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Bushman's Revenge — Ah, les Vaches!
(Karisma Is It Jazz KAR, 2026, CD / LP / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2026-08-29

Ah, les Vaches! Cover art

Back on their 2012 album A Little Bit of Big Bonanza, Bushman’s Revenge covered Sonny Sharrock’s “As We Used to Sing,” and that gives us a good idea where they get their idea of jazz from. On Ah, les Vaches! they carry on in the same basic vein they’ve been mining for as long as I’ve been aware of them. At one end of the spectrum, they play loose, noisy jazz in Sharrock’s idiom, and at the other, they drift off into effects-laden atmospheric haze. Guitarist Even Helte Hermansen has absorbed a lot of influences aside from Sharrock, including Terje Rypdal and Bill Frisell, though when you listen to him you’re unlikely to be calling out those influences — his sound is not at all derivative. Drummer Gard Nilssen has been with Hermansen from the start of the band around twenty years ago, and they’ve got a new bassist on board in Tor Egil Kreken, who takes over seamlessly from original bassist Rune Nergaard. Pedal steel player Johan Lindström joins as a guest, most notably on the moody “Rådyrparet,” adding both an alternative lead sound and keyboard-like backgrounds. The band hits its energy peak on “One Small Misstep for Man, One Giant Mistake for Mankind,” with Nilssen keeping up a busy rhythm while Kreken adds muscle to back Hermansen’s guitar, which ranges from twangy to seriously mangled, all while Lindström adds expansive washes of clear notes. And there’s a cover of “Purple Rain” that’s almost unrecognizable. Ah, les Vaches! is another great entry into the catalog of Bushman’s Revenge, and an appealing calling-card for listeners who are unfamiliar with the band.

Filed under: New releases, 2026 releases

Related artist(s): Bushman's Revenge

More info
http://bushmansrevenge.bandcamp.com/album/ah-les-vaches

 

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