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New Remix: Color Catalogue

I have a new track out on Mad Ducks Records called "Color Catalogue". It's a remix of label owner Cedric Theys' piece "Stepping Through Existence" off his 2015 album "Eternity's Antechamber". The track was released as part of a compilation album of remixes called "Eternal Encounter", which you can listen to and purchase here.

[tobiasreber]

New blog and email letter

This blog has finally moved to its own proper domain at www.ahundredquirkylegs.com. The Tumblr will keep existing as the news site for my personal website at www.tobiasreber.com. Meanwhile, here's the new site's description:

a hundred quirky legs is a blog about composition in the age of algorithms.

I’m Tobias Reber, a composer, musician and media artist. This site is where I and occasional guests think out loud about composing music and crafting a life as a musician in a culture permeated by digital technology that affects how we create, work and think. I want the site to become a place of learning, reflection and teaching for any musicians and music lovers who want to push their creativity, thinking and action. Please subscribe over there.

In addition to the site I’ve also started an email newsletter where I write more informally no more than once or twice a month (maybe less – this is an experiment, really, and I’ll see what feels right), riff on things that come up while working on projects or with students, share stuff and also link to and comment on interesting media related to the topics of the blog. I’d love for you to join me by signing up below.

Thanks for reading and I hope to see you there!

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Email Address

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[tobiasreber]

Out now: Hampl Reber Reuter Calabrese - “Exedra”

Exedra by Hampl Reber Reuter Calabrese

released October 1, 2015 Jochen Hampl - bass guitar, tibetan bowl, sticks Tobias Reber - live drum programming, synths Markus Reuter - Touch Guitars® U8 Deluxe, electronics Luca Calabrese - flügelhorn, trumpet, electronics Recorded on February 27, 2014 by Dieter Sailer at Klangspur Studio, Sistrans, Austria Mixed by Markus Reuter at John's Studio in Berlin, Germany Mastered by Lee Fletcher in Paignton, UK Produced by Markus Reuter and Jochen Hampl Artwork and design by Ritxi Ostariz, www.ritxiostariz.com www.iapetus-media.com/yoshihampl/ www.tobiasreber.com www.markusreuter.com lucalab.jimdo.com www.iapetus-media.com www.unsung-productions.com

[tobiasreber]

Blast Unicorn “Van Halo” - out now!

Blast Unicorn's debut album "Van Halo" was released on April 1st! Alex and I couldn't be happier to finally give this music away for other ears to hear. The limited signed/numbered CDs have sold out one week after launch, but regular CDs and downloads remain available of course. Read on below for a bit of background information. (And please excuse the weird link formatting, I haven't found out how to embed links after the changes in the Tumblr backend.)

Van Halo by Blast Unicorn

We began working on our then still unnamed project during one of my Berlin visits in late 2010 - that's before this blog, even www.tobiasreber.com existed, so it rarely (if at all) got mentioned here. The project was to become a constant companion for the following years. We'd work on new pieces when time allowed, sending files back and forth, exchanging ideas, sometimes turning the initial piece on its head to reveal something even more compelling. Sometimes we'd pause for months at a time while other commitments demanded our attention. We each released other albums. Then finally, in the spring of 2013, we wrapped up the compositions and prepared the pieces for mixing. In early May 2013, only days after we returned from the "Todmorden 513" recording week in Denver, Markus Reuter and I visited Horus Sound Studios in Hannover, Germany to mix the album with engineer Benni Schäfer. A few weeks and long lists of things to tweak later, Benni put in another day's work while I sat at my kitchen table with headphones on and provided feedback for the mixes he sent. At the end of that day we were done. We sent the album to Lee Fletcher for mastering. Needless to say, without Markus, Benni and Lee the album would not sound nearly as amazing as it does now - thank you guys! Suddenly, other projects took over again and it became hard to find the time for Blast Unicorn. We concerned ourselves with getting the finances ready, squeezed in a photo shoot with Valquire Veljkovic in Berlin late in the year, came up with and discarded artwork ideas until Alex developed and realized the final design. And here it is! Initial reactions have been great, both from fellow musicians, early reviewers (we're currently Album of the Month at http://babyblaue-seiten.de, the biggest Progressive Rock site in the German speaking part of the World) and fans, who much to our delight began a trend of posting album photos and videos on Facebook. Thank you to all who have supported the project in any way! Visit www.blastunicorn.com for a roundup of press quotes and reviews and come to www.facebook.com/BlastUnicorn to keep up with the conversation around the album. To order „Van Halo“, visit: http://blastunicorn.bandcamp.com (CD + download versions) http://7dmedia.bandcamp.com (download version only) Finally, below you'll find the press copy and liner notes. - Blast Unicorn "Van Halo" liner notes Blast Unicorn is the joint project of touch guitarist Alexander Paul Dowerk and electronic musician Tobias Reber. The band's debut album "Van Halo" blends edgy eight string guitars with meticulously programmed drums and synths in a suite of quirky, delightfully disturbing and fiendishly complex compositions. Stylistically indebted to metal music and contemporary electronics but drawing just as much on pop clichees and the classic avant-gardes's formal exuberance, each piece unfolds according to its own inner logic while sharing traits with various other tracks, thus creating an interconnected space of densely compressed themes and ideas. credits released 01 April 2015 Alexander Paul Dowerk touch guitars U8 deluxe, acoustic guitar, clavinova, additional programming & synths, mouth (17) Tobias Reber synths, drum programming, samples, electronics, voice and lyrics (10) Produced by Markus Reuter and Tobias Reber Mixed by Benjamin Schäfer at Horus Sound, Hannover, Germany Mastered by Lee Fletcher for Unsung Productions in Paignton, UK Artwork and Design by Alexander Paul Dowerk

