The Delphi was one of the greatest silent movie cinemas of Berlin. It was in operation since the late 20s, it shone in its own golden era, was bombed during the Second World War, was closed and then reused as a warehouse; its walls faded, its floor grew mildewy and its facade today does not indicate anything about what once went on the inside. The interior itself maintains a faded echo of its former glory and its integration in this century’s 20s makes it a hidden gem for some tourist guides of modern Berlin.

Klaus Janek had a surprising encounter with Jeff Surak that led to a recording session in Janek’s studios, in the area of Pankow in an old Bauhaus building very close to the Delphi. It was their first collaboration. Their dialogue was strictly musical, but the imposing presence and the history of the building was a silent connecting factor regarding their interaction as an improvisational duo and how they would be influenced by the narrative of the Delphi’s aesthetic incorporation by today’s artistic necessities. “Delphi”, out now on Coherent States, is a recording of all the interconnectivity between artists, space, time and sound.

Klaus Janek is a Berlin based composer, contrabassist and researcher. Originally from Bolzano/Italy, Janek is known for his musical approach combining the compositional and performative act on his set of contrabass and electronics and his interdisciplinary collaborations in choreography, music theater and spoken words. Making music since the mid-90s, his recording work is published in a period that spans from 2001 to today.

Jeff Surak has been a fixture within the experimental community for more than 40 years, curating the Sonic Circuits Festival, programming for Rhizome DC, and running his own Zeromoon label. His own work manifests non-linear narratives through lo-fi techniques and archaic technologies. Jeff Surak returns to Coherent States after the amazing 2021’s “Freie Kassettenkultur” by Girls On Tape (with Rinus van Alebeek).

released October20th, 2023

Klaus Janek: double bass, electronics
Jeff Surak: dictaphones, effects
Recorded July 2022 in Berlin.
Design & layout by John Kontandreopoulos / Semitone Labs

CS-47. coherentstates.com. 2023

please listen and order here

The music of this album is one of different elements, which constitutes the walking-through-music- theatre piece Rwandan Records.

What does tradition mean when the past is tainted by crimes? Who decides what is carried on a collective knowledge and moored in the culture? RWANDAN RECORDS is a sound installation, radio play and live concert by Sounding Situations featuring artists from Rwanda and Germany and combines pre-colonial accounts with stories from the present. It invites audience members to immerse themselves in the stories shared by Rwanda and Germany.

What you experience in the piece on a musical level is a soundscape formed out of field recordings of nowadays done by Klaus Janek, musical field recordings and music experts collected in the 20th century starting from 1907 to the 80ies – the notion of a Rwandan auditive culture scape. The voices of the recordings which are activated by the audience mix an own language soundscape to the space. The private encounters with those voices are now and then sporadically interrupted by a collectively shared concert event: the music of these events you are holding in your hand now.

The music is created by sampling through the archives in order to form an aesthetic synthesis of the music tradition of Rwanda and personalize it through a commonly shared OWN of 1Key and Klaus Janek, which is the fascination of 90ies Hip Hop.
credits
released April 28, 2023

Text and performance: 1Key
Composition and double- bass, FX, MPC performance: Klaus Janek
snaredrum: Radio Citizen

The music was created in tight collaboration with Milena Kipfmüller and Jens Dietrich and is an element of the music theater piece Rwandan Records Snares added by Radio Citizen.

Mixed and mastered by Niko Schabel

Pictures from the live performances of the piece Rwandan Records at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Kampnagel, Hamburg and Humboldt Forum Berlin by Merlin Nadj-Torma

Graphic design by Stephanie Roderer

The album is produced by Sounding Situations in 2022.

sounding-situations.com
syrphe.com

Catalogue number : S033

purchase the music here

LOR160 – Paul Khimasia Morgan & Klaus Janek – Cocktail Party (cassette/DL)
Duo improvisations from Berlin Based Janek (double bass and electronics) and Suffolk based Morgan (guitar body and effects)

****New Linear Obsessional Release****Out Now and Shipping*****

A collection of extraordinary improvisations by Brighton based improviser Paul Khimasia Morgan (acoustic guitar body and electronics) and Berlin based Klaus Janek (double bass).
Intricate, alien and unique. The musicicians are communicating and listening intently – in a fascinating language of slippery and ecstatic sound.
Released as a cassette in a bright red shell, and colour cover in the Linear Obsessional cassette imprint and as a download.
“The cocktail party effect is the phenomenon of being able to focus one’s auditory attention on a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli, as when a partygoer can focus on a single conversation in a noisy room. This effect is what allows most people to “tune into” a single voice and “tune out” all others. It may also describe a similar phenomenon that occurs when one may immediately detect words of importance originating from unattended stimuli, for instance hearing one’s name in another conversation”
Klaus and Paul’s “Cocktail Party” is a collaborative project facilitated by file-sharing during Lockdown in early 2021. Material recorded in Berlin and Sussex.
Released as a limited edition cassette in red shell and download code as part of the Linear Obsessional Cassette Imprint (with design by David Little) and as a download with PDF booklet of notes and images…

https://linearobsessional.bandcamp.com/album/cocktail-party

A​*​rray 2, part 1
from A​*​rray by Andy Graydon & Various Artists

France Jobin, electronics & modulars, Montreal
Katie Porter, bass clarinet, Summit County, UT
Klaus Janek, contrabass & electronics, Berlin
pierre gerard, piano & cello, Liège

based on a moving image score by Andy Graydon
edited and mixed by Andy Graydon
mastered by Stephan Mathieu at Schwebung Mastering
France Jobin is published by Touch Music/Fairwood Music UK Ltd
credits
from A​*​rray, releases October 2, 2020

preorder on oct 2nd at bandcamp

Two generations cross over two countries. Milena Kipfmüller uses tape material of the 70ies done by her father Günter Kipfmüller in north-east Brazil: recordings of popular travelling musicians in the sertao that transform news and stories in virtuously improvised poetry, the “violeiros”. The source material enters a nowadays process of electronic transformation in dialogue with the three other string instruments. Viola and cello are played by father and son, Guilherme and Ernesto Rodrigues, thus by two generations that compose in their own, different (analogue) languages. Klaus Janek at the contrabass, combines both aspects in his artistic practice, the analogue instrument and electronics – bridging the two duos of generations and transformation processes.

editing and mixing: sounding situations
recorded in Berlin 2019

sounding situations [SNDNG STTNS]
Milena Kipfmüller – tape and electronics
Klaus Janek – contrabass and electronics
feat.

Guilherme Rodrigues – cello
Ernesto Rodrigues – viola

46:32 min

artwork: Marion Burbulla
Creative Source / ALMENRAUSCHEN
Berlin/Lisbon 2020

Spontaneous Music Tribune (nov 2020) – Andrzej Nowak – writes about the album following:

We end our today’s Portuguese story in… Berlin! Milena Kipfmüller (tape and electronics) and Klaus Janek (double bass and electronics) as Sounding Situation some time ago recorded intriguing material that consumed the sounds of a live double bass, electronics and field recordings from Brazil, from the 70s of the last century (songs called Violeiros ; we wrote about this idea when discussing the double bassist’s 5-disc epic). Now we get a kind of reprise of this project (recorded last year), and for its realization they were invited – Ernesto Rodrigues on the viola and Guilherme Rodrigues on the cello. The whole musical journey (one track ) is 46 and a half minutes.

We are invited to the land of electro-acoustic non-obviousness when we are invited by stringed instruments that flow low (double bass) and extremely high (viola and cello ) – rumble, squeal, seem light, elusive, but also extremely massive. The whole thing, although a bit gentle at first, has its own rhythm, its sometimes hidden dynamics. Electronic sounds do a lot of good from start to finish. They usually create a mysterious background, sometimes they are the result of some live processing activities , they never go out of line, and above all, they force the sounds of the field into the stringed narrative in an interesting way. The latter appear after a few minutes. They are looped, mutated, as if they came to us from a completely different world. Kind of chamber with field electronic taste!! The Portuguese are perfectly stuck to this German idea – they prepare sounds when necessary, other times they flow in long, charming passages, and they do not look for silence on the fingerboards of their instruments.

The first real exciting moment is around 14 minutes, when this electro-acoustic bundle of sounds falls into an almost meditative pulse, not without a dark ambient flavor . After another few minutes, a lot of good comes to us from the double bass neck, which rumbles and rumbles connected to the cables, like a mutated bass guitar. Right after that, as a result of a combination of several circumstances, flow It even takes on a dub echo, and the atmosphere of Berlin’s post-techno from 25 years ago seems to be triumphant. There is no end to the kaleidoscope of intriguing and surprising sounds. The strings fall into a demonic dance, beautifully plunging into the pulsating drones of electronics and heavily processed field recordings. Around 22 minutes, the artists offer us a moment of breathing and sensual passages of purely acoustic string sounds, and then again the splashes of violeiros enter the action , sowing anxiety and seeming to ask existential questions about the place of sound in time and space. Just before the 30th minute is over, we have a real pile of sounds and emotions. An orchestra of stringersand electroacoustic ambient take a wonderful toll! Before this wonderful story finally resounds, we still have a short descent into silence, passages of string sawing and grinding, and a drone phase that seems to build up like a thunderstorm in lightning. The final of the recording is full of electro-acoustic sound pearls, it fades to the accompaniment of live sounds and another reprise of voices straight from the Brazilian jungle.

buy on bandcamp or write me for purchasing the CD

“A RECIPROCAL ACTION OR ARRANGEMENT INVOLVES TWO PEOPLE OR GROUPS OF PEOPLE WHO BEHAVE IN THE SAME WAY OR AGREE TO HELP EACH OTHER AND GIVE EACH OTHER ADVANTAGES” (CAMBRIDGE DICTIONARY). THE OXFORD DICTIONARY POINTS OUT A DIFFERENT MEANING, FOCUSING ON THE SYLLABLE RE MEANING BACK AND THE SYLLABLE PRO MEANING FORWARD. MUSIC PERFORMED TOGETHER IN THE PAST BUILDS THE SOURCE MATERIAL FOR A COMPOSITION THAT EMBRACES THE FACT THAT IN THE ACT OF MUSIC CREATION ALL MUSICIANS INVOLVED GROW RECIPROCALLY. THE LIVED NOW FORMULATES THE NOTION OF PRESENT/PRESENCE AND WRITES THE FUTURE NOW.
THE ALBUM CONSISTS OF MUSIC CHOSEN FROM A POOL OF RECORDINGS MADE OVER A TIME SPAN OF 10 YEARS AND ACCORDING TO ITS EXPRESSION COMPOSED ‘TOGETHER’. ALL OF THE MUSIC WAS CREATED THROUGH A PRACTICE OF COMBINING THE COMPOSITIONAL AND THE PERFORMATIVE ACT. THE ALBUM MAKING PROCESS CONSISTS OF TWO LEVELS: THE MUSIC CREATED IN THE PAST FUNCTIONS AS MATERIAL AND IS PUT INTO FORM THROUGH THE INSPIRATION IT PROVIDES. THIS MUSIC WITNESSES THE TRUST BETWEEN THE CREATORS IN THE ACT OF DOING AND ON A FURTHER STEP ITS AFFIRMATION TO THE RE-CONTEXTUALIZATION.

