erstes luftschiff zu kalifornien |cs065

Don’t worry. Not being too well versed in German, I was a little leery of the translation of the group’s name too. But it’s simply “Large Departure”, an octet comprised of Serge Baghdassarians (electronics), Boris Baltschun (electronics), Chris Brown (piano, electronics), Tom Djll (trumpet), Matt Ingalls (clarinet), Tim Perkis (electronics), Gino Robair (analog synthesizer) and John Shiurba (guitar). Those familiar with theses names might have a fair inkling of what to expect though, for myself, I found the group pushed things a bit further in the direction of non-hyperactive improvisation than I might have thought, a good thing for this listener.
This first airship to California alights in a gentle field of clicks and rustles, the acoustic instruments active in areas well away from what their designers intended, the electronics emitting soft counterpoint. As with most of the disc, to the extent the musicians resist idiomatic tropes, including those of free improvisation, the result is quite engaging. Though such gestures do seep in on occasion, by and large Grosse Abfahrt is successful in crafting a convincing, natural music, no mean feat for a mid-size ensemble. On the other hand, some of the members, notably Matt Ingalls, manage to integrate more traditional phrasing quite well into the abstraction, as he does on the second track. On the same cut, Shiurba unspools some intriguing, pure-toned guitar that also, partially because of its own stubborn incongruity, nestles well into the noise. The brief “Morrell remained hopeful” is a fine little nugget, concise and to the point. The same could be said, aside from the brevity, of the ensuing “riesenflugzeugabteilung” (a WWI aircraft, if I’m not mistaken), my favorite piece on the disc. Here, Brown’s piano and the various electronics create a rich, undulating bed from which the other sundry creaky, squeaky goings-on flower. It’s an excellent track, one that fans of John Butcher’s interactions with various electronicists will certainly enjoy.
In fact, to these ears, there’s not a weak cut among the five presented herein. It’s a good recording, probably my favorite among the relatively few I’ve heard involving the California crew. Brian Olewnick (Bagatellen)

To zdarzylo sie prawie sto lat temu - 23 maja 1908 roku. Tego dnia na oczach blisko dziesieciu tysiecy widzów, na ziemie runal sterowiec zaprojektowany przez Johna A. Morrella. Podobno zawiódl silnik, na szczescie nie doszlo do wybuchu, ale uchodzacy gaz spowodowal katastrofe blisko stuczterdziestometrowego statku powietrznego. W ten sposób prysly marzenia Morrella o stworzeniu regularnego polaczenia powietrznego miedzy Kalifornia i Dalekim Wschodem.
Nie wiem, dlaczego Tom Djll i pozostali czlonkowie kierowana przez niego efemerycznej amerykansko-niemieckiej formacji Grosse Abfahrt postanowili przypomniec ten wlasnie epizod historii podboju nieba, ale powód nie jest chyba az tak istotny.
Dla sluchaczy najwazniejsza jest przeciez muzyka. "Erstes Luftschiff zu Kalifornien" to przeszlo trzy kwadranse stonowanej elektro-akustycznej, improwizowanej muzyki kameralnej. Wydaje mi sie, ze zapozyczone od Lawrence'a "Butch" Morrisa slowo "komprowizacja", ten dziwaczny zlepek terminów kompozycja i improwizacja, najpelniej opisze muzyke Grosse Abfahrt. Wedlug opisu zamieszczonego na stronie wytwórni, lider formacji Tom Djll, wystepujacy tu nie tylko w roli trebacza, ale równiez kompozytora oraz dyrygenta, kieruje gra pozostalych muzyków.
Amorficzna struktura utworów sugeruje, ze kompozycje posiadaly tylko ogólne zarysy i ze muzykom pozostawiono pewien margines swobody w wypelnianiu ich konturów sonorystyczna improwizacja.
Improwizacja w wydaniu Grosse Abfahrt sprawia wrazenie starannie przemyslanej i dopracowanej. Poszczególne nagrania, niespiesznie, ale dosc konsekwentnie, podazaja ku rozwiazaniu. Na ogól nie jest to efektowny final, rozladowujaca odczuwane napiecie kulminacja, lecz zamkniecie (chocby tylko chwilowe) konstruowanej w mozole formy. "Erstes Luftschiff zu Kalifornien" charakteryzuje umiar i wyciszenie.
W tym ostatnim przypadku chodzi mi nie tyle o cisze, bowiem rozmaite dzwieki mniej lub bardziej wyraznie sa obecne przez caly czas, lecz o ich stale pojawianie sie i wycofywanie. Drobne dzwieki na krótko anektujace przestrzen i czas, subtelne drobiazgi rozrzucane tu i ówdzie, troskliwie rozmieszczane na róznych planach, tworzace rozmaite przypadkowe lub przemyslane konfiguracje. Delikatne dzwieki zderzane ze soba, laczace sie wieksze formy. Byc moze formy nieregularne, ale w obrebie danego utworu przynajmniej spójne i konsekwentne, chociazby w wykorzystaniu sonorystycznych mozliwosci instrumentów.
Brzmienie oktetu to wypadkowa oszczednie dawkowanych elektronicznych szmerów, szelestów, stukniec, trzasków, plam, itp. oraz subtelnych dzwieków dobywanych z instrumentów akustycznych przewaznie za pomoca niekonwencjonalnych technik artykulacyjnych. Brzmienia elektroniczne mieszaja sie z akustycznymi, elektroniczne z elektrycznymi, a akustyczne kraza miedzy brzmieniami klasycznymi i preparowanymi. Razem tworza delikatna, a zarazem mocna pajeczyne dzwieku.
Polecam te plyte. To nie tylko trzy kwadranse naprawde dobrej muzyki, ale i okazja poznania kilku muzyków zwiazanych z preznie dzialajaca scena muzyki improwizowanej rejonu Bay Area. Tadeusz Kosiek (Diapazon)

