The Astronomical Unit

Relativity
Jazz Werkstatt JW 063

Superimpose

Talk Talk

Leo Records CD LR 555

Negating the cliché that three into two won’t go, bassist Clayton Thomas adds new textures to Relativity when his contributions expand the partnership of trombonist Matthias Müller and drummer Christian Marien showcased on Talk Talk.

Recorded within eight months of one another, these CDs are actually parallel elaborations of a similar improvisational process within either two or three parts. The major difference may be that The Astronomical Unit (AU)’s four tracks use words in their titles while Superimpose’s six use letters. Although an augmented stratum of tension exists within the AU’s improvisation which are, in the main, staccato and agitato, that seems to be deliberate. Berlin-based Müller and Marien have worked as a duo since 2006 and as trio with Thomas since 2007.

Initially members of the Olaf Ton band, Müller and Marien developed a common duo language from that experience. At the same time the trombonist collaborates with other musicians ranging from guitarist Olaf Rupp to multi-reedist Chris Heenan; while the drummer frequently works not only with musicians, but also with visual artists and dancers. An Australian turned Berliner, Thomas is now one of the busiest bassists in Central Europe, regularly working in combos featuring, among many others, French saxophonist Jean-Luc Guionnet and German trombonist Johannes Bauer.

On their own, Müller and Marien have evolved a free, but somewhat cramped, strategy. Involving double counterpoint, it appears as if every tone or measure expressed by one player is immediately answered by the other one, and vice versa. Moving beyond call-and-response, the idea seems to be that, should for instance, the drummer output rim shots and sectional snaps, equally expressive vibrating tongue stretches emanating from deep within the trombone must appear as well. Should Müller create a rubato hocketing throat growl, then Marien’s response involves percussive flams, rolls or drags.

With many tracks fading once concordance is reached, distinguishing tonal, features of these duets extend beyond technical instrumental quirks. Besides air propelled from his trombone in burps, snorts and sniffs, Müller also layers his improvisations with a unique form of onomatopoeia. Müller constantly hollers, mutters and mumbles under his breath in what could be the language of a secret society – or a Druid. Yet this parallel texture amplifies rather than supersedes his brass playing. Even when there are interludes of whistling grace notes or buried gutbucket growl from the trombonist, Marien’s ricocheting cymbal textures, off-side snare pressure or muscular bass drum beats speed up or slow down to meet the brass man’s expressions.

Paradoxically, it appears that timbral expansion from the bassist’s bag of tricks opens up Relativity’s sound. These new timbres also contribute to a tauter trio interaction. Thick, rebounding stops plus slippery sawing on the bass’s strings with a license plate instead of a bow propel higher pitches and encourage Müller to be more adventurous. Subsequently hand-muting his bell for softer grace notes or thinning his tonal output to yelp, bark and bite encourages similar unprecedented expansions from the others. Marien’s response involves herky-jerky rubs and drags on his drum tops, protracted shuffle beats, and passages where strokes tick and pulse like an over-wound clock. For his part, Thomas uses powerful stopping and straightforward walking to

prevent the contrapuntal triple improvisations from splintering or spinning out of control.

While the sound journey on Relativity may appear to be more exhausting than the one which characterizes Talk Talk, each is memorable and praiseworthy.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Relativity: 1 Parallel Firsts 2. See the Sun 3. Degrees of Three 4. Shooting Satellites

Personnel: Relativity: Matthias Müller (trombone); Clayton Thomas (bass) and Christian Marien (drums)

Track Listing: Talk: 1. YF 2. MCZA 3. NEM 4. AS 5. IMHK 6. JW

Personnel: Talk: Matthias Müller (trombone) and Christian Marien (drums and percussion)

September 13, 2010

Superimpose

Talk Talk
Leo Records CD LR 555

The Astronomical Unit

Relativity

Jazz Werkstatt JW 063

Negating the cliché that three into two won’t go, bassist Clayton Thomas adds new textures to Relativity when his contributions expand the partnership of trombonist Matthias Müller and drummer Christian Marien showcased on Talk Talk.

