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LAN CAO / GREGOR SIEDL / WOLFGANG SEIDEL - Optimistic Modernism

Format: CD+BOOKlet Label & Cat.Number: Moloko+ PLUS 102 Release Year: 2019 Note: these three musicians (with TON STEINE SCHERBEN founding member W. SEIDEL) on sax & clarinet, electronics, percussion, etc. recorded three impro sessions at the legendary ex-ROTAPRINT factory in Berlin-Wedding, this inspired them for the 60's design title / booklet => 8 fully experimental tracks as a clash of different styles, truly challenging... - comes with 48 page full colour booklet and extra cardboard slipcase Price (incl. 19% VAT): €15.00 More Info Optimistic Modernism Die Musik auf dieser CD ist ein „best of“ aus 3 1/2 Stunden Aufnahmen dreier Sessions, für die man sich 2017 traf. Die Architektur des Ortes der Sessions gab die Inspiration für den Namen des Projektes: Optimisitc Modernism. Die Treffen fanden im Untergeschoss eines der markanten Ecktürme der ehemaligen Rotaprint-Fabrik in Berlin Wedding statt (heute beherbergt das Gelände unter dem Namen ExRotaprint soziale Projekte, Firmen und Künstler). Rotaprint produzierte bis in die 80er Jahre Druckmaschinen. Diese Maschinen waren vor allem für Schulen, Universitäten und Verwaltungen gedacht. Das photografische System der Druckplattenherstellung machte es einfach, jede beliebige Vorlage zu reproduzieren – ob Schreibmaschinenseite, Zeichnung, Collage oder ein vorhandenes Buch. Auf diesen Maschinen entstanden ein Großteil der Flugblätter, Untergundzeitungen oder Raubdrucke der 60er. Ohne diese Technologie wären die 60er anders verlaufen. Das Selbstbewusstsein der Firma drückte sich in den von den Architekten Kirsten und Nather entworfenen Anbauten aus. Deren Entwürfe wollten mehr sein, als mehr vom Rotstift als von einer Utopie getriebenen Kisten, in denen man Arbeiter stapelte, tagsüber in der Fabrik, abends in standardisierten Wohnhäusern. Im von Iannis Xenakis für die Brüsseler Weltausstellung 1958 entworfenen Philips-Pavillion fanden Architektur und Musik in einer optimistischen Moderne zusammen. Die Bauten des British Brutalism (nach dem Baumaterial béton brut) evozieren mit ihren mutigen, auf Widerspruch und Überraschung ausgelegten Formen als Soundtrack Musique Concrete, Elektronische Musik, Stockhausen oder Soundtracks von Science Fiction Filmen wie Forbidden Planet. Musik auf der Suche nach unendlichen Weiten jederzeit bereit, den Kurs zu ändern, wenn eine interessante Sehens/Hörenswürdigkeit auf dem Radar auftaucht. So ist auch die Musik auf dieser CD. Die Frage, was als nächstes kommt, folgt nicht einem vorgegebenen Plan folgt oder einer einer angeblichen Alternativlosigkeit. Brüche und unerwartete Kursänderungen werden bewusst in Kauf genommen. Optimistic Modernism The music on this CD is a “best of” from 3.5 hours of recordings from three sessions which were held in 2017. The architecture of the location of the sessions provided the inspiration for the name of the project: Optimistic Modernism. The sessions took place in the basement of one of the prominent corner towers of the former Rotaprint factory in Berlin Wedding. Today, the name of the site is ExRotaprint and it provides space for social projects, commercial enterprises, artists and musicians. The Rotaprint company manufactured printing presses there until the end of the 80s. These presses were designed mainly for schools, universities, and administrative bodies. The photographic system of printing plate manufacturing made it easy to reproduce any original – whether typewritten page, drawing, collage, or existing book. A majority of the lea ets, underground papers, or pirated editions of the sixties came from these presses. Without this technology, the 60s would have taken a different course. The company’s self-awareness found expression in the extensions designed by the architect Klaus Kirsten. These designs aspired to be more than mere boxes in which to stack workers: by day in the factory, in the evenings in standardised homes, shaped by red pen rather than utopian idea. In the Philips Pavilion for the Expo 1958 in Brussels designed by Iannis Xenakis, architecture and music converge in an optimistic modernity. The buildings of British Brutalism (after the building material béton brut) with their bold shapes, esigned for antagonism and surprise, evoke a soundtrack of musique concréte, electronic music, Stockhausen, or soundtracks of science fiction movies such as Forbidden Planet. This was music on the quest for the nal frontier, always ready to change course whenever an interesting sight or sound emerges on the radar. The same is true for the music on this CD. What comes next does not follow a predetermined plan or some seeming lack of alternatives. Ruptures and unexpected changes of course are taken into account deliberately. LAN CAO caothanhlan.com a versatile musician, trained as a classical contemporary music pianist in Cologne and in Brussels Conservatories, but nds her main interest in sound. She has been expe- rimenting with analogue synthesizer, ampli ed objects, prepared marxophone/zither, low-tech electronics, etc. As a guest pianist of Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin (KNM Ensemble), she has performed at Ultraschall