dense news 098. Click For Infos.
Hallo & greetings from Berlin.
As usual, there’s no real summer whole. Happily, there’s always new music, this month including releases from Hamburg labels Dekorder and Gagarin (10 year annniversary tour & more music to come very soon), from Zeitkratzer’s own brandnew imprint Zeitkratzer Records etc.
All the best,
Ed Benndorf
BLACK TO COMM – Fractal Hair Geometry LP/CD Dekorder
DANIEL PADDEN – Pause For the Jet LP/CD Dekorder
MACHINEFABRIEK – Dauw CD Dekorder
MYRA DAVIES – Girl Suite EP Moabit
O.S.T. – Waetka CD Ideal
PETE UM – No Pressure LP Gagarin
REINHOLD FRIEDL – Schönberg Pierrot Lunaire… CD Zeitkratzer
SUPERSONIC RIVERSIDE BLUES – Data 4.5.1 CD D’autres cordes
TAUB – Bedtime Stories Digital Nonine
TENNISCOATS & SECAI – s/t CD Noble
ZEITKRATZER – Volksmusik CD Zeitkratzer
BLACK TO COMM – Fractal Hair Geometry
LP/CD Dekorder 027
http://www.dekorder.com
http://www.myspace.com/legostar
Black To Comm is the solo venture of Dekorder label boss MARC RICHTER. With two and a half albums released on his own label he has established himself as one of the most prolific drone artists out there with a forthcoming album on the American Digitalis label, a collaborative CD with Datashock on Ikuisuus, a 7″ on the Irish Trensmat label and a collaboration with Xela in the works
“Fractal Hair Geometry” is Richter’s most refined and original work to date, picking up where the electrifying drone works of his monumental Double-LP left off. Like the last records this album is centered around recordings of a variety of vintage organs. While “Wir können leider…” often featured pure harmonium sounds and spacious recordings of chuch organ and mellotron, the new album opts for a more electronic, effects-laden sound, sending an old Farfisa Compact Deluxe and Casio SK-5 through an armada of analogue & digital effects pedals. The results are massive one-chord drones layered into dense & ecstatic, flickering & pulsating clusters of psychedelic electronic sound. Additional wordless vocal effects, hyperventilating & sizzling drum machines and hypnotic violin and guitar noises make for a hyperactive sound that never stands still even though most of the music is pure drones (sometimes consisting of more than 50 recording layers). Decidedly simple but gorgeous melodies shine through the mist from time to time, making a Black To Comm record always much more accessible than your average drone album.
There’s even a heavy 4/4 bass drum smuggled into a track dedicated to the late Leigh Bowery, one of the most enigmatic creative figures of the mid-80’s UK club scene (and singer of Minty).
Guests include Jonna Karanka (aka Kuupuu) on piano, Guido Möbius on trumpet and current Black To Comm (live) band members Renate Nikolaus on violin and Ulf Schütte (of Datashock, Aosuke, etc.) adding electronic sounds.
Along the lines of the music, seminal German artist Oliver Ross has created a massive multi-layered neon-coloured collage artwork which is printed on special ultra-heavy cardboard stock.
DANIEL PADDEN – Pause For the Jet
LP/CD Dekorder 026
http://www.dekorder.com
http://www.myspace.com/danielpadden
Since 1995 Daniel Padden has been a member of VOLCANO THE BEAR, with several highly regarded album releases on Nurse With Wound’s United Diaries label, Textile and Beta-Lactam Ring Records. After his move to Glasgow he started THE ONE ENSEMBLE OF DANIEL PADDEN as an outlet for his solo recordings with releases on Catsup Plate, Secret Eye and Textile. When The One Ensemble slowly metamorphosed into a band of its own, Padden started to record his solo output under his birth name, with last year’s “The Isaac Storm” on the Ultra Exzema label being the first seminal result.
Over the years Padden has developed a strong fascination for obscure musics from all over the world (re his recent “Epiphanies” article for The Wire magazine): mouth organ love-songs from Thailand, The Ramayana Monkey Chant from Bali, Khene pieces from Laos; so-called world music from Burundi to Bulgaria.
