It’s tough to imagine Polwechsel without Burkhard Stangl but here it is, their erstwhile guitarist replaced by two percussionists, the redoubtable Burkhard Beins and the always astonishing Martin Brandlmayr. While the resultant disc doesn’t, for this listener, reach the heights of their “2” from 1998 (a seminal album for opening up my ears to this area of music), I find it far preferable to the overly dry previous release on Durian.
Five tracks, four of them composed (three by Moser, one by Dafeldecker), one group improvisation, all of them solid. The percussion announces itself quickly on “Datum Cut” with struck and swiped metal, layered smoothly into the deep and richly bowed strings as well as the almost string-like reed work of Butcher. Throughout the recording, it’s rather easy to “lose” his contributions, they blend so ably with the ensemble. In his liner notes, Dean Roberts makes reference to Lucier’s “I Am Sitting In A Room” with regard to this piece though I’m unable to hear any sort of structural similarity unless its iterations are lengthy enough that I’ve lost track of any pattern. It does, somewhat, bring to mind a few of that composer’s other investigations into sine waves and their near correspondence to certain tones produced by acoustical objects, but only in a very general manner. Whatever its influences, it’s a strong, vibrant piece, well-paced. Dafeldecker’s “Mirror” begins scratchily, morphing into a lovely bass-led section with, if I’m hearing correctly, Butcher contributing some wonderful, deep feedback sax which in turn blends into stridently bowed cymbals before nestling back into clicks ‘n’ drones. Bass pops and wooden thwacks open Moser’s brief “Core Cut”, possibly the most intense and successful piece on the disc. It almost sounds as thought there’s some sort of round at play here, the elements rotating in and out of sync, but not in a predictable manner, with faint echoes of gamelan.
The improvisation, “Magnetic North”, also works very well and is (perhaps not surprisingly) the lushest and airiest of the works presented here. There’s a relatively tonal backdrop formed, I’m guessing, by Beins’ rubbed percussion and some computerized offerings from Moser that allow the piece to waft along gently, bumping into the odd bell-tone or low saxophone billow. The final track, “Site and Setting”, is the most clearly composed of the bunch and I found myself weighing the rather episodic structure of the piece (especially in its first half), which I thought was a little strained, against the individual components of each episode, many of which are gorgeous and/or just fascinating. The percussionists shine here and, as before, integrate superbly with the strings. Special mention should again be made of Butcher. Here as almost everywhere else on the album, a cursory listen might not detect his presence at any given time. But there’s virtually no moment, if one listens closely enough, when you can’t discern him, subtly adding crucial texture and infinitely enriching the depth of the music.
“Archives of the North” is well worth hearing. As good a recording as it is, I’m actually more excited anticipating what’s to come from Polwechsel. I hope this incarnation holds together for at least a little while; there’s vast potential here.
Posted by Brian Olewnick on July 1, 2006 8:13 AMamoeba is really taking their time getting this, amoung other things. I'm not sure I ever gave Polwechel 3 enough listens, I have always not felt "done" with that cd.
Can't wait to hear it.
Damon, we have a limited supply of these at ErstDist for $16 apiece, which should be decidedly cheaper than anyone else in the US. just came in, should be listed later today.
Posted by: jon abbey at July 2, 2006 11:39 AMDamon - like you, I gave Polwechsel 3 a short shrift for some reason. Maybe it was the [lack of] cover art or something. This is nonetheless a groundbreaking recording that sees everyone in the quartet return in top form.
Posted by: Tom Sekowski at July 2, 2006 5:57 PM"This is nonetheless a groundbreaking recording that sees everyone in the quartet return in top form."
do you mean the one reviewed here, Archives of the North? the personnel has switched as noted above, Stangl is out, Brandlmayr and Beins are in, it's a quintet now.
Posted by: jon abbey at July 2, 2006 6:56 PMNo, he is talking about Polwechsel 3 on Durian.