SIDE A
RECIPROCUM PART I …………………………………………………………………… 25:33
MATERIAL FROM RECORDING SESSIONS WITH KLAUS JANEK AND HEINER REINHARD, WILLI KELLERS, ANDY GRAYDON, NILS OSTENDORF, BILIANA VOUTCHKOVA (GRAPESHADE), MARK WEAVER, CHRISTIAN PINCOCK PUT IN FORM BY KLAUS JANEK

SIDE B
RECIPROCUM PART II ………………………………………………………………….. 22:10
MATERIAL FROM RECORDING SESSIONS WITH KLAUS JANEK AND NICOLAS WIESE, WILLIAM BILWA COSTA, LUCA MARINI (P600), ANDREW LAFKAS, BARRY WEISSBLAD, ROBERT SCHWARZ, SCOTT LOONEY, MARC MATTER, LUKAS MATTHAEI, MILENA KIPFMÜLLER (RADIOFON), WOUTER JASPERS, CHRIS DOUGLAS, BRENDAN DOUGHERTY, CLAYTON THOMAS PUT IN FORM BY MILENA KIPFMÜLLER
THE ALBUM WAS CREATED IN ITS MATERIAL BETWEEN 2010 AND 2017 AND IN ITS FORM IN 2018. MY GRATITUDE GOES TO ALL INVOLVED FOR THEIR MUSIC AND FOR THE TRUST IN THIS IDEA. ARTWORK BY STEPHANIE RODERER, WWW.STUDIO-PINGPONG.DE, THE ALBUM IS FUNDED PARTIALLY BY PROVINCIA DI BOLZANO/SÜDTIROL

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THE DUO SOUNDING SITUATIONS – KLAUS JANEK AND MILENA KIPFMÜLLER – EXPLORES THE NOTION OF BRIDGING BY PROSPECTING INTO CONCRETE SOUNDS, SPOKEN WORDS AND MUSIC MATERIAL.
SIDE A OF THE ALBUM STARTS ITS WAY WITH THE RECORDINGS DONE BY GÜNTER KIPFMÜLLER OF BRAZILIAN TRADITIONAL IMPROVISED MUSIC OF THE ‚VIOLEIROS‘ IN THE 70‘S. THIS SOURCE MATERIAL, AS WELL AS THE SOUNDS OF THE OLD RECORDING DEVICE – A UHER REPORTER – IS COMBINED WITH ELECTRONIC PROCESSING AND THE MUSICAL ACTING OF [SNDNG STTNS] IN THE PRESENT, CONNECTING DIFFERENT HISTORICAL CONTEXTS, GEOGRAPHICAL LANDSPACES AND TECHNOLOGICAL PROCESSES OVER 40 YEARS.
SIDE B HOSTS MUSIC MINED FROM LANGUAGE – SOUNDS THAT ARE NOT PRIMARILY PRODUCED WITH A MUSICAL INTENTION: USERS OF A LIBRARY RECORD 20 SEC OF READING OF A BOOK PASSAGE INTO AN ARTISTIC INTERACTIVE SYSTEM. KLAUS JANEK AND MILENA KIPFMÜLLER EXCLUSIVELY USE THE VOICES OF THE AUDIENCE AND THE AUDIENCES‘ REACTIONS TO PERFORM AND ALSO TO TRANSFORM THEM LIVE INTO A MUSICAL COMPOSITION. THE PARTICIPATIVE PERFORMANCE INSTALLATION IS NAMED AFTER ANOTHER FORM OF PROSPECTING: THE ECHO SONAR – ECHOLOT. IN AN ONGOING RESEARCH THE TWO MEMBERS EXPLORE THE JUNCTION OF SEMANTICS AND MUSICALITY IN LANGUAGE AS SOURCE MATERIAL FOR COMPOSITION.

SIDE A
VIOLEIROS REVISITADOS ……………………………………………. 11:09 RECORDED RECORDERS …………………………………………….. 14:03
SOURCE MATERIAL RECORDINGS BY GÜNTER KIPFMÜLLER ON A UHER REPORT 4000 IN THE 70‘S IN NORTHEAST BRAZIL AND THE SOUND OF THE TAPE MACHINE ITSELF. PROCESSING OF THE MATERIAL: MILENA KIPFMÜLLER. CONTRABASS AND ELECTRONICS: KLAUS JANEK. RECORDED IN PANKOW, BERLIN IN OCTOBER 2018.

SIDE B
ECHOLOT – MONTREAL / SÃO PAULO …………………………… 22:02
RECORDED DURING THE PERFORMATIVE INSTALLATION ECHOLOT COMMISSIONED BY THE GOETHE INSTITUT, MONTREAL FOR THE WHITE NIGHTS FESTIVAL IN FEB 2016 AND DURING ECHOLOT TAKING PLACE IN THE GOETHE INSTITUT SÃO PAULO IN JUNE 2017, WWW.SOUNDING-SITUATIONS.COM ARTWORK BY STEPHANIE RODERER, WWW.STUDIO-PINGPONG.DE, THE ALBUM IS FUNDED PARTIALLY BY PROVINCIA DI BOLZANO/SÜDTIROL

buy the lp for 18€ + shipping here

THE WORK FOLLOWS AN EMOTIONAL PATH A MAN LIVES THROUGH A LOSS: FIGHTING AGAINST IT, ACCEPTING IT, FREEZING INTO NUMBNESS, AWAKENING FROM IMPOTENCE, SENSING AWARENESS AND REDISCOVERING POSSIBILITY. AESTHETICALLY IT FOLLOWS A RULE OF ABSTRACTION TOWARDS THE NARRATION AND SEEKS FOR THE IN-BETWEEN. THE COMPOSITION ORBITS AROUND THE QUESTION, IF THE NOW IS MANIFESTED THROUGH THE NARRATIVE, THE PERFORMED AND THE PERCEIVED ONE, AND IF THE NON-TOLD (PAST MEMORY RESERVOIR, FUTURE PROJECTIONS) INFECTS THE MUSICAL LISTENING. IT DOESN‘T SHOW IT, BUT THE POSSIBILITY OF IT. THE PIECE IS INSPIRED BY THE POEM „LETTERA AMOROSA“ FROM RENÉ CHAR.

SIDE A
PROLOG ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4:21

AUTUMN ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 14:26

WINTER PART I ………………………………………………………………………………… 9:20

SIDE B
WINTER PART II ……………………………………………………………………………….. 6:20

SPRING ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 12:44

TOUCH …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 7:20

KLAUS JANEK CONTRABASS. COMPOSED AND PERFORMED LIVE, RECORDED IN FEBRUARY 2003 AT STUDIO 2, FUNKHAUS, BERLIN, MIXED AND MASTERED BY NIKOLAUS WOERNLE, PRODUCED BY OLIVER KRIEGER. MY GRATITUDE GOES TO ALL INVOLVED IN THE PROCESS AND THIERRY NIANG. ARTWORK BY STEPHANIE RODERER, WWW.STUDIO-PINGPONG.DE, THE ALBUM IS FUNDED PARTIALLY BY PROVINCIA DI BOLZANO/ SÜDTIROL

buy the lp for 18 € + shipping here

THE PROCESS REFLECTS AN UNBALANCED RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ACOUSTIC SOUND PRODUCTION AND ITS ELECTRONIC PROCESSING. THE TWO PARTS INVOLVED ARE CLEARLY HIERARCHICALLY POSITIONED: THE FIRST STEP AND INITIAL BANG IS ALWAYS PRODUCED BY THE ACOUSTIC CONTRABASS. THE ELECTRONIC SET DOESN‘T INCORPORATE THE POSSIBILITY OF TONE PRODUCTION AND EXCLUSIVELY REACTS WITH ITS MEANS. THE RESEARCH FOCUSES ON THE DIFFERENT QUALITIES THE TWO UNITS OFFER IN FUNCTION TO THE PERCEPTION OF ‘NOW’. THE CONTRABASS REPRESENTS THE MANUAL AND SENSIBLE LABOR INTENSIVE PRODUCTION OF SOUND. CONTRARY TO THIS, THE ELECTRONIC SET BLURS BY DECEIVING THE EFFORT OF PROCESSING AND GIVES A SENSATION OF INFINITE SOUND – LIKE A PERPETUUM MOBILE. TIME HAS NO REPRESENTATION OF ITSELF, IT ONLY BECOMES PERCEIVABLE BY ACTIONS HAPPENING IN IT. THEREFORE A TONE INTERVAL SHOWS THE PROGRESSION OF TIME, A DRONE MUCH LESS, BECAUSE OF ITS LACK OF TIME ORIENTATION FOR THE LISTENER. ANOTHER TOPIC OF RESEARCH IN THIS WORK LIES IN THE FORMS OF EXCHANGE OF MUSIC INFORMATION: COMMUNICATION, NARRATION, COLOURING AMBIENT AND FULFILLING FUNCTION.
A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION AND TRIGGER WAS THE NOVEL SOLARIS BY PHILOSOPHER AND AUTHOR STANISLAW LEM AND THE SOCIAL OBSERVATIONS IN PROSPECT PARK, NYC, NEXT TO WHERE I WAS LIVING DURING THE MAIN RESEARCH PERIOD FOR THIS WORK.