Combining these interests with his love for British Folk and Art Rock (This Heat, Robert Wyatt), Kraut Rock (Faust), Free Jazz, the surreal collage techniques of Nurse With Wound and the odd humour of The Residents, he has developed a totally unique and highly personal musical vision without ever sounding overambitious or directionless. Gorgeous song-writing is seamlessly transformed into pure fuzz or string drones, suddenly interrupted by some improvised reeds or collapsing percussion, all within the blink of an eye, and never losing its natural flow, “Pause for the Jet” is already an auspicious aspirant for our “Record of the Year”.
MACHINEFABRIEK – Dauw
CD Dekorder 029
http://www.dekorder.com
http://www.myspace.com/machinefabriek
Machinefabriek is the alias for Rutger Zuydervelt currently residing in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Since 2004 Zuydervelt has unleashed an uncountable number of self-released 3″CD’s (his format of choice) in lovingly designed sleeves (all made by himself). In the past years some of these releases have been compiled into amazing albums such as “Slaapzucht” on the Root Strata label, “Weleer” on Lampse, the “Cello Recycling” 10″/CD on Type Records and “Bijeen” on Kning Disk. Recent collaborations with Stephen Vietiello (on the 12K label), Freiband, Steinbrüchel and other likeminded artists have expanded the horizon veritably. Machinefabriek’s music has been remixed by the likes of Xela, Lesser, Svarte Greiner, Alva Noto, Pita, Kim Cascone, Ben Frost, Black To Comm and others.
Only few Machinefabriek material has been recorded specifically for an album release but these have always been stand-outs in the vast catalogue. Both “Marijn” on Lampse and “Ranonkel” on Burning World Records were classic recordings, squeezing a large amount of what people love about Zuydervelt’s music into one album, at the same time giving him the space to expand on new ideas. Likewise “Dauw” is one of Zuydervelt’s most subtle & quiet yet refined works. Mainly built around small but gorgeous melodies of piano and guitar playing and the crackling sound of dusty vinyl samples, these songs slowly build into intensive hymn-like angel choirs of sheer heavenly beauty.
Zuydervelt’s output often has drawn comparisons to the likes of Fennesz, Godspeed, Arvo Pärt, Basinski, Tim Hecker, Phillip Jeck, Mogwai and Earth, which is certainly not all wrong and some of these have been influences in the early stages of his career but he has since developed a strong and individual language all of his own.
Mastered by Guiseppe Ielasi with elegant artwork by Zuydervelt himself; metallic print on grey cardboard stock.
MYRA DAVIES – Girl Suite
online EP Moabit 16
http://www.moabitmusik.de
http://www.myspace.com/myradavies
GIRL SUITE by MYRA DAVIES and GUDRUN GUT, is 4 tracks on the private and shared culture of girls.
MY FRIEND SHERRY looks back to the early 60s. Pigtails and pop, and no legal abortion; a true story about how it was back then and just might be again.
DRILL puts an industrial spin on the idea that a girl had best get herself a drill at the start, or she’ll be mewing for favours for life.
LOVE (DEMO) Gut ramps up the beats in this dance track about Love and that way it has of morphing into its’ opposite.
VALKYRIE Girls and Horses. The Valkyrie are living the dream with their own horses and rebellion too. Gut’s remix of Wagner’s ‘Ride of the Valkyrie’.
(Credit: Original orchestral work by Richard Wagner, performed by The Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ewe Mund, Conductor, Rights arranged through AB Classical, Göteborg, Sweden.)
About Myra Davies by Myra Davies
Introduction: I tell stories – in words, sound and music, print, video, pictures, theatre, over coffee… and move seasonally between the Rocky Mountains (Banff, Alberta), Berlin and Vancouver.
Recording projects are usually in collaboration with Gudrun Gut (Berlin). We have released three albums together – Miasma, Miasma2, Miasma3. All tracks are on itunes and other MP3 sites. For Cds, in Europe, order from www.m-enterprise.de/shop and in The USA, from www.hrmusic.com listed under Avant Garde.)