Posted by: damon smith at July 2, 2006 9:42 PMYeah, clear that up for us will you, Tom? P3 is very fine - the opening track "Government" especially, but it's true that Werner and Uli's generic packaging at the time (have they stopped doing this & gone back to jewel boxes and trays now? they have on the new Maierhof disc) isn't exactly appetising. As far as the new one goes, I too thought I'd miss Stangl, but the colours provided by the two new boys more than make up for it. And if you're missing him that bad Brian you should check out his super new duo with Taku Unami on Hibari, "I Was".
Funny, I've had a couple of mails from people since I raved about this album in last month's Wire, of the is-it-really-as-good-as-that? variety. Yes, I think it is.
Just a little comment on the audibility of the structures at work on this album. Brian says he is unable to hear any similarily between 'I am sitting in a room' and 'Datum Cut'. I'm not sure exactly how the compostition work, but it seems to me that some of the iterations are fairly clear. Listen to the gong strike and saxophone run that opens the track, then listen at 0'32" - you can clearly hear the same motif, shifted to centre left in the stereo picture. It's possible to pick it out every half minute or so afterwards as well. Similarly with 'Core Cut' -the opening material appears to return at about fifteen seconds in, shifted over to the right. As these two tracks are credited to having software programmed by Wolfgang Musil, I assume some kind of computer sampling programme is in operation on each of them to achieve these effects. Anyway, this is not meant to be a criticism of a very interesting review, just a comment about how I hear it! (This is my first post to bagatellen by the way. I've been reading with interest for a while and thought it was time to join in!)
Posted by: Dominic Lash at July 3, 2006 2:16 AMWelcome, Dominic!
Posted by: Brian Marley at July 3, 2006 3:42 AMJon / Dan - I was referring to their previous effort. Archives of the North is still a strong QUINTET effort - I'm aware of who's out and who's in....thanks for clearing that up.
Anyone recognize where the cover shot was taken?
Posted by: Tom Sekowski at July 3, 2006 6:40 AMWho cares where the photo was taken? D'ya really wanna go there on holiday?!
Posted by: Dan Warburton at July 3, 2006 7:50 AMtake a flight to vienna. when you go by taxi from airport "schwechat" to the city of vienna to will see it . you have to do this trip by night, it has to be really dark. the cover foto shows just a little extract from that impressive landscape of lighting.
Posted by: kylie fagischefsky at July 3, 2006 10:14 AMDan - Now that you mention it, I'm actually planning my next summer getaway.
Kylie - thanks for the feedback. What sort of plant/factory is this?
Posted by: Tom Sekowski at July 3, 2006 10:23 AMKylie Fagischefsky indeed!
Posted by: Dan Warburton at July 3, 2006 9:28 PMhey, it's kai. hallo mein lieber. and the powerplant is very impressive by night indeed!!
Posted by: tk at July 3, 2006 9:29 PMKai - is this power plant on the way to Nickelsdorf? I remember taking a train from Vienna one summer about a decade ago in search of this tiny Austrian town and now that I look at the cover more closely, I see an ultra-clean train station....
Posted by: Tom Sekowski at July 4, 2006 4:18 PMI just got mine, looks like Erstwhile ships about as slow as Balance Point Acoustics. This copy skips on the later tracks in my home player.
It is disappointing so far. Sounds like a modern improv session by musicians who like Powechsel and the older UK stuff stuff.
On one hand that is perfect and just what like and maybe even what I do. I just expected more from them...
"looks like Erstwhile ships about as slow as Balance Point Acoustics."
just for the record, your order came from ErstDist, not Erstwhile. I handle any all-Erst orders, and Chris Wolf (who also runs Little Enjoyer) handles all of the rest, in addition to his fulltime job. your package was sent nine days after you paid, you just missed his previous post office run.
Posted by: jon abbey at July 17, 2006 7:16 PM"looks like Erstwhile ships about as slow as Balance Point Acoustics."
"just for the record, your order came from ErstDist, not Erstwhile. I handle any all-Erst orders, and Chris Wolf (who also runs Little Enjoyer) handles all of the rest, in addition to his fulltime job. your package was sent nine days after you paid, you just missed his previous post office run."
- No problem, I think it is pretty standard in our world.
Posted by: damon smith at July 17, 2006 7:37 PM.................................................. © 2003 - 2006 bagatellen ..................................................