[tobiasreber]

centrozoon - WWTY-Tour memories Pt.2 - Erik Emil Eskildsen

[This is the second of two guest posts celebrating the release of the new centrozoon album "The Room of Plenty" by providing some context, stories and memories from where this music originated. While the recent first post by Adrian Benavides focused on the first leg of our tour in November 2011, in this post by Erik Emil Eskildsen recalls his memories travelling with us during the second round of concerts in December. Pictures by added by me.- Tobias] -

The Room of Plenty by centrozoon

I joined centrozoon for 4 concerts in December 2011 during their “We Will Tongue You” tour. I wanted to support the band by helping out with whatever was needed, and taking care of the recording of the concerts. At that time I was still living in Denmark, and had just come out of some difficult times. So when I left I knew spending time with my best friends would definitely be good for me. I traveled to Innsbruck, Austria from Denmark by train, a journey I’ve done several times in my life, to meet up with Markus and spend some time with him before travelling to Bern, Switzerland on the 7th of December, where Bernhard and Tobias would join us for the concert at Headmaster-Ateliers as part of the “Freipass” series of artist presentations.

"Going along well: Erik and Innsbruck" (photo and caption credit: Markus Reuter) I remember being very happy when I arrived to Innsbruck. The cold and refreshing mountain air was good for me. Markus and I had lots of time to talk and catch up. Going out for coffee in town, as we have done so often. When Markus and I drove to Bern, we were met with pretty rough weather conditions on the way. Snow came, lots of it. At the concert in Bern I met Tobias’ mother for the first time, she had brought some amazing local marzipan cakes for us all to take home with us. Those were great cakes!

cz setup in Bern (photo credit: Erik Emil Eskildsen) After the gig, before driving back to Tobias’ place in Biel, I remember that we had a conversation with some local artists, who were in charge of arranging concerts at the venue. I don’t remember a lot from this conversation, except that I felt very exhausted by having talked about things that were mostly irrelevant to what I considered important as an artist. But all in all it also felt great to have a conversation of this type, something that wasn’t really possible for me were I was in Denmark at that time, and I had therefore been missing. On the 8th of December we spent most of the day hanging in Biel, our good friend Mark Butler, who was living and working in Switzerland at that time and had also attended the concert the night before in Bern, joined us and we went out for food at a Kebab place and then had coffee at Starbucks. The food was good, but the coffees were better! ;-) It was really nice to catch up with Mark, not having had that much time to talk the night before. After hanging around town, Mark left and would join us later in Basel. We gathered all things we needed, said goodbye to Biel and were heading to Basel for the concert at the Plattfon record store. As we came to the car, that we had parked a few blocks from Tobias’ place, we realized that the front passenger seat window had been left open all night, with gear and some belongings of ours in the trunk of the car. Luckily enough nothing was missing, and the car hadn’t been touched! This felt really rare, and left a very positive impression of Biel in me. Something like that would not go well in most other cities I know and have lived in.

The Room of Plenty by centrozoon

After setting up and preparing everything for the concert at Plattfon in Basel we had dinner at a restaurant where they had good vegetarian food, which considering that both Tobias and I are vegetarians was very appreciated. One of Tobias’ sisters joined us for dinner, so I met her for the first time there. One very remarkable thing that I remember from the concert at Plattfon, was that the majority of the audience was female, and not only because they were the girlfriends of guys that had come to the concert. They were just there for the music. This is, unfortunately, not the typical thing to occur at an experimental music concert. It felt like it created a different atmosphere. I remember talking with Mark outside the venue after the concert about how real the music had been, comparing experiences we had both had before, that somehow connected to this point, and to the music. I remember that being in the audience at this concert was a powerful experience, and I’m pretty sure it had been like that for Mark too.

cz playing at Plattfon, Basel (photo credit: Simona Reber) After the concert Bernhard, Markus and I drove to Innsbruck, Tobias would join us a few days later. Markus had bought Kate Bush’s new album “50 Words for Snow” at Plattfon, and we listened to that album on the way to Innsbruck. This album sort of became the soundtrack of this whole trip for me. We listened to that album quite a lot during the days in Innsbruck. In Innsbruck Bernhard and I stayed at our friend Herlinde’s place, and on one of those nights we finally had a beer together! Something we had been wanting to do for quite some time. It was really good to spend time with Bernhard. Having good long breakfasts together in the mornings. On the 10th Tobias arrived and we prepared for the concert at the local radio in Innsbruck, Radio Freirad. The concert was live on air in our friend Alexander Spechtenhauser’s radioshow Klangforschung. I remember Tobias and I having fun posting through each others facebook pages, Tobias posting “This is not Erik” as me on mine, and me posting “This is not Tobias” as him on his. It was a great 2 hour show, with two sets.

cz performing live on air at Radio Freirad (photo credit: Erik Emil Eskildsen) On the 11th we drove to Munich, where there would be a house concert at a good friends place. This would be the last concert of the 2011 leg of the “We Will Tongue You” tour. I remember being very tired and overwhelmed that night during the concert. I’m assuming that it was a combination, of having been exposed to such deeply moving music, during the time up to this night, and knowing that the next day I would be returning to Denmark. After the concert we hung out, Markus left for Innsbruck and Bernhard, Tobias, and I stayed overnight at our friend’s place where the house concert had been. We all had trains leaving from Munich Main Station the next day.

centrozoon playing a living room concert in Munich (photo credit: Renée Stieger-Reuter) I remember enjoying breakfast the next morning very much. I took care of the guys and made us some nice coffee. We eventually went together to the train station. Tobias and Bernhard were the first to leave. I still had a bit of time until my train was leaving. I think I had another coffee, as a matter of a fact I most likely did [Editors note: ;-)]. And eventually got on my train, listening to “50 Words for Snow” on repeat for most of the long journey back to Denmark. I don’t remember if actually did snow on the way there, or if it did when I arrived. But somehow the snowfall that came when Markus and I were on the way to Switzerland, was still there with me, covering me like a comforting blanket. - ["The Room of Plenty is available at www.iapetus-store.com.]

[tobiasreber]

Interview: Bernhard Wöstheinrich on "The Precious Herd"

[The following interview with my good friend and collaborator Bernhard Wöstheinrich is another first on this blog. I figured I might as well use this little outlet to talk to people whose work I enjoy if I think it deserves more attention. "The Precious Herd" is a pretty unique project: It's a comic strip by Matt Howarth and a soundtrack by Bernhard that chronicle the journey of a shepherd and his herd across a strange desert. While Bernhard and I get to talk with each other about our work on a regular basis, I wanted to make some of the questions I had about this project, as well as their answers, available for anyone who is interested. - Tobias] -

The Precious Herd by Bernhard Wöstheinrich & Matt Howarth

First, give me some background on the project. How did it originate? Did the comic and music evolve in parallel or did one of them come first and the other built on it? Matt Howarth for the first came to my attention when I was listening to a CD titled “Moon Mummy” that he made with one of the founding members of Tangerine Dream, Conrad Schnitzler. At that time I was writing reviews for the german magazine “Keyboards” and so I got a promotional copy of it. I had also heard about the release “The Stolen Hour” by my Burning Shed label mate Hugh Hopper, which is also inspired by one of Matt’s comic strips. I actually can’t really remember how Matt and I came in contact personally, but he came up with that graphic short story first. So, the music was built on it. If you created the music based on the comic - in what ways did it shape the music? My idea was to capture the basic mood of the story instead of simply illustrating the comic musically using more or less descriptive sounds and arrangements. So, I predominantly followed the course of action of that story in order to find moods for the pieces I wanted to create. This was my main inspiration the sounds and the set-up. You take the track titles from the comic, or the other way round - did you think more in terms of individual panels, creating corresponding pieces, or more in terms of the narrative as a whole? In the end I just took the track titles from the comic. In this point I deviated slightly from my abstract concept. To me the titles that I took straight from the text bubbles have enough associative significance to carry the project. But of course the titles refer to the part of the story that the music illustrates. Having said that the pieces enframe a diffuse spot around a panel or an image. I know you talked a bit about this recently in the context of the new centrozoon album when we spoke with Mark Ashby on the Progtopia podcast, but I want to ask again with this specific project in mind: How much of the music is improvised, how much is planned, how much is edited afterwards? In terms of composition/concept versus improvisation the main conceptual work was spent on the preparation in order to create a committing/obliging frame for the improvisations. And also in the way I improvised I had a clear idea in mind since I aimed to achieve a certain mood for each piece. I like to compare this approach with the preparations that are usually done before painting; Once a certain image comes up I have to make sure that all necessary tools, brushes, colours, thinners, cleaning rags and canvases are ready and at hand. From that point on I can trust in intuition and in the mood of the image I already have in mind. In the case of this release I prepared a set of sounds, a live-looping/live-sequencing system. I also committed myself to a certain attitude for the music. As I was playing alone, I wanted to make sure that I was able to generate a good feedback on everything I already played before in those recording sessions. One important tool I used for that particulay purpose was a little module I created on my own; that module moves the notes I played (almost) randomly +/- 3 semitones up or down. The aim was to somehow alter the way I usually perform to be able to listen to what I did as if someone else had played it. Since I was using a lot of looping in this project I am constantly confronted with what I did right before. So I didn’t actually ‘rehearse’ in a classical way. I created and programmed a set-up, based on the mood I wanted to achieve for the respective piece. After that I tried the set-up to possibly do some improvements and amendments. Once the set-up felt good and complete to me I hit the record button. Basically the editing of the recorded material was restrained on cutting and creating more gaps to make it all less dense. Many of the pieces move at very slow speed, but the few notes are placed very effectively. How do you deal with slow tempos? Is there ever a danger of playing a lot simply because your setup allows for it? One of the basic guiding principles I had for “The Precious Herd” was to try to play as little as possible. So, before adding another note I wanted to make sure that it made sense. Due to the fact that I was using quite a complex live-looping and live-sequencing system there was no big need to do much anyway. The set-up modified the initial input in such a way that it was very important to listen to the resulting patterns first to not to deluge the music with meaningless keystrokes. However, there is indeed the danger of playing too much. To avoid that I think it is inevitable to set up a basic approach first. Hitting one note or chord after another is very tempting, often it is just unrewarding, though. So, concepts and strategies are essential to detour and direct the personal joy of playing into meaningful channels.

The Precious Herd by Bernhard Wöstheinrich & Matt Howarth

Tell me about how you use arpeggiators in performance, and especially on this album. Arpeggiators are normally used just ‘out of the box’; the patterns resulting from striking a simple chord normally seem to be enough to accompany a whole piece. My idea was to to go one step further. The arpeggiator module I am using provides a couple of programmable/automatable parameters, such as metric, note order, start point, number of repeats and so on. So, I created sequences of parameter changes for the arpeggiator that constantly altered the sequences of notes that I played. In addition to that I manually changed those parameters during the actual performance in order to get a more moving and lively result.

In terms of composition, I couldn't help but recognize characteristics of the story in the music. For example, "Deviating from the path" uses the most detuned sounds on the album - a deviation from the standard pitches, so to speak. "Sand Maws" on the other hand uses a lot of raspy, roughed up sounds. Do you ever think in conceptual terms like these? I actually didn’t work in a plain descriptive way at first. Nevertheless the connection between music and the part of the story it related to turned out to be very tight and obvious. I consider that as a result of my working process that I described above. Matt Howarth's story was such a strong and impressive model that I just could let myself go once I had done all the preparations for the recording. And even during the technical preparation Matt’s story was a great guideline.

The Precious Herd by Bernhard Wöstheinrich & Matt Howarth

How did you come up with the harmonies for the pieces? This is the part I totally left over to my intuition. In fact the harmonies I play simply result from a certain physical feeling I have while playing. And in this case this was of course determined very much by the mood of Matt’s story. Like "Deviating from the Path", "The Oasis Spirit" has some pretty detuned clusters, but here and there a few very simple, familiar chords emerge. That's something I've noticed in several of the pieces and in some of your other work as well. How much of this is due to conscious planning, and how much of it just happens intuitively? Let me put it this way: I guess am not afraid of detuning. To me this is simply an appropriate tool to add a certain flavour, colour and condiment. But on the other hand I am also totally fine with some sweet simple chords every once in a while. Apparently this strange combination of predilections of mine just leads to pieces which can turn from something very familiar sounding to something very weird and confusing. You've mentioned to me in conversation that you think of "The Precious Herd" as your centrozoon solo album in a way. Why? What I did on “The Precious Herd” is something that Markus Reuter probably would call “Modus Novus”. And this “Modus Novus” is also very prominent in the music of centrozoon. As far as I understood it means that all pieces and parts of the music just happen and find their context and their meaning on their own, or that we leave that to the audience. To me personally it also means that I can let go of my own (presumably very limited) taste, preferences, believes and opinions. Making music the centrozoon way is to create music in the most uncompromising, strong and boundless way I can think of. - [“The Precious Herd” is available for 7€ at www.iapetus-store.com.]

[tobiasreber]

centrozoon - WWTY-Tour memories Pt.1: Adrian Benavides

[This is the first of two guest posts celebrating the release of the new centrozoon album "The Room of Plenty" by providing some context, stories and memories from where this music originated. Adrian Benavides, centrozoon friend and collaborator on various releases, is no stranger to long time readers of this blog. Used to much larger scale touring work, he travelled with us during much of the first leg of our little 2011 tour on which the album was recorded, and is now sharing some of his memories of the time. Pictures added by me. - Tobias] - Adrian at Theaterkapelle, Berlin

By a series of devastating events in my personal life intertwined with longstanding collaborations with centrozoon and related artists (the later of which, at the time, I held among the few motivating factors in moving forward at all), I found myself in the midst of a dreary German autumn in the small town of Gütersloh. In this small town I spent three months at Markus Reuter's old flat which had been Iapetus Media headquarters for several years with a considerable amount of help from Bernhard Wöstheinrich. To this point in the timeline of late 2011, I had become familiar with centrozoon back in 2009. While in mixing sessions in Austin with Markus on an unrelated album, he showed me some early rough ideas of a centrozoon album with the rough title of "the weird thing is that I get a boner from this". This record would receive a much shorter title over two years later and would eventually become the first incarnation of the band to feature Tobias Reber. Among a few odds and ends which were never released, I later mixed a much less publicized version of that record of the two which were released as well as the "Fire" sessions which where the first set of live compositions which the band performed as the centrozoon trio of Reuter, Wöstheinrich and Reber.