Somehow dedicated to John A. Morrell, visionary builder of a potentially revolutionary airship whose dramatic technical failure is narrated in the CD leaflet, this work gathers an octet of improvisers consisting of Serge Baghdassarians, Boris Baltschun, Chris Brown, Tom Djll, Matt Ingalls, Tim Perkis, Gino Robair and John Shiurba; the instrumentation comprises electronics, piano, trumpet, clarinet, analog synthesizer and guitar. After an initial period in which microscopic high frequencies literally struggle to be heard, the music begins to shape up and combine its different elements through various settings, not totally devoid of moments of quasi-silence. Frictional proximities between trumpet and clarinet are complemented by apprehensive touches from the piano innards; side-to-side analog waveforms and hyper-acute emissions create a background over which the guitar is manipulated like a percussive tool, almost losing all its stringed instrument features until a weak reminiscence of vibration advise us that the "spirit of the axe" still has a pulse. The dynamics brought in action by the players often inhabit the "ppp" neighbourhood, forcing our attention to appreciate the exquisite finesse that these strained synchronies involuntarily generate, the "lowercase factor" still in evidence during various segments of almost imperceptible "pneumo-electrology". The final movement reveals the large part of the missing links, fusing the instrumental voices in a marginalization of the unnecessary aspects of technique, nearing the whole to a more recognizable collective exchange, though ever deprived of any chance of typical interplay. A difficult, stimulating record that gradually uncovers fibres of grimy beauty. Massimo Ricci (Touching Extremes)

