drumming |cs049

Tytul oraz to, ze wszyscy - Müller, Kahn i Wolfarth do tworzenia muzyki uzywali badz uzywaja instrumentów perkusyjnych, sugerowalyby, ze plyte zdominuje rytm. Tymczasem na "Drumming" rytm pojawia sie tylko od czasu do czasu, i nierzadko jest on albo pochodzenia mechanicznego, albo tez mocno przetworzony.
Instrumenty perkusyjne, obslugiwane tym razem wylacznie przez Wolfartha, sluza przede wszystkim kreowaniu wszelkiego rodzaju szmerów, szelestów, odglosów szurania. Niezbyt czesto pojawiaja sie odlegle dzwieki nieregularnego postukiwania, zas wyrazny akustyczny rytm to prawdziwa rzadkosc. Wiecej jest go w partiach elektronicznych, bo choc i te dosc czesto ograniczone sa do amorficznych halasów, szumów i trzasków, to zdarza sie, ze na pierwszy plan przebije sie mechaniczny stukot. Müller i Kahn posluguja sie elektronika, i to wlasnie te partie tworza wierzchnia tkanke nagran, okrywajaca kilkoma warstwami elektrycznej oslony partie perkusyjne, którym tylko kilkakrotnie udaje sie ja rozerwac i przebic na pierwszy plan. Duzo czesciej pojawiaja sie tu rytmy mechaniczne, choc trudno mi jest rozstrzygnac, czy ich pochodzenie jest czysto elektroniczne, czy tez sa to dzwieki tworzone przez Wolfartha, które nastepnie Müller i Kahn przetwarzaja, uzywajac odpowiednio ipoda oraz laptopa. Jakkolwiek by zreszta nie bylo, brzmia one dosc industrialnie i takie wlasnie, nieco bruitystyczne, jest oblicze tej muzyki. Tadeusz Kosiek (Gaz-Eta)

As one could imagine looking at the instrumentation (iPod, electronics, laptop and percussion) these electroacoustic elucubrations sound like a relentless quest for knotholes in a barely levigated subsonic tissue. A pavement of unauspicious propension to fermenting unquietness is walked by three men using their appliances in such peculiar methods that everything appears frostbitten more than displaced; would you ever believe that the pairing of an iPod and percussion could sound like traffic as listened from a dark alley? Hopes of a brighter guide light get choked by a metastatic liquid full of condensed polluted plancton as Günter, Jason and Christian hide their faces behind the veil of reluctance. The music flows in a continuous competition with silence, which itself seems to be the real objective of everything we manage to capture and scrutinize. Apparently there's nothing more one can do but listen to these messages, finally learning to communicate through signals instead of words. Massimo Ricci (Touching Extremes)

More along the lines of Vital Weekly is the trio of the ever so active Günter Müller (ipod, electronics), Jason Kahn (laptop) and Christian Wolfarth (percussion). I am not sure wether they try to produce a cover of Steve Reich's piece of the same name, but my best guess it's not. In their session recorded on October 29th, 2004, they play percussive music, as opposed to rhythmic music, which sound so much more electronic. I realize that this a contradiction, seeing the use of 'electronics' and 'laptop', but in an odd way this is highly percussive music. Careful and delicate, just as we would expect from people like Kahn and Müller. Slowly evolving but with always with a touch of percussive elements. Next highlight. Frans de Waard (Vital)

"Drumming" is quite a deceiving title if taken literally, though Kahn's liner notes in Creative Sources website are explicit: this trio recording is meant to further explore the possibility of drumming beyond the usual notions and tecniques. Both Jason Kahn (here at laptop) and Günter Müller (here at ipod and electronics) have creatively played drums and percussions for years before almost exclusively moving to electronics; and their experimental approach is evidently shared by Christian Wolfarth, whose minimal drum set is barely distinguishable from the digital mist of his two companions. Much like Kahn's typically abstract yet somehow organic layout, the nine improvised tracks are a successful blend of algid electronic particles and an urgent rhythmic flow, especially in little gems like "Drumming 2" and "Drumming 4", the latter with a train-like loop throbbing beneath. Eugenio Maggi (Chain DLK)

