Peter Brötzmann, Full Blast

Ass-whooping live set from the Full Blast trio, recorded in Cologne in 2006: Brotzmann’s work with electric bassist Marino Pliakas and drummer Michael Wertmuller extends his work with Last Exit in that it combines an almost metal/No Wave attack with a fluid non-stop dynamic and a feel of electric blues. Brotzmann has always favoured electric bassists – Bill Laswell, Massimo Pupillo – and there’s something about the unyielding aspect of the instrument that acts as a propulsive metal backbone for some of Brotzmann’s most hurricane testifying. It’s not all form destroying force – there are passages of sublime beauty, with Brotzmann’s gentle, ballad style that crops up more often in his solo work given a new sense of epic scale by Pliakas and Wertmuller’s time bombs – but it’s when the trajectory of the trio is most in sync that the set really tears through the wall. If only Sonny Sharrock was still around to join them! Highly recommended. (Volcanic Tongue)