SIDE A
INFINITE BANG PART I ……………………………………………………… 24:08

SIDE B
INFINITE BANG PART II …………………………………………………….. 22:42

KLAUS JANEK CONTRABASS AND ELECTRONICS. THE COMPOSITION WAS PLAYED LIVE AND RECORDED DURING A RESIDENCY AT KLANGALERIE, BERLIN IN NOVEMBER 2018. MY GRATITUDE GOES TO ANDREAS PAOLO PERGER. ARTWORK BY STEPHANIE RODERER, WWW.STUDIO-PINGPONG.DE, THE ALBUM IS FUNDED PARTIALLY BY PROVINCIA DI BOLZANO/SÜDTIROL

buy the lp for 18€ + shopping here

WHILE EXPLORING ALTERNATIVE, NON-TRADITIONAL PLAYING TECHNIQUES ON THE CONTRABASS TO DE- AND REFORMULATE THE IDEA OF BEAUTY, I CAME ACROSS THE HISTORICAL FIGURE OF KASPAR HAUSER. AS A CHILD, BORN IN THE EARLY 19TH CENTURY, HE WAS IMPRISONED IN A WOODEN BOX FOR APPROXIMATELY 16 YEARS AND THEN RELEASED INTO AN UNPERCEIVED AND COMPLETELY UNKNOWN WORLD. IN AN INTERVIEW HELD YEARS LATER BY THE JUDGE VON FEUERBACH, HAUSER DESCRIBED HIS PERCEPTION OF PHENOMENA, FOR EXAMPLE TREES OR BIRDS, AS COMPLETELY DISTORTED FROM THE COMMONLY KNOWN READING. ONCE SET FREE, PROCESSES OF DECIPHERING AND SORTING OF SOUNDS, SENSES AND IMPRESSIONS BEGIN. IN MY OWN PRACTICE THIS THOUGHT BROUGHT ME TO REDEFINE BY DISCOVER AND RECOVER THE POTENTIALITY SOUND AND TONE EMBODIES.

SIDE A
PART I ………………………………………… 3:46
PART II………………………………………… 4:16
PART III ……………………………………… 2:47
PART IV……………………………………….. 10:32

SIDE B
PART V ……………………………………….. 2:48
PART VI ……………………………………… 13:27
PART VII ……………………………………… 1:34
PRAYER BEADS* …………………………………. 3:09
*COMPOSED BY MARC JOHNSON

KLAUS JANEK CONTRABASS. PART I, II, III, VI, VII RECORDED JULY 12, 13, 15 1997 BY OLIVER GAYK & JENS UNTERDORFER. PART IV, V RECORDED JUNE 11, 1998 BY ANDREAS ALBRECHT. PART VIII RECORDED SEPTEMBER 27, 1994 BY MICHAEL SEBERICH FOR RARA RECORDS. MASTERED BY SILBERBLICK AT WHITEHOUSE STUDIO, BERLIN. THE RECORD WAS RELEASED FIRST FOR SOLPONTICELLO, ATHENS GA, USA IN 2001, AND AN ALTERNATIVE VERSION OF THE WORK IN 2004 FOR FMP A.L.L., BERLIN. MY GRATITUDE GOES TO ALL PEOPLE INVOLVED IN THE REALIZATION OF THIS WORK AND TO MAURO MURARO, GÜNTHER PITSCHEIDER, MARCO CRISTOFOLINI AND MARCELLO FERA FOR THEIR GENEROSITY IN SHARING THEIR KNOWLEDGE WITH ME. ARTWORK BY STEPHANIE RODERER, WWW.STUDIO-PINGPONG.DE, THE ALBUM IS PARTIALLY FUNDED BY PROVINCIA DI BOLZANO/SÜDTIROL

buy the lp for 18€ + shipping here

words

> Klaus Janek is a master of contemporary classical and free jazz expression. His solo 5-string doublebass album Caspar is a milestone recording in recent European artistry. (CD baby)

>Klaus Janek is a prime force on the avant-garde double bass scene.  (Matt Shimmer/ Indieville)

>Janek plucks, bows, bends, and warps the bass in ways that are almost pornographic…Then, when you realize that this is not the product of effects pedals or any overdubbing, your mind is blown….It leaves you a spectator to Janek’s mastery over his instrument. (Bill Campbell / ink19)

>This elaborate, highly visual piece is a milestone in the doublebass repertoire. Comes with our highest recommendation. (drimala records)

>Janek’s work will be the beautiful discovery of a passionate musician who has an innovative viewpoint on an age-old instrument’s infinite capabilities. (Andrew Magilow/splendid)

>This CD simply is superb…Janek’s playing deserves to be heard. Strongly recommended. (Francois Couture / All music guide)

words

VITAL WEEKLY number 1204
KLAUS JANEK – CASPAR (LP by Almenrauschen)
KLAUS JANEK – THREE SEASONS (LP by Almenrauschen)
KLAUS JANEK – INFINITE BANG (LP by Almenrauschen)
Often I feel a bit reserved when I put a CD of solo recordings in my player; afraid that things might become boring, one dimensional, etc. But in the case of Klaus Janek, there is absolutely no reason to be afraid of this. Also when it is your opinion that the double bass isn’t such a rich instrument.
Janek opens a wide range of possibilities that find their way in some intriguing compositions. Music that is deeply emotional and human, fascinating and frightening. So I soon felt absorbed in his musical worlds. What a voice! Born in Bolzano, in the north of Italy, Janek is based in Berlin for many years. In his early years, he studied soprano and alto flute, trumpet as well as classical percussion. He started in local rock and jazz bands. Since 1988 he concentrated on double bass, studying with Mauro Muraro among others, and participated in workshops with Dave Holland, Butch Morris and Peter Kowald. Since the 90s he is into avant-garde and improvised music with a special interest for thecombination of double bass and electronics. Besides he composes music for cinema, theatre and dance productions. He released the core of his (solo) work so far on 5 albums, all to be released in 2019. This edition is titled ‘Almenrauschen’, a name that may by an allusion to the mountains around Bolzano where Janek grew up. Anyway, three of the albums are out so far. All solo ones. ‘Reciprocum’ and ‘Prospecting’ will be released later. Recordings for ‘Caspar’ took place on several occasions in the ’90s, spanning some four years. The album was first released in 2001 for Solponticello. It was his debut recording. It is a work in seven parts. Janek was inspired by the life of Kaspar Hauser who grew up imprisoned. Once set free he perceived reality, ordinary phenomena like trees and birds in a completely distorted way from what was common. He had to develop his way of deciphering, etc. of what he perceived. This story
inspired Janek trying to discover newpossibilities from a radical approach. He creates beautiful drones, contrasted with restless bowing and plucking, etc. At moments Janek also sings. At one moment he sings unison with the double bass playing a melodic line. Or he screams and howls, or tries some throat singing techniques. Also, some – accidental – environmental sounds pop up at a few places. Part four has Janek playing in an extremely sharp and dynamic way. Vibrant and dramatic improvisation by a player he puts his soul into his playing. The lp closes with a beautiful jazz composition, ‘Prayer Beads’ by American bassist and composer Marc Johnson, with Janek playing with deep and warm sounds. ‘Three Seasons’ was recorded live in February 2003 in Berlin. He plays the composition by Janek on contrabass. For this composition in six parts, Janek is inspired by what we go through inthe case of a loss: fighting it, accepting it, etc. So here Janek evokes moods and emotions. Again Janek impresses the listener with very sensitive playing; making poetry of the dramatic experiences that inspire him here; a musical meditation on the human condition. The opening of ´Winter part 2´ is one of those places where Janek creates some very specific sounds and sonorities. ´Spring´ starts from a repeated pattern that is coloured in different ways before Janek accelerates and works towards a peak of baffling intensity and beauty. Ending with a melodic coda; a very lively and expressive statement. The third album, ‘Infinite Bang’, was also live recorded at Klanggalerie, Berlin. Recordings took place in November last year. This time Janek takes inspiration from the book ‘Solaris’ by Polish author Stanislaw Lem. It resulted in one lengthy composition of over 45 minutes that has Janek playing double bass and electronics. After an acoustic start, the work continues after a few minutes on another plain with looped and processed sounds from the double bass. After a while, the double bass engages with the electronic environment and so on. Compared with the two other albums this one is even more abstracting from conventions. His approach here is more reduced to a pure sound investigation; a very proportionate and effective combination of acoustics and electronics. It is multi-layered but there is no overkill. At moments his bass sounds like a creepy, screaming voice. An impressive work. These releases convincingly illustrate that Janek is an important player open for experiment and with a story to tell. Very relevant and urgent stuff. (DM)

VITAL WEEKLY number 1216
KLAUS JANEK – PROSPECTING (LP by Almenrauschen)
KLAUS JANEK – RECIPROCUM (LP by Almenrauschen)
In 2019 Klaus Janek, a Berlin-based composer, contrabassist and researcher released a set of 5 albums of his solo and collaborative work. First three albums (‘Caspar’, ‘Three Seasons’ and ‘Infinite Bang’) we reviewed here earlier. Now we are focusing on the two other albums that complete this special edition called ‘Almenrauschen’, namely ‘Prospecting’ and ‘Reciprocum’. Compared with the earlier reviewed albums from this edition, these albums show Janek not so much as an accomplished double bass player, but far more his activity in the field of electro-acoustic music. The album ‘Prospecting’ contains duo works by Janek with Milena Kipfmüller as Sounding Situations. Kipfmüller is a sound artist, producer, theatre dramaturge, interested in developing new forms of ‘performative and live radio play’. ‘Violeiros Revisitados’ is built from recordings of traditional Brazilian vocal music by the Violeiros, dating from the 70s and looped sounds. Janek adds nice solo lines on contrabass. Through processing, this is finished in a warm sound work of deep sounds. Similar for  ‘Recorded Recorders’ that starts with a fine solo by Janek, accompanied with deep and low sounds that evolve along with cyclic procedures. The work develops along with a deep echoing cadence, centred around a hypnotizing pattern. Again the sound material is of imaginative quality. Both are very intensive and moving works. On the B-side, we find ‘Echolot-Montreal/Sao Paolo’. Echolot is a performance installation by Kipfmüller and Janek, presented in Montreal (2016) and Sao Paolo (2017). Non-musical material of spoken word (French and German) is the main ingredient in this work that can be situated between audio play and music. Again a truly absorbing sound work where they successfully investigate into the musical qualities of the spoken word. The album ‘Reciprocum’ contains one giant work in two parts. The first part is based on recording sessions by Janek with Heiner Reinhard, Willi Kellers, Andy Graydon, Nils Ostendorf, Biliana Voutchkova, Mark Weaver and Christian Pincock that are reworked and assembled by Janek into one work. The second part is based on recordings sessions of Janek and Nicolas Wiese, William Bilwa Costa, Luca Marini, among others, processed by Milena Kipfmüller. Both Janek and Kipfmüller manage to integrate these recordings into one organic (meta-)musical work. Sometimes the original recordings are treated beyond recognition, sometimes not. Also, the length of the outtakes is very different. There is a very long one with fantastic violin playing by Voutchkova. It is impressive how Janek and Kipfmüller take up these improvised sections in a new musical context. For sure we are dealing here with multi-layered and multidimensional works by two artists who have a strong musical vision of what they aiming at. Music that fascinates from start to finish! (DM)

