Elephant9

Norwegian progressive/neo-psychedelic/jazz-rock trio Elephant9 exist in an ever-evolving musical collision of mid-'70s Miles Davis, Weather Report, Tony Williams Lifetime, King Crimson, and Hawkwind, filtered through an anarchic yet canny expression of technological and improvisational futurism that can range from harmonic and funky to dissonant, blaring, and sprawling. They have drawn considerable praise from both the jazz and rock communities worldwide for their album catalog, beginning with 2008's Dodovoodoo. Commencing in 2012, they began a series of ongoing yet sporadic collaborations with vanguard guitarist and bandleader Reine Fiske, starting with Atlantis, and later with Silver Mountain (2015) and Psychedelic Backfire II (2019). The group returned to the trio format and shifted musical direction for 2021's Arrival of the New Elders, relying more on composition, space, and texture than on free improvisation and jamming. The eight tracks on 2024's Mythical River further mined that creative vein.