[…] Estamos em pleno domínio da “bricolage”. É um iPod (um gravador, para todos os efeitos), ligado a “delays” e pouco mais, o que serve Gunter Muller na sua associação com Jason Kahn (“laptop”) e Christian Wolfarth (pequenas percussões) em “Drumming”. E se o título parece sugerir ritmos, métricas e tambores, nada de mais enganoso: a percussividade desta “música” é uma crepitação apenas, um batuque em microscopia. […] Rui Eduardo Paes (JL)

A glance at that title and you might be forgiven for thinking that these three Swiss percussion virtuosi (OK OK so Jason Kahn isn't Swiss but he lives there) have come up with some kind of hip versioning of Steve Reich's 1971 epic of the same name, but you'd be wrong. In fact, there's very little explicit pulse at all here: Kahn (here on laptop) and Günter Müller (ipod and electronics) are nowadays heavily involved in the Swiss EAI scene (with Tomas Korber, Ralph Steinbrüchel et al.), and it seems Christian Wolfarth is heading that way too, after a number of notable lowercase outings with John Wolf Brennan. The nine tracks on Drumming are refreshingly short by EAI standards, none lasting longer than six and half minutes, but characteristically dense and rich in information. Drums, as the recent history of improvisation has demonstrated, are no longer there to be struck, but can be rubbed, bowed and generally excited by extraneous objects in wild and wonderful ways that would probably surprise Steve Reich, should a copy of this fall into the hands of his lawyers by mistake. But they should make a point of checking it out – Reich's Drumming was state-of-the-art modernity in 1971, and this is where it's at 35 years later. Dan Warburton (Paris Transatlantic)

To me, the pick of the litter is the wondrous Drumming (CS 049). Günter Müller (ipod and electronics), Jason Kahn (laptop), and Christian Wolfarth (percussion) are all renowned percussionists but, as you can see, only Wolfarth actually works with that instrumentation. And what’s immediately compelling about these nine improvisations (all entitled “Drumming”) is how they resist and evade conventional percussive strategies. They move, they pulse, they pace and accent; but they aren’t bound by any repeating figures or meters. The integration of electronics and conventional percussion is quite seamless, revealing a sonic mix not unlike that heard on Plus Minus recordings (though the music is quite different, altogether more burbling and active). Occasionally, as on “Drumming 2”, Wolfarth plays with a hypnotic insistence; but it does more to accentuate the liquid work of his colleagues than anything else. Many of the pieces are quite cavernous sounding, and Müller in particular is an effective and creative player in this kind of context. Yet even when the trio isn’t constructing densely layered pieces (as on the squeaking “Drumming 5”), their sense of contrast and dynamics is excellent. My only quibble is that many of the pieces are abruptly cut off, suggesting some kind of radical editing. But this disc deserves to be heard nonetheless. Jason Bivins (One Final Note)

The name of this record is provocative, to say the least. While all three of the participating musicians have spent plenty of hours behind a drum kit, only Wolfarth directly plays a percussion instrument here. Kahn plays laptop, Müller iPod and electronics, and while both men use plenty of sound files of percussive origin, they've processed the original taps, scrapes, strokes and beats into distorted, pixilated ghosts of their former selves.
Only occasionally, as when Wolfarth puts brushes to snare at the beginning of "Drumming 4" (each of the nine tracks is similarly numbered), do the players work with obviously drum-like sound material. Nonetheless the title fits. Even at its most electronic, this music has a physical quality that you'd expect from guys whose formative musical experiences involve whacking things. On "Drumming 4," for example, even the squelchiest sounds have a graininess that suggests palpable texture rather than virtual experience. "Drumming 6" comes at you with a spray of clicks and crackles crisscrossed by wavering tones that evoke insects beating their amplified wings against your back porch light while their cumulative voices beat at your ears. "Drumming 7" takes the insectoid vibe underground, with a juxtaposition of merry clatter and fricative huffing that suggests a hill full of ants playing castanets while a dog snuffles vainly at their abode. It is this delightfully suggestive property that makes Drumming a record worth playing again and again. Bill Meyer (Dusted Magazine)

