#011 Andreas Dzialocha – Serenus Zeitblom Oktett

It’s friends-of-mine-who-make-awesome-music-time again! I present to you: Andreas Dzialocha’s Serenus Zeitblom Oktett with their debut release Erster Teil – Zweiter Teil – Dritter Teil. So I know Andi from way back when were doing a voluntary cultural year (though it wasn’t really voluntary back then, but whatever). We didn’t have contact for many years until I saw a post of his on facebook. I knew he was a great bass player but I didn’t know he was into more experimental stuff. He was posting first drafts for his Oktett and I really loved what I heard and saw. So I contacted him and he sent me the score. Since then we have been more in contact than before. He is part of a really creative group based in Berlin, that organized great festivals, concerts and issues a magazine. Furthermore he founded the label Hyperdelia. It was through him that I learned about Joe Snapes music and got into contact with a lot of interesting people, ideas and pieces of art. Check out all the amazing stuff he does here

I call this his record because he is the initiator, composer and general mastermind behind it, however it is an Oktett playing consisting of bass, drums, two electric guitars, vibraphone, viola, cello and electronics / sound engineer (Klanggestalter). The instrumentation alone is one of the reasons I like the record. It’s a beautiful mixture of modern, jazzy and more classical sounds that blend together to create a warm, flowing sonic cloud. Sometimes this cloud is smooth and beautifully harmonic and melodic, sometimes it’s full of spikes and crazy little impulses. Then again it may build up to be a powerful stomping rhythm at times. I’m no fan of Free Jazz at all and some of the textures on this record are clearly inspired by that genre. However, the result is always a texture that is so dense or at least so well crafted that all the weird little (sometimes even clichéd) gestures add up to form a whole, a “Klanggestalt” as I guess Andi would call it. The record manages to make the listener take a step back, listen to the whole and accept every gesture as part of a whole – something bigger. Also, this record breathes really nicely. The timing of build-up, tension and release works really well throughout the 40mins of the composition.

Btw. – It’s interesting to see how it’s notated. The piece is moving back and forth between clear ideas and freely associative improv instruction. The amazing LP cover is a great example of the aesthetic you’ll find in the score.

Favourites: Erster Teil (but it all blends quite smoothly so it’s hard to pinpoint one “track”)

How I found this: The composer himself!

#002 Joe Snape

Okay, I have to put something on here, which I have annoyed my friends with for quite some time now, but I want to make this marvelous collection complete. And it certainly wouldn’t be without Joe Snape’s – Brittle Love and pretty much everything that he has released.

Holy – this guy’s music seriously rocked my world and influenced all the music I have made since then. It was the first thing to really, truly have me baffled in terms of gerne or style. When I met Joe at a festival a year after discovering his music, he told me that for him, it wasn’t a matter of genre, but only a question of being genuine about what you write. His music is very much genuine, naked and honest, which makes it so touching. I guess, it’s what most people would call contemporary or experimental music but on the other hand it’s full of almost cheesy harmonies and melodies that are borrowed from pop. However you never fully get them served on a plate like that. Everything is kind of fragmented, distorted or blurred.

Check out “Mount Olympus” for example: Everything starts with a super intimate kalimba-like sound which acompanies what I think to be a harmonized solo clarinet. Everything is slightly out of tune and we only guess the underlying chord progression. It is as though someone wrote the most cheesy, heartbreaking piece of film music, took out most of the instruments and notes, detuned what was left and presented it in all it’s vulnerability. It builds up more and more, using pretty simple melody lines and the Snape-typical pitch shifted voice. When at 2:07, out of this sparkling mess, the solo ponticello violin arises and plays the most basic chord resolution, it breaks my heart everytime I hear this track! Everything explodes into a cloud of weirdness, reminding you that sentiments can never be only clichés and everything is more convoluted and complex than it might seem.

 

You can tell, I’m a huge fan. There is so much more I could say about Joe’s music. Most importantly though I will say this: If you open your ears for whats going on in his pieces, you will find something marvelous, truly unique and inspiring. His Album Brittle Love is not on Youtube or Soundcloud, but you can go and support him by buying it at bandcamp: https://slipimprint.bandcamp.com/album/brittle-love

Here’s one song, “Lada”, which is also an the album:

 

Favourite Track: Mount Olympus, Brittle Love, Closed for winter

How I found this: Recommended by a friend who had known Joe and seen some of his live shows earlier that year.