Boner (Adrian Benavides Version) by centrozoon

centrozoon "Boner (AB version)" Under Iapetus Media headquarters' slanted roof constructed with utilitarian windows cracked to fill the flat with the unmistakable crisp autumn chill of Germany, I had observed a small glimpse into Tobias' thorough and seemingly tireless work ethic in managing the small tour on which the band was about to embark in addition to compiling and refining the ideas the trio provided for the crowd funding campaign they later dubbed "Bonestarter". The group never lacked a sense of humor. I offered a few suggestions and words of encouragement here and there while they worked to set up the album release in conjunction with the small "We Will Tongue You" tour. My understanding was that the title came from one of the members' mispronunciation of the word "tongue". I hit the road with them in early November 2011 to offer some light roadie support for a series of performances in the home base of Gütersloh, the neighboring college town Bielefeld, Berlin and a radio appearance in Dortmund. As an added bonus, I got to observe these live performances. Markus had just hit his stride with Stick Men and The Crimson ProjeKct in months past and performed in these centrozoon live composition sessions as a musician often does from becoming something of a road dog. I had worked with Markus on several records in the couple of years prior and was as a result very familiar with his playing and performances. Bernhard had recently contributed some wonderfully textured synth performances to an album I was co-producing with Markus at the time for Specimen 13 which also featured some King Crimson members. I engineered these sessions with Bernhard so I was familiar with his brilliance firsthand going into these centrozoon shows. I had only just met Tobias in person on this trip to Germany and didn't have much of an understanding of what exactly he was bringing to the table though I knew it would be quite special. setup at Theaterkapelle, Berlin

Berlin was a great experience. I had spent a little time there earlier that year to hang with Alex Dowerk whom I had worked with as producer and mixer for his debut ZweiTon album. He made an appearance at the show and even made arrangements for us to spend the night at his flat after the gig. My recollection of the band's performance that night is a bit fuzzy for any real specific technical details though the general impression that stays with me is one of power, confidence and raw energy between the three members of the band as well as mutual surprise and an excitement fueled by uncertainty shared between these three performers and their intimately sized audience. The flow of the performance over the span of the evening felt not unlike a classical recital with its musicians poised and carefully executing even the most seemingly chaotic passages while audience members, perhaps in some sort of hypnotic anti-reaction, reciprocated with our own restraint in allowing these spontaneously conjured compositions to breathe without audible interruption between movements. A standing ovation deservedly erupted at the end of the performance. The following morning, we awoke in Alex's flat to coffee and traditional German pastries and rolls with a spread of charcuterie, soft and hard cheeses, butter and jam as suggested accompaniments. Breakfast with friends is always a treat but particularly so with such simple and efficient yet quietly delicious German food at the table. We said our goodbyes to Alex and met with Tobias Fischer, a journalist, at a local café for a very long interview he conducted with the band and myself. During segments of the interview which were spoken in German, I tried my best to pick up certain words or at least syllable patterns in an attempt to learn through osmosis. In about three years time, I've taken four trips to Germany cumulatively spanning a little less than half a year and I have yet to learn enough of the language to get me through a simple conversation! One of these days… Bernhard, Markus and Adrian at Die Weberei, Gütersloh

The guys dropped me back off in Gütersloh as they continued on their journey. I then picked back up with them for the gig there. The show went much like the one in Berlin which is to say very well indeed. on stage in Gütersloh

The following performance in Dortmund was a different experience since this was to be a radio broadcast live in the studio. The guys who seemed to be running the station were not dissimilar to typical American radio producers and personalities. They were a bit weird. Not in a bad way. Just in a passionate music nerd way. This is a comfortingly familiar shade of weird to me as I more closely identify with it myself of course. My mother was a radio personality for many years. One of my best friends used to cut commercial spots and run the board for several stations so I have spent a good amount of time around folks who work in radio beyond my professional engagements in such production. So regardless of the language barrier, I recognized the personalities involved here to a degree. There were Star Wars figures lining the windows in the DJ booth and I found this endearing. Eldoradio studio, Dortmund

I recall the performance from Dortmund feeling slightly less urgent mostly because of the lack of a proper concert setting. There the guys were crammed in this small booth with sterile bright halogen tube lamps suspended in the drop ceiling office grid encased in plastic diffusors. Not nearly as cinematic as an old theater or small club with a projector displaying visuals through the band and onto its towering screen in low light. However, the compositions were just as representative as any of the previous performances I had witnessed from what I can remember.

