As its title indicates, The Berlin Series no. 2 is the second in an ongoing series from Another Timbre featuring musicians who are based in the German capital. Given that Berlin has become a magnet for improvising musicians from across the globe, the quality and diversity of its improv scene have steadily come to rival those of London. In both cities, the vast numbers of improvising players, and the ease with which they can meet, provide fertile ground for collaborations and bold experimentation. Already, this series from Another Timbre is capturing the vibrancy and buzz of Berlin, as typified by the current disc.
As for other releases in the series, it is shared between two contrasting and compatible sets. The first is a duo between the voice of Christian Kesten, a Berlin resident, and Californian Mark Trayle's electronics and guitar, a pairing that dates back to 2010 when Trayle visited Berlin, with this recording coming from 2012. On first hearing, the four tracks, entitled "F-23M-12 Field with Figures 1-4" seem to be dominated by Trayle's electronics as the most obvious sounds are the familiar blasts and washes of white noise and single tones, without a trace of conventional singing or improv vocalising. Gradually, the subtlety of Kesten's contributions emerges, as it becomes increasingly clear that some of the aforementioned sounds are of human origin rather than electronic. So, some of the white noise lacks the hard edge of electronically-generated sound because it is a convincing imitation of it by Kesten. In addition, he contributes a range of mouth music that is complementary to Trayle's sounds, including audibly hissing breath, kissing sounds, explosive pops. Most impressively, it all manages to slot together to create a coherent soundscape that just keeps on giving — every listening of it revealing new delights. It makes edgy, uneasy listening, but is endlessly fascinating.
The second set is solo by the Berlin veteran Annette Krebs and is instantly recognisably as such. Two separate versions of the same piece, "Rush!", feature Krebs trademarks including her electric guitar alongside electronics plus taped voices, field recordings and silences. The two tracks are not designed to be heard on an mp3 player with headphones in a noisy urban environment, as they carry Krebs' instruction that they are "to be listened to alone in front of two loudspeakers". Such listening gives weight to every element of them, focusing attention on the care that Krebs has invested in their construction. Diagrams on Kreb's own website give an insight into that care, with the whole thing mapped out like a game of chess. The end result is a complex stereo soundfield in which sounds move around, punctuated with occasional interjections by male and female (Krebs herself?) voices of single words — "rush", of course, but also "negotiate" and others — as well as fleeting vocal sounds plus field recordings. As ever with Krebs pieces, it is tempting to search them for meaning or a narrative thread — but, ultimately, submersion and submission are far more pleasurable! Suffice to say, just as fascinating as the first set... With the third, fourth and fifth albums in this series featuring such illustrious names as Axel Dörner, Robin Hayward and Chris Abrahams, Another Timbre's forthcoming releases list will continue to be worth watching well into the future.
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