Gudrun and I are in the last stage of preparing a collection of Word & Electronica for a new CD release in Fall 08. It includes tracks with Berlin friends, Beate Bartel and with Alex Hacke and Danielle de Piciotto.
Coming this Summer: GIRL SUITE – an electronic release of 4 new tracks by Gudrun and me, including “Valkyrie” – an ode to girls & horses inlaid in a Wagner remix, and “Sherry” – pseudo early Sixties pop about how it was when abortion was illegal. Who could have imagined there would be reason to revisit that in the 21st century? But, there’s a big campaign now to criminalize abortion again. This seriously annoys me, perhaps because my best friend when I was 15, died of an illegal abortion. We’ve made a relatively palatable pop song on this nasty topic.
January 08, I wrote a piece called “Responsibility” for the Toronto New Music group, Toca Loca to play on their recent tour. Didn’t hear it myself until it was on the radio. I loved what they did with it. Toca Loca is cool.
Recently completed video: ‘Alberta Ride of the Valkyrie’ David Hauka (Vancouver) and I made this Bravo!Fact video with nine fabulous Alberta girls and their horses, shot at Roxbury Showjumping Stables near Okatoks, Alberta. Pics from the shoot in my slide show here.
O.S.T. – Waetka
CD Ideal Recordings iDEAL042
http://www.idealrecordings.com
http://www.amhain.net
An important album by one of the hidden masters of the contemporary electronic music scene! O.S.T. is Berlin-based CHRISTOPHER DOUGLAS and “Waetka” is his long awaited return after a five years hiatus, a time he spent hidden in the darkest shadows. Step into a world of advanced electronic composition, static ambient soundworlds and a document of a hurt soul. This is how it sounds to survive.
“Waetka” is advanced post-techno – where the beats are replaced by the darkest of atmospheres.
CHRISTOPHER DOUGLAS (b. 1974) began releasing records as O.S.T. in 1992 as a result of needing an outlet after growing up surrounded by extreme forms of constant, shifting confusion. ” Douglas time has been a series of trials and confrontations where facts bore no truth and the present resides outside his creative musical energies.”
His crew consisting of Jonah Sharp (Spacetime Continuum), Shobhan, Billee and the holographic clothing collective Spacetime was the first to throw techno and ambient music parties in San Francisco in 1990 which he started to dj and record his own stuff . Their parties and the crew changed the club climate in SF that was at the time dominated by house and disco by being involved in the invitation and introduction of live sets by artists such as Ritchie Hawtin, U-ziq and many others in the like mind. When Douglas moved on a spontaneous invitation from Richie to Detroit in his late teens (only to return to SF some time later) he met up and became friends and worked briefly with Mad Mike Banks (co-founder of Underground Resistance and killer techno producer) and James Stinson (of the legendary Detroit electro mystics Drexciya R.I.P.) and lived in the legendary downtown lofts “1217 Griswold”.
He released his first EP in Detroit on Switch Records which received respective reviews such as “Just about anything that would connect with house is abandoned here. This is one of the futures of techno”, “10/10 a work of art and a piece of history”. Generator Magazine, London.
Chris Douglas continued to release high quality works as O.S.T., Rook Vallade/Valard and also began to remix as Spacetime Continuum and released stuff on labels like Plug Research, Diskono, Worm Interface, Emanate, and Astralwerks, participating on comps with artists like Autechre, Carl Craig, Squarepusher and Boards of Canada.
