Tag: raster_noton

ambient music, RECOMMENDATIONS

Atom TM – Winterreise


Winterrreise

“Winterreise“ is Atom TM ‘s (Uwe Schmidt, a.k.a. Senor Coconut) follow up to 2009’s “Liedgut“. 
It will be released as a standard CD on Raster-Noton, in their familiar classy packaging, but has previously been  available in the form of a “Play Button“: a new music medium combining the classic pin-button with a built-in music player. 

Musically, “Winterreise” is quite different from “Liedgut”. 
It’s far more abstract and experimental, with more accents on textures and soundscapes (and less direct  references to the music of Kraftwerk). 
It’s more ‘serious’, in a way, although it never gets too serious – you can definitely trust Uwe to find a perfect balance between ‘art’ and ‘fun’.

ambient music, other-music, RECOMMENDATIONS

Ryuichi Sakamoto & Alva Noto: UTP_


UTP cover

The short ‘Bartók pizzicato‘ string punches from the opening track, Attack, may give the impression that this is gonna be one of those uncomprehensible and almost unlistenable (to my ears, anyway) retro-avant-garde string compositions. But ‘Attack’ is an appropriate title: it brings the listener off-balance and thus make him more perceptible for the well-balanced, ‘Utopian’ music directly following this opening piece.

UTP_ (short for Utopia) was commissioned by the city of Mannheim (Germany) for it’s 400th birthday in 2007. Ryuichi Sakamoto and Carsten ‘Alva Noto‘ Nicolai (who partnered on Vrioon and Insen before – both highly recommendable albums) team up with Ensemble Modern.
Ensemble Modern is a chamber ensemble specialising in playing modern compositions. They performed work by Frank Zappa, Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Steve reich, Olivier Messiaen, and many more.