The Squid's Ear Magazine


Niggli, Lucas / Matthias Loibner: Still Storm (Intakt)

A series of sixteen succinctly expansive, dramatic and moody collective improvisations, evocative music of rich melodic and rhythmic foundation that coax inspired tempests from misty lands and seas, at the intersection of Austrian Hurdy Gurdy master Matthias Loibner and Zurich-based West Kamerun drummer Lucas Niggli; absolutely impressive and beguiling.
 

Price: $16.95



Quantity:

In Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 2.00 units

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Matthias Loibner-Hurdy Gurdy, electronics

Lucas Niggli-drums, percussion


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




UPC: 7640120193867

Label: Intakt
Catalog ID: ITK386.2
Squidco Product Code: 32348

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2022
Country: Switzerland
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold 3 Panels
Recorded at Auditorio Stelio Molo, in Lugano-Besso, Switzerland, on January 4th and 5th, 2022, by Lara Persia.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Hurdy-gurdy meets percussion. Matthias Loibner, the undisputed innovator of this strikingly exotic, medieval instrument and Lucas Niggli, who has been at the forefront of European Jazz for many years team up. Touching and intoxicating, fed by a huge repertoire between classical music, electronics, tradition and imagination, these two exceptional artists paint sounds into the now. In every colour, every note of their vibrant playing, a silent storm lurks, waiting to break loose in rhythmic cascades and avalanches of sound. "-Intakt

"The result is an aural experience that is sometimes pondering, sometimes conversational, allowing the listening ear to float away; purely by means of the music. The album, laid out in comparatively short pieces, is made up of acoustic mind games. Haikus, or even more so, Japanese Tankas, evoke the moment. A form of poetry without rhyme, confidently created collectively out of the moment through improvisation, and with an indispensable reference to the present."-Johannes Rühl, from the liner notes


Artist Biographies

Matthias Loibner is an Austrian musician, performing on modern hurdy gurdy, a laptop for live-effects, and also a guitar-shaped hurdy-gurdy. He is known for the groups Brot & Sterne, Deishovida, Les Musiciens De Saint-Julien, Sandy Lopicic Orkestar. His website states:

"I am not a musician,
I am an observer of human moods and sentiments.
Since I do not trust words
and can not paint
I use my music in order to tell my observations."

-Matthias Loibner Website (https://matthias.loibner.net/index.html)
3/25/2024

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

"Lucas Niggli was born in a thunderbolt in 1968, West Kamerun. He lived there before he moved to Switzerland. Today he lives in Uster with his three children, Felix, Gaudenz and Emilia and his partner Annette Meier.

IntroHis affinity to Music, especially to percussion instruments, was quite strong at a very young age. Between 1987 and 1995, he played at the experimental New Jazz formation "Kieloor Entartet". The group published three CDs, conquered many stages in diverse countries, formed a not every day orchestra, "ENAO91 and ENAO93", and connected to other artists and composers. After that, Lucas Niggli took charge of the management of the alternative Swiss label "UNIT-Records" until 1998; he was the president of the Swiss Professional Association of Jazz and Improvisation Musicians, SMS, and a long member of the board of the WIM (werkstatt für improvisierte Musik Zurich).

Working Bands

In 1995 he founded the avant-core band "Steamboat Switzerland" with Dominik Blum and Marino Pliakas. More than 150 concerts, 4 cd and 2 vinyl recordings testify to the group's intense and hard work. "Lucas Niggli's Zoom" was founded in 1999 (with Nils Wogram And Philipp Schaufelberger) They performed at all of Europe's big festivals, (Moers, Saalfelden, Willisau, Le Mans) as well n Vancouver and they recorded a first cd in 2001 followed by a CD in 2003. As an extension of this trio, Lucas Niggli created "Big Zoom", a quintet with Claudio Puntin and Peter Herbert as guests, with two releases (Big Ball, Sweat). Since 2002 he plays regularly in the Piano Trio with Jacques Demierre and Barry Guy. Since 1994 Lucas Niggli has played in a variety of different bands with Pierre Favre as his partner. These are, amongst others, "Singing Drums", "European Chamber Ensemble", "The Drummers", as well as a duo.Since 2006 he is composing for and performing with the international Drum Quartet Beat Bag Bohemia (with Kesivan Naidoo (SA), RolandoLamussene (MZ), and Peter Conradin Zumthor (CH). The Duo Black Lotos with chinese Guzheng Player Xu Fengxia is also a long lasting working band, like the Drum Duo Lucas Niggli and Peter Conradin Zumthor. Since 2011 the Trio Biondini - Godard - Niggli with Luciano Biondini and Michel Godard tours extensivly in Europe with two CD Productions for Intakt Records. Since 2013 regulary also in Projects with the Drum Trio Klick with Fritz Hauser and P.C.Zumthor and in a Duo with Swiss Singer Andreas Schaerer.

