It has been over a decade since The Thing formed, assimilating the combined talents of Mats Gustafsson, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, and Paal Nilssen-Love. They were named not after the John Carpenter horror film, but instead after a Don Cherry composition of the same name. They made an immediate impact with their self-titled debut album of Don Cherry covers, with the rhythm section of Håker Flaten on bass and Nilssen-Love on drums showing themselves to be one of the tightest units out there, and Gustafsson taking extended saxophone technique and then extending it some more. Eagle-Eye Cherry commented on hearing this early work that it was what his father would have called “organic music”; and The Thing have grown and mutated ever since, taking on new musical forms. Read the rest of this review at The Liminal.
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