Festival, Musica Electronica Nova Wroclaw, Galeriewanderung Berlin, etc. She has also earned a wide range of ensemble experience in festivals namely Klangspuren with Ensemble Modern Frankfurt, Darmstadt Festival for new music, Festival Ircam Paris@Manifest, Impuls Festival, International Kamermuziek Festival Schiermonnikoog, etc. Also active as an experimental sound artist, composer in many different projects, notably the electro-acoustic Duo (Parallel Asteroid and Zicla projects) – in collaboration with Gregor Siedl, she has been tou GREGOR SIEDL gregorsiedl.com was born in Vienna, Austria. He is deeply engaged in the eld of experimen- tal and improvised music. Through his explorations of extended techniques, preparations on the saxophone, clarinet and the use of extra-musical inst- ruments such as game-calls and water, he has developed a unique voice in music. Gregor won rst prizes as best improviser at international music competitions XL-Jazz and Gent Jazz festival. He has been involved in experimental music, music-theater, jazz, multi-disciplinary projects with performers, visual artists and arti cial intelligence. He is a band-member of Junk Orbit, Parallel Asteroid, DOKO, Auralisation Ensemble, Osmosis Project. He has performed all over Europe, Asia, Australia and South-America at international music festivals and concert venues, such as: Festival Ankunft Neue Musik Berlin, Festival Internacional de Musica Experimental Sao Paulo, Krieg Singen HdKW Berlin, Follow the sound Festival Antwerpen, Storm!-Festival, LeXGiornate Milan, Ftarri Tokyo, Hot Club Lisboa, Estonian Academy of music, Improvised Music Co. Dublin, etc. ring and giving workshops for contemporary music and improvisation in Europe, Japan, Brasil, China, Taiwan, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Finland, Australia and Vietnam. Other groups in which she is founding member, amongst others, are Swiss Army Wife, Junk Orbit, Cao-Keller-Siedl, etc. WOLFGANG SEIDEL born in what once was West-Berlin. Started playing drums in the mid 60s in one of the numerous bands that sprang up in Germany inspired by the sound of British bands. In the rebellious years at the end of the 60s became one of the regular visitors at the Zodiak Free Arts Lab founded by Beuys’s student and Kluster (later Cluster) member Conrad Schnitzler. The long during friendship and collaboration with Conrad Schnitzler introduced him into more experimental musical elds and improvisation and electronic sounds. Beside that Seidel had been one of the founding members of one of Germany’s most important rock groups: Ton Steine Scherben. To keep his artistic freedom he earned his living for 20 years in a print shop before he became graphics designer for TV stations. Today he is active both as a drummer and synthesist in Berlin’s thriving improvised music scene in various projects with Alfred 23 Harth, Fast 277 (duo with Eliad Wagner), Populäre Mechanik, Ulf Mengersen, Philippe Lemoine etc. Auftritte bei Colour Out Of Space, Brighton UK, CTM - Festival for Adventurous Music and Art Berlin, Todays Art The Hague NL, Le Lieu Unique Nantes F, Atelier Nord ANX Oslo N, Basic Electriciy Berlin, Superbooth Berlin. Clarinet, Saxophone, Effects [Game-Calls], Electronics – Gregor Siedl Layout – Pegman Graphics Marxophone, Sampler, Synthesizer – Lan Cao* Percussion, Guitar [Table Top Guitar], Synthesizer, Mixed By, Edited By, Artwork [Artwork Ideas], Liner Notes [Texts] – Wolfgang Seidel "Recently released via the German imprint Moloko+ is "Optimistic Modernism", an acoustic homage to the interchangeable modernist design approach of the 60s, interestingly oftentimes aimed at female consumers, built and condensed from 3.5 hours of material created by Lan Cao, Gregor Seidl and Wolfgang Seidel over the course of three recording sessions at the former Rotaprint factory in Berlin Wedding in 2017. Coming with an extensive 48 pages booklet and a special cardboard slip cover the album itself caters a menu of eight tracks in total, opening with "Jettatura", a tense, 4:44 minutes spanning excursion into retrofuturistic electroacoustics with score'esque qualities whereas "East Anglia" explores full on minimalism garnished with echoes of echoes of Post-PostRock and swampy modular bleeps. The follow up "Tarantism" explores more of a nervous, scraping, percussive, abstract and somewhat FreeJazz- / Tribal-infused vibe, "Robin Hood Gardens (Steal The City From The Rich)" brings more score'esque, brooding, feverish and this time slightly Asian vibes to the table, fusing eruptive outbursts and calm, yet tense and spine-tingling background tones whereas "Zugzwang" is steadily working towards a climaxing, polyrhythmic crescendo. Using "The Sixth Sense" we see the three musicians continue to follow the polyrhythmic path whilst adding some intense piano chords and strummed string instruments to the well threatening melange, their homage to the "Barbican Estate" is as stripped down as it is thrilling, providing a Western / Morricone'esque tension for the concrete architectural desert and the final cut that is "Ghibli Garden" brings on a trundling, slightly chaotic take on highly experimental Indietronics for a confusing, yet well interesting closing." [Nitestilez.de]