Moritz von Oswald is the German master of electronic experimentalism and technical exactitude, who broke out of avant-post-punk roots to become one of those chiefly responsible for the Berlin dub-techno sound of the nineties, with the influence of his work as one half of Basic Channel/Rhythm & Sound with Mark Ernestus, as well as his solo releases as Maurizio, echoeing on throughout dance music culture and beyond. More recent output via labels such as Honest Jon's has pushed his signature stripped-back production aesthetic into the realms of jazz, improv and cross-cultural dialogue: his trio configuration has enlisted players including Max Loderbauer, Sasu Ripatti aka Vladislav Delay and seminal Nigerian drummer Tony Allen, while an unexpectedly psychedelic new collaboration with Kyrgyzstani roots group Ordo Sakhna sees indigenous folk instrumentation passed through a mixing desk hall of mirrors.
Moritz von Oswald & Rashad Becker: Fathom
+ Eric Chenaux⤬
The first UK appearance for Fathom, the very special coming together of two key protagonists in Berlin’s electronic music scene: Basic Channel/Rhythm & Sound legend Moritz von Oswald with producer, sound artist and studio polymath Rashad Becker (PAN). Two figures who have been central to European experimental music over the last twenty years, accompanied on the line-up by Constellation Records' guitar/voice adventurer Eric Chenaux.
Rashad Becker is a composer and musician residing in Berlin. His compositions are multilayered narratives populated by an ensemble of sonic entities, some smug, some shy, some agitators, others ready to surrender. Often there's a tragic-comical touch, like a cartoon version of what could be a requiem from a dream (or just as much a fertility dance from another dimension).
Recent works include the cycle Traditional Music Of Notional Species released across two volumes on PAN, and a multi-part work called Based On A True Story that derives scores from historical occurrences in a sort of 'sonic staging'. in this context, he is currently commissioned by New York-based ensemble Alarm Will Sound and Derlin string ensemble Kaleidoskop.
Eric Chenaux makes conceptual music that’s not meant to sound conceptual. He operates among various ‘traditions’ but perhaps most broadly, Chenaux’s records grapple with the relationship between improvisation and structure in very particular, unique, idiosyncratic ways – and quite without irony or cynicism, through love. Because fundamentally, Chenaux writes love songs, which he sings in a voice honeyed and clear, while his guitar gently bends, frazzles, chortles, diverges and decomposes. Slowly Paradise is Eric Chenaux’s new solo record on Constellation – a lovely collection of songs guided by soothing, buttery singing and bent, fried fretwork.
supported by PRS Foundation’s The Open Fund
Date(s)
Saturday 21 April 2018