It’s curious to find myself digging deep into jazz influenced music. Never been a fan of such and of course these probably wouldn’t be considered as such by a true jazz lover. Personally I find hard to label certain kind of music, like what Colin Stetson does, or Szun Waves, for example. Some people called it “post-jazz”, OK then. So this genre has me totally addicted and in my search and capture I found this new works from Taagara and Serenus Zeitblom Oktett, beside an older but delicious one from Billowing, and the mix from Ellen Arkbro. I hope you enjoy it!
Saagara, Wacław Zimpel‘s Indian orchestra, presents their second album entitled 2. Recorded in Bangalore last December. “I started my preparations around two months ahead of my trip to India”, admits Zimpel. “Once the draft versions of songs were done, I decided to share them with my producer mooryc in Berlin. Together we clarified the structures, added some melodies and I was ready to jump on the plane. One of the first steps we took in India was to play some concerts. And although majority of our setlist each night consisted mainly of older tracks from Saagara’s debut album, we managed to expand our sound by adding some electronics”, he recalls.
Erster Teil – Zweiter Teil – Dritter Teil is the debut LP of the Berlin based ensemble Serenus Zeitblom Oktett. The Oktett from Berlin consists of musicians with a broad pop, free jazz and contemporary music background. Aiming for an artificial but organic live sound-production aesthetic, the Oktett is accompanied by a ninth member, the Klanggestalter. Every instrument is being amplified and processed by filters and live algorithms, neutralizing the difference of acoustic and electric instruments.
Andreas Dzialocha (electric bass, composition), David Meier (drums), Moritz Bossmann (electric guitar), Karsten Lipp (electric guitar), Els Vandeweyer (vibraphone), Isabelle Klemt (violoncello), Shasta Ellenbogen (viola), Richard Koch (trumpet), Matthias Erb (Klanggestaltung).
Dead In A Ditch is the result of a deep winter night of collective improvisation between rarely-seen Michigan experimental duo Billowing and some long time friends. Playing together in this formation for the first time, the line up of Scott DeRoche on prepared guitar and Fred Thomas on a spectrum of electronics was extended to include saxophonist Daniel Bennett, drummer Shigeto and bassist Tim Flood. While spirits were high and the vibes were good, the energy of the record went in a decidedly bleak direction, choosing to explore coldness and despair through exacting minimalism and restraint. Spacious to the point of static, the group stretches out over fields of tape hiss and gurgling electronic backdrops, lifting out of this specific colorless mood only occasionally as with the drunkenly hopeful stumble of “Overachiever” or the understated take on an electric Miles-styled groove “Corner Dregs”.
The Subtext Recordings composer wanders through khaen, organ and shakuhachi on this serene Hyp mix. Ellen Arkbro delivers under an hour of pristine sounds primed for reflection, incorporating works from Marc Sabat, Satoshi Ashikawa, and Arthur Russell’s 1983 minimalist classical statement, ‘Tower of Meaning’.
“In this mix I present some slow works of acoustic music that have and continue to inspire me and influence my work profoundly. With a focus on timbre and harmony, this music wanders through khaen, organ, shō, hichiriki, shakuhachi, strings, microtonal tuba, saron and slenthem. This music appears to be stretched in time, and in space. There is a sadness to these sounds, and yet such clarity. Nostalgic music which takes place in the present, somehow reflecting the beauty of every moment passing us by, forever.”
