We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.
/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      €10 EUR  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of Frictions / Frictions Now via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 2 days

      €14 EUR or more 

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 214 NoBusiness Records releases available on Bandcamp and save 55%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Watching A Dog. Smiling, VISITATION OF SPIRITS, STOP TIME, KOREAN FANTASY, TRIANGLE – LIVE at OHM, 1987, ENFIN LA MER, We‘re Playing In Here ?, Seishin - Seido, and 206 more. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      €1,000 EUR or more (55% OFF)

     

1.
Frictions 20:34
2.
3.
4.

about

FJGW consisted of Michael Sell (trumpet), Dieter Scherf (saxophones, oboe, piano, flutes, Shenai, trumpet), Dieter König (guitars, flutes) and Wolfgang Schlick (drums, percussion) and in the four years of its existence (1968 - 1972) the quartet recorded two albums. Frictions was released as an edition of 300 vinyl records on a private label in 1969 (the same year there was a second edition of 200). Then there was Frictions Now, the band’s sophomore album,which was recorded in 1971 and released as a limited edition of 500 vinyl records. Both albums are hard to get and even if you were lucky you would have to pay fantasy prices.

What makes FJGW so great are the different and various musical means they have at hand: classic bebop riffs, world music influences, free collective improvisations, Kraut rock elements, 1960s psychedelia, etc. However, at the heart of their music is classic African-American free jazz. But although the two albums share the same impetus and approach, there is also an important difference: “Frictions“ is partly notated and presented as an uninterrupted piece although it actually consists of seven Sell/Scherf compositions: “Intro For Four“ is a trio of piano, flute and drums and reminds of Don Cherry’s double flute excursions; “Topology“ refers to the themes used by Albert Ayler’s groups just to drift off in a collective improvisation; “Töne“ is a duel between the reeds and the guitar and makes the impression of a modern jazz theme; “Sounds For M“ sounds like a Miles Davis riff, “Töne I“ is another short modern jazz interlude; “Ballad - Allintervallreihe“ is a theme played unison before “Peaceless“, a marvelous reed drone, brings the track to an end. All this preconceived material serves to structure the improvisations, which are dominated by free, very energetic and atonal reed lines, fragmented and twitchy guitar chords and polyrhythmic whirlwinds. The whole conception can be described as a mixture of explicitly planned formal processes and a careful arrangement of sound layers on the one hand and spontaneous interactions and raw rhythmic eruptions on the other hand. The music “unfolds in frequent variations of timbral textures“, as Ernst Nebhuth puts it in the very informative liner notes.

In contrast to “Frictions“, both parts of “Frictions Now“ are freely improvised music, the focus is clearly on spontaneity. However, the music is elaborate and structured by Dieter König’s extraordinary guitar, which is used in a multifunctional way (he plays single notes on the deep strings so he can take over the functions of a double bass, but he also creates brittle chord splinters which anticipate Sonny Sharrock's or James Blood Ulmer’s sound), by Sell’s short, aggressive trills on the trumpet, which remind of Manfred Schoof’s style at that time, and by Dieter Scherf’s solos, which are characterized by certain melodic features that again recall Albert Ayler.

After the split of FJGW Michael Sell continued to work as a musician and a composer, his music can be described as a mixture of free jazz and new classical music. Especially his works from the 1970s (e.g. 5 Stücke Für 11 Instrumentalisten Oder Instrumentalistinnen) and 80s (e.g. Innovationen Für 10 Instrumente) on his MISP label are interesting as well.


Martin Schray

credits

released May 1, 2015

NBCD 79


Frictions was recorded on July 12, 1969 at Walldorf Studio, Walldorf and released as an edition of 300 vinyl records on a private label in 1969. The same year there was a second edition of 200. Frictions is an uninterrupted piece, which originally consisted of these compositions: Intro For Four (Scherf), Topology (Sell), Töne (Sell), Sounds For M (Scherf), Töne I (Sell), Ballad-Allintervallreihe (Scherf), Peaceless (Scherf)

Frictions Now was recorded on July 9, 1971 at the same studio as Frictions. and released as a limited edition of 500 vinyl records on a private label in 1971. Both tracks composed by Michael Sell (GEMA), Dieter Scherf (GEMA), Gerhard König (GEMA) and Wolfgang Schlick (GEMA)

Liner notes by Ernst Nebhuth

Remastered by Arūnas Zujus at MAMAstudios
Final design and booklet layout by Oskaras Anosovas


1. Frictions 37:32
2. Frictions Now Part I 17:16
3. Frictions Now Part II 18:35



Michael Sell – trumpet
Dieter Scherf – alto saxophone, oboe, piano, shepherds flute, shenai, prepared trumpet, bamboo flute
Gerhard König – guitar, prepared guitar, flute, double flute
Wolfgang Schlick – drums, metal

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

NoBusiness Records Lithuania

independent label from Lithuania

contact / help

Contact NoBusiness Records

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Frictions / Frictions Now, you may also like: