Jazz Articles

Chris Abrahams & Sabine Vogel: Kopfuberwelle

by John Eyles
January 10, 2013

Kopfüberwelle features the duo of German flautist Sabine Vogel and The Necks' pianist, Chris Abrahams, uncharacteristically on pipe organ. Of the six tracks, the first five were recorded in May 2010 in St. Annenkirche in Zepernick and the sixth in June 2009 in Potsdam, where Vogel holds a university teaching position. The rationale for Abrahams' switch of instrument from piano to organ is explained by the duo's “explorations of both differences and similarities between the flute and organ." There are ...

Craig Hilton and Tomas Phillips: Le gout de neant

by John Eyles
September 19, 2011

According to its sleeve notes, the opening track of Le goût de néant, “Sans mouvement I," is a studio recording of Craig Hilton playing solo guzheng, a multi-stringed Chinese zither with movable bridges. This is remarkable, as it does not sound like one person playing a solo instrument; the resonances produced by the guzheng create the impression of a many-layered, drone-like sound collage--one which is very pleasing, bearing resemblances to some of Brian Eno's slowly-evolving, ambient pieces. Had the entire ...

Andrea Neumann: Pappelallee 5

by John Eyles
October 17, 2009

On the surface, the recording of this half-hour long piece by Andrea Neumann on inside piano should have been easy. Had it been recorded in a recording studio, it would have been and the end result would be very different to what's presented here. Instead of a studio, Neumann opted to work on it in her apartment and to integrate the sounds of the building into her composition. As she lives in a block mostly occupied by musicians (with the ...

Gilles Aubry, Andrea Ermke, Annette Krebs, Ignaz Schick: Berlin Electronics

by John Eyles
January 13, 2009

Five years after Berlin Strings (Absinth, 2004) and Berlin Reeds and four years after Berlin Drums (Absinth, 2005), Absinth releases the fourth in the series, Berlin Electronics. As before, it features four practitioners, each one represented on their own 3-inch CD. Unlike before, all the music is also available on a 12-inch vinyl edition. In typical Absinth fashion, both the CD and the vinyl versions have beautiful hand painted, numbered sleeves--very collectible!

There is no interaction between the ...

Phono_phono: phono_phono

by John Eyles
October 15, 2007

phono_phono is both the album title and the name of this new guitar-flute-piano-plus-electronics trio, seemingly led by Michael Renkel. Certainly, the music here is recognizably Renkel, with its mix of slower reflective passages and rapid-fire improvisation. The album has a clear structure: four extended tracks separated by three much shorter interludes. These interludes are not filler, though; each is a substantial piece in its own right. For instance, without becoming mere program music, “Interlude III" brilliantly simulates the sounds of ...

Michael Renkel: Errorkoerper III

by John Eyles
July 30, 2006

Lest anyone think that the use of electric guitar, effects processor and laptop prescribes a particular type of sound or a particular way of playing, here is Michael Renkel to disabuse them of the notion; there are as many ways and sounds as there are players.

Renkel used his guitar as a source of non-traditional guitar sounds--including using e-bow and percussive techniques--which were then sent to an effects processor and thence to two laptops. We need not get too bogged ...