I had never heard of Trigon, the German self-proclaimed “HeavyZenJazz” trio before seeing the drop dead gorgeous cover art for Cosmic Kraut Jam. See, really good, non-AI art can still drive people to your music! The band have been around since 1990, and their brand of instrumental rock straddles a lot of different genres and influences. Despite only having six “official” studio albums in that time (the last being 2018’s 30 Jahre Traumzeit) they’ve been pretty active with live releases and improvisational jams. Cosmic Kraut Jam was recorded in a bunch of different sessions throughout 2023, seeing release late last year, and it’s a driving, electric mix of charged up jams that put you directly in the room with the band.

So, stunning album art and a trio format? Probably no way I wasn’t going to love this and was a big driver for purchasing physically, but I wasn’t prepared for how good the production is on this. The band is made up of Rainer Lange on guitar, Stefan Lange on bass, and Rudi Metzler on drums. The Lange brothers are the primary drivers, having worked with a number of drummers over the years but you wouldn’t know it listening to “Achtung Traumspoiler”, the opening 23-minute track on Cosmic Kraut Jam. The band telepathy I come to expect from this configuration is in full effect, pulling the track (recorded live in the studio, which is why I’m counting it for the live series) through undulating waves of psychedelia, progressive rock, and jazz fusion like it was a natural as breathing.

I am constantly in awe of how trios utilize space, and Trigon are experts in knowing just how much of the soundstage to take up and where to leave those pockets of air so the instruments can either rest upon or slice through. A lot of this rests on Metzler’s drumming, his cymbal work in particular accenting portions of Rainer’s soloing. Pairing his kick and snare with Stefan’s bass, lightly distorted, lays a slithering foundation for Rainer’s guitar work to stutter, stop, and flow as needed. Just when you think you have him nailed as a kind of cosmic Satriani worshipper on the mammoth opener, “Guten Morgan Aurora” jazzes it up immensely: following a killer jazzy drum intro from Metzler quickly followed by Stefan’s bass, Rainer’s guitar gets positively angular, playing short arpeggiated phrases that bounce around the dark room of your ears. Mixed and mastered by someone named Eroc, it really does sound like your sitting in a room with these guys -the room sound is perfect, and as many times as I’ve just blasted this album through my speakers it really does benefit from a solid pair of headphones so your skull can feel the room the same way.

The most bite-sized track on the album, “Hinterm Ereignishorizont” (translated to “Beyond The Event Horizon”) is just over 3-minutes of electrifying soloing against a vamp that really just exists to show off Rainer’s playing. I still love it, but I think where Trigon really shines are on those longer pieces where the entire band can stretch out and find avenues of expression.

That stretching and exploration comes back on the closer “Setzt das Sonnensegel” and while I can’t help but focus on Rainer’s guitar work – this seriously might be one of my favorite guitar tones I’ve heard in years – it’s here where Stefan’s bass playing really comes to the fore. Often his bass line repeats these short staccato ostinato figures that will steady the rhythm but at certain moments during Rainer’s soloing it will suddenly open up, hitting chords or higher register notes to spur Rainer upwards and onwards. The band lays back to allow for some washy delay and Metzler’s drums to come up before leaving the boundaries of the earth with some furious playing to close Cosmic Kraut Jam out.

So far I haven’t gone back in Trigon’s catalog; chalk that up to how good Cosmic Kraut Jam is. I’ll get there, but probaly not before spinning this another couple dozen of times.