Recorded within eight months of one another, these CDs are actually parallel elaborations of a similar improvisational process within either two or three parts. The major difference may be that The Astronomical Unit (AU)’s four tracks use words in their titles while Superimpose’s six use letters. Although an augmented stratum of tension exists within the AU’s improvisation which are, in the main, staccato and agitato, that seems to be deliberate. Berlin-based Müller and Marien have worked as a duo since 2006 and as trio with Thomas since 2007.

Initially members of the Olaf Ton band, Müller and Marien developed a common duo language from that experience. At the same time the trombonist collaborates with other musicians ranging from guitarist Olaf Rupp to multi-reedist Chris Heenan; while the drummer frequently works not only with musicians, but also with visual artists and dancers. An Australian turned Berliner, Thomas is now one of the busiest bassists in Central Europe, regularly working in combos featuring, among many others, French saxophonist Jean-Luc Guionnet and German trombonist Johannes Bauer.

On their own, Müller and Marien have evolved a free, but somewhat cramped, strategy. Involving double counterpoint, it appears as if every tone or measure expressed by one player is immediately answered by the other one, and vice versa. Moving beyond call-and-response, the idea seems to be that, should for instance, the drummer output rim shots and sectional snaps, equally expressive vibrating tongue stretches emanating from deep within the trombone must appear as well. Should Müller create a rubato hocketing throat growl, then Marien’s response involves percussive flams, rolls or drags.

With many tracks fading once concordance is reached, distinguishing tonal, features of these duets extend beyond technical instrumental quirks. Besides air propelled from his trombone in burps, snorts and sniffs, Müller also layers his improvisations with a unique form of onomatopoeia. Müller constantly hollers, mutters and mumbles under his breath in what could be the language of a secret society – or a Druid. Yet this parallel texture amplifies rather than supersedes his brass playing. Even when there are interludes of whistling grace notes or buried gutbucket growl from the trombonist, Marien’s ricocheting cymbal textures, off-side snare pressure or muscular bass drum beats speed up or slow down to meet the brass man’s expressions.

Paradoxically, it appears that timbral expansion from the bassist’s bag of tricks opens up Relativity’s sound. These new timbres also contribute to a tauter trio interaction. Thick, rebounding stops plus slippery sawing on the bass’s strings with a license plate instead of a bow propel higher pitches and encourage Müller to be more adventurous. Subsequently hand-muting his bell for softer grace notes or thinning his tonal output to yelp, bark and bite encourages similar unprecedented expansions from the others. Marien’s response involves herky-jerky rubs and drags on his drum tops, protracted shuffle beats, and passages where strokes tick and pulse like an over-wound clock. For his part, Thomas uses powerful stopping and straightforward walking to

prevent the contrapuntal triple improvisations from splintering or spinning out of control.

While the sound journey on Relativity may appear to be more exhausting than the one which characterizes Talk Talk, each is memorable and praiseworthy.

-- Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Relativity: 1 Parallel Firsts 2. See the Sun 3. Degrees of Three 4. Shooting Satellites

Personnel: Relativity: Matthias Müller (trombone); Clayton Thomas (bass) and Christian Marien (drums)

Track Listing: Talk: 1. YF 2. MCZA 3. NEM 4. AS 5. IMHK 6. JW

Personnel: Talk: Matthias Müller (trombone) and Christian Marien (drums and percussion)

September 13, 2010

Zoepf & Schliemann

Zweieiige Zwillinge
Nurnichtnur 105 09 08

Matthias Müller/Christian Marien

Superimpose

Creative Sources CS 092 CD

Put aside any conventional concept of sonic beauty when listening to these two provocative horn-plus-percussion CDs. As a matter of fact, tolerance for sonic brutality might be a quality to bring to the discs – along with an appreciation for the unexpected.

Noisy, clamorous and blaring are the adjectives that are best attributed to these dual German duets, although just like no two snowflakes are the same, no two harsh noises are indistinguishable either. On Superimpose for example, the players are trombonist Matthias Müller and drummer Christian Marien on a diabolical busman’s holiday from their regular gigs. Both are members of the jokey and jolly Olaf Ton band; the drummer also collaborates with dancers, hip-hoppers and performance artists; the trombonist is also involved with avant-garde theatre and dance groups and teaches trombone in Dresden.