Several fine bridges have been built in recent years between the improv worlds of California and Germany. Wolfgang Fuchs has been a frequent visitor to the West Coast, and has popped up on a number of fine outings (Mount Washington on Reify and Six Fuchs on Rastascan), and the electronics duo of Serge Baghdassarians and Boris Baltschun had already cut a fine disc with Fuchs, Jacob Lindsay and Damon Smith (The Happy Makers on Balance Point Acoustics) before teaming up in October 2004 with a host of Bay Area notables – Chris Brown (piano and electronics), Tom Djll (trumpet), Matt Ingalls (clarinet), Tim Perkis (electronics), Gino Robair (analog synth) and John Shiurba (guitar) – to record these five spare but remarkably tense collective improvisations, intriguingly titled erstes Luftschiff zu Kalifornien, a reference to the ill-fated maiden voyage of John A. Morrell's hydrogen-filled airship on May 23rd 1908. Quite what this music has to do with that fateful story isn't exactly made clear, but unlike Morrell's doomed craft, which plummeted to ground seriously injuring all its passengers, it stays aloft beautifully. Eight improvisers, even without electronics, can make a hell of an unseemly racket, but there's a sense of restraint and purpose to these five pieces that's rarely achieved in ensemble improv, either live or on disc. The only other medium-sized improv ensembles capable of such magic are the Boston-based BSC and the Berlin-based Phosphor collective, but even the latter's eponymous debut album on Potlatch wasn't as good as this. The Germans, if left to their own devices, are quite at home wandering in the drizzle under the leaden skies of EAI, but here they're evidently enjoying the California sunshine. Perkis, Brown and Robair have always been colourful performers, and the additional timbral richness of trumpet, clarinet and guitar is a joy. The immensely talented (and criminally under-recorded) Ingalls is on magnificent form, sketching delicate melodic lines between the luminous clusters and buzzing clouds, and guitarist Shiurba proves he's as good at the gentle stuff as he is at tearing up those Ghost Trance charts with Braxton. They're all having so much fun that Djll can't resist letting rip a good blast or two in "interkontinentale luftschiffahrt", the album's longest and most impressive track. It's a shame that Creative Sources releases have tended to go largely ignored in recent times – proof perhaps that you can have too much of a good thing? – because this is one of the best discs you're likely to hear all year. Überwältigend, as they say in Berkeley. Dan Warburton (Paris Transatlantic)

Grosse Abfahrt (Creative Sources 065) is a fine summit meeting between European electronics whizzes (Serge Baghdassarians and Boris Baltschun) with six of the Bay Area’s finest: Chris Brown (piano and electronics), Tom Djll (trumpet), Matt Ingalls (clarinet), Tim Perkis (electronics), Gino Robair (analog synth), and John Shiurba (guitar). They produce a thick, rich brew that’s heavy on percussive sounds and styles – burbles from Robair, rough scrapings from the excellent Shiurba, and extended pulse play from Baltschun and Baghdassarians. The disc gets off to a somewhat slow and muffled start with the opening “am anfang Zerstorung.” But it seems to find its voice in the nearly 20-minute “interkontinentale luftschiffahrt,” which opens with Ingalls and Djll popping away like the bastard cousin of nmperign, blanketed in sonar pings and a canopy of noise. Chris Brown is central to the piece’s success, with his jabs springing loose a middle section for creaking, wheezing electronics. “Morrell remained hopeful” is a tasty bagatelle, while “riesenflugzeugabteilung” covers your head with a thick electronic sheen. Jason Bivins (Dusted)

The big band improvisation is getting more and more popular. I noticed this before, with Mimeo, Plains and Freq_out, we now also have Grosse Abfahrt. Named after a catastrophe with a zeppelin about a century ago, this is a big band: Serge Baghdassarians (electronics), Boris Baltschun (electronics), Chris Brown (piano, electronics), Tom Djll (trumpet), Matt Ingalls (clarinet), Tim Perkins (electronics), Gino Robair (analogue synthesizer) and John Shiurba (guitar). They all improvise their way through the pieces, and what was noted with Plains, can also be said here: it seems that the bigger the band, the quieter the music is, or perhaps it's just a matter of low volume mastering. They have four lengthy pieces and one short one here, and it's quite an affair of subtleness. Feedback like sounds, scratching the surface of guitar and wind instruments, crackles and peeps, this demands a big form of concentration, that is quite rewarding in the end. Parallels can be drawn to the music to that of MEV or AMM, and less to the bands above, mainly due to somewhat more extensive use of acoustic sound sources. It's a marriage that works well, the meeting of electronic and acoustic sounds, and it makes this not really an easy CD, but certainly a most rewarding one. Frans de Waard (Vital Weekly)

