New York hip-hop label Backwoodz Studioz continues their hot streak with the self-titled debut from international experimental jazz quartet ØKSE: California-raised NYC-based drummer Savannah Harris, Danish saxophonist Mette Rasmussen, Swede Petter Eldh on double bass, synths and sampler, and Haitian electronic musician Val Jeanty. Known for their genre-expanding underground hip-hop, it should come as no surprise to find Backwoodz taking a chance on this unusual experimental jazz project, but ØKSE includes four guest rappers for good measure.
If Backwoodz has earned a reputation for sonic experimentation, much of that is due to their stable of producers, including August Fanon, A.M. Breakups, Blockhead, and Kenny Segal. Since 2020, producers like Andrew Broder, Child Actor, and Fat Albert Einstein have seen the label continuing to push into new territory, often incorporating freely played samples and live instrumentation into their beats. Label co-head billy woods has rapped with Sons of Kehmet, the British jazz group whose leader, Shabaka Hutchings, has appeared on various Backwoodz tracks in recent years, including woods’ 2020 collaborative LP Brass, with Moor Mother. Armand Hammer, the duo of woods and ELUCID, have featured on increasingly left-field production from Shapednoise, The Lasso, DJ Haram, and RP Boo. And most recently, drummer Jon Nellen and Irreversible Entanglements’s bassist Luke Stewart appear on several tracks on ELUCID’s stunning latest LP, REVELATOR.
So Backwoodz isn’t such a surprising home for a group like ØKSE, though linking up with woods may have encouraged the quartet to lean more into hip-hop than they might have otherwise. Words from the four guest rappers help ground the project in clear messages, though ØKSE find ways to keep even their instrumental compositions from sliding into ambiguity. Drawing on samples from Haiti, Denmark and elsewhere, the crew channel their personal histories and training in creative and improvised music to produce sound that is genuinely new and current. Recorded in Olso and Brooklyn, the guest vocalists are not simply adding verses to finished songs but improvisors in dialogue with the other musicians. That means live takes, with seemingly no overdubs or punch ins, and a lack of traditional ad libs, framing the rappers as instrumentalists in their own right.
Who better to kick off an album than ELUCID? The Brooklyn rapper delivers two verses of self-empowerment and good advice, reminding us that “Digital overlords don’t need free promo.” If opener “Skopje,” which features the rapper trading off with the instrumentalists, is proof of concept, “Three Headed Axe” follows to remove any doubts of the group being equally engaging without a vocalist. It’s not for nothing that this tune was chosen as the first single. And of course, every great record has to have a stunning third track; enter billy woods on “Amager.” Recorded in Oslo, woods verse describes his experience of getting searched by border police on the way to that very session: “Colorblind drug dog flopped on the floor, head on his paws/ The customs palm my clean drawers/ No matter how far you go it’s the same law.” Nothing’s changed 25 years after Yasiin Bey rapped “Some folks get on a plane go where they please/ But I go overseas and I get over-seized.” “Amar Økse” and “Fragrance (some days dosn’t have fragrance)” close the a-side, letting the ensemble stretch out into the space unfilled by rappers, particularly Jeanty’s scratching and evocative use of samples. ØKSE’s appeal remains the interplay between the musicians, their ability to improvise without loosing the hypnic head-nodding groove that makes hip-hop what it is without ever sounding like anything less than jazz musicians.
The B-side is even stronger. “The Dive” featuring maassai (half of H31R alongside producer JWords) is a standout, moving between deadpan raps, soulful singing, and a deep sax solo that rides out the vamp. “I’m moving different,” maassai repeats, and ØKSE are happy to follow suit. A dirge, “The Dive” slinks ominously through a strophic sludge, and yet somehow might be the closest to a pop song, with its sung refrain (“How you gonna blossom when the space cold?”) most likely to stick with a listener. Rasmussen’s sax is most expressive at her most minimal, picking up where maassai leaves off. Immediately after is “Kdance92,” featuring the rapper Cavalier. Recorded live in Willie Green’s GreenHouse Studio in Brooklyn, the rapper improvises and plays off the vibe of the ensemble in dynamic ways that seem fresh.
Jazz is commonly cited as a defining influence on the development of hip-hop, and while many golden age beats sample jazz records, it always seemed to me that the more important connection is the influence that improvising musicians have had on rappers’ flows, the ways the rhythm of their voice tackle a beat. This is especially obvious hearing Cav improvising as part of the live ensemble. Synth lines tentatively dance over circular drums locked in a groove with a bass loop, as increasingly rapid fire snare rolls beckon Cav to join in. Again, the sax is blowing hard just as soon as the vocalist steps back, further solidifying the framing of the rappers as musicians. Harris’s beat stretches in dialogue with the sax, not quite breaking the groove that’s anchored the song so far, but amping up the tension.
Even after verses by ELUCID, billy wood, maassai, and Cavalier, ØKSE lands its most face twisting moments with the deep groove of the seven-minute instrumental closer, “Onwards (keep going).” The album ends with a humble gestures as the driving beat of “Onwards” ends suddenly, replaced by a recording of a communal drum circle. The interplay between sax, bass, and drums grounds the group firmly within the jazz tradition, though all four musicians are trained improvisors and close listeners whose talents can’t be reduced to any one tradition. This flexibility isn’t just about backing up MCs, but manifests in the music itself. When Jeanty loops up a bass line, for instance, Eldh is freed up to sample Rasmussen’s sax, doubling up the leads. At other times the sax sits back while the guest vocalists do their thing.
ØKSE means axe in Danish, and ØKSE’s music is similarly at turns useful and dangerous. But the label is quick to point out that axe is also ashe, the life force that flows between us and which is clearly on display on the eight tracks that comprise ØKSE, and the perfect concept to anchor both jazz and hip-hop. Many previous attempts to fuse these genres, such as Guru’s Jazzmatazz series in the 1990s, have had mixed results, unlikely to satisfy existing fans of either genre. ØKSE’s live show will no doubt assuage any doubters amongst jazz fans, while the four guest verses are more than enough for any fan of contemporary hip-hop. But regardless of genre conventions, ØKSE make great music, and it’s records like this that keep us coming back to Backwoodz. (Joseph Sannicandro)
Val Jeanty, Mette Rasmussen, Petter Eldh, Savannah Harris (photo: Ziga Koritnik)
a closer listen 