(Free Improvisation / Experimental / Electronic / Erstwhile) Christof Kurzmann / Burkhard Stangl - Neuschnee - 2009, FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Burkhard Stangl and Christof Kurzmann began their duo 'schnee' in 1999, finally working together after many years of a non-collaborative friendship. Their first album, released in 2000, combined Stangl's acoustic guitar with Kurzmann's electronic sound manipulation. This was an unusual approach at the time, although it quickly became widely copied and very influential. Since the duo was so well-received, they continued their work, playing concerts throughout Europe, as well as tours in China and Japan. At the same time they began experimenting with another fairly unique approach within this area of music, incorporating song structures and pop vocals into their compositions. These efforts led to the recording of a second album, schneelive, an elongated and meticulously structured version of a Prince song, as performed in the AMPLIFY 2004: addition festival at Ausland in Berlin. While schneelive was a snapshot of their approach on a single night, neuschnee is more complex, recorded on three continents in five countries over four years.
Kurzmann has been a prominent part of both the Vienna and the Berlin scenes over the past decade. As an organizer, he cofounded the phonoTAKTIK festival, helped begin the prominent Rhiz club in Vienna, and ran the prestigious Charhizma label. Since moving to Berlin in 2001, he has organized countless shows, including the Berlin half of AMPLIFY 2004: addition. Kurzmann has been an essential part of many Erstwhile-related live events, in Tokyo, Berlin and NYC, and was the first to work at Amann Studios for an Erstwhile release, beginning a crucial relationship for the label. neuschnee is his fifth release for Erstwhile, following a s o (with Ami Yoshida), The Magic ID-till my breath gives out, and the two previous schnee releases.
Stangl explores the full range of the guitar, from quiet, melodic plucking to atonal walls of noisy drones. This range and adaptability allowed him to be extremely prolific from 1999-2004, in the collective projects Polwechsel, Efzeg, and SSSD, in duos and trio with Christof Kurzmann and Taku Sugimoto, as well as many others. neuschnee is also his fifth release for Erstwhile, following Wrapped Islands (with Polwechsel and Fennesz), eh (with dieb13), and the two previous schnee releases. Stangl also has a duo album with Kai Fagaschinski in the works for Erstwhile, scheduled for fall 2009 release. These two CDs mark his first new work in some years.
The five tracks on neuschnee form an ambitious meta-song suite, with the various lyrics and musical styles combining to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts. The design is again from Berlin designer Marion Gerth, previously responsible for The Magic ID-till my breath gives out on ErstPop. The front cover juxtaposes a satellite picture of snow with the Mao Zedong poem 'Snow', which the musicians discovered in a book bought while on tour in Beijing.
"After a long phase of experimental and avant-garde work, which inscribed itself in our hearts and still grounds any musical activity, the collection of experiences in originally non-western cultures such as Japan, South Africa or Latin America - each with their own fascinating music - played an important role, too, when we started to think about songs again in a new way and started to integrate them slowly into our delicate musical architecture. The songs or even their fragments are meant as reconciliation: a reconciliation of experiment and tradition, of thoughtful silence and expressive celebration of each moment, of worlds of noises and clearly defined harmonies." ~ Burkhard Stangl

Neuschnee marks the culmination of a decade of evolution for Christof Kurzmann and Burkhard Stangl. The two first came together as Schnee in 1999. The combination of Stangl’s delicate acoustic guitar and Kurzmann’s electronics, as represented on their 2000 debut Erstwhile album, created a sparse soundscape that proved influential on electro-acoustic improvisation.
Subsequently, the duo integrated vocals and songs into their repertoire, leading to the shocking inclusion of elements of Prince’s “Sometimes It Snows In April” in their performance at AMPLIFY 2004 in Berlin, released commercially on schnee_live. Despite the addition of vocals and songs that year, the duo maintained their approach to improvisation, and the synthesis proved a happy one. As Stangl explains, “The songs or even their fragments are meant as reconciliation: a reconciliation of experiment and tradition, of thoughtful silence and expressive celebration of each moment, of worlds of noises and clearly defined harmonies.”
Since 2003, in locales around South Africa, Peru, Chile, Holland and Austria Kurzmann and Stangl have worked on refining this bizarre approach. The five tracks on Neuschnee integrates those recordings with post-production improvisations to create a suite that ends up a reflection on song itself. The opening track, entitled “Las hijas de nieve,” is short and not promising. It features an acapella version of “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” recorded in a crowded talkative bar in Lima; its ambience reminiscent of that Beach Boys party album where we hear more of the party than the music. Anyway, it is over in thirty-nine seconds.
From then on, things become far more rewarding. The next three tracks are a blend of vocals and improvisation that should more than satisfy lovers of either. They eloquently demonstrate how eclectic the duo has been in its trawl for songs, featuring Phil Ochs’ “No More Songs,” Ornette Coleman’s “Lonely Woman” (yes, I’d forgotten that one had lyrics) and “Taking A Chance On Love” by Vernon Duke, John Latouche, and Ted Fetter – maybe best known in the version by Sinatra. Taken together, the three songs are meloncholy, from the opening “Hello, hello, hello is there anybody home? / I only called to say I’m sorry”. Their atmosphere is perfectly suited to Kurzmann’s voice, detached and largely devoid of emotion. The versions often take license with the original melodies, and Kurzmann’s delivery of their lyrics is equal parts recitation and singing over a bed that could best be called impressionistic.
The album peaks with the studio-recorded “Song songs.” After an engaging introductory improvisation deploying electronics, acoustic guitar, clarinet and percussion, Kurzmann launches into the songs. In line with the title of the piece, he quotes from nearly a dozen songs, each including the word “song” in its lyrics. Some of the quotes are fleeting, others more extended; Dylan, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Public Image Ltd, Neil Diamond, Melanie and Roberta Flack. The track and album conclude with the soaring voice of an unnamed, sampled female singer. It’s a beautiful conclusion to a well-crafted album, and for those who don’t generally appreciate improvisation, it makes for a nifty “name that tune” contest, too. ~ John Eyles, Dusted Reviews