This collection of soundscapes comes from the prominent group of Norwegian musicians who are around long time and,despite of sometimes still young age, they already made their names worldwide. Musicians like Sidsel Endresen, Eivind Aarset, Arve Henriksen, Stian Westerhus and many others, including recently reviewed Erland Dahlen.

All of them are very strong personalities with immediately recognizable style and voice. Like A. Henriksen for example. Due to his trumpet, the mood present on tracks like the Unrest and the Remain are both full of melancholy and the restlessly touching.

Rodach is not an artist who comes to the studio on the regular basis. Therefore, this is the first comeback for 8 years. Also, he is usually a solo player making his own samples and loops. Here we’ve got a little difference with the drummer involved in 4 out of 18 tracks (Max Bendel) as well as a guest appearance on piano from Wolfgang Loos, the recording wizard behind the consoles there in the Traumton label.

His instrument of choice is usually guitar. He likes it, as he describes it, for its imperfection.

Now when you look at the title it is a philosophical attendance. So was his last one entitled Our Situation Seems Strange. As his daily bread is delivering music for theatrical or cinematic needs it has to be more or less illustrative. That’s the main factor characterizing it.

Preface to this session points numerous descriptions of the nature of the time and referrals to the circularity of the nature of the time and its repetitive patterns, which seems to be circular too if simple analogy with the dials is used. My feeling is that one can bend an imagination into any direction as far as his fantasy and open mind allows, but let’s stick to the instructions and the music.

Opening track (Uji) is already very cinematic indeed. The time counting and the audible dissonances and delays are bringing imagination of the spaghetti western soundtracks as the best we know from Ennio Morricone. Counting percussive patterns looped to repeat themselves are even more tightening imagination to the passing time.

Following, Here Now, is clear blues guitar reef, stacked in time and counted with the regular beat. It only lasts 1:45. Scratch coming after describes well the nature of the distortion that the guitar has been given. Multiple guitar tracks are talking to each other here. It is another miniature. Bluesy spirit of the guitar stays present, but this time long-lasting chords are more Knopfler-like with the hint of the bottleneck’s taste. With the monotony counted rhythm coming from the piano.

Another one in the meantime, brings me memory of another cinematic icon: Ray Cooder’s Paris -Texas. Examples like those can be spotted almost all the time. From that regard there is a certain eclecticism in this music which grows over the listener depends on his personal experience and ability to trace and recognise those influences, what is quite a good fun itself.

Multiple pieces coming after are containing varied connotations with the guitar styles we already know and heard before. Variety of the patterns are simply showing Rodach’s skills in adopting, transforming and incorporating different surrendering landscapes into his very own musical universe and language. One remains for certain: the strong felling of circularity coming from multiple repetition and the rhythmic structure of the compositions. However, if it’s because the Time is Round or the Musicians are Drunk I don’t know. Whatever the reason I enjoyed the journey and the dark signature imprinted into this music.

TRAUMTON PR

You can buy this music here…

Rodach SOUNDCLOUD

It is not my first meeting with Erika Stucky, crazy Swiss artist and stage performer with her origins rooting in the US, planet Earth and imagination from Mars. Therefore, I was kind of prepared that what comes will be unique. As I previously reviewed her Suicidal Yodels and the Black Widow recordings as well as Live I was pretty aware of her surprising possibilities and the vocal arsenal. This incredible cooperation however again took me by the surprise.

But no one could really expect that she will team up together this time with the prominent celebrity countertenor Andreas Scholl and the Baroque Ensemble (La Cetra Barockorchester). To spice it up even more, add FM Einheit to the pack, the drummer and the creative force behind famous German band Einstúrzende Neubauten.,

And no one could guess what it is all going to be about. This is however about Erika’s father, hence a Spanish tittle Pepito. As it refers to her early childhood memories and needs more explanation it is better to read what PR says about to gain as much preparation as possible. Blended with quirky sense of humour and shocking graphic design for the digi-pack layout, referring to her deceased father’s live making profession: the butchery.

Repertoire as always with Erika contains her own compositions and covers, on that occasion it is choice of Cole Porter, Billie Holiday, Luccio Dala and Steven Sondheim among the others. Songs referring to difficult relations, or mental troubles. Songs which used to be around when she was growing. Maybe songs she had been listening to with her father, or she remembers him listening to them. Whatever the reason they fulfil the emotional pallet of romance, grand sentiments, simply joys or sometimes great disappointments. In short: all the life has to offer.

