the way it is now. In other words this 
one really kicks up its heels and says a healthy f.u. to all 
that might have wanted to replace it. It's not getting replaced, 
people. This kind of music survives and thrives in the hands of 
these four demonic fellows. I mean that in the best way! Bass 
players beware. You are about to be smoked! Everybody else? 
Smoked. All are going to be smoked. 

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The Thing is a long-standing Scandinavian free-jazz unit 
consisting of Mats Gustafsson on saxophones, Ingebrigt Haker 
Flaten on bass and Paal Nilssen-Love on drums. On this album 
they hook up with the legendary British composer and bassist 
Barry Buy for a number of free-jazz blowouts and short vignettes.
This album was recorded live at Saint Catherine's Church in 
Vilnius, Lithuania on 3rd April, 2011. The opening track, 
"Lanthanum" is an epic in its own right, with scraping and 
clanging bass and drums inviting in strong resonant saxophone 
and more bass. Saxophone wails and drums thrash through storming free improvisation. The dynamics between the bassists is fascinating; one plucking, one bowing and all in service to the musical maelstrom. Improvising saxophone and bowed bass in the cavernous space of the church give the music a feel akin to Albert Ayler's live performances. This particular performance unfolds slowly and almost suite-like, with parings and couplings of instruments coming together and splitting apart like so many atoms. Elastic bass and slapping drums heralds the conclusion that is raw and potent. After a couple of short interludes including a bass duet, the band comes together with "Neodymium" opening with popping saxophone and chain-rattling ghostly percussion, the group quickly takes flight with Gustafsson and Nilssen-Love leading the charge with some hair raising music, squaring off like two boxers in the ring slugging it out. There is a quiet interlude, like the eye of a hurricane which uses silence as a canvas to improvise upon, then everyone comes together for a conclusion of 
pupil-dilating noise. "Europhium" starts quietly with a loosely 
developing saxophone solo building over quiet percussion. 
High plucked bass and saxophone build a fascinating drone effect 
which develops tension in the piece. Nilssen-Love takes a 
pristine solo on cymbals before scorching saxophone and basses 
return to take the music into the stratosphere. This was a very 
well played and recorded performance. The Thing is a very 
malleable unit that can host practically any guest, and Guy is 
the perfect foil on this occasion.


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