On the other CD, Köln-based soprano saxophonist and bass clarinetist Joachim Zoepf is an improvised music crusader, having over the years been involved in the creation of several symposiums, concert and festivals. His collaborators have ranged from trombonist Paul Hubweber to endangered guitarist Hans Tammen. A percussionist with a similar bent, Wolfgang Schliemann works with other sound explorers like saxophonist Dirk Marveled and bassist Ulrich Phillip.

Divided into 18 tracks in two different series, Zweieiige Zwillinge is a fantasia of sharp, squealed and shrill oscillations. Furthermore on most tracks each man unearths not only the initial textures, but also wrenches ancillary echoes from the flanging and fluttering his extended techniques produce. At points, in fact, it’s nearly impossible to attribute certain shrills to either altissimo reed-tongue manipulation or a drumstick sharply scraped along a ride cymbal.

Other pitches are more easily identified. On bass clarinet, Zoepf honks, slurs and squawks, with disconnected burps and retches following an interlude of tongue-slapping. Elsewhere he solidifies his timbres into reverberating Bronx cheers. Circular breathing, moistly propelled through the horn’s body tube allows the soprano saxophone to expose additional overtones and partials; while other times key percussion and split-tones lead him to distant slurs and watery irregular vibrations.

While all these strategies occupy the reedist, Schliemann busies himself with rattles, rebounds and pops. Much of his output is the result of drum top friction, ratcheting on metallic, unyielding surfaces, loosening and tightening the heads’ connective lugs and bolts, squeaking rubber toys and using band-saw-like pressure to produce strident, ear-wrenching shrieks. Meandering through what sounds like a junkyard of percussion instruments, the drummer works up to contrapuntal and polyphonic exchanges with Zoepf which blur foreground and background roles – plus in one dramatic exchange, he announces the finale with a piercing police whistle shrill.

Only slightly less clangorous, Superimpose’s six tracks may sound the way they do because Müller’s subterranean plunger work, braying tones and throat rumbles can’t replicate the continuous piercing shrillness of a reed. But that’s not for lack of trying. Still in mid-range his wide bell space and tongue manipulation allows the absolute sound of air currents and chromatic note clusters to be heard.

For his part, Marien doesn’t take a back seat to Schliemann when it comes to cacophony. Little ruffling or nerve beats are on display when the percussionist can repeatedly rattle what seems to be an aluminum pie plate; trigger the equivalent of single revolver blasts with a pointed drumstick; or produce seamless, reverberations to break up the beat from floor toms and snare; plus create sputtering and hissing decorations from the cymbals.

Tightrope walking on the divide between noise and non-noise, these duos create notable provocative sounds. The point where they can be admired as much as accepted depends on the listeners’ adventurousness.

-- Ken Waxman

.

Track Listing: Zweieiige: 1. Skorpion I 2. Skorpion II 3. Skorpion III 4. Skorpion IV 5. Krebs I 6. Krebs 2 7. Krebs III 8. Krebs IV 9. Skorpion V 10. Krebs V 11. Krebs VI 12. Krebs VII 13. Skorpion VI 14. Krebs VIII 15. Skorpion VII 16. Krebs IX 17. Skorpion VIII 18. Krebs X

Personnel: Zweieiige: Joachim Zoepf (soprano saxophone and bass clarinet) and Wolfgang Schliemann (percussion)

Track Listing: Superimpose: 1. One 2. Two 3. Three 4. Four 5. Five 6. Six

Personnel: Superimpose: Matthias Müller (trombone) and Christian Marien (drums)

April 28, 2008

Matthias Müller/Christian Marien

Superimpose
Creative Sources CS 092 CD

Zoepf & Schliemann

Zweieiige Zwillinge

Nurnichtnur 105 09 08

Put aside any conventional concept of sonic beauty when listening to these two provocative horn-plus-percussion CDs. As a matter of fact, tolerance for sonic brutality might be a quality to bring to the discs – along with an appreciation for the unexpected.