In 1999 Douglas released the very interesting and gound breaking “Death Notice” album on Thousand/Phthalo. ” O.S.T. takes traditional funeral music and re-invents it with electronic instruments to produce something very unique. the eighteen compositions are unusual and unexpected, often evoking a baroque or classical feel. the sound is indeed twisted yet very melodic, with plenty of pastoral, almost church like moments. this very beautiful but strange release from O.S.T. is highly engaging and recommended for all those interested in experiments in sound. ” – www.progressiverock.com
In 2001, O.S.T. was invited to open for Autechre on their US west coast tour promoting their “Confield” album and he soon after released the “Seimlste” album on his own now defunct Qlipothic label. A beautiful study of loneliness and despair and a sort of electronic music therapy. “Seimlste sonically manifests the revulsion of looking at hands, streets, and skies once familiar grown horribly alien, and the causticity of the loneliness that results. Simultaneously, a twisted comfort is somehow found in the dread and despair, soothing in its weight and inevitability. This duality of the album holds me at arm’s length, as I hold it: Seimlste rages and writhes in powerlessness while steadfastly refusing true empathy “-XLR8R
In 2003 O.S.T. was invited by Autechre to perform at their curated All Tomorrow’s Parties, in the UK. He was featured on the comp cd and record that was released in connection to the event together with Gescom, BFC (Carl Craig), Pita, Earth and others. This was where he met Joachim Nordwall of iDEAL and they decided to work on an album for the label – this is what became what you now holds in your hands – “Waetka”!
After a tragic event he was forced to relocate to Berlin where he took a much needed time off until 2007. Starting with a DVD for Berlin heads Shitkatapult, “Synken”, together with Transforma.
Forthcoming in the year 2008 – New album titled “Ideom” under his Dalglish guise for Record Label Records. A limited vinyl release of an Autechre remix of “Ou” taken from the album Seimlste , and a digital only release for online label “Adozen” containing many outtakes from DVD “Synken”. An Dalglish Album for the London label Highpoint Lowlife and an visual ep to be included on the label upcoming dvd ep release, a proposed idea of a “directors cut” of Synken, is in the works. Douglas is still also compiling an album of O.S.T. being remixed by Autechre, Pita, Merzbow and others. To finally tackle the long proposed idea to reinterpit album “Death Notice” with acoustic instruments. Chris Douglas is back!
PETE UM – No Pressure
LP Gagarin Records GR 2018
http://www.gagarinrecords.com
http://www.myspace.com/peteum
Pete Um will be part of the Gagarin 10th Anniversary Tour in Sept 08
Pete Um, a breeder of horses and creator of quirky tape loops, had already created a proud number of tracks scattered over a series of CD-Rs, a 7″ and a Split LP, when he happened to run into the talent scouts of Gagarin Records in a small pub of his hometown Cambridge. The fateful encounter set the clock ticking for a release but it would be five years before the essence of Um’s vast output was distilled into a flock of 18 tracks that now dazzle silvery on this very record. Meanwhile, his music had been boosted by eccentrics such as Ariel Pink and featured in mixes by celebrities such as Hot Chip. The icing on the cake was delivered by Antwerp’s infamous punk painter Dennis Tyfus, a mudhead and owner of the extraordinary record label Ultraeczema who created the poisonous cover for this record. The sleeve of “No Pressure” was printed exclusively in special colours (phosphor green, gold, bronze) on thick cardboard – a measure that nearly went beyond the scope of the budget. Even this extravagance couldn’t stop Gagarin Records from complying with the demands of Um’s fans to add an inlay with his lyrics.
Attempts to define his personality provoke his peers to phrases like…
…Um is an electro-dadaist pop star peddling audio anxiety and monomania
from the digital kitchen sink
…Um is the glint in Delia Derbyshire’s eye as she puts Kurt Schwitters
and Julian Cope to the razor blade
…Absolute belter of oddball proportions
His music has been described as…
…the sort of thing that sounds wrong whatever speed you play it at (Diskant)
…quite nice, maybe a bit too short (Vital Weekly)
…remarkably disorientating & suitably disturbing (Norman Records)
…almost a reason to visit Cambridge (Diskant)
…charming and cool whilst refreshingly untrendy and lacking in art-core pose (Sonic Arts network)
Some even think that Um’s…
…ubiquitous vocal presence, under a multitude of forms, is nothing short of puzzling (milk factory)
But who is this man really?
Let’s ask him.
Questions to Mr. Pete Um
———————————————–
Mr Um, your lyrics are full of sardonic melancholy. Have you been an unhappy man in your adolescence?
Yes.