The Room of Plenty by centrozoon

centrozoon playing in Dortmund One other memory that sticks out to me from that evening is that one of the gentlemen from the radio station had a stack of centrozoon records that he asked the band to sign. For some reason he even wanted me to sign a copy of one of his centrozoon records. It wasn't even one that I had contributed to! I obliged regardless. A few days later, I attended the show in Bielefeld. I remember this performance being particularly outstanding. I felt the entire show to be gripping from start to finish. There was an incredible relentless energy that seemed to be flowing out of them that night. This was the largest venue with the nicest sound system that I had witnessed on this run so far. Perhaps these elements had an effect on their performance. It seemed like they were not only listening very carefully to each other and reacting with their own contributions but also executing musical passages more as a group at this point.

The Room of Plenty by centrozoon

centrozoon playing at Falkendom, Bielefeld That was the last of the centrozoon dates I saw on that tour. I went back to Gütersloh to continue work on other projects and stayed the rest of the year in what was a sort of sabbatical after a very traumatic time in my personal life. Markus invited me to spend Christmas and New Year's with his family. Those days remain fond memories for me at a time when I was near the end of a very long and painful journey and unknowingly near the start of a wonderful new life. centrozoon at Falkendom, Bielefeld

- ["The Room of Plenty" is available at www.iapetus-store.com.]

[tobiasreber]

new release: centrozoon - The Room of Plenty

On November 9th, centrozoon released a new album, "The Room of Plenty" as a digital download. Here's "Aarooma", one of our preview tracks:

The Room of Plenty by centrozoon

Tobias Fischer of tokafi.com (who recently also published a new interview with me) attended our debut performance at Theaterkapelle Berlin as part of the now discontinued monthly Sound Art Modules series organized by Leander Reininghaus. (text continues below)

The next day we, the band and collaborator Adrian Benavides met Tobias for coffee and a discussion. In the article and interview that resulted from this, Fischer writes about the debut performance: "Nothing is planned, yet everything sounds minutely choreographed. Not a note has been pre-prepared, yet they all slot together. Years have passed since the last centrozoon gig, and yet only a few minutes into the event, the band have got their audience spellbound. There is all but no applause in between pieces, which further adds to the impression of whitnessing a performance by a classical ensemble and of the formation playing carefully rehearsed material. [...] what really makes the performance stand out is the way the trio are sculpting the flow, direction and shape of their pieces, which display an impressive command of dynamics and all seem to be coming full-circle as precisely as a Bach'ean counterpoint." This is certainly what we aimed to focus on. We didn't rehearse for the tour. Our only pre-defined objective was to create focussed pieces rather than longers sets. The tour showed that there are settings that lend themselves more to that than others, and as the tour progressed and we became more relaxed on stage, we would sometimes abandon that aim altogether and venture into longer pieces. Without wanting to read too much into it, I find it telling that the excerpt from that first Berlin gig is very short. "Aarooma" on the other hand is a long excerpt from a much longer set played on live radio a week later. And here's "Plaan", another preview track, recorded in Gütersloh on the fourth date of the tour.

The Room of Plenty by centrozoon

Often we would of course just follow where the music led, but the presence or absence of a live audience really did play a big role in shaping the music. While "The Room of Plenty" was recorded in live situations and it conveys some of the the energy available during the tour, the music was recorded straight to disk - no different than during a regular centrozoon recording session. Beautifully mixed by Marziano Fontana and mastered by Markus Reuter, "The Room of Plenty" has received all the production care and love of details of a regular studio album, and listening back to it now, I find that committed to a recording medium, the live music has yet again become something else. Find the liner notes and purchase options for the album at http://iapetus-store.com/album/the-room-of-plenty. Also make sure to read this blog over the coming weeks for a few posts with more background info on the album and the WWTY tour as well as more centrozoon related material. [Update Nov 14: Adrian Benavides' guest post is now online here.]

[tobiasreber]

upcoming performances: pulp.noir "Brazil" remix

pulp.noir just finished a week of rehearsals for a couple of shows this fall where we'll be playing a live remix of Terry Gilliam's 1985 movie "Brazil". The first show will take place tomorrow at EWZ Stattkino, where we played our remixed version of "A Clockwork Orange" earlier this year. 14. 10. 2014 Best of EWZ Stattkino, Zürich CH (tickets here) 16. 11. 2014 Dokfest, Kassel D 17. 11. 2014 Exground Filmfest, Wiesbaden D

Also coming up for pulp.noir is another studio visit and then two more performances of "signal to noise" in December. See www.pulpnoir.ch for dates.

[tobiasreber]

New release: Yoshi Hampl "Touch Release Move"

Austrian bass player and multi-instrumentalist Jochen Hampl has released a new two piece album, "Touch Release Move". I've programmed drums for the first track, The Nervous Novice. Give it a listen, it's funky! And visit the Bandcamp site for full credit listings.

Touch Release Move by Yoshi Hampl

This is the second time this year that I got the chance to work with Jochen, and the first of that work that is being released. As many before, this is a pay-what-you-want release, which - contrary to popular belief - means "if you want it, pay for it". ;-) Seriously though, if you dig it as much as a cup of coffee, consider contributing a few bucks to compensate everybody's efforts - thanks!