FreiStil #89 März/April 2020

Bass is the place

Almenrauschen – fünf LPs von Klaus Janek
Ein Kontrabassist aus der Champions League, den ich noch nicht kenne? Zeigenossen gibt’s, die gibt’s gar nicht. Der Berliner Bassgeiger, in den 90er Jahren aus dem italienischen Südtirol in die deutsche Metropole übersiedelt, hat mit der Veröffentlichung von gleich fünf Langspielplatten unter dem etwas kryptischen Motto Almenrauschen meine letzten Zweifel an seiner Kunstfertigkeit beseitigt. Denn was die fünf Platten einigt, allesamt mit jeweils anders eingefärbtem Cover in einheitlichem Design, ist ihre grundverschiedene Ausrichtung:

caspar (gelb) dokumentiert auf der A-Seite ein ausgedehntes Solo samt minimaler Vokalbegleitung und versammelt auf der zweiten Seite kürzeste Kürzel, Motive, Sketches of Kontrabasshausen sozusagen. Oft genügt nur ein Strich, nur ein Hauch,m nur ein Oberton, eine flüchtige Verwandlung Janeks in ein Digeridoo. Diese Musik ähnelt einem Gebäude mit klienen Räumen, aus denen man durch Fenster in angrenzende blicken kann. Das ist Pointilismus ohne spektakuläre Pointen, dafür mit Pausen dazwischen, mit Luftlöchern – und am Ende hält mal die Wiederkehr von Jimmy Garrison für möglich.
three seasons (grün) werden durchwegs mit dem Bogen gestrichen, eine andere Ästhetik als zuvor ist evident. Aber, fragt man sich, was ist mit der vierten Jahreszeit? Wann wird’s mal wieder richtig Sommer? Kann Vivaldi das Rätsel lösen?
infinite bang (rot) passiert, wenn Janek weiderum neue Klangwelten generiert, diesmal im Aufeinandertreffen von Kontrabass und Elektronik. Spärische Schwebezustände alternieren da mit einer gewissen Atemlosigkeit. Die Qualität dieser Sounds geht Länge mal Breite ins Flächige, herausragende Sequenzen sind eher eine Seltenheit.

prospecting (blau) nennt Klaus Janek seine Duoplatte mit Milena Kipfmüller, die sein Bassspiel vokal, instrumental und mit elektronischen Zuspielungen garniert. Auch diese Platte zeichnet sich durch eigenen, eingenwilligen Charakter aus. Die B-Seite kreist um literarische Texte bzw. deren mehrsprachige Insterpreatation und weist dadurch eine nahe Verwandtschaft mit einem Hörspiel auf. Auf der A-Seite werden Assoziationen an Filmmusiken wach. Im Hintergrund ahnt man Echos aus Afrika, womöglich, prospfting erzeugt – eigenltich in bester Philip-Jeck-Manier – auf Seite A eine stille, nicht selten meditative Atmosphäre, der es gleichwohl nicht an Dichte und Intesität mangelt. So gerät die erste Seite dieses Stücks Vinyl zur subjektiv schönsten, weil berührendsten Einspielung. Für sich genommen, eine Plattenseite des Monats! Mein Favorit.
reciprocum (pink) ist wiederum Janeks Ensemble-Platte bzw. vielmehr Material aus diversen Aufnahmesessions, die neu bearbeitet wird. Partners in crime sind, neben einigen anderen, Biliana Voutchkova, Willi Kellers, Nicolas Wiese, Clayton Thomas – und wieder, wie schon in der blauen Phase, Milena Kipfmüller. Dem Ausgangsmaterial für neue Erkundungen kommt zumeist die Funktion eines brodelnden resp., bebenden Untergrunds zu, auf dem Klaus Janeks Contrabass die Balance und die Contenance zu halten sich bemüht. Auch hübsch super.
Klaus Janek outet sich mit diesem fünffachen Almenrauschen nicht nur als großartiger, sonder auch noch als diskurswilliger Musiker. Soviel ist wenigstens aus den liner notes herauszulesen. Ob sein Wille zur Diskussion und zur Reflexion den musikalischen Wehrwert auslöst und ob das Eine das Andere vorraussetzt, bleibe einmal dahingstellt. Dennoch, mit theoretischem Überbau oder ohne ihn: in seiner Vielgestaltigkeit und stilistischen Offenheit zeit sich Klaus Janek um ein aussagekräftiges Statement nicht verlegen. (Andreas Fellinger)

The sound projector

31/07/2020 Paul Khimasia Morgan

Klaus Janek’s Almenrauschen: Five Colours Black

spontanous music tibune, Friday, February 28 2020

Klaus Janek! Altered States of Double Bass!

Klaus Janek, a German double bass player, improviser and composer with Italian roots (also a Slavic name!), Celebrated his 50th birthday last year. We not only know in the editorial office that this is a good time to make a life (here, artistic) resume.
For this noble occasion, the musician has prepared a five-disc set of his recordings, both those of the early 90s of the last century, as well as completely new ones made in recent years. Thanks to the support of the Italian taxpayer, this editorial package was successfully dressed in a beautiful set of black vinyls with homogeneous, stylish covers. The publisher of the whole – it is possible that founded for the needs of this venture – was named with a lowercase almenrauschen.
The artist, who works a bit on the edge of the mainstream improvised music, is a significant figure of the Berlin music scene, perhaps he is more widely perceived in the field of broadly understood contemporary music. Nevertheless, with a set of CDs that we will discuss in a moment in detail, Janek absolutely fits into the current of an intriguing, fully emancipated, improvising double bass of the European music scene. So, if you haven’t come across this musician yet, you have a unique moment to catch up and join the club of enthusiasts of his work without a shadow of a doubt.
Caspar
Recordings for double bass (fully acoustic) made in 1994-1998, with most of the material from June 1997. Eight episodes, which the musician defines as compositions (including one foreign), we complement the image for the sake of clarity – examples of structured improvisation (music originally released on CD by the label Solponticello, 2001).

The bow introduces us to the wide stream of sound stream, which dynamically scrubs the chilled strings of a double bass. The sound of the instrument is very deep, massive, an example of baroque style definitely served in a sharp, kind of post-contemporary impro! In the next episode, smyk goes lower, the narrative takes on a dark glow. The texture swells, pulsates with power and acoustic inevitability, you can get the impression that even two double basses play. The musician has fantastic control over the dynamics of the performance. In the third part, he uses the pizzicato technique, sings under his breath, full of melody and frivolous dance. After a while the sharp bow returns, the strings bleed profusely, making this somewhat prepared fragment truly beautiful. The cheerful smyk sings, whistles, jumps to the sky, and on the very end of the first page of the vinyl goes down to the basement.
At the opening of the other side, our heroic bow sounds almost industrial, as if in the background were accompanied by sounds of disturbed surroundings. The musician adds voice preparations to the whole picture, his instrument does almost the same! We smoothly enter the sixth, no doubt, key, nearly 14-minute epic of the liberated double bass. At the start we are accompanied by a drone of dense air drawn from lead strings. An acoustic ambient that bursts with the beauty of every sound, as if the burnt baroque stood unexpectedly at the gates of real hell. The musician lets a lot of space into the narrative, including accents of silence. Spiritual chamber – from the bottom up, with the power of eternal cosmos and the delicacy of a peacock feather, in silence and in noise. Preparations and voice ornaments – oh yes, Peter Kowald is here with us and sincere fangs with satisfaction! Distracted deep black bowed bass flows in the mantra of liberated self-awareness. The whole effect is enhanced by percussion accents on the neck and high finish singing against the backdrop of greasy pizzicato. Perfectly! We finish the record unexpectedly – the seventh episode, just over 90 seconds, again with the accents of Far Eastern, guttural singing, almost spiritual firing and deep lock that looks for the bottom. Finally, the equally enigmatic finale, played by jazz pizzicato (a composition by Mark Johnson), pulls us out of sleep and exposes us to the reality. An example of how a semi-brilliant album can be trivially and without flashing finished.
Three seasons
We continue listening to recordings for solo double bass (again full acoustic). February 2003, the studio circumstances, as the artist himself – the music composed and performed live. Six parts with titles, including three seasons after Vivaldi, do not know why, but deprived of the summer part.
We start without surprises – a baroque but massive instrument and bow outfit that dances on the neck. The narrative seems more thoughtful, studied, structured than it was on the previous album. The second episode wakes us up with a truly bear roar. Smyk seems to sound even more beautiful. Precise flow, with a lot of air between the strings, with an adequate dose of dramatic order. The story slowly gains dynamics and thickens to form solidified lava. Contemporary magic – Autumn lasting nearly a quarter of an hour is captivating in every dimension. The final descent into active silence is equally effective. Time for a threatening winter! The bow focuses on constructive minimalism. It flows from the bottom up, and then travels back. The sound seems to be delicately prepared, once it resembles horse neighing, at other times a camel’s croak. The narrative, every now and then, approaches the level of silence – a howl of a dry bow, the breath of a sweaty double bass. The musician and his clever instrument are in a constant process of searching for a new sound. The narrative does not have the spontaneity of its predecessor, but its artistic study shines with its original beauty, and even makes noise for the finale! The second, shorter part of Winter (once you have to flip the black plate) is livelier, it flows on an icy hill, it even enters a gallop for a moment. Smyk continues to be the center of our attention.
Spring begins in the nooks of silence, kind of silent sonore – baroque rushes upwards, baroque descents downwards. This part also provides new sounds, sometimes very filigree. On the decay, the smyk sings beautifully with a high alto, making the work lightly soiled with timbre. Show! For the finale, instead of the soothing, airy Summer, it’s time for the part called Touch. Massive trembling of the striker who dances percussion on the neck. Then the really filigree phase, the musician uses his fingers and builds small flow by pizzicato. On the last straight, the nimble bow returns and puts a baroque quality stamp.
Infinite Bang
We have already learned the sound of Janek’s double bass quite well, so we add him strong electronic support. Berlin, November 2018, concert with Klangalerie, two elaborate compositions (the musician insists on this term, we prefer again – structured improvisations).
The repetition of a snarling and bubbling knock on a greasy double bass neck – a massive and resonating sound band drills a hole in the brain. Acoustic drones of heavy air, in the background rustling electronics waking up to synthetic life. After a few minutes, the live bands go out, and only the dark post-electronic glow remains on the stage. The living instrument returns after a while, placing micro-stamps of presence. Smyk is comfortable on the neck, the background is sizzling and rustling, collecting fake sounds from the surroundings of the performance. The electroacoustic bass band appears quite unexpected, thanks to which the whole takes on an industrial aftertaste. When everything melts into hazy ambient again, the reviewer can only sigh with delight. Alive returns by pulling the strings and breathing deeply. It crowns the first part, supported by shiny blue ambient.
The second compo-improvisation even more consistently focuses on a repetitive scenario – like a dramatic loop (loop!). The marriage of living and synthetics gains strength, after which it loses it and waits for the next thread. The murmurs of electronics and the flail that slides over the neck is the entry situation. There is no shortage of more dynamic accents and more and more often appearing traces of live proccesing (at least this is how it is heard). These last moments add metaphysical ambiguity to the whole. In the phase of dominance of synthetics, the narrative likes repetition, traces of semi-arrhythmia, minor distortions and pulsations. In the phase of domination of the living – the accents of preparation, trembling of all matter and waiting for the course of events. Raw ambient patches and sweet acoustic slices. In the middle of this part, the narrative bears the mark of a delicate downtime, but this moment does not last too long. A clever entry into the phase of extensive, glassy ambient, which grows with a low bass band, introduces us to the final phase, during which the lively strings begin to rule. The end of the album on the background seems quite delicate, the supremacy of the living is not subject to discussion. Small ambient patches lead the double bass to the last straight, where it performs the closing ritual itself, of course by repetition.
Prospecting
It’s time to end simple dramatic solutions. A far conceptual album is ahead of us. There will be double bass and electronics under the jurisdiction of Klaus, but also Milena Kipfmüller, who will electronically process the material prepared earlier. First, the musicians will take to the workshop field recordings from northern Brazil, from the 70s of the last century (improvised folk songs called Violeiros), then – using the Echolot installation – they will electronically process … the voices of people who read a fragment of a literary text for 20 seconds ( contemporary recordings from Montreal and Sao Paulo). Let’s follow the surprising effect of these activities, both musical and performative.
The first Brazilian story begins with the sound of pouring water, the sound of the forest, songs and rituals. Double bass and electronics work briskly, commenting on reality or deconstructing it creatively. The truth of time, and the truth of sound in a collision with brutal modernity. After some time, we clearly hear a mechanically engaging bow, and even a deaf, massive pizzicato. In the background it flows, often repeats, dims even more often, a range of synthetic sounds. At the very end of the first part, we have a lonely stream of electronics. The second part of the story from the Brazilian forest is like a reprise, something like further electronic reconstruction. Massive, dense magma deep sounds, a couple of strings accompanied by synthetic post-sound. Acoustic bass ambient deconstructing by electronics, notes the meticulous reviewer in Shakespeare’s language. The dramaturgy of the recording is based on repetition, it has its phase of electronics dominance, it also has a spectacular come back of the predatory tearing of the strings of a live instrument. For the finale we return to the original drone, which beautifully connects the whole of the sound exploration.
The other side of the black disc further highlights the conceptual nature of the whole. Human voices, accidental, sometimes aggressive phonemes, something like an organ drone – from all this musicians mold the electronic path of the sound metaphysics of the word. Something like an interactive radio play. After all, the concept defends itself musically – it provides a whole bunch of fascinating sounds, and it doesn’t lose the narrative nerve for a moment. The sounds of the double bass and electronics, which sometimes resemble Berlin post-techno from the 90s, are real cherries on this quite positive cake.
Reciprocum
For the finale of today’s tale of Different States of Contrabass Awareness, it seems that we encounter an even greater stylistic and conceptual volt. Two of the same musicians (Klaus Janek and Milena Kipfmüller) will again electronically prepare the sound material created earlier, however, the basis for these unmasking works will be … real (real) recordings of Klaus, made in 2010-2017 with the participation of other musicians, both in jazz aesthetics as well as freely improvised (we don’t know the details). The set of musicians who participate in these Collaborations (the subtitle of the album) is very extensive, so we will not quote it in full, we can only mention those more known to us, such as Willi Kellers, Bilian Voutchkov or Clayton Thomas (on the A side we hear a double bass, drums, saxophone, clarinet, tuba, trumpet, trombone and violin, on side B – double bass, percussion, multiplayer electronics, piano and voices).
A big double bass, clarinet and drums introduce us to this fairy tale with dry open jazz. Post-production sound fun is immediately sent to us by electroacoustic double bass drones, a handful of trembling matter not fully defined by provenance, in other words a mix of live and synthetic sounds, not without harsh & post-noise elements. In this surprising magma we can point out various phases of narrative – even the clever deconstruction of the sound of the double bass and brass, which after some time stick into electroacoustic, quite free improvisation. Particularly intriguing is the phase in which preparations on the violin dominate (probably Voutchkova!), After which the whole takes on a very chamber character. There is also a phase of a massive, solo double bass, with which everything in the recording seems to resonate, even the reviewer’s turntable. For the first page finale, the open jazz we faced at the beginning of the recording returns.
Milena sits on the other side of the vinyl behind the mixing table. Strings, electroacoustic background, substantial handfuls of electronics from the base recording, percussion and bass – all minimalistic and repetitive. Again, we come across a beautiful post-chamber moment, smoothly immersed in a delicate, synthetic glow. Interesting phases include a piano and double bass with electronic preparations, a pizzicato double bass and voices, or even again a piano with a double bass in a sauce of electronic rasp, decorated with a small percussion. Changing it here, changing it, maybe at times there are even too many of them, but the dreamy finale with strings, free electronics and a handful of reflection compensates a lot.

Label: NOLAND
Cat: NO5
Release: 03.05.2019

Tracklisting:
1. Open End 2:21
2. Moth2 4:25
3. Render the Form 2:38
4. Extrakt 1 2:16
5. An Amorphous Cloud 6:22
6. Modulation Ring 1 4:12
7. Modulation Ring 2 6:16
8. Sifting Mechanisms 4:01
9. Cultures Are Abstract Machines 3:29
10. Loop.Repetition.Loop 2:18
11. Filter/Noise 5:42
12. Twists and Turns 2:59
13. Impression 1 1:33
14. Layer 4:35
15. Extrakt 2 3:21
16. End Open 3:50

All comprovisations and improvisations: Ensemble Extrakte
Working scores: Sandeep Bhagwati
Remixes, Edits and Reinterpretations: Gebrüder Teichmann

Iterations is a musical experiment, that is playing with artistic processes.
So to say it shows what happens when silent post connects with a dynamic feedback loop:
Ensemble Extrakte an intercultural ensemble gets hooked to pioneering techno and electronic tracks. They are interpreting those music, which is unknown to them on the fly.
But not in a sense of “Beatles go Classic”. Much more than harmonic and rhythmic elements, the intention is to catch the energy and the playful transformation of this sounds, all through the instruments and expression techniques that the ensemble brings from a wide range of musical traditions and cultures.
The electronic Dj & musician duo Gebrüder Teichmann then takes it back into their electronic laboratory,
using machines and computers to discover the next level of resonant responses.
What do we hear ? Who is interpreting whom? Who´s influencing who, what is related to what? What´s played live, what is a sample?

 

TREATISES
on Trans-Traditional Aesthetics
Ensemble Extrakte
Sandeep Bhagwati

Sören Birke – Ravi Srinivasan
Cathy Milliken – Deniza Popova
Wu Wei – Ji-eun Kang
Hoo Yong – Farhan Sabbagh
Gregor Schulenburg – Klaus Janek
Sandeep Bhagwati

Dreyer Gaido catalog number: 21104
“Ensemble Extrakte – this name outlines a musical program. The thirteen treatises in this album are seismographic soundscapes of uncommon encounters. When we brought together the eleven musical polyglots of Ensemble Extrakte in music, they came from widely different musical backgrounds and cultures; some were virtuosos in more than one genre or tradition. To each of us, music meant something else, they made their music for different communities and contexts. But they all lived in Berlin – and our idea was to create a music that would truly reflect this new ensemble, its roots and its global aspirations.” Sandeep Bhagwati

 

listen to excerpts of the CD and buy CD at jpc

The Tartini Effect is a sonic hologram caused by two or more overlying frequencies, two soundobject create a third predominand one – an artistic inspiration to Miriam and myself for an album.

KJ processed doublebas & Miram Akkermann processed flute.

recorded in 2012, Berlin, mastered by Kassian Troyer

pictures by K.Janek/M.Kipfmüller / artwork by Carlos Santos

produced by Ernesto Rodrgues.

buy at shop for 9€ + shipping

words

Vital Weekly 1009:

KLAUS JANEK & MIRIAM AKKERMANN – THE TARTINI (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)

Over the years I don’t think I reviewed a lot of music by Klaus Janek, who plays
processed double bass. In Vital Weekly 962 there was his release with Claudio
Rocchetti, a tour document of their concerts in the Far East. Here he shows up with
a recording from 2012 where he performs with Miriam Akkerman who plays processed
flute. I never heard her work before. I had no idea what to expect here and when I
heard this I could not have imagined it would sound like this. The release is by
Creative Sources Recordings, which, in my book, means this is all about improvised
music, and surely this is too, but it sounds quite different. I have no what kind
of processing these two musicians apply to their instruments, but effectively they
create loops of the lowest fidelity possible. One hardly recognizes the double bass;
it results mostly into a deep dark rumble. With the flute it is actually not a lot
different. It barely resembles a flute in part one; it does to some extent in part
two. The two pieces, around twenty minutes each, are more creations of ambient
industrial music, creating dense fields of utter vague sounds, and sometimes one
thinks; oh a flute! It sounds like music of early zoviet*france being recorded on
a cassette with dirty recording heads. I must say I very much enjoyed this release.
It didn’t sound like something out of the book of improvisations, but something out
of the archives of a band that recorded hissy cassettes in the early 80s. Obviously
a sound I grew up with. This is one of those releases that shatters all expectations
and that’s something I always enjoy a lot; here it results in something that I very
much like, music wise. This music reminded me of so many things and yet coming out
of an entirely different world. Highly recommended. (FdW)