Some people call you a poet, some a musician. How would you put it?
I’m not a poet, and I’m more of a non-musician than a musician. I think I work in a highly-specialized field which draws on a range of crafts.
When and how did you start making music?
I’ve had a very long love affair with tape-recorders, but I was too shy to tell even my girlfriend that I wanted to make music until I was 21. Then I became the terrible singer in a band. After that we split and I bought a computer in 1996 and I began in earnest then.
Why are your tracks so short?
They are not short. They are concise. Why shouldn’t songs be short? I like short songs. If a song of mine seems too short, you can always listen to it twice. Or you can listen to my song “That’s Too Close” which is about how a pretty girl told me my songs were too short. One day I will meet the Dalai Lama and I will wait for his words of wisdom and he will tell me my songs are too short.
Your record starts with the line “I have fear inside of me”. Please elaborate.
I’m very neurotic and uptight. I’m a zulu worrier. Performance is a kind of valve mechanism for me.
To whom are your lyrics addressed to?
A lot of my music is made just for it’s own sake, and I’m kind of talking to myself, but sometimes I’m bitching about a specific other person or how this world of ahistorical squares has done me wrong.
What is your connection to horses?
I have a special T-shirt with a horse on it to wear on particularly troublesome days.
Also, I love the story that Nietzsche saw a man cruelly whipping a horse, and he was so overwhelmed with unSuperman-like compassion that he permanently lost his mind and threw his arms around the horse’s neck.
REINHOLD FRIEDL – Schönberg Pierrot Lunaire Cheap Imitation (performed by Zeitkratzer)
CD Zeitkratzer Records ZKR 001
Streetdate: August 25
http://www.zeitkratzer.de
zeitkratzer directed by Reinhold Friedl
Marcus Weiser < soprano
Franz Hautzinger < conductor
Frank Gratkowski < flute, clarinets
Hayden Chisholm < flute < clarinets
Reinhold Friedl < piano
Maurice de Martin < percussion
Burkhard Schlothauer < violin
Anton Lukoszevieze < cello
Uli Phillipp < doublebass
Ralf Meinz < sound
recorded live at Donaufestival Krems, Austria, April 24, 2006
recorded and mixed by Ralf Meinz, produced by Reinhold Friedl
Reinhold Friedl’s “Schoenberg Pierrot Lunaire Cheap Imitation” is exactly what the title says: an endless funny parody of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, a composition often taken far too seriously. At the same time, it is a compositional condensation of Schönberg’s techniques, conducted in a genious way by trumpet player Franz Hautzinger from Vienna, a longtime-member of zeitkratzer; sung by the soprano Marcus Weiser, who succeeded already in Berlin as a singer under the name Mark Markowitsch.
Just fun, short and concentrated, as it should be connected to the second Vienna school. A commission of Wiener Festwochen, premiered at Konzerthaus Vienna, for sure!
zeitkratzer RECORDS
Nach dem gefeiertem Doppelrelease auf dem kalifornischen Label Asphodel mit Lou Reeds Metal Machine Music (BBC London: “intriguing!”, New York Times: “Played by zeitkratzer, Metal Machine Music sounds even wilder and more frenetic”) und Reinhold Friedls Xenakis-Hommage (Vital Weekly: “Great powerful music!”) startet zeitkratzer das CD-Label: zeitkratzer RECORDS.
In Zusammenarbeit mit dem Deutschen Musikrat erscheint im Herbst 2008 eine Box mit 3 CDs und Beiheft mit Texten von Diedrich Diederichsen, Tony Herrington (Editor-in-Chief The Wire Magazine London) und Stefan Fricke (Hessischer Rundfunk), die unter dem Titel “electronics” die zeitkratzer-Produktionen mit Carsten Nicolai, Keiji Haino und Terre Thaemlitz dokumentiert. Die CDs sind auch einzeln erhältlich.