Grosse Abfhart, ou a Grande Partida, octeto formado por Serge Baghdassarians (electrónica), Boris Baltschun (electrónica), Chris Brown (piano, electrónica), Tom Djll (trompete), Matt Ingalls (clarinete), Tim Perkis (electrónica), Gino Robair (sintetizador analógico) e John Shiurba (guitarra). Com tanta electrónica a bordo do zepellin carregado de hidrogénio, o risco de despenhamento e explosão era real, por causa da putativa interferência com os comandos de voo. Além disso, somando sintetizador e guitarra eléctrica, poder-se-ia pensar que Erstes Luftschiff zu Kalifornien (Creative Sources 065), título deste episódio associativo entre músicos alemães e californianos houvesse de resultar numa massa sonora compacta e de elevado volume, sem nuance nem detalhe. Suposição errada, pois nada nos movimentos do Luftschiff a caminho da Califórnia vai aos trambolhões. Os cinco desdobramentos da peça são duma rara ductilidade e subtileza em escala diminuta. Para se perceber o que se passa é necessário fazer um penetrante zoom auditivo e estar atento ao mínimo sinal, porque a movimentação é quase imperceptível. Por vezes, mal se dá pelos sinais vitais, a música quase perde o pulso; noutras, como é o caso de Interkontinentale Luftshiffhart, crescem estalagmites de piano e guitarra em direcção ao espaço sideral, intervaladas por silêncios ameaçadores. Aos poucos, as formas começam a revelar-se a partir da quase ausência de som. Por cima do sussurro, camada fina de electrónica, crescente marulhar das ondas, reconhece-se um silvo de clarinete, um restolhar de trompete, o lento gotejar do piano. Parece que nada se passa mas a tensão está lá, presente ou eminente. Quando a Europa se encontra com a Bay Area de S. Francisco tudo pode acontecer, e desta vez aconteceu magia. Há vida e música com ideias nesta estimulante perspectiva de um novo Summer of Love euro-americano. Eduardo Chagas (Jazz e Arredores)

"Sometimes they com back" and nothing is truer than this that’s why together with Birgit Ulher one of most prolific artists of Creative Sources huge roster is Gino Robair. Ok, I know this an ensemble with no less than eight musicians therefore opening a review like that doesn’t give justice to the other team players, but here following is a list of the other names: Tom Djll, Serge Baghdassarians, Boris Baltschun, Chris Brown, Matt Ingalls, Tim Perkis, John Shiurba. During these five episodes this experimental ensemble plays some of the most silent sounds I’ve been listening after Bernhard Günter. This line up deals with the contemporary thing, but here and there they dive deeply into electronic music. For those of you who’ve heard the release of Sei Miguel, that was one of the few releases who can compete with Grosse Abfahrt for the amount of silence used. Obviously that’s the most interesting part ‘cause eight talented musicians intentionally far from solos and rigorously abstinent from crescendos can create an interesting work. At the same time the question is still if playing keeping far from any sort of melody or just by emitting some soft acoustical noises ends to be just another dogmatic way to approach players’ interaction. This’ one of the most un-played and self-disciplined works I’ve heard recently, the impression is that they develop a real interest in stirring just a few sounds in the performative place, that’s why even if I think the recording is good and the cd interesting it should have been a great session to be seen live. Soft sounds and acute frequencies frozen right under the icepack. If you’re confident with silent music go for it, if not beware of the fact it requires a lot of attention. Andrea Ferraris (Chain DLK)

Despite the group’s name, GROSSE ABFAHRT, and the albums title, ERSTES LUFTSCHIFF ZU KALIFORNIEN (creative Sources 065), the group is an octet of Bay Area musicians (Serge Baghdassarians, elec; Boris Baltschun, elec; Chris Brown, p, elec; Tom Djll, tpt; Matt Ingalls, cl; Tim Perkis, elec; Gino Robair, analog synth; John Shiurba, g). There seems to be a contingent of musicians from this area gravitating toward electro/acoustic improvisation and this music lies firmly in that area. The disc consists of five tracks: three in the 7-10 minute range (Am Anfang Zerstorung / Riesenflugzeugabteilung / Ein Dicker “Gas Bag”), one short 3 minute piece (Morrell Remained Hopeful), and one epic length exploration (Interkontinentale Luftschiffahrt). (total time: 47:30, 10/10/04, Berkeley, CA). As with most EAI, the improvisation generally lies at the quiet end of the spectrum. This serves the effect of making the louder passages more effective, although some might say that makes them more obtrusive. The two electronic jolts on the brief “Morrell Remained Hopeful” serves the purpose of precluding any complacency on the part of the listener. And when Djll lets loose with a well-placed bray on “Interkontinentale Luftschiffahrt” it serves the purpose of changing the direction of the music, causing others to follow suit. These five tracks are well-measured improves however and these are eight listening musicians. It’s impressive that one can gather together this number of musicians and engage in collective improvisation with no one stepping on another’s toes. The improvisations seem to grow organically and the music rarely falters. Robert Iannapollo (Cadence)