Klaus Janek plays processed double bass
Claudio Rocchetti process field recording and feedback

This recording contain sounds by:
Li Zeng Hui, Yan Jun, Stephen Roach,Feng Hao, Liu Xin Yu, Torturing Nurse, SIN:NED

Recorded during August 2011 In China, Hong Kong and Malaysia.
Edited by Klaus Janek and Claudio Rocchetti during 2012.
Mastered by Mauro Martinuz, design by www.burbulla.com, Berlin
The tour was supported by the Berlin Senate Cultural Affairs Department
buy at shop for 9 €

Words

Neural
This release features Klaus Janek playing a digitally-processed double bass and Claudio Rocchetti manipulating field recordings and calibrated modulating environmental feedback. Hosting sounds by Li Zeng Hui, Yan Jun, Stephen Roach, Feng Hao, Liu Xin Yu, Torturing Nurse and SIN: NED, the album was recorded in August 2011 in China, Hong Kong and Malaysia. The set of sounds – including over 35 minutes of audio captures – was mastered by Mauro Martinuz following a tour made possible with support from the Department of Cultural Affairs in Berlin. Many different soundscapes and audio elements were collected during a number of “psychogeographical” trips. Rocchetti used these to process other musical passages before dividing the results into eight different compositions that are full of announcements, babbling, city traffic noise and electroacoustica – all mixed together with a bricoleur attitude. The collages are very intense and are the result of a musical reworking; one that feels very personal and imbued with the various contexts explored. These are then “interpretations”, just one of many ways to approach the immense domain of possibility surrounding field recordings. The travel notes are a pretext for new inspiration and many other musicians have contributed to this musical horizon, annexing lo-fi cuts, random combinations and conversations, natural sounds and synthetic processing: audio data captured and taken to the limit of distinguishability. The release is sweetened by an elegant and contemporary design by Burbulla – a six-panel digipak CD – and is yet another successful entry into the already extensive catalog of Herbal International.

Klaus Janek suona un contrabbasso digitalmente elaborato e Claudio Rocchetti agisce utilizzando field recording e modulando calibrati feedback ambientali. Questa uscita che anche ospita suoni di Li Zeng Hui, Yan Jun, Stephen Roach, Feng Hao, Liu Xin Yu, Torturing Nurse e SIN:NED è stata registrata nell’Agosto del 2011 in Cina, Hong Kong e Malesia. L’insieme delle sonorità – che comprende oltre 35 minuti di catture audio – è stato masterizzato da Mauro Martinuz in seguito a un tour reso possibile grazie al sostegno del Dipartimento A.airs Culturali Berlin.Senate. I soundscape e le emergenze auditive sono dei tipi più disparati, registrati durante le molte escursioni “psicogeografiche”: con questi Rocchetti elabora poi altri passaggi musicali, accuratamente divisi in otto differenti composizioni, dense di annunci e altoparlanti, balbettii, rumori di traffico metropolitano ed elettroacustica mescolata con attitudine da bricoleur. I collage che ne scaturiscono sono assai intensi e frutto di una rielaborazione in chiave musicale – sia pure molto personale – che deriva dai differenti contesti esplorati. A tutti gli effetti – insomma – sono delle “interpretazioni”, che è solo uno dei tanti modi di approcciare lo sterminato dominio di attitudini quando noi parliamo di field recording. Gli appunti di viaggio sono il pretesto d’una nuova ispirazione con i suoni realizzati da altri musicisti che entrano a far parte dell’orizzonte musicale degli autori, annettendo cesure lo-fi, combinazioni casuali e conversazioni, suoni naturali ed elaborazioni sintetiche, dati audio catturati e portati al limite di indistinguibile. Caratterizzata dall’elegante e contemporaneo design di Burbulla – con un six panels digipak CD – l’uscita va ad accrescere il già vasto catalogo della Herbal International.
– Aurelio Cianciotta –

Vital Weekly
In 2011 Klaus Janek and Claudio Rocchetti toured China, Hong Kong and Malaysia and played duets with the processed double bass (Janek) and processed field recordings and feedbacks (Rocchetti). On the road there was help/collaboration from other players such as Li Zenghui, Yan Jun, Stephen Roach, Feng Hao, Liu Xinyu, Torturing Nurse and Sin:Ned. Their sounds have been captured in the eight tracks/thirty five minutes this tour document lasts. One could think this leads to a highly varied disc with all these people adding their sound, but that’s not the case. Everything seems well under control here, with careful playing of the bass and the addition of field recordings makes this more like a piece of collage music which spans out over eight pieces, rather than eight separate pieces of music. It’s all quite carefully played here, but with great concentration and some excellent intensity. The saxophone buried in the second piece for instance surely adds a fine texture to an otherwise already dense structure. As much as this is a document of the tour they did, it’s probably more a new composition build out of small blocks from various live recordings, put together in a new context, i.e. a new composition. Not a new procedure, of course, but it works very well here.
– Frans De Waard –

Just Outside
Travel notes from the Middle Kingdom (in this instance, Hong Kong, China and Malaysia) as realized by Rocchetti (field recordings, feedback) and Janek (processed double bass). Sounds from other musicians, many of them Chinese, are also incorporated into this dense and dirty mélange. Much of the environmental sound on the first track is booming and dull, as though some large scale event is occurring beyond the walls. In front and within this you hear conversation, bass clarinet, shuffling, bells, squeals and who knows how many other elements, all oozed out into the space. Kind of a kitchen sink approach, in strong contrast to the Büttner release above and, for these ears, more difficult to retain any balance, which is presumably not the goal, instead plunging whole hog into the aural morass. It’s relaxed and resolutely lo-fi on the one hand but also feels carefully pieced together from their tour. There are moments when things congeal very well, as on the fifth track with its ambient/splatter mix and portions of the final cut–effectively desolate–but much of the disc, to these ears, sounds excessively haphazard and not terribly interesting. Always a subjective call, of course, especially as to which found sounds work, which don’t, which sequencing strikes one as resonant and intriguing, which don’t. By and large, this effort didn’t connect for me.
– Brian Olewnick –

Le Son Du Grisli
Claudio Rocchetti (traitement de field recordings et feedbacks) et Klaus Janek (contrebasse augmentée) ont fait le voyage jusqu’en Malaisie. C’était en août 2011, à l’occasion d’une tournée qui les vit passer aussi par la Chine et Hong Kong. De son séjour, le duo a ramené huit paysages retentissant que se disputent les atmosphères (enregistrées par Yan Jun, Liu Xinyu, Sin:Ned, entre autres) avec lesquelles Rocchetti compose et la turbulente contrebasse et qui, disposés les uns après les autres, révèlent un surprenant sur-naturel musical.
– Guillaume Belhomme –

Bad Alchemy
Die beiden, die da Reisenotizen aus dem Land der Mitte (Concrete Disc 1404) mit zurück nach Berlin brachten, sind keine ganz Unbekannten. Der Südtiroler Kontrabassist KLAUS JANEK hat schon mit Ige*timer Souveniers aus den USA erklingen lassen, daneben sind Radio Citizen und das Tanzprojekt gradeshade Konstanten seines Künstlerlebens. Aber auch mit CLAUDIO ROCCHETTI, der 2013 durch sein Label Musica Moderna und mit The Fall of Chrome, einer großen Hommage an das Kassettenzeitalter, bemerkenswert genug für BA 79 war, verbindet Janek neben dessen Herkunft aus Bozen ein langjähriges Miteinander. So hört man Janek auf ‘Geografia’, dem dritten Teil von Rocchettis Kassetten-Box The Furthest Shore (2010) und erneut auf Hong Kong Pavilion (2013). Da sind wir aber schon auf dem gleichen Trip mit weiteren Stationen in China und Malaysia, den die beiden 2011 hatten unternehmen können. KJs processed doublebass und die processed field recordings & feedbacks von CR evozieren nun, was die beiden dort an Eindrücken mitgenommen haben. In Form von Katzenmusik (wörtlich genommen), von Lautsprecherdurchsagen, Verkehrsgeräuschen, Stimmengewirr. Mit eingeschlossen sind Electronic­sounds von Sin:Ned und Torturing Nurse und das Altosax von Li Zenghui, dem man schon bei Rice屎Corpse als schrägem Pekinesen begegnen konnte. So ist Elektroakustisches mit Lokalkolorit gemischt, aber mit ganz untouristischen Anmutungen. Denn statt Schlitzaugenklischees gibt es traumhafte Tauchgänge in ominöse und unscheinbare Winkel. Die Atmosphäre steht meist im direkten Zusammenhang mit den Konzerten. So bleibt vieles in der Schwebe zwischen Travelogue und Performance, avantem Ambiente und sanfter Noisecollage, wummerndem Fond und Altosaxkrach, elektroperkussivem Geflicker und garstigem Feedback. Wer da an die koreanischen Collagen von Alfred Harth und die schweizerisch-asiatischen Signal To Noise-Begegnungen denkt, liegt nicht weit daneben.
– Rigo Dittmann –

listen and buy on Bandcamp
with Niko Schabel, reeds/mastermind/editing/mastering, Wolfi Schlick, reeds/flute, Johannes Schleiermacher, reeds/MS20, Marja Burkhard, piano, Mathias Gmelin, drums, Teresa Gruber, trombone, KJ doublebass. Recorded at America Haus, Munich

(cd, 2014 Re Records)
Collaboration between Claudio Rocchetti and Klaus Janek. It is a heavily processed work on the field recordings taken during their trip to/in Hong Kong. Be prepared to get lost in a space and time that exists somewhere along the blurred line between the real and the surreal.

with Claudio Rocchetti & KJ  |…more|  buy at discogs for 10 Euros on RE REC

 

 

words

The enviromental sounds of Hong Kong in August, as recorded and remixed by Berlin ased Italians Claudio Rocchetti and Klaus Janek, are the source material for Hong Kong Pavillion. Dreamy rather than dramatic, it’s a crafty layering of insects, distant voices, light industrial activity and bowed bass (maybe bassist Janek was doing some practice). Field recordings are crossfaded in and out, presented as an evolving performance rather than pure enviromental listenings. I used to be suspicious of manipulated field recordings, but this is most enjoyable. Perhaps because so many of these sounds are ambiguous – could that be someone eating? Or picking their theeth in a resonant room? Midway there’s a patriotic outburst, a choral anthem sung to accordion in a park.
Rocchetti and Janek’s album, while gentle enough, is a kind of noise music. Clive Bell, The Wire (362)

 

The moment – hard to be in it, even harder to catch it. The Duo Ige*timer has dedicated itself absolutely to that search of the moment. Klaus Janek and Simon Berz let their music grow out of the situation surrounding them. They’ve been on a tour through the States and at the concerts in Baltimore, Philadelphia and New Orleans they switched their recorder on. The three pieces on Ice Cold Pop are a documentation of their perception of these cities. Nothing is preset and nothing ist reused. Klaus Janek plays double bass and laptop and Simon Berz his handmade analog sound generators, electroacoustic drumsticks and whatever material he found on the journey and decided to use as an instrument. The pictures of the filmmaker Michelle Ettlin are inspired by these cities, the people and the music and make this journey not only audible but also visible to us. The project Ice Cold Pop is probably the most artful way to set up a travel documentation.