Vorab erscheinen als Sommer-Releases eine Maxi-CD mit der Live-Aufnahme von “Schönberg Pierrot Lunaire Cheap Imitation” (Wiener Konzerthaus), einer hemmungslosen Parodie des Schönbergschen Pierrot Lunaire sowie die bejubelte “Volksmusik” vom Donaufestival Krems 2007 (ORF.AT: “die große Offenbarung des Abends!”), als wilde Hommage an das ungezügelte volksmusikantische Wesen; von Walzer und Holzlerruf bis zur bulgarischen Hochzeitsextase!
Als Weihnachtsrelease legt zeitkratzer RECORDS die Dokumentation der Zusammenarbeiten mit Jim O’Rourke, Christian Fennesz, Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) und Jens Brand vor.
Im Frühjahr 2009 erscheint schließlich “old school” die zweite 3CD-Box. Sie ist den großen Helden der amerikanischen Neuen Musik gewidmet: John Cage, James Tenney und Alvin Lucier. Die CDs sind ebenfalls einzeln erhältlich.
After the celebrated double release of Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music (BBC London: “intriguing!”, New York Times: “Played by zeitkratzer, Metal Machine Music sounds even wilder and more frenetic”) and Reinhold Friedl’s Xeankis [a]live! (Vital Weekly: “Great powerful music!”) on the Californian Label Asphodel, zeitkratzer launches the CD-Label: zeitkratzer RECORDS.
In Autumn 2008, the 3-CD-Box “electronics”, with a supplement including texts by Diedrich Diederichsen, Tony Herrington (Editor-in-Chief of The Wire Magazine London) and Stefan Fricke (Hessischer Rundfunk, Frankfurt), will be released in cooperation with the German Music Council (Deutscher Musikrat). The 3 CDs document the cooperations with Carsten Nicolai, Keiji Haino and Terre Thaemlitz; the CDs are also available seperately.
In advance, there will be two releases this summer: the live recording of “Schönberg Pierrot Lunaire Cheap Imitation” (concert hall Vienna), an unrestrained parody of Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, and the acclaimed “Volksmusik” also recorded live at the Donaufestival Krems 2007 (ORF.AT: “the great revelation of that evening!”) as a wild homage to the rampant folk musical character; from waltz to Bulgarian wedding ecstasy!
As christmas release, zeitkratzer presents a documentation of the cooperations with Jim O’Rourke, Christian Fennesz, Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) and Jens Brand.
In spring 2009 “old school”, the second 3CD-Box, will be released. It is dedicated to the heroes of Amerian new music: John Cage, James Tenney und Alvin Lucier. Each CD will also be available seperately.
SUPERSONIC RIVERSIDE BLUES – data 4.5.1
CD d’autres cordes 5001
http://www.digitruc.com
http://www.myspace.com/rebangx
Supersonic Riverside Blues aka FRANCK VIGROUX is a French musician operating on the borders of rock, jazz, electronic and new music. His tools are guitars, turntables, analogue synth and electronics of all sorts. As a multi-instrumentist and composer Vigroux is a part of coterie of young French experimentalists who have been raiding the borders of all genres of music since the 2000’s. He also collaborates with artists such as Elliott Sharp, Kenji Siratori, Joey Baron, Marc Ducret, Bruno Chevillon, Matthew Bourne, Hélène Breschand, etc…
TAUB – Bedtime Stories
Digital, Nonine non016
http://www.nonine.com
dieses album weckt dich auf … und lässt dich weiter träumen
me raabenstein und david hillary präsentieren ein schranken- und grenzenloses album, mit einem sound der gleichzeitig sehr neu und doch bekannt klingt. während andere musikalische projekte den hörer aus einer gewissen distanz zu erreichen suchen, giesst sich “bedtime stories” umgehend in deinen kopf um dort mit einer klaren aussage zu verbleiben. versuche nicht nach dir bekannten elementen zu suchen, das album findet dich, schaut dir direkt in die augen und behält dich in seinem klaren und festen griff, bis der letzte ton verklungen ist.
