These days, ECM is synonymous with a certain poise and tranquillity, but one of its earliest releases – which has never made it to CD – was this unruly little fly in the ointment. Here, German pianist Wolfgang Dauner (who later founded the United Jazz + Rock Ensemble) assembles a nimble trio with some serious crunch. Centre stage is Dauner's use of a Hohner ElectraCalvinet, twisted through a ring modulator to create a variety of weird tones. On pieces like ‘Mudtations,’ ‘Bruch’ and the title track, the trio build a tense and unsettling abstract free-rock with layers of piano and keyboards, ominous tympani and plucked cello. On ‘Abraxas’ Dauner's Clavinet takes on Arabian snake-charmer tones, with bowed drones and undulating tabla rhythms. But ‘Nothing To Declare’ is the keeper: spiky jazz-rock that sounds like Mike Ratledge hiring his Lowry organ out to the Mothers of Invention. It’s ECM, but not as we know it.