The duo Küchen/Berre started their collaboration in 2016 as occasional jam sessions at Berre’s rehearsal room in Copenhagen. Then came the corona pandemic. After the pandemic lost its grip, Küchen and Berre resumed their collaboration and have since recorded their first duo album “På Snurr” (meaning “crooked/distorted/drunk” or “spinning”) that will be released on Barefoot Records on July 7th, 2025. The duo explores the possibilities of prepared percussion and sopranino saxophone in a raw, unpolished and intuitive manner.
For more than two decades Swedish multi-reed player Martin Küchen has cemented his place as one of the most versatile musicians within improvised and experimental music, following his innate curiosity to pursue many different approaches. Depending upon one’s aesthetic preferences one might know him as a free jazz fire-breather in Threnody (with Johan Berthling and Steve Noble), a post-bop composer and bandleader of grainy soulfulness (particularly as the ringleader of the sprawling Scandinavian nonet Angles 9 and Trespass Trio), or a scrappy free improviser. He’s an inveterate collaborator, working with countless figures from the improvised music world such as Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, Fire! Orchestra, Per Zanussi’s research ensemble (PZE), Michaela Antalova, Dirar Kalash, Roger Turner, Anders Lindsjö, Mathias Landæus and Keith Rowe, a.o. He brings a mix of intellectual rigor and emotional purity to just about everything he touches, imbuing his work with genuine meaning, particularly when reflecting on his family history.
Håkon Berre (Norway) has established himself as one of the most interesting drummers on the Danish scene for improvised music. Having expanded the drum set with a vast diversity of trash and objects, he juggles scrupulously with materials such as metal, plastic, paper, wood and expanded polystyrene, occasionally incorporating real-time electronics. His inventive and energetic drumming has brought him to numerous clubs and festivals all around the world, and can be heard on a discography spanning 44 albums, many of them released on Barefoot Records, where Håkon is one of the co-founders. Håkon has composed and arranged music for theater performances and art exhibitions, and has exhibited several interactive sound installations at art museums in both Denmark and Germany. Håkon is active as a co-leader in numerous bands, both as a composer and as an improviser. Collaborations include artists such as Peter Brötzmann, Phil Minton, Axel Dörner, Peter Friis-Nielsen, John Tchicai, Jamie Branch, Liudas Mockunas, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Susana Santos Silva, Peter Evans, Akira Sakata and Otomo Yoshihide.
Line-up and credits:
Martin Küchen – sopranino saxophone
Håkon Berre – drums, percussion & objects
All tracks recorded at EkhoEkho in Copenhagen on December 16th, 2024 by Martin Küchen/Håkon Berre. Mixed and mastered by Ola Rubin. Artwork and sleeve design by Martin Klapper. All music by Martin Küchen (STIM) and Håkon Berre (KODA).