taub nimmt dich mit auf eine seltene reise, ein zeitloses mäandern durch halb bewusste tagträume; spielt mit abstraktionen, neckt deine sinne und kitzelt an allem was du formal als musik zu kennen glaubtest. jede abstrakte figur, note und jedes fragment passt sich freundlich ein, kreiert einen harmonischen akkord, der sich von unbekannten fundorten nährt. stücke die so harmonisch auseinander schlüpfen, dass man nur mit mühe abschätzen kann, wann oder wo das wohl enden sollte. ideen und sentiments entstehen, die taub hier nahtlos hervorlocken und in intelligent kontrastierende, meisterliche zwiebelhäute einbetten. “bedtime stories” hinterlässt schlicht ein musikalisches erlebnis, das man nicht missen möchte; mit stimmungen und rhythmen, die wir sonst nur wahrnehmen, wenn wir zeitlos durch unsere zukünftigen erinnerungen schlendern.
bei “la ronde at the top” begleitest du die geburt eines eleganten wesens unter einer wunderschönen durchscheinenden kirschblütenhaut, die dich, beschienen von tanzendem licht, bis zum ende hin in ein treibendes delirium versetzt… die “bed” trilogie, unter und in deinem bett schwebt deine kindheit und umspült sanft deinen schlaf, treibend… laut vergnügt… oder bei “midgets”, ein existentielles werk, quirlig und voller sprunghaftigkeit. seine flirrenden bestandteile umtanzen deine leidenschaft, saugen an deinen trieben und setzen sich in die kleinen boote zwischen deinen gedanken… after the album; catch a mirror glimpse of your jaded peering eyes, whose look of recherché you will seek unceasingly and yet never quite distinguish, as its only season will be this album. david ennio minor
david hillary lebt und arbeitet in edinborough, uk
me raabenstein arbeitet in berlin, germany
wake up to this album…and you won’t stop dreaming.
david hillary and me raabenstein come at us with an album, which is truly boundless and interminable. a sound which while very new, will never age in its revered memory. while most albums keep the listener in a separate place than that of which they are trying to portray, this one will cast your mind fluently into its significance, which never ceases. “bedtime stories” mustn’t be sifted through for elements which connect the listener, as it will certainly find you, look you straight in the eye and keep you in its exquisite, even handed grip until the very end.
taub takes you on a rare journey. a timeless meander through half conscious daydreams, toying with abstractions, playing with our senses and all we have formally come to recognize as music. each abstract figure, note and fragment very gently connects to another, creating a harmonious chord derived from unknown habitats. tracks that slip so gently in and out of one another, that one would never look to distinguish when or where it should end. the ideas and sentiments that taub seamlessly emotes are imbedded with intelligent contrasting maestoso bulbous. it is simply an album and experience not to be missed, with moods and rhythms we’ve only seen while timelessly ambling through our future memories.
with tracks like “la ronde at the top” one can see the beginnings of some elegant entity beneath a beautiful translucent cherry blossom skin, keeping the listener in some sun stroked awe from its beginning to its unbridled end. …and of course with the track “midgets,” which is something like existential nouns beaten with bags of mercurial arts, you will see it deserves all of the praise and then some… after the album; catch a mirror glimpse of your jaded peering eyes, whose look of recherché you will seek unceasingly and yet never quite distinguish, as its only season will be this album. david ennio minor
david hillary lives and works in edinborough, uk
me raabenstein lives and works in berlin, germany
TENNISCOATS & SECAI – Tenniscoats & Secai
CD Noble Records CXCA-1232
http://www.noble-label.net
http://www.tenniscoats.com
http://secai.info
Almost 6 years since the mini-album “The Ending Theme”, Tenniscoats are introducing their work once again through noble label.
Tenniscoats is the Tokyo duo of SAYA and UENO TAKASHI and friends. The open stance of this duo as seen through their ‘majikick’ label and their rainbow of collaborations with artists has won the hearts of passionate fans the world wide. Last year saw sequential release of Tenniscoats music, “Totemo Aimasho” from Australia’s Room40 and “Tan-Tan Therapy” from Sweden’s Hapna. Now, they have welcomed “Secai”, a duo formed by friends of majikick, Daisuke Namiki a.k.a. NSD and Takeshi Hiruma a.k.a. DASMAN. Together with their partners of creation, the artists have completed “Tenniscoats & Secai” a collaboration album finished after nearly 2 years of patient brewing.