Mix by Christian Weber and Ige*timer, Zürich / Mastered by Rashad Becker, Berlin / Cover and booklet design by Michelle Etlin

(cd, 2010 Edgeton Records)

is a collaborative duo project started in 2009, by Scott R. Looney and Klaus Janek, named after the studio in Oakland where many international and local improvisers have been recorded.
The music of 1510 covers a wealth of sonic and textural landscapes in their interactions, with an emphasis on logic and contrasting concepts guiding the overall shape of the work. The resulting sound is meditative and ambient at times, yet hints at free jazz and electroacoustic improvisational influences as well.
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(4 cassette box, 2010 second sleep)
Claudio Rocchetti feat. Klaus Janek
Recorded between 2005 and 2010 all around Europe. Dedicated to all the Buccaneers, Explorers and Observateurs de l’homme.

Berlin based italian musician Claudio Rocchetti is on his first massive work, a long concept on vojages, sailor and explorers. Musically this is reflected on four cassettes wich, althought different from each other, are strongly connected. The Furthest Shore develop between live improvvisations, acoustic pieces, slices of field recordings and an obscure submarine collaboration with contrabassist Klaus Janek. All has flavour of adventure, between the scare for a stormy night in the seas and the curiosity of landing on unknown islands.

Edition of 50 copies of 4 cassette box

(cd, vinyl, 2010 Ubiquity Records)

Niko Schabel, alto sax, programming, Wolfi Schlick, multi instruments, Julian Waiblinger, drums, Klaus Janek, db, Jo Junghans, Antonis Anissegos, Maria Burghard piano

Four years have passed since the release of Berlin Serengeti, the debut album from producer Niko Schabel and friends, aka Radio Citizen. His first album was an all-out assault of electronic music armed with organic tentacles that reached far into an eclectic bag of rough jazz and worldly funk. It not only caught the ears of tastemaker DJs and press (“It leaps dozens of genres in a single bound, digs up all those old sounds I love, fits them together, and erects a temple to pop’s melting pot” – PITCHFORK) but also wound up in movies and TV shows as varied as Grey’s Anatomy, Californication, and this summer’s blockbuster Takers.

sebastian hilken cello, fx, anat cohavi  soprano saxophon and bass clarinet, klaus janek doublebass

recorded by jean marie gilles, june 08 at les gilles studio Berlin, Neukölln.
produced by sternschuß, Berlin, 2008.
Fotos by Klaus Kürves.

part A

part B

SOLD OUT

words

Eyal Hareuveni for allaboutjazz
The Berlin-based SternSchuss trio presents its own bold version of free improvisation on its self-produced debut release, SternSchuss No. 1. The trio is comprised of Israeli reed player Anat Cohavi, whose resume includes studies with Israeli saxophonist Albert Beger and composer Slava Ganelin, in Texas and in North India, where she studied the shenai, a traditional wind instrument; German cellist Sebastian Hilken, who has collaborated with such diverse improvisers as Evan Parker, Elliot Sharp, Chris Cutler and DJ Olive; and bassist Klaus Janek, who has studied with seminal bass master Peter Kowald, released the solo bass album Caspar (FMP, 2004), and collaborated with left-of-field improvisers including Agusti Fernandez, Joe Maneri, Wolfgang Fuchs and Borah Bergman.

The ten improvisations seek to find common language through a restless and intense search for changing timbral ambience and colors. Quite often, these improvisations stress the immediate contact with the wood of the cello and double-bass, and the typically dark sounds of the bass clarinet. At other times, the improvisations are enhanced by the use of found objects on the instruments, as well as various effects and electronics. Such close interplay demands a rich and unorthodox vocabulary on each of the trio members’ instruments, as in the use of bows by both Hilken and Janek as percussive additions, or the sustained vibrating sound of Cohavi’s reed instruments, which sometimes references Indian-tinged cyclical sonorities. And the trio’s ingrained ability to re-form, re-address and abstract the continuously flowing interplay with fresh ideas and gestures is something that can only be developed through long and tasking democratic collaboration. This band demonstrates here that it has already gained such a unique interplay.

On some of the improvisations, beneath the jangled and disjointed interplay surprising early influences can be unearthed, such as swing jazz on “Part C.” On “Part E,” you can sense the enormous debt to the late Kowald’s inventive ways of attacking the double-bass, which also resonates with traditional string instruments. Other improvisations, such as “Part F” and “Part G,” begin with strange and abstract sounds that are patiently woven into a loose narrative. Improvisations “Part H” and “Part I” are of the busier kind, and emphasize the playful side of the trio.

Niko Schabel, alto sax, programming, Wolfi Schlick, multi instruments, Julian Waiblinger, drums, Klaus Janek, db, Jo Junghans, Antonis Anissegos, Maria Burghard piano

“Brilliant!” GILLES PETERSON
“Very cool album!” MICHAEL RÜTTEN
“Ubiquitys new young gods” FACT MAGAZINE
“Just what I’m into these days.” GERALD SHORT
“Album of the year” JOHN KONG DO RIGHT! MUSIC
“Heavy, heady, and very good.” FUTUREBOOGIE.COM
“Get these kids in the studio, please! ” TRACE MAGAZINE
“Ooooh, how delish is this? 5/5″ BLUES AND SOUL MAGAZINE
“Great release, (…) Everything is a real beauty. 5/5″ RAINER TRÜBY
“One of the freshest Ubiquity sets we’ve heard in awhile” CLUBBITY.COM

Inspired by the poem lettera amorosa from René Char. His writing reflects both his Provençal origins and his years of active participation in the French resistance.  Working together with choreographer Thierry Niang on the poem, it made sense to divide it into: autum, winter, spring and touch. It talks about a man living a period of loosing love, freezing into him self, awaking and coming back to life.  We recorded in the former gdr broadcast studios,  Nalepa Strasse, Berlin and used 7 pairs of high class mircrophons positioning them  in the way that we could use the natural sound developement of the doublebass in  different distances and hights.

album excerpts

(cd, 2004, edel classics)

for 3 pianos and 7 doublebasses. In 2004 Torsten Sense composed the requiem, based on Kurt Cobains music legacy. It is a suite of 3 parts:

creating idea
realizing idea
the idea gets over you

all tracks are recorded by Torsten Sense, piano and KJ, doublebass

On the CD there are 4 more pieces recorded during a session in 2001.
The requiem was performed live april 5th 2004 for the 10th aniversary of the dead of Kurt Cobains, at the Stilwerk Kanstrasse, Berlin.

album excerpt

words in german

morgenpost vom 13.04.2004 über die Komposition

(…)Wie ihm also musikalisch angemessen gedenken? Der Berliner Komponist Torsten Sense hat eine Suite in drei Sätzen geschrieben, bei der Motiv-Versatzstücke aus Cobains Oeuvre in Klangwolken irrlichtern – gespielt von sieben Kontrabässen und drei Klavieren mit all den Effekten und Sollbruchstellen, die der zeitgenössischen E-Musik zu eigen sind. Die Bässe müssen gewittern und wimmern, den Flügeln wird in den schutzlos offenen Bauch gegriffen. In unerwarteten Augenblicken, wenn das “Requiem” nur noch böses Geräusch oder ganz verzärteltes Wispern ist, vermittelt die Musik die Idee, die tief in dem zornig-traurigen Rockstar, steckte: Ein jeder singe sein eigenes Lied, so dissonant es auch sein möge. Es passt, wenn man Cobains Worte in seinem Abschiedsbrief an Frau und Kind ein bisschen umdeutet: Bitte folgt mir nicht nach.

j.e.

welt vom 13.04.2004 von Josef Engels

(…)Was von jener übersteuerten Verehrung kündet, mit der der große Tote aus Seattle, der sich vor ziemlich genau zehn Jahren ins Jenseits schoss, zeitlebens überhaupt nicht zurecht kam. Wie ihm also musikalisch angemessen gedenken? Der Berliner Komponist Torsten Sense hat dafür eine Lösung gefunden. Es ist eine Suite in drei Sätzen, bei der kleine Motiv-Versatzstücke aus Cobains Werk in Klangwolken irrlichtern – gespielt von sieben Kontrabässen und drei Klavieren mit all den Effekten und Sollbruchstellen, die der zeitgenössischen E-Musik zueigen sind. Will heißen: Die Bässe müssen gewittern und wimmern, den Flügeln wird in den schutzlos offenen Bauch gegriffen. Man könnte das Ergebnis in seinen plakativsten Momenten, frei nach Kerkeling, “Hurz-Grunge” nennen. In unerwarteten Augenblicken aber, wenn das “Requiem” nur noch böses Geräusch oder ganz verzärteltes Wispern ist, vermittelt sich die Idee, die tief in dem zornig-traurigen Mann, dem letzten Rockstar, steckte: Ein jeder singe sein eigenes Lied, so dissonant es auch sein möge.

published by all/FMP in 2004

It is a second version of solo doublebass program ‘caspar’, based on the story of Kaspar Hauser. The starting point of Helma Schleif, the producer of former producer of FMP was to release a reedition of the 2001 Caspar, published by Solponticello, Athens, GA USA. After debating the possibilities, Bernd Krüger from Harmonie und Rhythmus/Scoop Music/BMG publishing company, initiatied the collaboration with The company and his own edition. At this point it was interresting to launch a new version of Caspar.
I have to say that I was really happy about the possibility to reformulate the story and the work effective in composition and interpretation towards a very short noticed release date. I was often asked which one would be better one, but I think they are really different. So please listen yourself.

