Radio Tweet cs335

The cover of this release is quite interesting: it looks like a field with trees in the far distance, but the more I look at this, these trees might also be sound waves, from a picture of a computer screen. It is a fascinating picture and I am trying to think of this in terms of the music; either a representation of the music as recorded or a score to play. Birgit Uhler plays trumpet, radio, speaker and objects, and we know her from her previous works in the field of improvised music. She has been playing with Ute Wassermann (voice, bird whistles) for a very long time. Back in Vital Weekly 453 (which might have been from 2004) I reviewed 'Kunststoff', which I found a bit long (one hour) and too limited in what these women had to offer, variation-wise. I believe Uhler played mostly trumpet back then; the extended set-up she uses these days adds more variation to her playing and these days I am quite a fan of her work. This new work doesn't disappoint either. Like on that previous release, Wassermann's voice is about an imitation of what Uhler does with her trumpet and other sounds, but her voice opens up a whole world of possibilities of her own, with those bird whistles. These eight pieces (forty-five minutes) are quite intense in approach. There seems always something going on, even when it's nearly silent. One can do nothing else but listen closely to this music and be sucked into the sound world of these two musicians. Open up your ears and mind and something beautiful will unfold. At forty-five minutes I would think this is also the right length. More would not be good, less also doesn't seem right. Excellent work. Frans de Ward (Vital Weekly)

Birgit Ulher manie la trompette comme si elle s’était transformée en machine, faisant tressauter la colonne d’air tant avec les lèvres qu’avec les plaques métalliques qu’elle applique sur le pavillon comme une sourdine, ou émettant un souffle impalpable qu’elle perturbe ensuite en saturant ou en percutant l’embouchure. Ute Wassermann qui s’applique aux  appeaux, roucoule, caquète, jacasse, béquète, glousse, hulule avec la plus grande finesse. Leurs sons ininterrompus bruissent obstinément  et s’enchevêtrent bien souvent, évoquant la manie éperdue du pivert. La linéarité de l’émission sonore est assumée de bout en bout  de chacune des huit improvisations agitées par les rapides battements réitérés de volière prise au piège et qui tente en vain  de s’échapper. Et pourtant malgré ce parti pris de scansion d’un seul temps accentué en quasi-permanence, il n’y a aucune redondance tant leur registre sonore est  diversifié et leur acharnement convaincant. Le dialogue logique est évacué pour une complémentarité loufoque. La voix de la chanteuse est devenue celle d’oiseaux rendus fous et on finit par oublier qu’il s’agit d’une voix humaine ou féminine. Sur un fond lointain de radio, la trompette siffle et sussure et les appeaux zozotent dans l’aigu et tremblotent quand, soudaine, la trompette aspire abruptement le son « à l’envers ». Le disque nous révèle l’étendue de leur extraordinaire univers sonore, mais ne saurait remplacer la présence physique d’un concert, raison de plus pour réclamer leur venue dans votre ville. Une dizaine d’années après leur excellent premier Kunststoff sur le même label, Birgit Ulher et Ute Wassermann se sont surpassées. Ne ressemble à rien d‘autre de connu.

NB : ayant reçu un paquet CS considérable et ayant d'autres cd's en attente d'écoute , j'ai été obligé de brader mon travail d'écriture vu l'urgence de vous communiquer mon enthousiasme. Jean-Michel van Schouwburg (Orynx)

Vokalistka Ute Wassermann a trumpetistka Birgit Ulher (rozhovor s ní vyšel v posledním tišt?ném ?ísle HIS Voice (m?žete si ho p?e?íst i na jejích webových stránkách), recenze na její jiné nahrávky najdete zde) nahrály sv?j první spole?ný opus Kunststoff v roce 2003 (vyšel o rok pozd?ji na portugalském labelu Creative Sources), druhé dílo Radio Tweet pak vzniklo v roce 2012, ale na své vydání ?ekalo p?es t?i roky. Jejich vzájemná chemie je tu ješt? synteti?t?jší než na prvotin?, ale k jejímu pravému vychutnání musíte zvolit ponorn?jší poslech - sám jsem se setkal s reakcí náhodných kolemjdoucích poslucha??, kte?í sonickou koláž vycházející z reproduktor? okomentovali jako hudbu k podivnému hororu nebo opi?í království.