Most of the pieces for this album were created through sessions with the recording, composition, and songwriting added along the way. In addition to the abstract track making which is a signature of Secai work, NSD works together with Saya to create almost half of the lyrics, and DASMAN sings in the chorus and plays bass for an album which unleashes the creative energy of both artists. Combined with Saya’s mixing and song writing and Ueno Takashi’s poetic playing and inspirations, this album is an original piece of work that highlights the talents of each artist in an organic mixture of sound.
Though covered with a fluffy and obscure sound image, the album gives an impression of a crystal world with unlimited clarity. This world is filled with Saya’s innocent voice, magical melody, and deep lyrics. The visionary music which portrays the fine line between dream and reality will lure listeners into another world. Here, you will find music of freedom and beauty that is sure to bring tears to your eyes.
TENNISCOATS Biography:
Tokyo based unit of Saya (vocal, keyboard) and Ueno Takashi (guitar, sax) and an assortment of artist friends. Tenniscoats has released 2 mini-albums and 3 full albums up to this time. They have collaborated with artists such as “The Pastels” from Scotland and Sweden’s “Tape”. The duo has performed at the Tryptich Festival (Scotland), Roskilde Festival (Denmark), and toured in overseas countries including Europe, the United States, and Australia.
Past musical works include two 12″ and one full album as the unit, “cacoy” with dj klock. Outside of the Tenniscoats, Saya tags with Kazumi Nikaido in the duo, “Nikasoup & Sayasource”. Ueno Takashi has released 6 solo pieces under the alias veno tagashi, Ueno, and etc. Tenniscoats established their original label “majikick” in 1995 and has sought out and produced many unique artists through their sure eye for talent.
SECAI Biography:
NSD (Daisuke Namiki) and Dasman (Takeshi Hiruma), both artists produced by the Tenniscoats’ majikick label, created this unit in 2003. Secai has released five 30-minute single style mixes up to present. Starting with their release of “Mammoth”, the duo has continued live performance together with “ZONI”. With an abstract and borderless music image at their core, the duo piles together mixes and repeats infinite cycles of building and scrapping to create an ambient form. Free dancing beatŠfrom club scenes like abstract hip hop and electronica, up to ambient, rave, noise, and experimental musicŠ the duo mesmerizes fans virtually everywhere in the music scene. In August 2007, the pair performed at Europe’s largest music festival, “Sziget.”
ZEITKRATZER – Volksmusik
CD Zeitkratzer Records ZKR 002
Streetdate: August 25
http://www.zeitkratzer.de
performed by zeitkratzer
all music by Reinhold Friedl & Maurice de Martin
zeitkratzer directed by Reinhold Friedl
Burkhard Schlothauer < violin
Anton Lukoszevieze < cello
Uli Phillipp < contrabass
Marcus Weiser < voice < guitar
Reinhold Friedl < piano
Maurice de Martin < percussion < voice
Hayden Chisholm < clarinets < bagpipe
Franz Hautzinger < trumpet
Ralf Meinz < sound
recorded live at Donaufestival Krems, Austria, April 29, 2007
recorded and mixed by Ralf Meinz, produced by Reinhold Friedl
volksmusik: zeitkratzer comes with its own sound and immerses into folk music – into still existing folk music, not a leftover phantasm. The precendent research was concentrated on music of the Danube abutters, but finally zeitkratzer used every kind of found material that proposed itself for further use: waltz-reminiscences were inescapable, zither and dulcimer are tested for their capability to produce noise, and the trumpet sings the pure and naive overtones of the mountain solitudeŠ the lower Danube valley contributes rhythmical eruptions and finally everything leads to a wonderfull, free uprooting. Listen, be wild, enjoy!
“Der Standard” (Vienna) cheered for the first performance at the Donaufestival: “espacially zeitkratzer could enthuse. It tested folk music from the Danube region with means of the classical modernity for its capacity and also catered for moments of humor.
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