For the recording and specially for the fmp cd I adopted a dogma system: I recorded the composition without having a break through, so like playing live, I used two slightly different microphones and didn’t manipulate the sound or cut iside the recording.

album excerpt

SOLD OUT

I first came across the story of Kaspar Hauser in 1988, and it occupied me for the next ten years. During this time, I investigated various sound and dramaturgical aspects, while at the same time searching for and finding a language that would express my version of Kaspar Hauser’s story. For me, the story concerns the psychological and emotional world of Kaspar Hauser from his birth and imprisonment, through his release,  and, ultimately, to his death. The pivotal moment in my interpretation is his release, where he initially loses himself in a world of superstimulation, before learning to decode the manifold stimuli. A situation analogous to that of someone listening to abstract music and finding a way in.

album excerpt

SOLD OUT

rereleased in 2020 in Vinyl (almenrauschen) here

words

cd baby  Klaus Janek is a master of contemporary classical and free jazz expression. His solo 5-string doublebass album Caspar is a milestone recording in recent European artistry.

Matt Shimmer/ Indieville … Klaus Janek is a prime force on the avant-garde double bass scene…

Bill Campbell / ink19   Janek plucks, bows, bends, and warps the bass in ways that are almost pornographic…Then, when you realize that this is not the product of effects pedals or any overdubbing, your mind is blown….It leaves you a spectator to Janek’s mastery over his instrument…

drimala records  This elaborate, highly visual piece is a milestone in the doublebass repertoire. Comes with our highest recommendation.

Andrew Magilow /splendid   …Janek’s work will not be a fatal waste of time, but the beautiful discovery of a passionate musician who has an innovative viewpoint on an age-old instrument’s infinite capabilities.

FranÁois Couture / All music guide  This CD simply is superb…Janek’s playing deserves to be heard. Strongly recommended.

entire reviews

indiville

The Solponticello label’s output so far has consistently managed to surprise and delight critics. Right from release number one, their output has received the type of acclaim very few labels could even dream of. And Caspar is no different.

Musically documenting the life experiences of the tragic Kaspar Hauser, Klaus Janek’s album is an extraordinary feat, especially considering the only instrument he uses (yes, this is a purely solo venture) is the infamous double bass. And not only that, this is entirely live; no editing took place. With those facts in mind, it’s amazing to consider just how many different sounds and styles Janek can squeeze out of his instrument. Thumps, booms, scrapes, strokes, and even the occasional squeal can be heard. The effects are mesmerizing.

Parts I through VII are like an unwinding story. At times it’ll be frustrated and urgent (Parts IV and I are prime examples), and at others it will be loose and more subdued (the jazzy bass-and-scat combination of Part III is brought to mind). “Prayer Beads,” meanwhile, is the odd one out. Finishing the album in a deceivingly light mood, the Marc Johnson composed piece sees Janek actually using his instrument in a more traditional manner. Bizarrely, though, it goes perfectly with the other pieces and really ends the album off in good style.

As an album, Caspar is very successful. It is clear that Klaus Janek is a prime force on the avant-garde double bass scene (which has recently gotten much attention thanks to bassists such as Mark Dresser and Dominic Duval). It will be interesting to see how his next release turns out.

Matt Shimmer

The Sound Projektor

A lively double-bass solo LP from this Italian improvisor and musician. Very energetic “sawing” motions and actions are faithfully captured on the excellent recording, which adds to the intensity of the performance. The preence of the instrument and the man fills the room. A very raw production, with no edits nor overdubs in sight. I notice this release is intended as another musical homage to Kaspar Hauser, although unlike our Italian electronic friend Andrea Belfi, Klaus makes no mention of the Werner Herzog movie and refers exclusively to the actual presence behind this “tragic histroric figure”. The Kaspar Hauser myth of the “inncoent” who grows to maturity inside a prison cell and is released into the world as an adult is not uncommon, although this manifestation takes place in Europe in 1830 and is a true story. Certainly, this sympathetic record does its level best to portray some of the circumstances of Kaspar’s plight; in particular the utter isolation, the claustrophobia of his living quarters, and the limited range of his half-formed thoughts going round in circles. Which isn’t to say the music is eigher futile, or limited; but it does manage to enter into the childlike state of mind which is so crucial to understanding this theme.

Ed Pinsent

Ink19

Could this be the next manifestation of Rob Wasserman? The grandson of Mingus? The disciple of a psychotic Ron Carter? These questions can only be posed but not answered on Caspar. However, if you ever wanted to know how many sounds an acoustic bass could possibly make, this disc will answer your query. Janek plucks, bows, bends, and warps the bass in ways that are almost pornographic. It’s almost difficult to wrap one’s head around. Then, when you realize that this is not the product of effects pedals or any overdubbing, your mind is blown. Of course, as with so many free jazz projects, Caspar is completely an intellectual journey — for melody or any notions of a song are not really entertained on this disc. It leaves you a spectator to Janek’s mastery over his instrument as opposed to a participant in the beauty of his music. So, if you’re a fan of the spectacle, this is definitely a disc for you. If you’re looking for something to hum to, well, look into some Ray Brown.

Bill Campbell

all music guide

This CD simply is superb. The art of the double bass has been developed in avant-garde territory by the likes of Peter Kowald, Mark Dresser, and Dominic Duval. All three showed how wide the huge instrument’s palette of sounds and emotions was. Klaus Janek tapped right into this legacy to deliver a moving solo album, Caspar. He bows, plucks, scratches, elongates notes into drones, feverishly plays until you don’t know what instrument he plays on anymore, and occasionally uses his voice to add an extra human touch (a technique Kowald pioneered). The eight pieces were recorded over a four-year span, with the bulk of the music coming from a three-day session in July 1997. The CD finally came out in 2001. The first two parts expose different extended techniques well integrated in the course of short improvisations. “Part III” introduces the voice over a jazzy melody that gradually gets out of control. The longer “Part IV” comes back to atonality and noise-based performance, while featuring a level of passion one usually finds only in Joëlle Léandre’s recordings. The 13-minute “Part VI” is more thoroughly composed and varied, taking the listener through a number of climates and climaxes. The album ends with Marc Johnson’s “Prayer Beads,” a deceptively simple jazz tune. It creates a beautiful contrast, the perfect way to conclude this CD. Janek’s playing deserves to be heard. Strongly recommended.

Francois Couture

improv.hu

Since its launch, few independent mini labels have had the power to launch as powerfully – surprisingly and fascinating – audiences and critics as the Solponticello publisher, Erik Hinds, based in Athens. Shortly after the previously enthusiastic opening of the catalog, the first solo work of the Italian-born double bassist Klaus Janek was undoubtedly added to the prestige of the almost invisible record label without much fuss.

Born and raised in Bolzano, Janek switched to double bass after initial attempts at soprano and alt flutes and various percussion. Thanks to the exchange of instruments, he soon became a member of local rock and jazz bands. The creative exploration of the aural capabilities of four- and five-string double basses began in 1988 and then studied with masters such as Mauro Muraro, Jaribou Shahib and Ludwig Streicher. In a few years, Klaus Janek has been working on such iconic improvised jazz icons as Peter Kowald, Lawrence D. Butch Morris or Dave Holland; and collaborated with artists like Wolfgang Fuchs, Christoph Irmer or Martin Blume. In addition to a variety of experimentally based collaborative music, Janek has consistently composed applied music for Italian, German, French and British theater and dance productions; in addition, he has been playing concerts for the double bass, Caspar, since 1994, and had to wait until 2001 for his recordings.

The album consists of Caspar’s seven untitled titles and a remodel by Marc Johnson of Prayer Beads closing the disc. After the first few minutes, it becomes clear that the musician is able to display the many shades and moods of his instrument from the almost overwhelming, very aggressive and loud overture of the piece (Part I) to the longest and most complex sixth movement (Part VI). ) to almost moments of silence. The first two movements are an improvisational unfolding of each theme, followed by an intermezzo-like section, in which Janek’s bump is first introduced. The fourth movement is a moving, noise-based part that is one of the most vibrant and provocative minutes of the whole album. The sixth movement is a piece divided into four subdivisions, which is clearly the most thoughtful, complex part of the album. The perfect counterpoint to the seven-track piece is the peaceful closing of the album, which uses Johnson’s track, an extremely jazz melody that is extremely simplistic. For his recordings, Janek, a five-string double bass player, had a pre-conception of making the Caspar record without any effects or post-production. Interestingly, the items were recorded individually in different studios for a total of four years.

As the title suggests, the work was inspired by the tragic story of Kaspar Hauser, a German who first met Klaus Janek around 1988. The story of an eternal outsider who, in his short life, tried to integrate into society, was so captivated by the musician that over the next six years he experimented with many linguistic and dramaturgical aspects that express Kaspar Hauser’s tragedy with perfect sensibility: a boy hardly able to speak was found in a side street of Nuremberg with an anonymous letter in his hand, containing only a date of birth. The boy could only say his name, his vocabulary consisted of a few words. The boy had learned to speak among people with incredible speed, and was thus able to articulate the events of his short life objectively but sensitively: unknown to him from about three years of age, for over twelve years, in a tiny dark cavity away from light, fresh air, and . He couldn’t stand or walk in his cell; its food consisted of bread and water; he had no knowledge of time, space, days and seasons. Until his release, he had no recollection of human contact, for he was only given food and drink and changed his clothes when he was asleep. Before his release, someone had taught him all that his name was Kaspar Hauser. After his inexplicable imprisonment, Hauser tried to integrate into society through his recipients, trying to get to know and understand the human world, but five years after his release, an unknown man stabbed him to death. According to Janek, Hauser’s struggling cognition, learning, and integration process is a perfect analogy of how a student tries to see, recognize, or “insert” an abstract piece of music. According to Janek, the story of Hauser is the story of decoding.

Caspar’s 43-minute audio is not the imprint of a simple mapping of the instrumental sound generation potential, but fortunately much, much more. Unbearable, original and creative, yet free of self-indulgence, this untold music tells a story that deserves and deserves attentive and devoted listening. In addition to these positives, it is not unimportant that Klaus Janek becomes one of the prominent figures in the double bass society and as a major instrumentalist in the global improvisation scene, such as Mark Dresser, Dominic Duval, Joëlle Léandre or the late Peter Kowald.

Juhász László (translated with googletranslator)