The Austrian label Trost was founded in 1991, documenting bands that performed at the Vienna punk club Flex on cassettes. The music ran the gamut from almost pop to hardcore punk and noise rock. Then, in the late 1990s, a shift occurred when label head Konstantin Drobil was approached by none other than saxophone colossus Peter Brötzmann, who was seeking a home for a new studio recording of a one-off band featuring several Swiss musicians and US bassist William Parker. The pair have now worked together for nearly three decades, releasing new music and reissuing classic titles by the venerated European improv label FMP, and this has enabled Trost to branch out into the world of free jazz more broadly. Its catalogue now includes releases by Mats Gustafsson, Akira Sakata, Joe McPhee and many others. But the punk and noise rock side still remains, and Trost has also become the avenue by which the late Viennese composer, painter, and stager of ritualistic art events Hermann Nitsch’s music reaches the world. This collection of tracks gives a glimpse into the vast and fascinating world of sound Drobil has helped shepherd.

Scrooge “Monster”
From Happy What Else (1995)

Before moving into free jazz and related music in the late 1990s, Trost was a cassette label that documented the local punk scene in all its variety. Scrooge was a Viennese art punk band featuring violinist and vocalist Regina Ausserwöger, multi-instrumentalist (guitar, accordion, piano) Oliver Stotz, bassist Romeo Bissuti and drummer Günther Castanetti. Their 1995 album Happy What Else capers around in a playroom that’s part noise rock, part theatrical art punk, with occasional outbursts of chamber music and even country. Ausserwöger’s voice has a lightness and a sardonic edge that’s like an elbow in the ribs, but the music is tightly composed and constantly shifting, with a twitchy energy.

Peter Brötzmann “Erstes Purgatorium”
From Sprawl (1997)

Sprawl was the album that kicked off the 25 years-and-counting relationship between Peter Brötzmann and Trost. It’s a blazing quintet session featuring Alex Buess on reeds and electronics, skronk guitarist Stephan Wittwer, bassist William Parker, and drummer Michael Wertmüller. At times the music recalls the shrieking but groove-oriented free jazz noise metal of Last Exit, but Parker’s endlessly throbbing bass gives it even more energy than that. It’s not just a live blowout, either; there are subtleties to the production that give it real impact and presence beyond mere bluster.

Chicago Tentet with Michiyo Yagi “Japanese Landscape 3”
From Long Story Short (2013)

In November 2011, the Music Unlimited Festival in Wels, Austria devoted four days to Peter Brötzmann’s work. He performed with a wide range of groups, from his assaultive metal trio Full Blast to the sprawling Chicago Tentet to the three-reeds-no-rhythm Sonore to one-off collaborations; he also invited musicians from his circle of friends and collaborators (Mats Gustafsson, Keiji Haino, Joe McPhee, his son Caspar) to play. Highlights of the festival are gathered on this five CD set. This piece features the Tentet augmented by koto player Michiyo Yagi, performing a special benefit concert for the people of Fukushima, Japan, who had suffered a nuclear accident in March of that year.

Nohome “Four”
From Nohome (2013)

Nohome was a very short-lived trio featuring post-Hendrix noise guitarist Caspar Brötzmann, joined by the rhythm section of his father’s band Full Blast, electric bassist Marino Pliakas and drummer Michael Wertmüller. This album was recorded live in 2012 in Berlin, and the louder you play it, the better it sounds. On the last two of its four tracks, the trio is joined by FM Einheit, formerly of Einstürzende Neubauten, who whacks amplified coil springs and creates an industrial clang that meshes well with Brötzmann’s stormcloud guitar, Pliakas’s extremely busy bass, and Wertmüller’s manic drumming.

Akira Sakata/Johan Berthling/Paal Nilssen-Love “Arashi”
From Arashi (2014)

Akira Sakata is a legendary saxophonist from the Japanese free jazz scene of the late 1960s and early 70s, and his work with pianist Yosuke Yamashita’s trio is stunning in its ferocity, speed and power. On this album, he’s paired up with a Scandinavian rhythm section: bassist Johan Berthling of Fire!, and peripatetic drummer Paal Nilssen-Love. The two drive him to frantic heights, particularly on the opening version of “Arashi” (translation: “Storm”), a piece he first recorded with Yamashita in 1977. Nilssen-Love is a Milford Graves-esque avalanche behind the kit, as Berthling pumps up the energy level in a William Parker-inspired frenzy, and Sakata unleashes streams of notes like a flame thrower.

Mats Gustafsson “Exit Part Two”
From MG 50 Peace & Fire (2016)

Not unlike Long Story Short, MG 50 Peace & Fire is a box documenting a festival, in this case one dedicated to various projects and friends of saxophonist Mats Gustafsson held at the Porgy & Bess club in Vienna in October 2014. One of the most exciting ensembles recorded at the three days of shows was Fire! Plus – the core trio (Gustafsson, bassist Johan Berthling and drummer Andreas Werliin) joined by Agustí Fernandez on organ and electric piano, Erwan Keravec on bagpipes (!) and vocalists Mariam Wallentin and Sofia Jernberg. “Exit Part Two” is a hard rocking jam that gets a soulful edge from the keyboard and then takes a sharp left turn thanks to the squealing, squiggling bagpipes.

Hermann Nitsch “Satz 2”
From Orgelkonzert Jesuitenkirche 2013 (2017)

Viennese artist Hermann Nitsch was best known during his lifetime for his blood-soaked, ritualistic “aktionen”, but the music that accompanied these extended theatrical performances, with their animal sacrifices and mock crucifixions, was always a crucial component of the presentation. Nitsch was a serious composer, using his own graphic scoring language, and Trost has been assiduous in presenting symphonies, string quartets and more, beginning during his life and continuing afterward. The Orgelkonzert was an improvised hour long performance that’s both minimal and overwhelming – its extended drones, deep rumbles and high-pitched ringing chords are best heard on the largest speakers you can find.

Oxbow & Peter Brötzmann “Angel”
From An Eternal Reminder Of Not Today/Live At Moers (2018)

In 2018, the arty noise rock quartet Oxbow – featuring The Wire 473 cover star Eugene S Robinson – performed at the venerable Moers festival, and invited Peter Brötzmann to join them onstage. Rather than steamroll them, he works his way into the ensemble like he’s gigging in a blues band, often playing call and response with Robinson’s anguished, Tom Waits-meets-Robert Plant vocals. The disc opening “Angel” is a dynamic, mournful workout, with Brötzmann’s murmurs and wails providing perfect support for Robinson as the rest of the band – guitarist Niko Wenner, bassist Dan Adams, and drummer Greg Davis – slam the groove home.

Zack Zack Zack “Oluler Susar”
From Album 2 (2023)

Trost boss Konstantin Drobil says he’s constantly looking for something new, and within the context of the label’s output Zack Zack Zack are definitely a surprise. A Turkish postpunk/EBM duo, their synth-heavy songs, with morose baritone vocals, are often restrained and moody, though they sometimes speed up and cut loose a little. “Oluler Sosar” (translation: “People Are Silent”) is one of their darker tracks, beginning with eerie synths like a 1980s sci-fi movie soundtrack and electronically filtered voices, before frontman Cemgil Demirtas comes in, delivering the lyrics in an incantatory tone as the rhythm box ticks relentlessly on.

Read Phil Freeman’s Unlimited Editions column on Trost inside The Wire 473. Wire subscribers can also read the article online via the digital library.