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!
My friends don't like the songs I play 