Manchester piano trio GoGo Penguin are hotly tipped as the rising stars of the UK Jazz scene. Featuring pianist Chris Illingworth, bassist Nick Blacka and drummer Rob Turner, GoGo Penguin are an exhilarating live act, drawing on a heady brew of influences from Aphex Twin to Brian Eno, Debussy to Shostakovich and Massive Attack to EST.
Their debut album Fanfares (on Manchester's Gondwana Records) has won rave reviews from the Guardian to BBC Music, support from the likes of Mike Chadwick and Gilles Peterson and was nominated for best jazz album at the World Wide Awards. It is the band’s unique ability to synthesise and develop each others melodic and harmonic ideas while drawing on music from classical to electronica that makes GoGo Penguin’s music so enthralling and their debut album such a bold opening salvo from a powerful new voice in UK music.
v2.0 is the opening salvo from the new GoGo Penguin. Nick Blacka (who played in an earlier trio with pianist Chris Illingworth) joined the band in late 2012 after founder member Grant Russell left to pursue other projects. He brought a new cohesiveness to the band’s sound and if their earlier breakthrough debut hit Fanfares offered a band prototype, then v2.0 is the wildly successful reboot. It’s the sound of a band increasing comfortable in the sonic world they have created. Brilliantly recorded by their long-term sound engineer Joe Reiser and studio engineer Brendan Williams the band have taken full advantage of the increased recording budget the success of their debut afforded, to record a statement of real intent. A gloriously vibrant technicolor snap-shot of a band finding their own voice - as drawing on a heady brew of influences from Aphex Twin and Massive Attack to Manchester’s grey rain-streaked urban streets they create a brave new sound all their own.