Noisy, clamorous and blaring are the adjectives that are best attributed to these dual German duets, although just like no two snowflakes are the same, no two harsh noises are indistinguishable either. On Superimpose for example, the players are trombonist Matthias Müller and drummer Christian Marien on a diabolical busman’s holiday from their regular gigs. Both are members of the jokey and jolly Olaf Ton band; the drummer also collaborates with dancers, hip-hoppers and performance artists; the trombonist is also involved with avant-garde theatre and dance groups and teaches trombone in Dresden.

On the other CD, Köln-based soprano saxophonist and bass clarinetist Joachim Zoepf is an improvised music crusader, having over the years been involved in the creation of several symposiums, concert and festivals. His collaborators have ranged from trombonist Paul Hubweber to endangered guitarist Hans Tammen. A percussionist with a similar bent, Wolfgang Schliemann works with other sound explorers like saxophonist Dirk Marveled and bassist Ulrich Phillip.

Divided into 18 tracks in two different series, Zweieiige Zwillinge is a fantasia of sharp, squealed and shrill oscillations. Furthermore on most tracks each man unearths not only the initial textures, but also wrenches ancillary echoes from the flanging and fluttering his extended techniques produce. At points, in fact, it’s nearly impossible to attribute certain shrills to either altissimo reed-tongue manipulation or a drumstick sharply scraped along a ride cymbal.

Other pitches are more easily identified. On bass clarinet, Zoepf honks, slurs and squawks, with disconnected burps and retches following an interlude of tongue-slapping. Elsewhere he solidifies his timbres into reverberating Bronx cheers. Circular breathing, moistly propelled through the horn’s body tube allows the soprano saxophone to expose additional overtones and partials; while other times key percussion and split-tones lead him to distant slurs and watery irregular vibrations.

While all these strategies occupy the reedist, Schliemann busies himself with rattles, rebounds and pops. Much of his output is the result of drum top friction, ratcheting on metallic, unyielding surfaces, loosening and tightening the heads’ connective lugs and bolts, squeaking rubber toys and using band-saw-like pressure to produce strident, ear-wrenching shrieks. Meandering through what sounds like a junkyard of percussion instruments, the drummer works up to contrapuntal and polyphonic exchanges with Zoepf which blur foreground and background roles – plus in one dramatic exchange, he announces the finale with a piercing police whistle shrill.

Only slightly less clangorous, Superimpose’s six tracks may sound the way they do because Müller’s subterranean plunger work, braying tones and throat rumbles can’t replicate the continuous piercing shrillness of a reed. But that’s not for lack of trying. Still in mid-range his wide bell space and tongue manipulation allows the absolute sound of air currents and chromatic note clusters to be heard.

For his part, Marien doesn’t take a back seat to Schliemann when it comes to cacophony. Little ruffling or nerve beats are on display when the percussionist can repeatedly rattle what seems to be an aluminum pie plate; trigger the equivalent of single revolver blasts with a pointed drumstick; or produce seamless, reverberations to break up the beat from floor toms and snare; plus create sputtering and hissing decorations from the cymbals.

Tightrope walking on the divide between noise and non-noise, these duos create notable provocative sounds. The point where they can be admired as much as accepted depends on the listeners’ adventurousness.

-- Ken Waxman

.

Track Listing: Zweieiige: 1. Skorpion I 2. Skorpion II 3. Skorpion III 4. Skorpion IV 5. Krebs I 6. Krebs 2 7. Krebs III 8. Krebs IV 9. Skorpion V 10. Krebs V 11. Krebs VI 12. Krebs VII 13. Skorpion VI 14. Krebs VIII 15. Skorpion VII 16. Krebs IX 17. Skorpion VIII 18. Krebs X

Personnel: Zweieiige: Joachim Zoepf (soprano saxophone and bass clarinet) and Wolfgang Schliemann (percussion)

Track Listing: Superimpose: 1. One 2. Two 3. Three 4. Four 5. Five 6. Six

Personnel: Superimpose: Matthias Müller (trombone) and Christian Marien (drums)

April 28, 2008