Paal Nilssen-Love
Drummer Paal Nilssen-Love stormed the Norwegian jazz scene in the early '90s and has been working relentlessly ever since in both traditional and avant-garde jazz. It wasn't long before he jumped on the metaphorical freight train Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustaffson had established between Scandinavia and Chicago; the drummer appeared on Ken Vandermark's School Days and has enjoyed growing exposure in the U.S. since 2000. His other engagements and collaborations include trios with Frode Gjerstad, Sten Sandell, and Raoul Björkenheim, plus the group Atomic.
Ping
Raoul Björkenheim on guitar and Paal Nilssen-Love on drums, old partners from Scorch Trio, in nine pieces of free music recorded in Helsinki: wild and raw, at times delicate and introspective.
Clocking The Wheel
In June of 2013, a new label for improvised music was born. After years of working with other labels in the “business,” saxophonist and label founder Dave Rempis saw the writing on the wall that many of those outlets for underground music would soon go belly up. With shifting modes of consumption and distribution due to the wave of digital options drowning out traditional music media, it became clear that artists working outside of the mainstream would have to take over their own production and …
Daughter of War
"Daughter of War" is the debut album of the new four-piece band It Was Her Idea. Vocalist Juliana Venter and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love have already worked together in Paal’s PNL Circus project and wanted to continue that collaboration in a different direction — to explore other aspects they touched on in Circus and to work with material not solely composed by Paal. Their first choice for bassist was Ole Morten Vågan, who on his own is an orchestra. Ole Morten and Paal have long been friends with…
What Just Happened?
"What Just Happened?" is an album that collects four pieces by Paal Nilssen-Love, composed for smaller configurations of his Large Unit ensemble. The pieces are for specific instruments: snare drum, saxophone and tuba — from three to six performers. This act of stripping the ensemble down to single instruments does not mean sparse minimalism, quite the opposite, as Paal explores the possibilities — and limits — of the individual instruments. Contributing to the music's quality is the incredible …
Steam Waterfall
«Steam Waterfall» is the second album in an expanded version of Paal Nilssen-Love's Large Unit. But this isn't the same Extra Large Unit you heard on «More Fun Please» from 2018. This is a live recording from the Oslo Jazz Festival in 2022 featuring core members of Large Unit along with a range of younger musicians Paal had met through workshops and teaching in the two years leading up to the concert. The number of musicians heard is 25—the largest Unit to date—but during the performance, there …
Hohai Bushi
«Hohai-Bushi» is the meeting between Paal Nilssen-Love and his Large Unit ensemble, here in a 13-person lineup, and the legendary Japanese musician Akira Sakata. Since the 1960s, Sakata has been one of the leading saxophonists in free jazz and improvisation, starting with the Yamashita Trio, continuing with his own ensembles, and later transitioning to younger musicians from various genres, including noise and experimental music. Akira Sakata is a living legend from the last 50 years of radical …
Giovanni Di Domenico, Akira Sakata, Paal Nilssen-Love, Giotis Damianidis, Aleksandar Škorić, Petros Damianidis, Tatsuhisa Yamamoto
HyperentasisHyperentasis is a double LP celebrating the unique connection between legendary saxophonist Akira Sakata and the city of Thessaloniki. Home to Defkaz Records and the birthplace of the Damianidis brothers, Thessaloniki has welcomed Sakata countless times. This release captures two of his landmark performances as a bandleader in the city. The first LP features the group Entasis with Giovanni Di Domenico (upright piano), Giotis Damianidis (electric guitar), Petros Damianidis (double bass), and Alek…
Baro 101
"Baro 101" unites Mats Gustafsson, Paal Nilssen-Love, and Masele Asmamaw for an electrifying fusion of Scandinavian free jazz and Ethiopian traditions. The album’s two expansive tracks showcase intense improvisation, with Asmamaw’s krar injecting unique rhythms and melodies, creating a bold, genre-defying musical journey.
Death Rattle
2025 stock “Death Rattle” is the noise of two forces of nature in collision. Like a pair of clashing typhoons, Philadelphia based avant guitarist James Plotkin and Norwegian free jazz drummer Paal Nilssen-Love generate chaos, disturbance and a terrifying beauty in their first ever collaborative recording. Free jazz and metal-edged rock never chimed so exhilaratingly together before. ‘Paal’s precision and constant invention/reinvention is mind-blowing, only matched by its intensity,’ James enthus…
I Love Noise
Biiig Tip! Edition of 300. Paal Nilssen-Love and Joe McPhee started playing together when Paal was 25. Now he’s 50, so this musical dialogue has been going on for the quarter of a century. It has taken many forms, first with The Thing, then The Thing/Cato Salsa Experience big-band, on to the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, with several one-off collaborations on the way (some previously released on PNL) – but throughout the years the duo format has been the best way to hear these two voices. It’s…
Abet?! አቤት?!
