‘Beyond’ zeitkratzer vs. Terje Rypdal & Palle Mikkelborg // Studio Dan feat. Nika Zach

‘Beyond’ zeitkratzer vs. Terje Rypdal & Palle Mikkelborg

This group’s name says it all. Berlin-based zeitkratzer (“time-scraper”) ensemble, grouped around composer, pianist and musical director Reinhold Friedl chips away at the norms of time. The ensemble’s top-class line-up interprets the notion of “contemporary music” in its very own way, it “shakes off the chains of notation” by first and foremost emphasising the aspect of “contemporariness”.

In joint projects with Lou Reed, Jim O’Rourke or Merzbow, the group’s underlying concept of a European soloists’ ensemble displayed surprising intersections of different contemporary conceptions of organising sound. Their ensemble thereby benefits from the diverse experiences its members have with improvisation, electronics, Minimalist music, Rock, Pop, Noise and folklore, the voyage always heading further into the past as well as into the future.

With Norwegian guitarist Terje Rypdal and Danish trumpet player Palle Mikkelborg zeitkratzer has invited two heavyweights of Nordic jazz who in their intensive application of different timbres on their part for five decades have been blurring the outlines of musical categories.

Studio Dan feat. Nika Zach

With his album Studio Tan, Frank Zappa led the hearing expectations directed towards his music beyond all boundaries. Following this classic of high-value impiety, Viennese trombonist and composer Daniel Riegler calls his group Studio Dan. With his ensemble consisting of 18 musicians, Riegler deeply advances into the self-conceptions of contrasting styles of music to track down genuine ties where nobody else suspects them. Using its rich instrumental fundus the band directs its attention to the interfaces between acoustic and electronic creation of sound as well as free and organised improvisation. Although Riegler consistently refuses to label his outfit as a “Big Band”, he still invokes the rich musical spectrum of a large-format Jazz-ensemble.

“As paradoxical as it may sound: His music which oscillates between concrete and abstract sensuality is highly heterogeneous and yet appears to have been cast from a single mould.”
Der Bund / Tom Gsteiger