N?které kompozice na novince sice pracují s ur?itými plochami ?i s jakýmsi quasiindustriálním rozm?rem, v?tšinou je ovšem pot?eba si opravdu všímat všech detail?, nuancí a fines. Ute si tu pohvizduje jako ptáci (to má ostatn? dle kreditu v popisu práce), ale i jako ?ajová konvice nebo minilokomotiva, zur?í, blumlá, brumlá až brukotá, bzíká, cvr?í, hrdeln? klokotá i klopotá, ch?ípí, chruje, sy?í, sípe, vru?í, ?eže, úpí, je?í, vzdychá, mru?í, pipká, hu?í a v?bec vyluzuje nejr?zn?jší sk?eky, polyká písmena a gloglá i kloktá. Jen ob?as pak prozvukují zp?vy a ševely. Brigit sv?j nástroj vdechuje a brousí, jindy na n?j pufe, loupe, profukuje i bublá. Další arzenál v podob? reproduktor?, rádia a objekt? používá k vytvá?ení jakési kuchy?ské a koupelnové zvukové kulisy. Celé je to taková sofistikovaná d?tská hra prozrazující neskonalou bezb?ehou fantazii. Rozverná i zkoumající. Každý z osmi kus? p?ekvapuje stále novými nápady a postupy, které nádhern? souzní i pozitivn? disonují, prolínají se i zakousávají do sebe. Petr Slaby (His Voice)

The existence of a reviewer is occasionally rewarded in unexpected ways. In the last few days, I had been bored to death by a pair of lame albums by some sort of progressive-new-jazz-whatchamacallit entities, wondering how in the world certain labels accept low levels of compromise in order not to sink, in the meantime trying to fool new audiences by passing off barely above average stuff as “innovative”. Then I opened a packet, which contained a kind note by Ute Wassermann accompanying Radio Tweet: I knew straight away that my revenge was coming soon. This reporter has been an unrepentant fan of both the vocalist and Ulher’s work since the very beginnings. Simply put, these women can’t fail; and indeed, they didn’t. This CD belongs among the best of 2016: you can bet on that already, in early February.

A main attribute in the duo’s intuitive practice is the striking equity between the extremization of their palette and a not always evident irony. This is summarized by a relatively even-tempered display of variously shaped noises seamed into implausibly heterogeneous configurations, completely eschewing the logic of regular tone and academically acceptable timbre. That one often struggles to ascertain what comes from an instrument and what from the voice substantiates disputable “imperfections” as the origin of ungovernable creativity, provided that instant choices are regulated by intelligence. Several preparations of Ulher’s trumpet – in addition to Wassermann’s bird whistles – add to the general discombobulation by introducing harsh rattling and pseudo-pulses while eliciting the idea of bizarre animal hybrids. The overall result, halfway through mechanical disfunction and far-sighted concreteness, invariably seizes the listener’s attention across myriads of micro-detours, small shocks and unconceivable colloquialism.

This music dismembers the canonical characteristics of that brand of levigated improvisation which nowadays appears controlled by artistic superintendents and ultimately destined to a clique. At the same time it remains entirely comprehensible, funny, and utterly gratifying for the ears. A must for scattered lone wolves. Massimo Ricci (Touching Extremes)

Radio Tweet (CREATIVE SOURCES RECORDINGS CS 335 CD) sees two talented German performatrices making some lively improvised sounds together in the studio in Hamburg…Birgit Uhler is no stranger to the house of TSP, recently heard for instance with fellow Hamburgian Gregory Büttner on Araripepipra with her radical approach to playing her trumpet, while Ute Wassermann was recently name-checked as part of a Gary Rouzer review. True to its name, Radio Tweet does showcase birdsong effects – evidently one of Ute’s specialities is using her vocal skills to imitate bird whistles, but this is just a small part of her impressive training and craft: since 1984, she has “developed many special multi-voiced vocal techniques, catalogued by register, timbre and articulative sequences”, according to the bods at Mode Records.

Birgit Uhler’s principal skill is to create small, compacted, but very busy sounds; using her trumpet and radio set, plus small objects, she is the cat that creates many a rattle for Ute’s cage. Providing an understated and fluttery set of abstract instrumentals, the duo don’t really let rip with anything especially noisy or agitated except perhaps for ‘Demodulation’, where Ute growls like an angry African parrot while a symphony of 18 tea-kettles are blowing their spouts behind her. There’s also the astonishing ‘Radio For Birds’ at the end of the set, a slightly alarming roarer which would make a good alternative soundtrack to Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 masterpiece. Indeed, the very title Radio Tweet is suggestive of two modes of communication – one old-school analogue, one contemporary digital – coming together for multiple modes of expression.

Ute is – along with Hanna Hartmann, Andrea Neumann, and two other women – one of the five Femmes Savantes, a collaborative project active since 2005, whose members are capable of tackling jazz, improvised music, sound art, and modern composition, doing so in an extremely democratic manner. I can well believe, hearing Ute’s taut delivery here, that she regularly fulfils one of Femmes Savantes USPs: “the performer’s body becomes the instrument”. From 26 November 2015. (The Sound Projector)