Better if you let it
THE NEW ALBUM Out NOW
“
...these six musicians wrote a piece of music history and humbly put out a masterpiece. Thank you!”
THE YOUNG MOTHERS
Formed in 2012, The Young Mothers is a powerhouse sextet of creative heavy-hitters who have helped shape the direction of forward-thinking music in New York, Chicago, Texas, and Scandinavia. Merging free jazz, grindcore, hip-hop, and experimental rock, the band creates a raw, cinematic sound that thrives on unpredictability and urgency.
Led by Norwegian bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, the group began in Austin, Texas, where Håker Flaten found inspiration in the city’s fiercely diverse music scene. Drawing from his background in jazz and improvised music, he assembled an ensemble that could seamlessly navigate the intersections of genres—an explosive mix of groove, chaos, and lyrical depth. Their debut album, A Mother’s Work Is Never Done (2014), proved their electrifying live energy could translate to the studio, and Morose (2018) solidified their reputation as sonic pioneers unafraid to blur boundaries.
After a six-year hiatus and a transatlantic relocation, The Young Mothers return with their long-awaited third album, Better If You Let It. Marking a shift toward a more collaborative writing process, the record expands their sound even further—trading in tight, locked grooves for unexpected twists, where avant-garde jazz collides with industrial textures, surreal lyricism, and an ever-present undercurrent of deep funk. The result is an album that demands attention, revealing new layers with each listen.
Critics have hailed Better If You Let It as The Young Mothers’ most compelling work to date. The Wire calls it “one of the finest examples of jazz/hip-hop fusion,” while MOJO praises the band’s fearless approach: “A group that treats genre distinctions with disdain—nothing is what it first seems on this one-way ticket to jazz’s other reaches.” 48 Hills draws comparisons to Weather Report, Ronald Shannon Jackson, and John Zorn, describing their sound as “a vast, exploratory soundscape,” while Living Life Fearless celebrates their “freeing and ecstatic” music, embracing the limitless spirit of sonic adventure.
With Jawwaad Taylor (trumpet/electronics), Jason Jackson (tenor/baritone saxophone), Jonathan F. Horne (guitar), Frank Rosaly (drums), Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and an unrelenting creative drive, The Young Mothers prove that jazz is not just alive—it’s untamed, unpredictable, and more vital than ever.
Jawwaad Taylor
JAWWAAD is a trumpeter, composer, producer, educator, and hip hop artist. He is a founding member of the group, Shape of Broad Minds, whose critically acclaimed album, “Craft of the Lost Ark,” brought him international attention. The album featured MF Doom.
JAWWAAD has long been committed to being engaged and socially active, and infuses politics, history, and literature into his music. These things turn his work into an exploration of culture and humanity.
JAWWAAD has performed with jazz, free jazz and improvisors, as well as hip hop artists, from around the world. His appetite for all things music is apparent. As co-founder and producer of the band, The Young Mothers, he merges modern jazz, improvisation, hip hop, indie rock and caterwauling afro-grooves.
Jonathan F. Horne
Hailing from Texas’ eclectic capital city is Jonathan F. Horne (Austin), a master of surreal guitar textures, who has lent his talents to the emerging band White Denim (and Bop English, the side project of frontman James Petralli), Ichi Ni San Shi, Horne + Holt, and Plutonium Farmers.
Jason Jackson
Jason Jackson (Houston) - a centerpiece of Houston’s productive improvised music community who has played with Leroy Jenkins, Pauline Oliveros, and William Parker - can serenade you on sax, with warm, fervent tones reminiscent of Mingus’s gospel-influenced recordings, but also might take a deep breath and rip you limb from limb with manic waves of unhinged scales that frantically span the entirety of his horn.
Stefan Gonzalez
Stefan Gonzalez is a drummer, percussionist, and vocalist from Dallas, TX. He is most known for his work with his family bands Yells at Eels (with brother Aaron Gonzalez and father Dennis Gonzalez) and Akkolyte (again with his brother). He currently performs solo under the moniker Orgullo Primitivo and also plays with the Dallas industrial noise trio Mother II. Gonzalez aims to constantly push musical boundaries and blur the lines of genre through dabbling in many extreme genres and sub genres of music ranging from hardcore punk, industrial, black metal, and grindcore to improvisational music, jazz, and ambient music. Past groups, collaborators, and recording projects include Unconscious Collective, Asukubus, Jandek, Mike Watt, Luis Lopes Humanization 4tet, Curtis Clark Trio, Ariel Pink With Added Pizzazz, Renegade Spirits Ensemble featuring Famoudou Don Moye, Aram Shelton, Damon Smith, Tom Carter, Louis Moholo-Moholo, German Bringas, Remi Alvarez, Arturo Baez, Cojoba and many more.
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten
Norwegian bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten exploded on the Scandinavian avant-jazz scene in the mid-'90s. By 2018, and after his move to the US in 2006, he have become one of the hardest working bassists in jazz, constantly touring world-wide and having appeared on more than 150 albums both as a sideman and as a leader.
His work with The Thing, Atomic, Free Fall, Scorch Trio, Sun Rooms, Dave Rempis Percussion Quartet, as well as with his own bands The Young Mothers and IHF Chicago Sextet, and in duo formats with Joe McPhee, Evan Parker and Håkon Kornstad have put him at the center of a large pool of improvisers with strikingly different modes of operation.
Flaten has performed and recorded with a number of world acclaimed musicians such as James Blood Ulmer, Chick Corea, Yusef Lateef, Neneh Cherry, Dr. L. Subramaniam, Avreeayl Ra. Bugge Wesseltoft, John Scofield, Dennis Gonzalez, John Christensen, Alvin Fielder, Chris Potter, Joe Lovano, Fred Anderson, Bobby Bradford, Akira Sakata, Paul Lytton, Kidd Jordan, Adam Rudolph and Hamid Drake..
Ingebrigt is also the founder and artistic director of the festival Sonic Transmissions in Austin, Texas.
Francisco Rosaly
Frank Rosaly is a drummer, composer and sound designer living in Amsterdam. He has been involved in the improvised and experimental music community since 2001 where he has become an integral part of the experimental music's fabric, navigating a fine line between the vibrant improvised music, experimental, rock and jazz communities around the world. He contributes much of his time to performing and composing as well as organizing musical events, while also touring regularly domestically and internationally.
Frank is currently active in many projects from Chicago, New York and in Europe. Some groups include Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti's OBOL LE, Health&Beauty, OKAPI, Bobby Bradford/Frode Gjerstad Quartet, Matana Robert's Chicago Project, Rob Mazurek’s Mandarin Movie, The Rempis Percussion Quartet, Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten Quintet, Scorch Trio, Nicole Mitchell Ice Crystal Quartet, Jason Stein Quartet, Jeff Parker/Nels Cline Quartet, Josh Abrams' Natural Information Society, Fred Lonberg-Holm’s Valentine Trio, Keefe Jackson’s Project Project, The Fast Citizens, The Jeb Bishop Trio, Jason Adasievicz’s Rolldown, Jorrit Dijkstra’s Flatlands Collective, Chicago Lucern Exchange, Hearts and Minds, Slow Cycle, Outskirts, Darren Johnston's Chicago Quintet, Anchor, Ryley Walker and others.