Named for a German dirigible that in 1908 crashed near Berkeley, Calif. during an unsuccessful demonstration of its potential as trans-oceanic liner, Grosse Abfahrt’s CD is organized around more successful European-American interfaces.
Undoubtedly it’s because the only air being distilled here are the currents propelled from the eight instruments on Erstes Luftschiff zu Kalifornien and the nine on Everything that Disappears. Also more in keeping with 21st Century improvisation, the fuel of choice – besides the musicians’ inventiveness – is electricity, not hydrogen gas. Plus, as opposed to brief duration and subsequent crash of inventor John Morrell’s disastrous flight, only one improvisation on either intriguing set is less than three minutes in length. Most clock in around the 10-minute mark, with the first disc’s “interkontinentale luftschiffahrt” proceeding for almost 19 minutes while the other session’s “geometric undulating driveway symmetrical, all the road of masters” unrolls for nearly 39 minutes. Depending on traffic, the later probably is likely a longer time-frame then it takes to drive between San Francisco and Berkeley.
Chief instigators of the project are a group of experienced Bay area improvisers whose associates involve various bands, computer music, study or teaching at nearby Mills College and work with theorist/saxophonist Anthony Braxton. Present on the disc are trumpeter Tom Djll, clarinetist Matt Ingalls, guitarist John Shiurba, percussionist Gino Robair and electronics manipulator Tim Perkis. Chris Brown on piano and electronics – member of the electro-acoustic band the Hub – joins the home team on Erstes Luftschiff zu Kalifornien.
Visitors on the CD are Berlin-based electronics experimenters Serge Baghdassarians and Boris Baltschun, while the other CD’s out-of-town input is all French: pianist Frédèric Blondy plus Lê Quan Ninh, whose contributions are via a surrounded bass drum.
Courtesy of the Teutonic dial twisters – as well as Perkins, Brown and Robair – the CD is more electronically oriented. Hissing and undulating pulsations coalesce and swell throughout, relieved slightly by antiphonal cork-screw like aural actions and bottle top-like pops. When clearly identifiable instrumental timbres are heard, they too exist in the furthest reaches of extended techniques. For instance, featured are low-frequency chording and metallic and metronomic key clinking from the piano, perilously plus descending reed slides from the clarinetist, with both mixed among split-second cavity tube gasps from the trumpet. Occurring alongside these pitches are scraping sideband whooshes, reverberating ramping, bubbling circular synthesized tones and what could be an electric fan whirring.
Frequently converging then breaking apart, the effects reach a crescendo midway through this session when the cumulative pulses isolate a thick rhythm which suggests a stick being scraped against a ratchet, while piano cadenzas clink and the horns alternate between tongue slaps and approximating squeak-toys.Based on textural exploration rather than story telling or straightforward exposition, this CD can be appreciated for their atmospheric qualities. Accepted on their own specialized terms, they offer rewarding listens. Ken Waxman (JazzWord)