Specially released for Record Store Day 2012, April 21th. Recorded during two 'Saxophone' projects of The Ex in Ethiopia. Trio-side December 28 2009 in the Bateau Ivre, Kazanchis, Addis Abeba. Solo-side Februari 22 2011 at Yared Music School, Sidist Kilo, Addis Abeba.
The Last Temple, Vol.1
The Last Temple vol. 1 - vinyl 9" EP (Yes! 9 inch! lathe cut, cut in real time by Uncle Gusstaff in Witold Gombrowicz Studio in Zielona Góra, Poland). The Last Temple is a live recording of this extraordinary trio at the Alchemia in Krakow on 16.03.2024.The Trzaska, Haker Flaten, Nilsen Love trio played a concert tour in Poland in March 2024. A combination of one of the most famous sections of the world's intuitive jazz (e.g. The Thing) and one of the most famous representatives of the domestic …
Butterfly Mushroom
2nd Volume of the perfect pairing Brötzmann & Nilssen-Love! Recorded at Zuiderpershuis in Antwerp, August 2015. Liner notes-transcription of an interview with Peter Brötzmann.
The Last Temple vol.2
The Last Temple is a live recording of this extraordinary trio at the Alchemia in Krakow. Since the concert was quite long, we divided it into 3 formats: 1) The Last Temple vol. 1 - vinyl 9" EP 2) (this one) The Last Temple vol. 2 CD 3)The Last Temple vol. 3 vinyl 12" LP (180g black vinyl) The Trzaska, Haker Flaten, Nilsen Love trio played a concert tour in Poland in March 2024. A combination of one of the most famous sections of the world's intuitive jazz (e.g. The Thing) and one of the most fa…
The Last Temple vol.3
The Last Temple is a live recording of this extraordinary trio at the Alchemia in Krakow. Since the concert was quite long, we divided it into 3 formats: 1) The Last Temple vol. 1 - vinyl 9" EP 2) The Last Temple vol. 2 CD 3) (this one) The Last Temple vol. 3 vinyl 12" LP (180g black vinyl) The Trzaska, Haker Flaten, Nilsen Love trio played a concert tour in Poland in March 2024. A combination of one of the most famous sections of the world's intuitive jazz (e.g. The Thing) and one of the most f…
Japan 2019
PNL Records and Audiographic Records are thrilled to announce the release of the seven CD boxset, Paal Nilssen-Love & Ken Vandermark: Japan 2019. This co-production includes live recordings by this long-standing duo from their 16-date concert tour of Japan, as well as new collaborations with legendary Japanese musicians: Akira Sakata (reeds/voice), Masahiko Satoh (piano), and Yuji Takahashi (piano).
The Nilssen-Love/Vandermark is an internationally acclaimed percussion/reed duo and has been in c…
Chicken Shit Bingo
Peter Brötzmann collaborated with many artists in his career, regularly adding new compatriots into the fold, and Norwegian drummer Paal Nilssen-Love became one of his staunchest allies after the percussionist joined the Chicago Tentet in 2004. They worked in various contexts, including this inexhaustible, hard-hitting duo. Most of the albums they’ve issued have captured live performances, but in 2015 they made this stunning studio recording. As Nilssen-Love says in the liner notes, “Peter had a…
Time Sound Shape
"At first glance this new CD on PNL looks like familiar territory - a trio recording with two known collaborators of Nilssen-Love: Accordionist Kalle Moberg have become a steady and important voice of the Large Unit sound over the last ten years, and Frode Gjerstad truly needs no introduction - him and Nilssen-Love have played together for 30+ years.
And while this trio is a new constellation, a combination that is good news in itself, "Time Sound Shape" offers another, bigger surprise: this is …
Solo + Trio Roma
*2022 stock* "The rhythm section is thunderous in general with Nilssen-Love providing polyrhythmic barrage fire to Brötzmann’s assaults. It is a vortex of sounds – some shrieking, others almost torn, spat, even puked – owing credits both to hardcore and to Dadaistic sound poems, sharing their free rhythms, their devoted declamation and their rejection of conventional form and content. Trio Roma is a supremely passionate and committed group." -Martin Schray, Free Jazz Blog
Chrysopoeia
*In process of stocking* "Ballister is a transatlantic powerhouse. This free-wheeling trio first came together at a closed session in 2009, and as any fan of improvised music can imagine, the band hit hard from the first note and hasn't looked back since. The unabashed energy of Rempis and PNL, coupled with the electrified cello antics of Lonberg-Holm, make for a powerful listening experience that combines driving grooves with noisy textures and occasional melodic interjections. These sliding an…
Actions For Free Jazz
Edition of 500, no repress, no digital** Smalltown Superjazzz was a free-jazz subsidiary label to Smalltown Supersound from 2005-2012. The label has been dormant in the years 2012 to 2019, but is now reborn as the AFJ-Serie. The AFJ-Series represents a new start - built on the foundation and heritage of the Superjazzz label. AFJ-Series is short for Actions for free jazz. This was the slogan for Smalltown Superjazzz and was borrowed at the time from Don Cherry & Krystzof Penderecki’s The New Eter…
She Knows...