[tobiasreber]

New teaching gig

Today was my first day as assistant teacher at the Music and Media Arts / Musik und Medienkunst department at HKB (Hochschule der Künste Bern / Berne University of the Arts). I'll be there 1-2 days per week, teaching one seminar and having personal lessons with students. It goes without saying that I'm really looking forward to working with the department's great staff and students! M&M Website: www.medien-kunst.ch M&M Facebook page: www.facebook.com/MusicMediaArts

[tobiasreber]

New installation: pulp.noir - Beam me up

Very exciting news! pulp.noir will be part of the new group exhibition "Gastspiel. Schweizer Gegenwartskunst im Museum Rietberg" at Museum Rietberg, Zurich, which is opening to the public on Friday and will be on display until November. In the audiovisual installation "Beam me up", pulp.noir's signature aesthetic meets ancient indian sculptures, turning the exhibits into actual visitors and sending them on a journey through alien worlds. The exhibition will feature works by Lukas Bärfuss, Olaf Breuning, Stefan Burger, Fischli / Weiss, San Keller, Naomi Leshem, Lutz / Guggisberg, Jso Maeder, Fabian Marti, Yves Netzhammer, Caro Niederer, pulp.noir, Mai-Thu Perret, Porte Rouge, Peter Regli, David Renggli, Pipilotti Rist, Shirana Shahbazi. This is the Facebook event page for the exhibition, and at the bottom you'll find a postcard flyer we created to get the word out about "Beam me up": [Edit August 15: Swiss National TV SRF reported on the exhibition a few weeks ago:]

Last month I posted some pictures from a recording session - that was where we recorded the music for this project. pulp.noir on the web: Website / Facebook

[tobiasreber]

TM513 Photo Blog 3 - The Recording Session

I'm continuing this series (see here for Part 1 and Part 2) of photo posts with another treat, something which is also not covered in the documentary movie about the project: a couple of pictures and notes from the Todmorden 513 "studio" recording session, along with an account by one of our supporters who visited us as part of his PledgeCampaign reward. The recording took place on April 20, 2013 at Bunker Auditorium Golden, Colorado. First, click play and treat yourself to some music while you read!

Todmorden 513 (Concerto for Orchestra by Markus Reuter) by Colorado Chamber Orchestra / Thomas A. Blomster

Thomas checking out the acoustics of the room.

The view from the back of the venue.

Scott "Gusty" Christensen, the recording engineer, at work. Scott also provided one of the two mixes features on the CD/DVD package.

The view from my place after we finished setting up the microphones: as during the rehearsals, my job was to follow the score, writing down beginnings and endings of takes and taking notes for discussion with Markus and Thomas. Read a bit more about that over at Todmorden513.com in my TM513 diary entry for that day.

Our team of friends, facilitators and PledgeMusic campaign supporters who got to visit us as part of their pledge rewards and had flown in from such diverse places as Minneapolis MN, Austin TX and Boston MA - not to mention Markus and me travelling there from Germany and Switzerland, respectively.

Cedric Theys, frenchman living in Austin and founder of Mad Ducks Records, and me.

Cedric, who has since gone on to support Markus and the project in numerous ways, was kind enough to share a few memories from the recording session with us. Here's what he wrote me:

"Golden City CO. An unassuming small American city with a big arch with its name at the entrance. I got there a bit late the day of the recording as I was staying at a friend's place about an hour away and every day thus far had been extremely exhilarating. Seeing consummate professionals doing what they love to the highest caliber possible with very little financial means to do it: Markus, Thomas, Tobias, Jack and of course the whole chamber orchestra.

The day of the recording was yet another lesson on what can be done by sheer will. And lots of work! The orchestra went straight through recording for a good 3 to 4 hours. Stamina, perfection and feel. Nobody complained and everybody played at their highest. Markus and Tobias were very focused; I could see it in their eyes. Thomas was on stage so I didn't see him close but I'm sure he was the same. And relaxed! Got to be when conducting such a big group on such a difficult and new piece.

And I got to see the score for the first time: huge but very clear and I actually understood what was going on for each instrument and in general, even though I've got no formal training and my music reading skills are very limited.

Helped with clean up afterwards, getting the chairs, mics and cables back in place. We then went to lunch and I left for the airport to get back home after three days in Denver. Took a few days to land back into "reality" after getting a glimpse of what we as humans are capable of accomplishing. If we only tried, the world would be such a different place."

And, finally, here's the arch that Cedric mentioned: Golden, CO - Where the Western Contemporary Classical Music lives.*

*You can't see it at that image size but below the arch it says "Where the West lives" - not an opportunity for goofing around that I can pass up!

Thanks as always for stopping by. I may or may not write a fourth post in the series if I can gather enough useful material. If you want to keep up with new blog entries I suggest you subscribe to the RSS feed by clicking here - that way you'll get each new post delivered straight to your feed reader.

