Summa, by Jü

Summa

by Jü

supported by

Deidre House How do you even categorize this? Free jazz rock? Avant-psych?

A challenging listen, but not without its rewards. Favorite track: Mongrel Mangrove.

Dr. "Buzz" Frenzy (Matthew J Hesse) thumbnail

	/

Streaming + Download

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

Purchasable with gift card

£7 GBP or more
12" Vinyl (Heavyweight)
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Artwork by Stefano Fratus

Orders will be fulfilled by RareNoiseRecords.
Orders will ship from the United Kingdom.

Includes unlimited streaming of Summa via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Sold Out
4 Panel CD Digipack
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Artwork by Stefano Fratus

Orders will be fulfilled by RareNoiseRecords.
Orders will ship from the United Kingdom.

Includes unlimited streaming of Summa via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Sold Out

	1.	Lady Klimax 09:05
	2.	Socotra 01:26
	3.	Summa 07:50
	4.	Keltner 00:36
	5.	Partir (featuring Kjetil Møster and Bálint Bolcsó) 11:40
	6.	My Heart Is Somewhere Else 03:36
	7.	Jimma Blue 12:36
	8.	Mongrel Mangrove 05:27
	9.	Sinus Begena 01:15

about

Following the success of their acclaimed RareNoise debut, 2014’s Jü Meets Møster (a killer collaboration with renowned Norwegian saxophonist Kjetil Møster) the experimental Budapest-based trio of guitarist Ádám Mészáros, bassist Ernö Hock and drummer András Halmos once again bridges hellacious free jazz, throbbing hardcore rock and spacious world and ambient music on their ecstatic, envelope-pushing opus, Summa. The album will be released on March 31st and will be available on vinyl, CD and digital download.

Alternately calm (the 12-minute “Jimma Blue”) and crushing “Mongrel Mangrove,” “My Heart Is Somewhere Else” and the blistering title track), Summa stands as another powerful manifesto against complacency by the renegade trio. “The original form for us is the trio form,” says guitarist Meszanos. “The first album with Kjetil was more like a great adventure. This is just us, and this is the Jü sound.” Møster does appear as special guest alongside celebrated Hungarian electroacoustic composer Bálint Bolcsó on the expansive 12-minute track “Partir,” providing a bridge to the first album.

Another element that enters the picture to a degree on Ju’s sophomore outing is folk music, which can be heard on tunes like “Lady Klimax,” with its presence of kalimba, and “Sinus Begena,” fueled by Hock’s sintir-like bass playing. “We listen to many kinds of traditional music and like to see ourselves as folk musicians,” says drummer Halmos. “Many times, when we hear traditional music that is ancient, it sounds raw and simple, even if it is actually complex. And the music is held together differently than in music that is based on a metronomic pulse. It’s a question of being in the moment, so you don’t want to control every part.”

“For me, it was never a conscious thing to prepare for being able to play different styles,” he adds. “I don’t prefer any genre, just looking for music that I like and trying to play inspired by them. I’d like to avoid being labeled, as it often happens, as a noisy punk band.

While their first RareNoise release was recorded in a single day, the Summa sessions took place over the course of five days in the studio. “So, we had time to find form for the songs,” says Halmos. “If you heard us live recently, you could hear that we play these songs more or less in the forms they are on the album but as we use those forms as starting points to wherever we are taken in the moment. Even though there was a lot of improvisation in the process, the sounds of the songs and the themes are there as anchor points. Still, we always try to keep them fresh, so basically anything can happen while playing.”

Formed in 2012, each member of Jü is an accomplished player on the Budapest scene. Beside dozens of Hungarian groups, the members have played with such internationally acclaimed musicians as John Zorn, Eugene Chadbourne, Charles Gayle, Chris Potter, William Parker, Hamid Drake, Pamelia Kurstin and Mikolaj Trzaska.

As developing musicians in Budapest, they came under the sway of such American renegades as John Zorn (particularly his Naked City and Moonchild bands) and Last Exit, the renegade noise quartet of Bill Laswell, Sonny Sharrock, Peter Brotzman and Ronald Shannon Jackson.

Says Mészáros, “Of course I used to listen to these bands a lot. They had a kind of punk appeal that I think of as more physical, so it offers relief also in a physical way. And we are trying to do that in our own music while allowing for some small accidents to happen along the way that can take you out of your comfort zone, which I like.”

“Basically, we are trying to tell the same story again and again which is not written word by word,” he adds. “Sometimes we forget something, sometimes we tell more. It's affected by who and when and were we are telling it but it's still more or less the same story.”

credits

released March 31, 2017

Mészáros Ádám – guitars, kalimba, percussion
Hock Ernő – bass guitar, bass ukulele, percussion
Halmos András – drums, bells, kalimba

'Partir' features:

Kjetil Møster – saxophones
Bolcsó Balint – electronics

All compositions by JÜ except 'Partir' by JÜ, Møster, Bolcsò
Published by RareNoisePublishing (PRS)

Recorded by Válik Lászlò at LV Stúdiò,Budapest in March 2016.

Except 'Partir': recorded by Válik Lászlò at Öntödei Múzeum,Budapest in October 2015.

Mixed by Marc Urselli

Mastered by Scott Hull at Masterdisk

Produced by JÜ

Executive Producer for RareNoiseRecords : Giacomo Bruzzo

Photo by Tòth Szabolcs

Design by Stefano Fratus

© + ℗ RareNoiseRecords 2017

license

about

Jü Budapest, Hungary

Jü is an experimental trio from Budapest.
The band, formed in Spring 2012 by now became one of the most exciting jazz acts on the Hungarian music scene. The music act is a dynamic powerjazz full of psychedelic tunes and improvisation from Budapest's best underground musicians. ... more

contact / help

Contact Jü

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Jü, you may also like:

Tranceportation Vol.1
by Sonar w. David Torn

supported by 9 fans who also own “Summa”

Continues to amaze and inspire. E. Burrill Turner
go to album
Et hån mot overklassen
by Bushman's Revenge

supported by 8 fans who also own “Summa”

Blues, Jazz, psych-out otherness. Awesome improvisation. Noisy riffing one moment, sublime the next. One fantastic album. I can’t seem to select it but ‘ Hei Hei Martin Skei’ is my fave track. They’re all great. Crinklechips
go to album
World Dialogue (featuring Kronos Quartet)
by Stephan Thelen

supported by 8 fans who also own “Summa”

On the first track, the Kronos Quartet plays a composition Stephan Thelen wrote for it. Kronos is and for a long time has been my favorite for contemporary art music. It is very selective about what it chooses to perform, and everything it chooses to perform is well worth listening to. The other three tracks are also superb Thelen compositions, here performed superbly by the Al Pari Quartet. John Simms
go to album
Soundtrack Pour Une Révolution De Pierre Clémenti
by AKT¡!

featured on Bandcamp Radio Mar 11, 2014
go to album
Head in the Clouds
by Headroom

Space rock jams get experimental and slightly evil with zoned out synths and wheezing guitar lines plus soft, sweet vocals. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 20, 2017
go to album
ESQUEMA DE LOCALIZACIÓN
by ISOCAOS

Isocaos, from Lima, Peru, contrasts broken IDM geometry with ambient-inflected punk for a maddening, mesmerizing listening experience. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 23, 2020
go to album
Apophenian Bliss
by Red Kite

supported by 8 fans who also own “Summa”
go to album