NTS trio (Nejtek, Tichý, Smetáček) was founded in 2009 by the keyboardist and contemporary composer Michal Nejtek, the double bassist Petr Tichý and the drummer Štěpán Smetáček. The trio combines free improvisation with elaborate composition, alternative jazz-rock, contemporary music and psychedelic textures; Tichý and Smetáček complement their playing with electronics. It has released the albums Libido Trip (2009) and Permanente Frustration (2011), two live DVDs and a single for London’s Gearbox Records, which came about after a meeting with Simon Ratcliffe of the duo Basement Jaxx in 2015. Ratcliffe then produced the third studio album Zapporno, a tribute to Frank Zappa, released in 2017 on Amplión Records on vinyl and CD. For its tenth anniversary the band released the double album Vinyls, News & Pearls (2019). More at ntsofficial.bandcamp.com.