Other World

Lucas Niggli was always musically active. He toured through all of Europe with different musicians, played on stages in Russia and America, Egypt and Canada, China and Southafria, Taiwan and m.o. He performed on major Jazz festivals in Vancouver, Berlin, Moers, Saalfelden, Willisau, Rome, Nürnberg, Capetown, Le Mans, Münster and Zurich. And New Music Festivals like Huddersfield (UK), Donaueschingen ( D) , Ultima (N), MaerzMusik (D). He is always being tempted into different corners of the music business. If he doesn't perform a contemporary piece by David Dramm, Michael Werthmüller, Felix Profos, Sam Hayden, Kagel, Polanski, Cage, or Rzewski; he will regularly improvise in the Zurich "Werkstatt für Improvisierte Musik." And he plaied in several Bands from Swiss Singer Erika Stucky, like "Bubble and Bangs".

In Best Memories

In his bands and projects, Lucas Niggli had the chance to work hand in hand with musicians from all over the world, from all kinds of different scenes. People like Barry Guy, John Cale, Pierre Favre, Butch Morris, Trevor Watts, Fred Frith, Hans Koch, Peter Kowald, Peter Waters, Samul Nori, Tom Cora, Ikue Mori, Tenko, Michel Doneda, Michel Wintsch, Collegium Novum, Urs Leimgruber, Arkadij Shilklopper, Jean-Luis Matinier, Martin Schütz, Irene Schweizer, Susanne Abbuehl, Wu Wei, Phil Minton, the filmmaker Peter Mettler , Susanne Abbuehl, Erika Stucky, ARTE Quartet, Andrew Cyrille, Andreas Schaerer, Tim Berne and many more."

-Lucas Niggli Website (http://www.lucasniggli.ch/english/0300_biografie/index.asp)
3/25/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. Weinende Gletscher 06:13

2. Singing no Song 02:57

3. Saltwatermelons 02:14

4. Behind the Mist 04:47

5. The Valley Beyond 03:28

6. Dark Desire 04:24

7. Shall We? 03:03

8. Jungle Juggle 03:39

9. Auf Socken 03:59

10. Critical Mass 02:41

11. Still Storm 04:22

12. High Moon 02:48

13. Il tempo sospeso 04:46

14. Bakossi Bird 03:52

15. Ozone Drone 04:57

16. Nebelbluten 04:04

Related Categories of Interest:


Intakt
Improvised Music
Jazz
Electro-Acoustic
Electro-Acoustic Improv
Collective Free Improvsation
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
Duo Recordings
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
New in Improvised Music
Recent Releases and Best Sellers