Temporary Super Offer! The Thing started as a recording project in 2000, for the newly formed label Crazy Wisdom, run by Christian Falk, Conny Charles Lindström and me. I wanted to put together a trio, to record some Don Cherry pieces and since I had recently played with Paal in Stockholm and heard Ingebrigt playing live, I knew they were tight. So, things went where they went.
I invited the two young Norwegians to Stockholm for a recording date at Atlantic Studios. One day of recording for the …
Hungry Ghosts
**CD version** Hungry Ghosts are beings who are driven by intense emotional needs, periodically roaming the earth’s surface in search for anything that can satisfy their cravings. Now they are here for you! The omnipotent living legend Paal-Nilssen Love clashes head to head with bass prodigy Christian Meaas Svendsen on bass, playing with 2-3 bows, cheek, voice, hands and feet. In the midst of the battle we find Yong Yandsen, a high-octane Malaysian sax virtuoso who virtually explodes on stage co…
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Stalk
Paal Nilssen-Love with Lasse Marhaug, recorded and edited by Fe-mail/Spunk Hild Sofie Tafjord to create 6 fascinating free-form compositions of sound and texture. "Marhaug and drummer/percussionist Paal Nilssen Love have worked together in Vandermark's groups, as well as being co-producers of the annual All Ears improvised music festival in Oslo. Their first recorded duet, Personal Hygiene (Utech, 2005), captured their live duet at the Nu-Music festival in Stavanger and featured their shared aff…
Lift Every Voice and Sing
**500 copies, strictly no repress** Smalltown Supersound are going hard on the free jazz this year - so much so that they've set up new sub-label Actions For Free Jazz to accommodate the load. This was the slogan for Smalltown Superjazzz and was borrowed at the time from Don Cherry and Krystzof Penderecki’s The New Eternal Rhythm Orchestra track Actions For Free Jazz Orchestra from the 1971 album Actions. The inspiration for the label is BYG Actuel, Incus, Freedom and ESP-Disk. AFJ's latest fora…
Screen Off
The high impact duo of Paal Nilssen-Love (drums) and Ken Vandermark (reeds) has been working together at an accelerated rate since 2002, and they have put out seven albums of exceptional and wide ranging improvised music since then. Though they have both worked in many critically acclaimed groups- from the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, Lean Left (with Terrie Hessels and Andy Moor of The Ex) to Double Tandem (with Dutch saxophonist, Ab Baars)- they have continued to return to their duo for more…
New Japanese Noise
Akira Sakata: alto saxophone, Bb clarinet, voice. Kiko Dinucci:electric guitar. Kohei Gomi: electronics. Paal Nilssen-Love: drums. Toshiji Mikawa: electronics. Produced by Paal Nilssen-Love and Lasse Marhaug Recorded live in concert at Roskilde festival 2018, Roskilde, Denmark, July 4th 2018 by Christian Brynildsen Obermayer. Mixed and mastered by Lasse Marhaug. Cover by Lasse MarhaugFor the 2018 edition of the Roskilde festival in Denmark Paal Nilssen-Love was asked to put together two special …
New Brazilian Funk
For the 2018 edition of the Roskilde festival in Denmark Paal Nilssen-Love was asked to put together two special projects. Nilssen-Love chose to put together two groups: one Japanese and one Brazilian-based band. Nilssen-Love has for a long time been influenced and inspired by a wide range of Brazilian music, and has in the last ten years also made the connection by collaborating with Brazilian musicians and bringing his own projects to Brazil. For the Roskilde project (now to become a steady ba…
Live In Tel Aviv
"If ever a group deserved the title of “free jazz power trio”, it would be this one. Legendary reedist Brötzmann, American trombonist Steve Swell and the mighty Nilssen-Love have been playing together since early 2015, and have two masterful live sets under their belt, Krakow Nights and Live in Copenhagen.Live in Tel Aviv, which documents an October ‘16 performance by the trio, is the perfect entry-point for those who might be intimidated by the relatively long lengths of those prior albums - at…
Thinking out loud
Boneshaker are Mars Williams (reeds, toy instruments), Paal Nilssen-Love (drums & percussion) and Kent Kessler (bass), three prolific powerhouse musicians, carrying among them a Grammy nomination and decades of experience with the top ensembles in the world. Thinking Out Loud is their third album. Personnel: Mars Williams - reeds; Paal Nilssen-Love - drums; Kent Kessler - bass.
