The Hundred Headed Women

by ROJI

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A project-oriented bassist, Gonçalo Almeida debuts with “The Hundred Headed Women” one more amongst the several he is involved with, simply presented as Roji, the Japanese word for “dewy ground”. Being a duo with a drummer (Jörg A. Schneider), we start the listening with the idea that a rhythmic and textural approach to improvisation waits us, not very far from the one developed together by John Edwards and Mark Sanders. That mistakes vanishes very rapidly, and not only because there’s just one “song” without a guest playing a melodic instrument, either trumpeter Susana Santos Silva and baritone saxophonist Colin Webster. It happens that Almeida’s electric bass is wildly processed, functioning many times as a noise generator or, thanks to all the electronics used, as an orchestral conductor. And as if it wasn’t enough, the coordinates of the proposed music come from metal, with the attitude picked from punk To simplify, we can say that this recording sounds almost like an encounter between Bill Laswell and Mick Harris (Napalm Death), but simultaneously more trashy and more jazzy, more Public Image Limited and more Sunn 00))). We can compare Roji with the Italian band Zu, but there’s a fundamental difference: this isn’t fun. It’s amazing, in a very dark, frightening way. The movie “Antichrist” by Lars von Triers found a better soundtrack.

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	1.	Inner Roji 06:53
	2.	2 Sisters 02:18
	3.	Sounding Restraint 06:29
	4.	1 + 1 = 3 02:47
	5.	Pacific 04:18
	6.	Prelude to a Broken Sax 06:38
	7.	The Hundred Headed Women 09:13

about

A project-oriented bassist, Gonçalo Almeida debuts with “The Hundred Headed Women” one more amongst the several he is involved with, simply presented as Roji, the Japanese word for “dewy ground”. Being a duo with a drummer (Jörg A. Schneider), we start the listening with the idea that a rhythmic and textural approach to improvisation waits us, not very far from the one developed together by John Edwards and Mark Sanders. That mistakes vanishes very rapidly, and not only because there’s just one “song” without a guest playing a melodic instrument, either trumpeter Susana Santos Silva and baritone saxophonist Colin Webster. It happens that Almeida’s electric bass is wildly processed, functioning many times as a noise generator or, thanks to all the electronics used, as an orchestral conductor. And as if it wasn’t enough, the coordinates of the proposed music come from metal, with the attitude picked from punk To simplify, we can say that this recording sounds almost like an encounter between Bill Laswell and Mick Harris (Napalm Death), but simultaneously more trashy and more jazzy, more Public Image Limited and more Sunn 00))). We can compare Roji with the Italian band Zu, but there’s a fundamental difference: this isn’t fun. It’s amazing, in a very dark, frightening way. The movie “Antichrist” by Lars von Triers found a better soundtrack.

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By Lee Rice Epstein on freejazzblog.org

Roji is primarily a duo with Gonçalo Almeida and drummer Jörg A. Schneider. This is not the Almeida of Lama, which is how I got to know his work. Roji’s sound is dense, layered, heavy, processed, dark, and twisted. Their debut, The Hundred Headed Women, was released over the summer, but it could just as easily have emerged during the long nights of winter. Throughout writing this review, I found it impossible to avoid organic metaphors. That’s because, for all the digital effects, there’s a lushness to Roji’s playing that evokes organic matter; it’s loamic, dense and rich.

Almeida augments his bass with a great deal of processing, and Schneider’s playing sounds like it’s being filtered through a midnight fog. There’s a brassy edge to the cymbals and the drums sound like they’ve been dug up from a deep pit. Colin Webster and Susana Santos Silva guest on baritone sax and trumpet, respectively, and they blend nicely with the vibe and mood of the album. Santos Silva comes at this material halfway between her playing with Lama and her trio with Torbjörn Zetterberg and Hampus Lindwall. And Webster, well if you hadn’t guessed by now, he is a near-perfect fit for Roji.

The album’s a near palindrome, with Santos Silva guesting on the first, middle, and last tracks, and Webster mostly sandwiched between (although there’s one track—the brief, driving monster “2 Sisters”—which is only Almeida and Schneider). The album opens with a long peeling back, “Inner Roji,” which gradually cranks up the intensity, Santos Silva coming in to split the track along hidden fault lines. A bit later, “Sounding Restraint” wastes almost no time, with Webster playing off Almeida’s bass and various loops and drones, while Schneider lays down a rhythm so tense and urgent my dog got audibly nervous.

“Prelude to a Broken Sax” opens with Webster’s long tones paired with a thrilling run from Almeida. After about a minute, Webster’s tones become stretched and strained, and Almeida’s bass line becomes distorted and ragged. Again, Schneider provides a churning undercurrent of crisp fills and muted, clattering cymbals. The final track, the titular “The Hundred Headed Women,” opens with several minutes of exploratory rumination from Schneider and Almeida. Santos Silva seems to enter through a side door, sneaking in around the halfway point with some subtle shading. But the trio builds to a heavy finish, with Santos Silva alternately growling and piercing over Almeida and Schneider’s wild, rolling melody of-sorts.

In Clean Feed’s notes online, The Hundred Headed Women is described as an alternate soundtrack for Lars von Trier’s Antichrist. It’s a cinematic work, surely, and while there’s plenty of von Trier here, the album’s also infused with loads of Lynch and doses of a darker, alternate universe Malick.

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credits

released December 1, 2016

ROJI // The Hundred Headed Woman

GONÇALO ALMEIDA . bass & loops
JÖRG A. SCHNEIDER . drums

Guests:
SUSANA SANTOS SILVA . trumpet (Tracks #1,#4,#7)
COLIN WEBSTER . baritone sax (Tracks #3,#5,#6)

Recorded at Laundry Room Hückelhoven on 24 track 2" real tape by Jörg A. Schneider
Mixed by Ralf Rock
Mastered by Guido Lucas
Art worb by TRAVASSOS

Released on Shhpuma records
Catalogue number: SHH023CD
EAN (upc#): 5609063800234

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about

ROJI Hückelhoven, Germany

ROJI its a duo made by drummer Jörg A. and bass player ,Gonçalo Almeida, where improvisation goes along with strong dynamics, noise and powerful beats.