The Young Mothers

“Their music is a Pandora’s cement mixer of styles. Sometimes the dissolution of genre sounds like an all-out assault on the ears. Sometimes its really rather pretty.”

“Throughout the album, the band reels back and forth from moments of complete musical chaos to sonic beauty. They cut through both with tracks that are intense and abrasive punk rock, rounding out an album that is truly one of a kind”

“Their caustic collisions of hip-hop, indie rock, African grooves and grindcore were the stuff of sheer telephatic alchemy.. At a time when politicians and right wing media outlets continue to turbocharge public fears over adulterated cultures and crumbling borders, the Young Mothers personified the merits of international exchange.”

“Recently dubbed one of the “most interesting and original acts in Texas – perhaps the entire planet,” by Chronicle Music newsman Kevin Curtin, the Young Mothers create a musical melting pot of free jazz, punk rock, hip-hop, grindcore, and any other elements stuck in the sextet’s crosshairs”

“The Young Mothers are bringing forth more Free Improv violence before they’re waving goodbye with “Shanghai”, a surprisingly soulful and well epic closing tune catering a kind of cinematic drama and panorama scale production as a foundation for intense, yet distorted Rap-sequences and psychedelic guitar workouts. Interesting, this.
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“Their brash new “Attica Black” single, which you can hear at tinyurl.com/atticablack, opens with politically strident vocals and Latin-tinged vibraphone placed way up front in the mix, an unlikely sonic juxtaposition that, over the course of eight minutes, goes on to incorporate distorted guitar grooves and brass improvisations. As good as it all is, this is really just a glimpse of the musical scope and genius that permeates the band’s sophomore album Morose, which is slated for late June release.”

“This band, with Håker Flaten fighting an intense battle with both the electric and acoustic bass through the whole concert, became exactly what such a festival needed as a finishing touch. Tougher and more energetic jazz in close relatives to indie rock, free improvisation and groove-based music, you simply do not get in today’s musical landscape”

“With the Young Mothers we have an update on the American melting pot: always loud and irreverent, always creative and stimulating.”

“The Young Mothers play with the kind of precision and sense of liberation one can hear in recordings from the fusion pioneers of earlier decades, even as parts of this are as loud and unforgiving as anything from the post-punk years.”

“The Young Mothers occupy an unapologetically multicultural world, one where diversity of background, thought, and approach are all celebrated. The juxtaposition may be ambitious, but is more essential than ever, with the binding fabric of this nation being called into question....welcome to the wholehearted backlash. Here we have a group of sonic pioneers who have gathered their instruments to scream with disgust at the new paradigm of paranoia.”

“The Young Mothers closed the last night of Sonic Transmissions with a blistering set of Lone Star free punk that got the old jazz heads out of their chairs and the laconic hipsters moving like interpretive dervishes.”

“..their caustic collisions of hip-hop, indie rock, African grooves and grindcore were the stuff of sheer telephatic alchemy. ...At a time when politicians and right wing media outlets continue to turbocharge public fears over adulterated cultures and crumbling borders, the Young Mothers personified the merits of international exchange.”

“The Young Mothers is the coolest sound to come out of Austin since the punk scene of the 80s.”

“……. I could tell you that they’re so far ahead of what’s happening in jazz right now, that they’ve placed themselves light years ahead of everyone else. But I feel like you’ll realize that when you give this record a listen.”

“Listen and hear how sophisticated limits are broken and shadows overjumped. All of this happens as nonchalant and playful that it will give you tears of joy in your eyes.”

“This is levitation music, good for dancing on your feet as well as in your head. A Mother’s Work Is Never Done sounds like an early candidate for my end-of-2014 top ten list!”

“The Young Mothers are hydraulic pumpers. The album is a grenade in the head.”

“Ingebrigt Håker Flaten reminds us that jazz is the musical equivalent of a dark star, a musical black hole, absorbing all musical energy and classifications. Sure, let’s not call this jazz, because it would alienate 99% of fans. But jazz, in truth, it is.”

“The concert at Klubben/Studentersamfundet was a display of musical prowess, but primarily in how such skills can trigger creativity. And maybe the most impressive with the concert was Håker Flaten’s ability to put together a band which to the degrees could manifest his musical visions.”

“The concert at Klubben/Studentersamfundet was a display of musical prowess, but primarily in how such skills can trigger creativity. And maybe the most impressive with the concert was Håker Flaten’s ability to put together a band which to the degrees could manifest his musical visions.”