Shades of Mimeo, the Creative Sources label presents an electroacoustic improv "supergroup" of sorts, assembled from around the world, centered in Berkeley (where this recording was committed to tape, or disc, as it were). Formed by trumpet deconstructionist Tom Djll, the group corrals European players Serge Baghdassarians and Boris Baltschun together with their American counterparts Chris Brown, Tim Perkis, Gino Robair, and others in a renegade soundclash, an emergent systems music whereby actual systems are abandoned, structure negated, technology used then disassembled and anarchy harnessed/reinforced. All of this is accomplished with little sonic fanfare and squeakily wrestled to the ground in the finest onkyo tradition, where less is more, the stereofield requiring sophisticated electron-magnification to unveil all the nuance contained deep within the aural spectrum.
In fact, with all the insectile scurrying going on amidst the opening piece's first tentative seconds, you'd be forgiven in thinking that you've stumbled upon some mutant environmental recording by accident. While faint, bass-like rumbles establish tremors along an amelodic fault line, the players scatter a vast multitude of sounds (suffocating shortwave signals, scratchy guitar, growing hums, electronic raindrops) across the penumbra like so much sonic debris. With the template established, Grosse Abfahrt proceed to virtually tear apart pat analogs and instrument clarity in the service of yielding spectacularly unnerving (and previously unheard) results. The eighteen minute "Interkontinentale Luftschiffahrt" reads like the autopsying of some vast bank of alien computing equipment: Matt Ingalls' clarinet probes dark depths throughout the tableaux etched by the diminutive noises of his colleagues, mental states altering pitches shuffled along by nagging frequencies, rubbed feedback, squalls of unknown electronics building on event horizons. These acts of febrile sound-scaping seem to truck more with the likes of Subotnick or Buchla than most any dozen modern-day electroacousticians. True, improvisation is the glue holding these pieces together — the artists are, no doubt, organizing these tactile environments on the fly — but the results court extremely experimental ideals more so than anything faintly tickling dusty corners of "jazz."
Overall, this is a protean work of electrical magic, outsourced from machines, bent into shape at the hands of their circuit manipulators, sounding like little else around. The octet's name translates as "great departure" — can't think of a better moniker with which to outfit any other explorers of sound this year. Darren Bergstein (The Squid's Ear)

Grosse Abfahrt est un collectif de San Francisco au personnel fluctuant et réunissant des improvisateurs d’envergure de la Baie autour d’une rencontre avec des musiciens de passage. Parmi le noyau fixe, un as de l’impro électronique, Tim Perkis, le trompettiste Tom Djll, le clarinettiste Matt Ingals, le percussionniste Gino Robair crédité “energised surface & voltage made audible” et le guitarriste John Shiurba, auquel se joignent des collègues locaux et des invités étrangers. Cette equipe californienne, issue du fameux Mills College, n’est pas à son premier coup d’essai: deux rencontres ont été documentes par Rastascan, le label de Robair, et Emanem. Six Fuchs / Rastascan avec le clarinettiste berlinois Wolfgang Fuchs et Super Model Super Model / Emanem avec la tromboniste londonienne Gail Brand sont deux enregistrements enthousiasmants. Cês musiciens californiens y pratiquent une improvisation fortement teintée d’électronique avec des couleurs et une dynamique particulière uniques en leur genre tout en se fondant complètement dans l’esthétique de leurs deux invités. Sans nul doute, ces expériences réussies les ont poussés à en poursuivre le cheminement pour le plus grand bonheur de leurs invités étrangers, Serge Baghdassarians et Boris Baltschun à l’électronique [...] Quelles que soient les personalités impliquées, Grosse Abfahrt cultive une prédilection pour une mise en commun totale de l’activité sonore individuelle et une dilatation du temps où le sentiment de la durée disparaît. [...] Erstes Luftschiff zu Kalifornien (octobre 2004) nous fait découvrir des échanges subtils dans la géométrie de l’espace rendue possible par la dynamique sonore des instrumentistes électroniques. Dans la production pléthorique de l’impro cum électronica, la finesse de Grosse Abfahrt est une aubaine: leur démarche épurée et son lent défilement conserve une densité étonnante. [...] Au total, trois remarcables documents d’improvisation contemporaine à fond dans des préoccupations analogues à celled des “nouveaux” improvisateurs documentes pae ces micro labels radicaux, mais sans doxa trop définie, ni posture idéologique. D’ailleurs, Shiurba, Robair et Ingals ont travaillé intensément avec Anthony Braxton et cette collaboration a débouché sur ses enregistrements parmi les plus convaincants de la décennie écoulée. Ils ont été publiés Par Rastascan et limited (s)edition le label de Shiurba. L’improvisation est un processus ouvert, n’est-ce pás? Et ici, le systématique est banni pour notre plus grand plaisir, tant la palette sonore est riche et variée. Par rapport à de nombreuses productions Erstwhile, Creative Sources ou Another Timbre, il y a plus de sourire et de soleil. La Californie et ses palmiers de bord de mer, sans doute. J’avoue être un abonné. Jean Michel van Schouwburg (Improjazz)