Now it all gets down to the arrangements and the performance path she decided to go with to complete that program. And believe me she could do whatever she would like to do with it. But she kept it simple. Brilliant and without overdoing. With well-balanced use of the quest musicians.

Starting with Porter’s Ev’ry Time We Say Good Bye she set up the sentimental mood for the set. Baroque strings, used to play different sounds daily, approach the subjects with an incredible fullness and richness of the sound. Her singing, sweet and luscious, counterpointed with it nicely. And her “trombone solo”, one of those amazing things she can make with her voice refereed to the classic ballroom tradition.

Randy Newman’s Marie, again, sung with the great intensity came together wonderfully with orchestra sounding both baroque and romantic in the same time. It was sung in the way that Tom Waits would probably do that.

But the cherry of the pie are obviously duets with Scholl here. Like one in Lil’ Sister, where they both create gentle harmony in almost non-existing canon is splendid. The call and response in Two for Tea is a final pick, where Scholl sings with an incredible clarity and Stucky with almost laconic naivety. When She tries her “brassy” tricks in choruses, He comes in response with slightly nasal vibrato reminding Louis Armstrong’s manner.

Stucky’s own Stacheldracht (Barbwire) with strings merged with percussion dissonance brings to the surface FM Einheit’s contribution in most visible way. Here reminiscences to her father are hitting the surface too. They have emotional tension which is hard to omit but somehow songs from the musicals are holding emotional deposit in the better way for me.

I could go for all of them one by one but it is not the point. Everyone should do so for himself and feel it. This is the music to FEEL more than to listen. It is very private and very exhibitionist in the same time. It contains huge deposit of emotions and layers of beauty and touch-ability which must be soaked by an open heart and mind. The beauty which takes over you in most natural way.

PEPITO TRAUMTON PR

you can buy this music here:

CDs: Traumton Recordstore
Downloads: Traumton Downloadshop

Containing 6 tracks percussion journey into Dahlen’s imagination brings manifold cinematic memories to my mind. Music is very imaginative and spacious. Soundstage is simply epic. This are all big scores like sonic landscapes reminding works of the biggest names working for the movie industry. Like Hans Zimmer or Ryuichi Sakamoto. Or Antonio Sanchez to bring it more to the jazz drumming territory.

But the drumming is very propulsive as well, so it refers to the history of the rock music without a shade of doubts. Music of The Police, Tangerine Dreams, Mike Oldfield, Pink Floyd or Grateful Dead alike comes to my head as a first impression.

Another subject worth mentioning is an extended range of instruments which had been used for making this sounds. Not just a drums and bells and all sort of percussion instruments, but also cutlery, strings and all sort of electronics to mix and loop it with at the end. Even Drone boxes, to jump out of usual approach completely. All that shows an incredible creativity and imagination and the frameworks he created and taking us indeed into multiply mental departures. Sort of things which I first time experienced from another percussionist wizard – Terje Isungset.

An opening Clocks, with gentle techno bit and ticking sounds of clocks and gongs reminds a bit a psychotic trip of Dark Side of the Moon that Floyds took us once to. But the tension brings even more dark feelings and multicultural images which are travelling through your head are revering to early period of Gong music, a bit like on Camembert Electrique with drumming pattern reminding a bit Dire Straits. I can see the crops from movies like Solaris, 5th Element or Delicatessen, humour wise. So, you got a picture now, I believe.

The Glas, coming after is Insugset’s universe. Short , but very rich ,spacious and dynamically extended, with this feeling of coldness coming from the upper transients of the percussion sounds.

Ship, Is almost like a tribute to the Gong’s Gazeuse with very rich tissue reminding me the best from Pierre Moerlen. But with this electronic plankton characteristic for the overall sound of CAN from the period of 70-ties and 80-ies, listen to the Tago Mago album, or to the Rite Time and you would feel it immediately. One can tell the music he grown on listening to.

Following two with the titles illustrating animals, the Bear and the Lizard I like to see as a portrait of the creatures themselves. In the first one monumental stepping power of the rhythm describes the rough power of the animal, with its ruthless sense of self confidence. Dynamic range makes this walk incredibly three-dimensional and almost touchable like a hologram.

On the other pole, we are getting repetitive pattern camouflaging the real nature of the sonic wave which gets twisted and modulated under the surface. Kind of weirdness which makes an easy natural association with a reptilian sort of nature. Some might however see completely different pictures there. Easy to understand if listened with no suggestion coming from the title.

That’s exactly the power of that music. One keeps reading in it like in an open book and never gets enough. Therefore, I am leaving closing Wood composition for your very own recognition.