The Thing

Few jazz bands rock as hard as The Thing, the Scandinavian power trio who gained international renown for their inventively abrasive reworkings of songs by the likes of PJ Harvey and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. They were at it again last year, when they teamed up with Neneh Cherry for a well-received covers album, The Cherry Thing, but the group's Mats Gustafsson, Paal Nilssen-Love and Ingebrigt Håker Flaten are most potent when performing – to borrow the name of their latest Japan tour – as a 'lean & mean' three-piece.