Thomas Lehn

Leimgruber, Demierre, Lehn: in the endless wind

by Glenn Astarita
June 25, 2024

Per the marketing release, LDL emerged from the trio LDP, which had already made waves in the European music scene. However, the transformation did not stop there. The addition of analog synthesizer ace Thomas Lehn expanded the group, resulting in the quartet LDP+L. Interestingly, Barre Phillips, who played a pivotal role in shaping LDP's style and form, does not appear on the LDL lineup. In The Endless Wind invites listeners on an introspective journey. Urs Leimgruber's soprano saxophone ...

Thermal: Ice In A Hot World

by John Sharpe
September 16, 2023

A group which played their first concert in a disused Brussels train station in the early 2000s shows it still knows how to unsettle on Ice In A Hot World. It is only the second album during this time from saxophonist John Butcher, analog synthesizer player Thomas Lehn and guitarist Andy Moor, who ply their trade under the banner Thermal. Recorded live in Avignon just before the pandemic hit, the five spontaneously crafted cuts showcase a particularly egalitarian trio who ...

John Butcher, Thomas Lehn, Gino Robair: Shaped & Chased

by Mark Corroto
June 9, 2022

To mark John Butcher's 65th birthday in 2019, a series of concerts was held (mostly in Berlin) which produced five well-appointed limited edition LPs of 300 from the folks at Ni Vu Ni Connu. The varied albums include Induction, a trio with Burkhard Beins and Werner Dafeldecker, La Pierre Tachée, a duo with Sophie Agnel, Shaped & Chased, a trio with Thomas Lehn and Gino Robair, Lamenti Dall'infinito, a quartet with Liz Allbee, Ignaz Schick, and Marta Zapparoli, and Glints, ...

John Butcher / Thomas Lehn / Matthew Shipp: The Clawed Stone

by John Sharpe
December 4, 2020

The unlikely conjunction of American pianist Matthew Shipp, most strongly associated with New York avant jazz, and British saxophonist John Butcher and German electronicist Thomas Lehn, two leading exponents of the European free improvisation scene, works like a dream on The Clawed Stone. It's not a one off. The genesis of this 2017 Paris studio session lies in the pianist's invite for Butcher to join him as part of a 2010 residency at London's Cafe Oto, which was documented as ...

Speak Easy: @ Konfrontationen

by John Eyles
March 5, 2020

Recorded in July 2016, at Festival Konfrontationen in Nickelsdorf, Austria, this album consists of a single track lasting fifty-two minutes, which probably represented the entire Speak Easy set at the festival. Speak Easy comprises vocalists Ute Wasserman and Phil Minton, with Thomas Lehn on analogue synthesizer and Martin Blume on drums and percussion. The quartet previously released Backchats (Creative Sources, 2009), the same year its DVD The Loft Concert was issued (see YouTube below.) As Wasserman ...

Thomas Lehn: Backchats and Somethingtobesaid

by Clifford Allen
April 3, 2010

Speak Easy Backchats Creative Sources 2009 John Butcher Somethingtobesaid Weight of Wax 2009 Electronic instruments have been part of improvised music for over 40 years and the availability of digital tools as part of the sound palette is something that can clearly be beneficial. Electronic improvisation and sound art generally refer, at this stage, ...

Thomas Lehn: feldstarken

by Glenn Astarita
July 1, 2001

German analogue synthesizer ace, Thomas Lehn pursues subliminal metaphors along with quaintly executed motifs on this 2000 release, titled Feldstarken. Here, the CD cover artwork consisting of block diagrams/circuit schemas and a knob driven soundboard, provides a backdrop for the sonic environment as Lehn transforms seemingly ancient technology into useful vehicles for acute expressionism. With this project, the artist executes a series of freely improvised vignettes and themes, brimming with deftly articulated and altogether perplexing statements.

Lehn manipulates waveforms into ...