Biography
Wrupk Urei, the experimental rock unit from Tartu, Estonia, first assembled as a three-piece in 2004. The musicians later characterized their purpose as the pursuit of bass-heavy, echo-filled, and maniacally monotonous textures. Multiple personnel adjustments followed, allowing the ensemble to sharpen its approach—while preserving its essential character—across subsequent seasons and to earn favorable responses at various concerts, among them a 2008 appearance at the Schilling Festival in the modest Estonian settlement of Kilingi-Nõmme. In May 2012 the group issued its debut album, Kõik Saab Korda (Everything Will Be OK), on its own imprint.
The eleven-track set employed a seven-strong configuration of guitarist Siim Randveer, keyboardist/percussionist Kaspar Aus, bassist Lauri Randveer, drummer Martin Tamm, saxophonist Jane Põvvat, trombonist Henri Aruküla, and trumpeter Mihkel Viirsalu. Drawing from space rock, jazz-rock, electronic dance music, psychedelia, and further sources, the recording illustrated the band’s distinct contribution to the world-music-inflected “Tartu neofusion” milieu, one that had not yet attained worldwide reach. Even so, the players ensured that their experimental leanings never eclipsed the album’s insistent grooves and hooks.
January 2013 brought the second self-released album, Teahupoo, named for the renowned surfing village in Tahiti. Eight musicians participated, among them Aus, Tamm, Põvvat, Aruküla, and the Randveer brothers from the first record, augmented by alto saxophonist Aleksander Petrov and guitarist/percussionist Sander Haugas. Funk-inflected electro-organic rhythms, expansive layered synths, fusoid guitars, arpeggiated keys, and compact bari sax figures animated the ten tracks, creating material equally suited to Autobahn cruising or South Sea tube riding.
The Milan-based AltrOck label gave Kõik Saab Korda its first international release in 2014, thereby granting the band its broadest audience yet. When presenting the album, the imprint—widely noted for surfacing noteworthy prog and avant-prog artists from many regions—cited the group’s ties to Estonian forebears Phlox and Kaseke as well as Norway’s Jaga Jazzist, while also remarking on traces of vintage Canterbury and psychedelia within the sound.
The eleven-track set employed a seven-strong configuration of guitarist Siim Randveer, keyboardist/percussionist Kaspar Aus, bassist Lauri Randveer, drummer Martin Tamm, saxophonist Jane Põvvat, trombonist Henri Aruküla, and trumpeter Mihkel Viirsalu. Drawing from space rock, jazz-rock, electronic dance music, psychedelia, and further sources, the recording illustrated the band’s distinct contribution to the world-music-inflected “Tartu neofusion” milieu, one that had not yet attained worldwide reach. Even so, the players ensured that their experimental leanings never eclipsed the album’s insistent grooves and hooks.
January 2013 brought the second self-released album, Teahupoo, named for the renowned surfing village in Tahiti. Eight musicians participated, among them Aus, Tamm, Põvvat, Aruküla, and the Randveer brothers from the first record, augmented by alto saxophonist Aleksander Petrov and guitarist/percussionist Sander Haugas. Funk-inflected electro-organic rhythms, expansive layered synths, fusoid guitars, arpeggiated keys, and compact bari sax figures animated the ten tracks, creating material equally suited to Autobahn cruising or South Sea tube riding.
The Milan-based AltrOck label gave Kõik Saab Korda its first international release in 2014, thereby granting the band its broadest audience yet. When presenting the album, the imprint—widely noted for surfacing noteworthy prog and avant-prog artists from many regions—cited the group’s ties to Estonian forebears Phlox and Kaseke as well as Norway’s Jaga Jazzist, while also remarking on traces of vintage Canterbury and psychedelia within the sound.