Max Arsava

Ernst Bier/Gunnar Geisse/Ignaz Schick
Hawking Extended
Zarek 23 CD

Beginning as a saxophonist, but transitioning to electronics and sound art by the beginning of this century, Berlin-based Ignaz Schick has made music since then with everyone from Charlemagne Palestine to Harri Sjöström. Expanding is prevue in multiple directions he’s embedded his turntable and sampler in groups as on Hawking Extended as well as unexpectedly adding saxophone timbres, and on Nowhere Dense using his electronics expertise to augment the sounds from Weilheim-born, pianist/ electronic musician Max Arsava’s quartet.

A trio with drummer Ernst Bier and guitarist Gunnar Geisse, the 10 tracks on Hawking Extended readily blend into one another to make a coherent suite. What that also means is that since each of the German experimenters is also cognizant of wave form augmentation, acoustic instrument textures are tweaked with oscillated input. Most tracks therefore include buzzing pulses as constant undercurrents.

The result is that sequences are as likely to include crackling timbres, magnified empty turntable scrapes, dial-twisting whistles, pressurized organ-like tremolos and flanged orchestral samples, as the wavey textures contributed from Geisse’s laptop guitar, Bier’s intermittent percussion bumps and backbeat and Schick’s reed snarls and altissimo flutters.

Expositions on tacks like “Laws of For” expose a sudden sound upsurge as distinctively shaped drum clanks and guitar string plinks are subsumed within turntable synthesis and constantly inflating voltage whizzes. Elsewhere, as on “Neither Picture Nor Frame”, the oscillated textures from single note saxophone bites and fragmented split tones are accompanied by drum slaps so that the phantom reed glissandi strain forward in unison backed by stop-time beats and machine-sourced piano clips.

While the group architecture sometimes augments to Free Jazz frenzy, that definition as well as that for pure electronic interface is complicated with the give-and-take expressed between the two genres. Extended showpieces such as “The Large Scale” and “No Boundary Proposal” offer a polyphonic narrative. For instance on the latter, a narrative introduced by martial music samples and a drum beat that could be a click track soon shake, speed up and become so fragmented that neither samples nor acoustic drumming become paramount. Meanwhile on “The Large Scale” it’s the juddering saxophone scoops and drum crashes that become the continuum with upfront synthesized textures solidifying, making the exposition almost claustrophobic. However it’s horizontal reed expression that preserve the piece’s linear quality until it fades into an extended drone.

The compositions of keyboardist Max Arsava, who has recorded with the likes of Bill Elgart, present a different challenges. Except for occasional synthesizer and electronics textures contributed by Arsava only Schick’s turntables and sampler add voltage intersections to the acoustic output of tenor saxophonist Max Hirth, bassist Alex Bayer  and drummer Flo Fischer and Arsava’s acoustic piano stylings.

Resolution of the difference emphasizes one interface over the other. “Gif Ooze” for instance, is given over almost completely to electronic impulses, while “Adherent Terrain” is mostly acoustic. Pealing swells, shuffles, buzzing wows and voltage crackles dominate “Gif Ooze”. Meanwhile not only does “Adherent Terrain” begin with reed bites, bass string plucks and drum clips, but except for minimal mid-point synth whooshes, the exposition is refurbished into a Jazz-Blues groove with Hirth’s saxophone vibrating a pleasant melody, backed by tinkling piano keys, a walking bass and drum slaps.

Most of the time however Schick has to logically insert wave form embellishments into an acoustic framework plus contribute to the crackling undercurrent that characterizes many tunes. Voltage oscillations are omnipresent on “Utility Dust” for instance, but these  timbres are only create a backing chorus for linear motion. Upfront narrative evolution includes intensifying saxophone timbres from gentling smears to harsh squeaks, double bass thumps and clip-clop drumming. Most importantly the narrative is a combination of reed overblowing and perfectly shaped notes that define story telling from the keyboardist.

As the disc unrolls, the sound particles created by Arsava’s pianism which can take on elevated koto-like suggestions or low-pitched warmth, frequently reveal theme elaborations in unison with Hirth’s note shaping slurps and smears. It’s a tribute to Schick’s skill that when his vocal samples, ring modulator-like clangs and noisy drones are heard alongside what otherwise would be a FreeBop narrative, neither the electronic nor the acoustic interface overwhelms the other. A tune like “Mager/Choral” proves this, since the balance between piano chording and machines crackles is rounded into a horizontal climax even as radio tuning signals, reed honks and wood scratches enter the mix.

Each of these discs demonstrate Schick sympathetic skill in adapting  his preferred machine textures to a either electronic or acoustic setting. The key to unity is proper balance so that no texture predominates.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Hawking: 1. Flat Earth 2. Universe In A Nutshell 3. The Large Scale 4. Music With the Letter X 5. No Boundary Proposal 6. Neither Picture Nor Frame 7. The Truth Function 8 The Darkening 9. Laws of For 10. System of Units

Personnel: Hawking: Ignaz Schick (alto saxophone, turntables, sampler); Gunnar Geisse (laptop guitar, virtual instruments) and Ernst Bier (drums, wave drum, electronics)

Track Listing: Nowhere: 1. Digital Monads 2. Utility Dust 3. Interior Motives 4. Mager/Choral 5. Adherent Terrain 6. Gif Ooze 7. Inchoate Decline 8. Bit Debris

Personnel: Nowhere: Max Hirth (tenor saxophone); Max Arsava (piano, synthesizer, electronics); Ignaz Schick (turntables, voltage-controlled sampler); Alex Bayer (bass) and Flo Fischer (drums)