The Thing - Bag It

Finally its time for a new studio album from The Thing. This time the band traveled to Chicago
where they recorded with Steve Albini (Pixies, Nirvana, PJ Harvey, Stooges) in his Electrical
Audio Studios. A weird collaboration as Albini is known for not being a fan of jazz, as he once
said in an interview ”Certainly there must be interesting music one could call "jazz." There
must be. I've never heard it, but I grant that it is out there somewhere” . It seems like Albinis`
search is over. After 4 intensive days with recordings they created Bag It!, a new mastodon of
ecstasy music. The album was also mixed and mastered in Electrical Audio Studios with Bob
Weston (Shellac) making the album all analog. This of course also mean that the album was
cut on vinyl direct to lacquer in the studio, making the vinyl version 100% analog. The Thing is
well known for their free jazz versions of rock classics from artists such as PJ Harvey, White
Stripes, The Sonics, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Lightning Bolt. This time the band is only doing
two rock interpretations, one by Japan`s 54 Nude Honeys and one by the The Ex/ Muzsikás.
The rest of the tracks on the album are written by Mats Gustafsson, Åke Hodell, The Thing,
Duke Ellington and Albert Ayler. The CD version also contains an extra bonus CD with a 30
minutes long impro suite (also recorded by Albini) titled “Beef Brisket - for Ruby´s”. The vinyl
version includes 2 exclusive bonus tracks, one by Steve Lacy and one original by The Thing.
The Thing is a rare flower in the world of jazz. They have managed to reach out far beyond
jazz and avant garde audiences to those of rock, punk, hip-hop and electronica as well.
They`ve been critically acclaimed by such diverse magazines as DJ Magazine (described as
“absurdly cool“), Uncut, BBC and The Observer. Recently UK`s Plan B magazine also did a 6
pages big story on the band. They have done sold-out London shows with electronica/hip-hop
acts Four Tet and Prefuse 73 as well as a sold out Scala (London) with Kieran Hebden/Steve
Reid, they toured the jazz clubs of Europe, Japan, China and USA, they covered David
Bowies` “Life On Mars” for the German electronica label K7!, they blew the rock audience
away at Oslo`s Oya Festival with Sonic Youth`s Thurston Moore as guest guitarist, and they
were invited by the Basement Jaxx to play the Wireless Festival in London. Not bad for a free
jazz act. But The Thing is not a traditional band. They have done collaborations with artists
such as jazz legend Joe McPhee, Ken Vandermark, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, Jim
O`Rourke and Otomo Yoshihide as well as Norwegian garage rock band Cato Salsa
Experience. Teaming up with Steve Albini was a logic step. We hope you like the result.

TRACKLISTING:                                                                                                                                   
1. Drop the Gun (54 Nude Honeys) 6,14                                                                                                
2. Hidegen fujnak a szelek (The Ex/ Muzsikás) 5,06
3. BAG IT! ( Mats Gustafsson) 9,46
4. Snusvisan (Åke Hodell) 4,58
5. Hot Doug (The Thing) 8,50
6. Mystery Song ( Duke Ellington) 4,59
7. Angels (Albert Ayler) 7,08

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