Souls Stream
Amazingly beautiful limited edition of 500 screen printed LPs of this classic, individually handcoloured by artist Manor Grunewald. A master of reeds and horns, Joe McPhee is a bonafide free jazz icon who refuses to play the elder statesman in spite of his half-century-plus career. McPhee continues to hone his improvisatory skills by venturing far from his upstate New York home to perform with cutting-edge instrumentalists the world over. The phenomenal Norwegian drummer Paal Nilssen-Love is one…
Schobberdebonk
Terrie Hessels, electric guitar. Paal Nilssen-Love, drums & percussion. Limited to 300 copies only. Recorded live in concert on the 4th of April 2015 at Festival PiedNu, Le Havre, France. Recorded by Emmanuel Lalande. Mixed by Arnold de Boer. Mastered and cut to vinyl by Mike Grisner at D&M Berlin. Cover art and design by Marek Wajda.
Semikujira
LP version. Arashi presents Semikujira. Arashi is: Akira Sakata - alto saxophone, clarinet, voice; Johan Berthling - double bass; Paal Nilssen-Love - drums & percussion. The Wire about Arashi (TROST 130CD/LP), the trio's first release: "there are moments on this album when the energy is so furiously intense it feels like it's going to spin out of control and take someone's eye out. Sakata delivers wry alto phrases, as though from the corner of his mouth, before digressing into urgent flights of …
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Angular mass
Koto virtuoso Michiyo Yagi joins the longstanding Norwegian duo of drummer Paal-Nilssen-Love and electronics wizard Lasse Marhaug for a session of extended improvisations. Galvanized by Nilssen-Love’s arsenal of sounds and textures, Yagi drives the most traditional of Japanese instruments to non-idiomatic and percussive extremes while Marhaug's abstractions reach heights of surprising lyricism. A veritable atlas of strange and wonderful sonic terrain, “Angular Mass” invites the listener to an un…
Soul stream
A master of reeds and horns, Joe McPhee is a bonafide free jazz icon who refuses to play the elder statesman in spite of his half-century-plus career. McPhee continues to hone his improvisatory skills by venturing far from his upstate New York home to perform with cutting-edge instrumentalists the world over. The phenomenal Norwegian drummer Paal Nilssen-Love is one of McPhee's most frequent and sympathetic collaborators. The duo's timely convergence in Tokyo with Lasse Marhaug, another Norwegia…
News from the junk yard
Norwegian drummer and percussionist Paal Nilssen-Love is one of the most prolific and hard-working musicians in the field of free-jazz, improvised and experimental music of the last 20 years. With his numerous collaborations, projects and band constellations he spends most of the year on the road, and the few days at home running his PNL Records label and organizing two music festivals. His discography is immense and displays an artist intent on documenting his activities, allowing listeners to …
Candy
Joe McPhee: clarinet, pocket trumpet, flugelhorn, soprano, alto and tenor saxophone. Paal Nilssen-Love: drums and percussion. Produced by Lasse Marhaug and Paal Nilssen-Love. Joe McPhee and Paal Nilssen-Love have played together in bands like The Thing, The Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet and Two Bands And A Legend since 2000 but in 2007 they started playing as a duo as well. PNL Records is proud to present 'Candy' a 7CD box-set that documents the developement of that duo with seven recordings ma…
You Can Be Mine
* 200 copies. Black vinyl * Paal Nilssen-Love is at his powerful best on most of this record – showing that amazing command of the kit that's made him one of the most important drummers in free jazz over the past decade or so! And Fred Lonberg-Holm does plenty himself to keep up on both cello and electronics – working with an intensity that's quite a change from some of his more contemplative performances – surprisingly searing as Paal moves along like a nonstop locomotive!
Cut And Bleed (Sounds From Ehtiopian Metal & Korean Gongs)
very very few copies restocked, act fast! Ideal label once requested a cassette to percussionist Paal Nilssen-Love, and with the help of Lasse Marhaug he recorded a rich and dynamic album, far from his typical crude approach, this one is intense and meditative. \"The title says it all. We asked Paal Nilssen-Love to make us a cassette release. He called his pal Lasse Marhaug and his tape deck and he recorded these two pieces over at Paal\'s place in Oslo. It ended up being simply amazing, dee…
Bota Fogo
‘Bota Fogo’ was recorded live in concert at Audio Rebel’s Quintavant in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and is the new LP from Paal Nilssen-Love and co via Bocian Records, a label that claims to be for extreme fans of electronic and improvised music. Accompanying Nilssen here are his band Felipe Zenicola, Eduardo Manso, Arthur Lacerda and members of noise rock band Chinese Cookie Poets. The result is bass-heavy music with sporadic outbursts of raw trance and guitar feedback.