Et utvalg på fire utgivelser av en bolk på tolv nye fra Creative Sources. Den portugisiske labelen stadfester sin posisjon som den suverent mest kreative på sitt felt. Kvaliteten derimot er denne gangen mer varierende enn hva man er blitt vant til fra Ernesto Rodrigues’ hold.
”Drumming” er perkusjonsmusikk i aller videste og mest abstrakte forstand. Tittelen er identisk, men det eksisterer nok bare løselige paralleller til Steve Reich sitt verk fra 1971; ”Drumming 8”, med tydelige pulsbaserte strukturer, er nok det sporet som kommer nærmest. Sveitsiske Günter Müller og Jason Kahn, amerikaner bosatt Zürich, spilte i lang tid trommer og perkusjon før de tok til å eksperimentere med elektronikk (Müller på 80-tallet, Kahn et tiår senere). På denne utgivelsen spiller de henholdsvis ipod og laptop. Christian Wolfarth, sveitser også han, er den eneste som benytter et vanlig perkusjonssett. ”Drumming” består av i alt 9 imposante improvisasjoner, alle sammen resolutt lineære. Lyden er komprimert og fyldig, undertiden liksom seigtflytende, som smeltet bly.I det hele tatt har ”Drumming” betydelig assosiasjonsvekkende potensiale. Jeg forestiller meg at omtrent slik låter forandringsprosessene – som følge av tidsmessig påvirkning, slitasje eller annen nedbrytning – til de tause tingene omkring oss. Lyden av treverk som beveger seg ved temperaturskifter og vannrør som ruster. Uendelig ganger forstørret. Frank Messel (Disquieting Duck)

Deste trio de percussionistas europeus, apenas Christian Wolfarth se dedica aqui à percussão (ainda que no sentido menos ortodoxo do termo), se descontarmos o micro-gratinado que Günter Müller (ipod e electrónica) e Jason Kahn (laptop) geram, com provável origem em sons acústicos de percussão electronicamente modulados, combinados com outros de fonte digital. Produto típico da escola suíça da improvisação electroacústica, Drumming revela um intenso trabalho mecânico de rotação motorizada, um dispositivo orgânico que microscopicamente regista, ordena e homogeneíza impulsos sonoros, atribuindo-lhes forma, cor e textura. Dá origem a um tecido cuja representação se poderia situar algures entre sons futuristas de tráfego rodoviário e sinais crepitantes de vida que se adivinha existir para além do que sensorialmente nos é dado experimentar. Eduardo Chagas (Blitz)