[tobiasreber]

TM513 Photo Blog 2 - The score & a word from Thomas

We're back with a second photo post (here's Part 1 and Part 3) and a special message from TM513 conductor and CCO musical director Thomas Blomster:

Todmorden 513 (Concerto for Orchestra by Markus Reuter) by Colorado Chamber Orchestra / Thomas A. Blomster

"The official release of Markus Reuter's Todmorden 513 more than a year after it's premiere and recording brings back many memories", says Thomas. "As Tobias points out, the weather in Colorado that week was unusual, and horrendous. Many of our musicians had already had a rough commute the previous week for a different program when the weather was so bad we had to cancel a rehearsal and reschedule. It should have been Spring, but it wasn't!"

What is standing out in particular, especially in hindsight? "I still marvel at the community that was built around TM513. While social media and crowd fundraising are new techniques in today's world, the support that Markus and the Colorado Chamber Orchestra received for TM513 is the same old fashioned "patronage" that all artists have had throughout history. The advantage of social media is the global campaign we ran to support this project. And what a great group of people, a group of people with like minds and interests! Our work has just begun, as we search to find performances for TM513 around the world, and to expose this incredible music to new ears."

"Rumor has it I shall be traveling to Berlin this year to spend time with Markus on new music as we all work to establish Markus as a composer of importance. I hope you enjoy the recording and Jack Casadone's fantastic documentary of Todmorden 513, and if you don't own the CD/DVD or haven't heard/seen it, HURRY UP! :)"

The following are a few more pictures of our daily study of the score. The first shows an example of an annotation Thomas might make during a rehearsal - reassigning voices to different registers (octaves) or even instruments to facilitate a better flow of the music.

Two bars of the Vibes part. When listening to the piece you'll notice that the rhythm of this figure, repeated twice here, stays the same throghout while the actual pitches change in accordance with the chord progression.

And finally, a complete page of the score.

[tobiasreber]

TM513 Photo Blog 1 - Rehearsals

As announced a couple of days ago, here's the first of a couple of photo posts from the week leading up to the performance and recording of Todmorden 513 in April 2013 (Edit: Part 2 and Part 3 are now online as well). The piece has been released as a beautiful CD/DVD package on Monday (available here), including a 5.1 surround mix and Jack's film, "Breaking 513". The two stereo mixes are separately available for download here - why don't you have a listen while you continue reading? Just push play.

Todmorden 513 (Concerto for Orchestra by Markus Reuter) by Colorado Chamber Orchestra / Thomas A. Blomster

Day 1

The #tm513 week provided us with some interesting weather diversity. Here's how things looked on the morning of the first rehearsal...

The first and second of three nights of rehearsals took place at Chaparral High School in Parker, CO. Some of the players had already come in contact with the piece during a reading rehearsal in January 2013, others saw the scores the first time. Thomas dove right in, stopping here and there to explain things or to have Markus address the orchestra.

Here's the view from where I stood. I had a copy of the score with which to read along and take notes, to be discussed the next day (Here's video of us doing just that the next day in "Breaking 513", Jack Casadone's documentary).

…and this was the weather on the way home.

Day 2

Jaanus, having just arrived, approves.

Jack's trying to find a good angle - no easy feat in a room with around 50 people!

The great Nikki Tsuchiya playing the organ part. Lots of very long notes changing at unpredictable times make the organ part a particularly hard piece of work.

Markus spent a lot of time going around the orchestra, answering questions and giving suggestions.

Waiting (and posing) in the parking lot after the second rehearsal.

Wait what - this is a high school parking lot? #huge #wow #mindblown, as they say on The Internet.

Day 3

Ghost riders.

Final rehearsal at King Center Concert Hall in Denver, where the performance was to take place the next day.

If you'd like to read more about the rehearsals, check out the production diary at www.todmorden513.com - just scroll back through the posts to April 2013.

[tobiasreber]

Breaking 513 - An Observation by Jack Casadone

In April 2013 I had the opportunity to travel to Denver, Colorado for a week to help with the rehearsals, performance and recording of Markus Reuter’s orchestral piece “Todmorden 513” - a big work we’d been working on over the last couple of years. I’ve previously written here about working on the project and about the week in Denver, and on the website www.todmorden513.com we chronicled the project so far pretty extensively. New York-based filmmaker Jack Casadone, having already shot footage of the first rehearsals in January last year, accompanied us during that week. The result of his work is the 70 minute documentary feature “Breaking 513”. Not only is the film available in HD on the CD/DVD release of the composition that will be out tomorrow, it is also available for free streaming. Watch it on Vimeo at www.breaking513.com or embedded here:

Breaking 513 - An Observation by Jack Casadone from Unsung Productions on Vimeo.

If you enjoyed watching the movie please consider donating to the project by purchasing the download version of the album directly from the artist. You'll get two mixes of the piece, one by its recording engineer Scott Christensen and one by ambient musician Robert Rich. 

I will be posting more previously unseen pictures from the week in Denver over the coming days.

[tobiasreber]

Scatter Plot feat. Pascale van Coppenolle