Me&Mobi - Agglo (PROLOG MUSIC March 16th, 2018)

When you think of a contemporary piano trio, techno music, Japanese anime or dystopian sci-fi, aren’t the first things that come to mind. Yet, the Swiss-German outfit known as Me&Mobi used these exact coordinates, along with a whole array of very unique personal obsessions (mostly with the under-belly of pop-culture) to forge their rich, idiosyncratic sound from. Their forthcoming sophomore full-length, titled Agglo (short for an urban agglomeration), is a meticulously curated instrumental soundtrack, one that manages to be extremely captivating, all the while violently disrupting musical conventions and overriding genre presets. This is a record that takes a traditional trio set up (keys, upright bass and drums) and quite literally modifies and supplements their signals (on output) with a rich, expansive electronic sonic palette.  

The material for Agglo was written, recorded and a produced, over a period of six months in a rehearsal space converted into a studio. The band decided to do away with the distinct parts of the production process: improvising, writing, recording and post. They worked on the music in layers – constantly revising, re-editing, remixing and over-dubbing pre-recorded material. Hence, the studio literally acted as the fourth member of the band, and contributed a very distinct musical voice to every composition. This very unorthodox approach to recording live music (especially in Jazz circles), not only opened up new arrangement possibilities for the group, but also allowed them to apply a freedom normally associated with live improvisation, to the treatment of the actual sonic substance of their songs. The result is a true fusion of acoustic and electronic sound, one, that at times, completely blurs the distinction between the two.  

The band describe their music as urban, i.e. the sound representative of a modern megapolis:  sprawling, dynamic and, at times, bleak and oppressive. This moniker also denotes the direct allusions made to genres such as Hip Hop and the various offshoots of Electronica, which infuse this material in very inventive ways. Free Jazz is, of course, also an urban genre. And, in fact, it was the group’s improvisational proficiency which laid the very foundation for this multifaceted, capacious sound. Many of the compositions, found here, feature jagged sonic artefacts and, on occasion, sound like broken technology (a prepared piano heavily treated with fx, a soviet synth); and tend to steep in a steadily building pressure that can’t find a resolution or a release. Despite its experimental leanings and a mild brand of cinematic melancholia, at its core, Agglo is a visceral, groove-driven record that speaks directly to the body. However, the most unique thing about this collection of songs is their ability to collapse musical history on itself, by dissolving musical traditions of the past in sonic iterations of potential afterfutures. Get ready for a dose of Post-Jazz, dystopian sci-fi eclectica.

1. Mount Ninja

2. Ni!

3. Totalsanierung

4. H.L.M.

5. In Rainbows We Trust

6. Know Your Explosives

7. Cheysar

8. Biosphere

9. Bejing Bolero

10. Karlsruhe 

Philipp Schlotter - Pianos

Lisa Hoppe - Double Bass

Fred Bürki - Drums

All songs recorded at the Me&Mobi Studio, Bern 2017

All songs written and performed by Me&Mobi

Produced and mixed by Philipp Schlotter Mastered by Dan Suter

Artwork by David Nydegger

Artist Page:  www.meandmobi.ch

2henning - Puzzled Bird (PROLOG MUSIC February 22, 2018)

Imagine a Rubik’s Cube displaying a dancing, ever-morphing array of cloud formations; with all the pieces of the cube in perpetual, percussive motion. Although, the images on display are truly incidental and ephemeral by design, they seem to reassert a deeper, formal logic – regardless of their individual combinations. Plus, they leave a lot of space for the theatre of imagination; they’re also stunning and the experience is a lot of fun. In a cubic nutshell, this is what it’s like to hear “Puzzled Bird”, the sophomore studio album from Swiss, nomadic Avant-Pop duo 2henning, for the very first time.

The record is puzzling. In the best way possible. On the one hand it feels accessible and familiar, but with each successive play it discloses a deeper, more perplexing maze of idiosyncrasies – all the while its strong melodic core sinks into your bones like solid steel. Once you get past Valeria Zangger’s visceral, groove-driven drumming and Rahel Kraft’s soothing and extremely affecting vocals, and peel away the vicious, biting synths, a universe of minuscule sound objects starts to appear in the outer orbits of the stereo spectrum. Part noise, part percussion and part extrapolated sound design – there are bits here which were played on a kalimba, a sankyo, a cow’s horn, flutes, some broken toys, music boxes and even a singing, pink balloon with “Who is Jesus?” printed on it.

The lyrics are equally as imaginative as the music, often rigged with trap doors and hidden fire escape routes that take you into far-out spaces like, say a Harvard type library, which just happens to be set in the middle of a wild theme park. And that’s the point, these ladies love to walk a tight rope between ruthless entertainment and intellectual acrobatics. Despite the consistent, high emotional voltage present throughout the album, intent listeners will also spot references to writer Emily Dickinson (“Nachtkerze”), poet Bertolt Brecht (“Radio”) and Göri Klainguti (“Osoph”).

This duo definitely mastered a unique ability to surprise the listener, to take logical, yet unexpected turns compositionally. This, as well as their unrelenting commitment to working with original, non-preset sound objects, are definitive qualities of the project. And there is nothing contrived about any of this, either. Every single one of the songs is a product of a free-form improv session or a live show. Each, is also a natural outcome of an intense dialogue between two highly opinionated, versatile multi-instrumentalists – who just happen to love to be surprised, challenged musically and have a lot of fun together exploring the "deep-end."

“Puzzled Bird” was written over a period of 3 years, while the recording process is estimated to have taken roughly 10 months. Like the puzzled referred to in the title, the final version of the album was put together from recordings that took place at the Soundfarm studio, a remote chapel, a tight, but very cozy cupboard in a Tokyo apartment, a friend’s flat and, of course, at the rehearsal space. Additional production was handled by friend, producer and sound engineer, Patrik Zosso (not to be confused with Wes Anderson’s Captain Zissou). The core compositions feature an analog drum set rigged with triggers and extended with electronic pads (to set off samples) and a whole array of hardware synths.

Valeria Zangger (drums, samples,synth)

Rahel Kraft (voice, synth, toys)