Els¦ blikkre egy ²jabb (Ès sokadik) elektroakusztikus improviz·ciÛ, m·sodik-harmadik-negyedik nekifut·sra viszont m·r egy zseni·lis Ès jÛles¦en pÛztalan egy¸ttzenÈlÈs, amelynek b¾vkˆrÈb¦l ²jabb Ès ²jabb hallgat·s ut·n sem tud szabadulni a hallgatÛ. Esetemben legal·bbis Ìgy m¾kˆdˆtt a sv·jci triÛ (G¸nter M¸ller b·r nÈmet sz·rmaz·s², m·r jÛ ideje Sv·jcban Èl Ès alkot) els¦ kˆzˆs lemeze, ami a portug·l Creative Sources mini-label egyik legutÛbbi kiadv·nya. Az album cÌme ironikus is lehetne, b·r vÈlemÈnyem szerint szimpl·n csak beszÈdes: a kollabor·ciÛban rÈsztvev¦ h·rom hangszeres mindegyike doboskÈnt kezdte zenei p·ly·j·t, m·ra viszont G¸nter M¸ller Ès Jason Kahn a legk¸lˆnfÈlÈbb elektronikus berendezÈsek segÌtsÈgÈvel ·llÌt el¦ hangokat - a Drumming lemez felvÈtelÈn is M¸ller egy iPod-ot, Jason Kahn pedig laptop elektronik·t haszn·l. Christian Wolfarth az egyetlen, aki mÈg hagyom·nyos, akusztikus dobfelszerelÈsen zenÈl, ebben az esetben pÈld·ul kiz·rÛlag egyetlen perg¦n Ès egyetlen cinen...
A Drumming hanganyaga 2004. oktÛber 29-Èn ker¸lt rˆgzÌtÈsre Sv·jcban, a Christian Weber Ès Jean-Pierre Reinle ·ltal vezetett z¸richi "Werkstatt f¸r Improvisierte Musik" nev¾ intÈzmÈnyben. B·r a cÌm tal·n megtÈveszt¦, a lemeznek semmi kˆze Steve Reich '71-es epikus Ès m·ra m·r klasszikuss· v·lt m¾vÈhez, ²jraÈrtelmezÈsr¦l vagy kv·zi-remaker¦l teh·t szÛ sincs. M¸ller, Kahn Ès Wolfarth ezen a munk·n az ¸t¦sˆk jellegzetes hangj·hoz, illetve ezen hangok "rendeltetÈsszer¾" felhaszn·l·s·hoz kˆthet¦ sztereotÌpi·kat prÛb·lja kij·tszani. A kÈt elektronik·n j·tszÛ hangszeres kiz·rÛlag dobok, k¸lˆnfÈle ¸t¦hangszerek Ès v·logatott t·rgyak hangjaibÛl ÈpÌtkezik, ezeket alakÌtja statikus z²g·ss· vagy Èppen suhogÛ, huzat-szer¾ zajok lass² Ès nyomasztÛ hˆmpˆlygÈsÈvÈ. A lemez kilenc egysÈgÈn ·t ÈszrevÈtlen¸l keverednek az akusztikus Ès digit·lis zˆrejek, sercegÈsek, ·m ha fejhallgatÛval ¸l¸nk neki a Drumming albumnak, akkor kiv·lÛan hallhatÛak Ès felismerhet¦ek Wolfrath akusztikus dobfelszerelÈsÈnek tÈtova neszezÈsei, nyers koppan·sai vagy esetlen klaffan·sai. A lemez a legkevÈsbÈ sem sz¾kˆlkˆdik izgalmakban, zseni·lis n¸anszokban: a monoton massz·ba mindig ˆmlenek ²jabb hangrÈtegek, vagy a pottyannak bele "hangporszemek", aprÛ kis¸lÈsek, puha roppan·sok-reccsenÈsek. Egy b¦ Ûr·nyi Èlvezetes (Ès meg merem kock·ztatni: b·mulatos) hallgatnivalÛ, amit csak nÈhol zavar meg egy-egy hangosabban beviharzÛ hangork·n vagy a dobcinen valÛ f¸lb·ntÛan Èles csikorg·s-nyikorg·s.
Szeretem, ha egy zenÈben tˆrtÈnik legal·bb annyi, hogy az kÈpes kˆnnydÈn lekˆtni csapong·sra hajlamos figyelm¸nket, az pedig k¸lˆn ˆrˆm, ha egy olyan kÌsÈrletben van rÈsz¸nk, mint amir¦l a Drumming is szÛl: hiszen e h·rom zenÈsz ez esetben nem kÈsztet m·sra, mint hogy el¦szˆr is zavarba ess¸nk, majd pedig radik·lisan ²jragondoljuk Ès ²jradefini·ljuk az ¸t¦hangszerekkel el¦·llÌtott zenÈr¦l alkotott gondolatainkat, nÈzeteinket. Dusted Hoffman (Improv.hu)

Günter Müller, Jason Kahn, Christian Wolfarth : Drumming (Creative Sources, 2005). En neuf pastilles effervescentes (taillées cut dans une session au WIM de Zurich, fin octobre 2004), les drummers Müller (iPod, electronics), Kahn (laptop) et Wolfarth (percussion) appliquent à l'art tambourinaire une définition extensive... ou très littérale : à force d'entrelacs, de chevauchements, de prolifération, les pouls entrent en ébullition et crépitent ; anamorphoses, boucles, basses et balais, dans leur intrication, confèrent grain et complexité au flot – que prolongera, en 2009, le disque Limmat. Guillaume Tarche (Le Son du Grisli)