“Those who made the trip to the Cultural Center in Oppdal Saturday night, got to experience a concert full of energy and dominated by virtuosity and true joy of playing. The band touched everything from pure jazz, with influences from both metal rock (with vocal growling), punk and hiphop (with several rap sequences) to afrobeat, to mention some.”

“The young mothers, bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and five (male) musicians from Texas, had left the baby carriage and turned out the light in the child’s room when they captured Vossahallen Friday night. For the ferocity they let loose was not something for the faint hearted children. The young mothers gave everything and would not stop until the vibraphone was destroyed and all the strings were hanging dead around the neck of the guitar. The audience shouts ecstatically until last tone rings out and we, the new kids to The Young Mothers, walks out into the Vossa night with our hair standing straight up in excitement.”

“Mad complete and beautiful music at @nextbop SXSW event right now. These cats from Austin sound like a Saharan metal band with jazz instruments. NEW music! ”

“An unpredictable and challenging set from serious players who have earned the epithet “heavy hitters” and are out to prove it to a frightening extent. One suspects a live gig by these bruisers would be pretty intense.”

“This album should be the biggest business card that help The Young Mothers to be invited to all the jazz clubs and international festivals next year, having a certain respect for themselves. Just brilliant!”

“If a mother’s work is unfortunately never done, the work of these men is so shining that it really slips from sun to sun.”

“Once you get past what you do or don’t expect from this band, you can relax and appreciate. It goes at it and succeeds by taking the music to places that feel right, with conviction and fire. It is cutting-edge yet it incorporates something of what is happening outside the realms of free music in the insular sense. That’s healthy when it works. It works.”

“The sextet has set out to not only blur genre barriers but smash them to pieces. A band that combines jazz, indie rock, hip hop, surf rock, and soul—sometimes within one movement of one piece—can only be regarded as an entity beyond classification.”

“It’s sort of like a hybrid between mike dillon band, frank zappa, ornette coleman, atoms for peace, death grips, charles mingus, some symphonic metal i’m not well-versed enough to reference…..you’re going to be overwhelmed either way, but some of you will find it to be extraordinarily rewarding, as opposed to off-puttingly disorienting and chaotic.”

“I’ve enjoyed blasting this on my car stereo with the sunroof open. It’s a jolt of energy that gets you going before work, that’s for sure. And it’s a helluva lot of fun.”

“The music of The Young Mothers is a fanfare. Anyone with ears is invited to the parade. Raw funk sits at the center of their music like Buddha on a bamboo leaf. When they add in staticky, pitched feedback fuzz and screaming horns, you realize you’ve got a full ensemble that both knows how to party, and knows how to behave smartly. No matter how deranged things might appear for a moment, you can hear the thinking that guarantees a smooth landing, no sinking.”

“The Young Mothers are a brilliant band that merges modern jazz, free improvisation, indie rock, hip hop and a caterwauling Afro-groove reminiscent of the Brotherhood of Breath. The rhythm section is deep, throaty and incredibly swinging, while Jackson’s reed work is both feral and soulful. Horne’s extensive pedigree in surf rock and punk (as well as rugged free improvisation) means that The Young Mothers have someone in the front line that’s unpredictable and has a wide range of sources to draw from. Coupled with Jawwaad, whose palette combines Don Cherry-like sputters and flourishes with intelligent, off-kilter rapping, this group is without comparison. They may have started in Austin, but the world is certainly pining for their diffuse, joyous vibe.”

“The group’s debut album, A Mothers Work Is Never Done (Tektite), situates excursions into hip-hop, hard rock, and even traditional Ugandan folk within a charged free-jazz context. Trumpeter Jawwad Taylor proves himself a strong rapper and trumpeter; he joins saxophonist and fellow Houstonian Jason Jackson on the strong front line, sometimes fleshed out by the nimble vibraphone of Stefan Gonzalez, son of noted Dallas trumpeter Dennis (at other times he switches to a second drum kit). Guitarist Jonathan Horne is something of a wild card, his raucous noise acting as a universal binding agent between the album’s free-jazz foundation and its various genre exercises—he’s largely responsible for the mooky rap-rock feel of “Wells, the Original,” but he lends a lovely moody atmosphere to the Benjamin Britten theme used in Ingmar Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander.”