LITTERJUG is a Copenhagen-based trash jazz trio featuring Danish double bass player Asger Thomsen, who composed the trio’s music, Lithuanian reeds player Andrius Dereviancenko, and Polish drummer Szymon Gąsiorek, known for his duo with Slovenian pianist Kaja Draksler (Czajka & Puchacz) and his own Pimpono Ensemble. Dereviancenko and Gąsiorek already collaborated before with Thomsen in a quartet with Polish pianist Kamil Piotrowicz («Ham on Rye», 2018). True to its punkish, DIY approach, Thomsen participated in the mixing, mastering and design of the album and Gąsiorek took the cover photo.

The music of the debut album of LITTERJUG is rock-inspired, hyperactive and nervous, contrast-filled and action-packed but in song-like structures that trigger spontaneous improvisations aimed at the outer limits of the trio’s instruments, always from an energetic starting point. Like a rollercoaster ride of joyful anarchy that is not afraid of ending up in sonic absurdities.

LITTERJUG operates like a tight collective, relying on the trust and the inventive improvisational skills of its musicians. Thomsen’s compositions suggest enough space for all three musicians to push their own ideas but also enjoy the immediate grooves and the passionate, volatile dynamics. The trio alternates cleverly between propulsive free jazz spiced with generous doses of steroids («Bøffel»), simple and strong themes («Guitar», «Projektil» and «Marv») and improvisations that boldly wander into abstract, uncharted territories («Snabelfisk»), often mixing these ingredients in the same piece.

Eyal Hareuveni

Andrius Dereviancenko (ts, cl), Szymon Gąsiorek (dr, perc), Asger Thomsen (b, objects)