The Black Napkins

"The Black Napkins are an astounding home-grown trio and one of the finest acts that we see all weekend. Their initial forays are insectoid scrabbles, scratchy fragments - drummer Gerri Jäger scrapes at his skins, pulling out a chain, finger nails and a coffee foamer from an arsenal of sound generators. Jasper Stadhouders clicks, chops, strikes and dampens and cuts every noise short on his guitar the instant it happens whilst also brandishing a variety of found objects. On trumpet, Sanne van Hek initially blows so gently as to be almost inaudible. Black Napkins truly play their instruments, every part becoming a source of sound. Amongst all the itchyiness, though, everything coalesces and they get right on one; a solid beat and huge blocks of noise that always startle after the quiet that gave rise to them. Yeah, it's jazz if you want to call it that but you could call it many other things and be partly right but still never get there. They are the first of three acts at Sounds who play with such an astonishing preternatural and democratic understanding of each other that this single afternoon could justify the trip here by itself." (Drowned in Sound review, ZXZW Festival september 2008)