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Yoshida, Ami / Christof Kurzmann: a s o (erstwhile)


 

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Personnel:



Ami Yoshida-voice, microphone

Christof Kurzmann-lloopp, clarinet


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Label: erstwhile
Catalog ID: erstwhile 047CD
Squidco Product Code: 6842

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2006
Country: USA
Packaging: Jewel Tray

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Ami Yoshida and Christof Kurzmann are both well-respected artists within the international community, each performing in a wide range of contexts from abstract to pure pop. Both are best known for their long-running duos, Yoshida for Cosmos (with Sachiko M) and Kurzmann for schnee (with Burkhard Stangl). This project finds them in far less comfortable territory, and a s o is the outcome of two years of hard work.

Ami Yoshida strives to create a pure sound, abstracting her voice until it becomes almost completely unrecognizable. She created her unique style with no conventional training, initially inspired by Meredith Monk. Cosmos and Astro Twin (with Utah Kawasaki) are her two longest-running projects, and their split release won the 2003 Ars Electronica award. She has also recorded as a solo artist, most notably Tiger Thrush (IMJ), a kaleidoscopic catalog of 99 fragments. Her small catalog almost exclusively finds her working with other Tokyo-based musicians; a s o is one of her first releases to break that formula.

Kurzmann has been a prominent part of both the Vienna and (more recently) the Berlin scenes over the past decade. As an organizer, he cofounded the phonoTAKTIK festival, helped begin the prominent Rhiz club in Vienna, and runs the prestigious Charhizma label. Since moving to Berlin in 2001, he has organized countless shows, including the Berlin half of AMPLIFY 2004: addition. Kurzmann has been an essential part of many Erstwhile-related live events, in Tokyo, Berlin and the just concluded ErstQuake 3 in NYC, and was the first to work at Amann Studios for an Erstwhile release, beginning a crucial relationship for the label.

a s o contains recordings from the first meeting of Yoshida and Kurzmann in March 2004. The collaboration was a difficult one, partly because of their wildly different backgrounds and partly because of the communication issues due to their language differences. Four translators helped the project along over the course of the two years it took to make this record (Taku Unami, Toshimaru Nakamura, Yuko Zama and Kae Uchihashi). Although it was a long and complicated journey, the end result is very organic and accomplished. a s o contains an extremely broad range of abstract approaches from both artists, resulting in a wildly different soundworld from any of their previous recordings, and has been beautifully captured as always by recording engineer Christoph Amann. The impeccably minimal yet lush CD design is by Hirozumi Takeda, utilizing images provided by asuna."-Erstwhile


Artist Biographies

"Christof Kurzmann (vocals, lloopp, clarinet, alto sax), is an Austrian musician, performer, composer currently living in Buenos Aires. Beginning in 1994 he started his work in the field of experimental electronic music. Since that time Christof has collaborated with some of the most significant artists working in contemporary music and improvisation- including Toto Alvarez, Martin Brandlmayr, John Butcher, Eden Carrasco, Sebi Ciurcina, Werner Dafeldecker, Kai Fagaschinski, Fernanda Farrah, Bernhard Fleischmann, Michaela Grill, Margareth Kammerer, Leonel Kaplan, Bernhard Lang, Andrea Neumann, Fernando Perales, Eva Reiter, Marina Rosenfeld, Ursula Rucked, Burkhard Stangl, Michael Thieke, and Clayton Thomas- in groups such as El Infierno Musical, The Magic I.D., and Schee. During the course of his career, Christof has performed throughout Europe, Japan, North and South Amercia. He has also been a music curator since the mid 1980's, and in 1999 founded the record label, Charhizma, which has released more than 30 cds."

-http://kenvandermark.com/2013/10/made-to-break-biography/ (Ken Vandermark Website)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



Ami Yoshida-voice, microphone

Christof Kurzmann-lloopp, clarinet

Related Categories of Interest:

erstwhile
Electro-Acoustic
Unusual Vocal Forms
lowercase, reductionist, micro-improv, sound improv, onkyo sound
October 2006

Search for other titles on the label:
erstwhile.


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