Neue Volksmusik

ASP 3005 - Asphodel, Duration: 54 minutes
music by Reinhold Friedl, performed by zeitkratzer, video by Lillevan

zeitkratzer
Reinhold Friedl (piano, artistic director)
Burkhard Schlothauer (violin)
Anton Lukoszevieze (cello)
Uli Phillipp (contrabass)
Franz Hautzinger (trumpet) 
Melvyn Poore (tuba)
Marc Weiser (electronics) 
Maurice de Martin (percussion) 
Ralf Meinz (sound)

Naut Human / Asphodel:
Equal parts composer and performer, Berlin's Reinhold Friedl is a veritable renaissance man. In conjunction with his highly regarded orchestra zeitkratzer ("time scraper" in German) as well as in collaboration with such artists as Lou Reed, Lee Renaldo and Merzbow, Friedl has set new standards for Europe's new music scene, crossing every conceivable line that separates chamber from computer music, and piano from studio composition.

On Xenakis [a]live!, Friedl and zeitkratzer paint an impressionistic tribute to Greek composer and electro-acoustic  pioneer, the late Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001). Quite literally a stylistic  dedication to the flavor of  Xenakis classic tape compositions through the use of amplified orchestral instruments, Xenakis [a]live! recreates acoustically what were once primarily studio generated  sounds. 

The dramatic results convey an aesthetic link to zeitkratzer's other homage to the early seventies; Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music. With both projects Friedl and his associates compare the orgiastic and holistic sonic architectures from two socially distinct composers  of a common historical era. What emerges from giving an ear to zeitkratzer's flesh and blood transformations realized in  Xenakis [a]live and its "Metal Machine Music" companion (both on Asphodel)  is a re-orchestrated aural expedition that musically refreshes & correlates these epic textural excursions. Unlike "Metal Machine...", Xenakis [a]live is not a literal transcription of any specific Xenakis work; it instead focuses on the listening experience that hearing these pieces invokes and transforms the amalgamation into Reinhold's  acoustical perception of  Xenakis's broad electronic influence and prevalent stochastic techniques. 

You've  never heard a full chamber orchestra sound quite like this! 

Xenakis[a]live! has been commissioned by the Wiener Festwochen, Austria and has been performed by zeitkratzer allover Europe, including Madrid National Auditorio, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, World Music Days Zagreb, Jeunesses Musicales Austria, and also with a choreography by Sasha Waltz for twenty dancers at Palast der Republik, Berlin.

Directed and created by Lillevan (from Rechenzentrum), the accompanying video is equally inspired by Xenakis’ mathematical compositional technique. Based on photographs and filmic fragments of the Iranian city of Persepolis, this award-winning German video artist manipulates his source material beyond recognition, using it as the raw material for a full-length film which organically reflects the dynamic intensity of Xenakis[a]live!.