Mats Gustafsson, Paal Nilssen-Love

Wire Magazine's official King of All Skronk Mats Gustafsson is back with his partner in time Paal Nilssen-Love for a new duo record this week. I'm rather struck by the creepy skeleton on the front cover, and I'm also gleaning enjoyment from the textural bubble'n'squeak madness on the disc. There are quite a few droney periods on this one, with Gustafsson eking soft moans and primal howls and jagged rasps from his saxophone, with the drums often puttering around amorphously, but there are also moments of wild repetitive grooving. Towards the end of the side-long opener Mats is squealing out repetitive flurries of notes while Paal gets in touch with his inner John Bonham with some enthusiastic acrobatics of his own. This kind of thing is not for everyone, of course, but if (unlike our Phil, whose saxophobic lugholes would despise this) you don't think skronk is a dirty word, this is a super little package from two very reliable head-manglers.