Search for other titles on the label:
Intakt.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Niggli, Lucas / Matthias Loibner
Still Storm
(Intakt)
A series of sixteen succinctly expansive, dramatic and moody collective improvisations, evocative music of rich melodic and rhythmic foundation that coax inspired tempests from misty lands and seas, at the intersection of Austrian Hurdy Gurdy master Matthias Loibner and Zurich-based West Kamerun drummer Lucas Niggli; absolutely impressive and beguiling.
Niggli, Lucas Sound of Serendipity Tentet
Play!
(Intakt)
Surprises abound with Lucas Niggli's approach to improvised composition, using 40 playing cards that his ten-piece ensemble interpret, drawing on inspired performers from improvised, experimental and contemporary classical music, their game performed over three rounds, allowing an incredibly diverse set of approaches to reveal themselves on each unique track.
Guy, Barry Blue Shroud Band
All This This Here
(Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))
The title and text drawn from Samuel Beckett's last poem and meditation on language, "what is the word" and also his "Brief Dream", plus a poem from Barra O Seaghdha and two 18th century Edo Haikus, Barry Guy's exquisite work about life in transit through eight movements is performed with a stellar ensemble including Agusti Fernandez, Maya Homburg, Lucas Niggli, Percuy Pursgolve, &c.
London Jazz Composers Orchestra
Krakow 2020 [6 CD BOX SET]
(Not Two)
To celebrate its 50th year since bassist Barry Guy assembled the London Jazz Orchestra for its first 1970 performance on BBC Radio, the now multinational band convened in Poland in 2020 for a series of concerts at Alchemia Club and Manggha Hall in configurations of duos to quintets, culminating in a full ensemble performance of two magnificently powerful works: "Flow" and "Harmos-Krakow".
Other Recommended Releases:
Niggli, Lucas Sound of Serendipity Tentet
Play!
(Intakt)
Surprises abound with Lucas Niggli's approach to improvised composition, using 40 playing cards that his ten-piece ensemble interpret, drawing on inspired performers from improvised, experimental and contemporary classical music, their game performed over three rounds, allowing an incredibly diverse set of approaches to reveal themselves on each unique track.
Ydivide, Clemens Kuratle
Lumumba
(Intakt)
Ydivide is Swiss drummer Clemens Kuratle's multi-national quintet with Dee Byrne on alto saxophone, Elliot Galvin on piano & electronics, Chris Guilfoyle on guitar and Lukas Traxel on bass, a dynamic young band performing Kuratle's structured compositions allowing for energetic and enthusiastic soloing amidst collective group work and lyrically introspective moments.
Arnal, Jeff / Curt Cloninger
Drum Major Instinct
(Mahakala Music)
Finding common ground through independent work in Asheville, NC, drummer Jeff Arnal and modular synth experimenter Curt Cloninger started exchanging musical ideas, developing their concept to add powerful rhythmic elements into patterned energetic synthetics, building a language to improvise together and rework their material into these rich and exciting compositions.
Fujiyama, Yuko / Graham Haynes / Ikue Mori
Quiet Passion
(Intakt)
A beautiful trio album of compositions from pianist Yuko Fujiyama and presented in a mix of solo pieces and duets & trios with cornetist Graham Haynes and electronic improviser Ikue Mori, for a subtle set of elegant improvisations balancing spacious moments with responsively relaxed interplay rich with anticipation, punctuated with two poems by Shutaro Tankikawa.
Steamboat Switzerland (Blume / Pliakas / Niggli)
Terrifying Sunset [VINYL]
(Trost Records)
Contemporary German painter Albert Oehlen invited Steamboat Switzerland — Lucas Niggli on drums; Marino Pliakas on electric bass; Dominik Blum on drums& voice — to create music for his solo exhibition Tramonto Spaventoso at the Gagosian Gallery in Los Angeles, these extended compositions that connect to Oehlen's work the result, from dark ea-improv to hardcore Hammond free jazz.
Berne, Tim / Gregg Belisle-Chi
Mars
(Intakt)
Succinct interpretations of compositions by New York saxophonist and composer Tim Berne, performed by Berne himself in a duo with guitarist Gregg Belisle-Chi, whose collaborations with Berne and his recent album Koi: Performing the Music of Tim Berne show Belisle-Chi to be the most capably informed player to accompany Berne in these thoughtful renderings.
Laubrock, Ingrid
Dreamt Twice, Twice Dreamt (Music For Chamber Orchestra And Small Ensemble) [2 CDs]
(Intakt)
The 2nd orchestral album from saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, two very different but complementary sets of compositions using electronics in mostly acoustic settings: the 1st with the larger EOS Chamber Orchestra and guests including Cory Smythe, Tom Rainey, & Sam Pluta; the 2nd a smaller group of Laubrock, Smythe & Pluta + guests Adam Motlock, Josh Modney, and Zeena Parkins.
Niggli, Lucas / Big Zoom
Celebrate Diversity
(Intakt)



Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:
Weston, Matt
Sparky 5 [CASSETTE w/ DOWNLOAD]
(7272music)
The 5th installment in percussionist & composer Matt Weston's serialized opera for percussion ensemble + electronics, a set of narratives and counter-narratives that explore mental health struggles as they develop over time in varying circumstances, realized through a combination of site-specific graphic, multidimensional and instantaneous scores.
Hautzinger, Franz / Eric Normand
Unbelievably Late
(Tour de Bras / Inexhaustible Editions )
Having originally met in 2016 when Viennese trumpeter Franz Hautzinger and Quebec electric bassist Éric Normand formed Torche! with Michel F Cote, Philippe Lauzier and Xavier Charles, the two improvisers developed this collage during the pandemic from asynchronous recordings, creating six dramatic and explorative compositions of incredible and unusual technique.
Wachsmann, Phillip
Chathuna
(Bead)
Recordings from a unique concert at the Synagogue in Oerlinghausen, Germany in 1996 between long-term collaborators Philipp Wachsmann and artist Sarah Brigitte Eckel, Wachsmann improvising in the resonance of the synagogue on violin, viola, electronics & tape in response to Eckel's exhibition extemporizing five canvas painting and a floor installation.
Risser, Eve / Red Desert Orchestra
Eurythmia
(Clean Feed)
The rhythmically rich Red Desert Orchestra assembled by pianist and composer Eve Risser is an ensemble made up of nine European musicians joined by African musicians and configured in several distinct ensembles, here as Eurythmia, collaborating with three Burkinabe musicians living in France for irresistible music at the intersection of jazz, West African and dance music.
Sommer, Gunter Baby / Raymond MacDonald
Sounds, Songs & Other Noises
(Clean Feed)
Following their 2007 Clean Feed release Delphinius and Lyra the duo of Gunter Baby Sommer and Raymond MacDonald reach deeper into their collective creative conversation for sixteen succinct improvisations--confident, boisterous or introspective--including a 5-part series of "Miniatures", performed on alto & soprano saxophones, drums and an eclectic set of percussive devices.
William Parker
Universal Tonality [2 CDs]
(Centering Records)
An incredible performance recorded at Roulette in NYC by a large ensemble of 16 jazz luminaries of various ages, cultures and musical backgrounds, led by composer and bassist William Parker, who explains that Universal Tonality is another name for love, the profusion of which is interpreted by vocalist Leena Conquest in a profoundly inspired concert of magnificent artistry.
Dunmall, Paul / Paul Rogers / Tony Orrell
That's My Life
(577 Records)
A prime example of the early Bristol, UK jazz scene and saxophonist Paul Dunmall's association with it, this trio born out of the band Spirit Level where Dunmall and drummer Tony Orrell first worked, and double bassist Paul Rogers with whom Dunmall would go on to work in Mujician, here in two live recording with Dunmall on soprano and in a burning Coltrane mode; exceptional!
Busolini, Cyprien / Bertrand Gauguet
Miroir
(Akousis Records)
An album of intensive listening through concentrated improvisation from the long-running collaboration of French improvisers, Cyprien Busolini on viola and Bertrand Gauguet on alto saxophone, both using unfaltering techniques as they metamorphose their instruments from delicate silence to forceful tones, oscillating and vacillating across two extended improvisations.
Blaser, Samuel / Pierre Favre
Same Place, Another Time. [VINYL]
(Blaser Music)
Only the second vinyl LP of Swiss trumpeter Samuel Blaser's career and released on drummer Pierre Favre's 85th birthday, this is their second duo album, well reflecting the extensive collaboration and touring these improvisers from two generations of free jazz have made, bringing nuance, virtuosity and humor together through original free improv and two notable standards.
Physique (Sam Scranton / Neil Quigley)
Curve Tote
(Amalgam)
Creating soundscapes from homemade instruments, Text-To-Speech, AI voices, lap steel guitar, found objects, field recording, &c., the duo of sound artists Sam Scranton from Chicago and Neil Quigley from Kilkenny, Ireland, present six unusually unfolding compositions of deceptively relaxed environments layered with mysterious elements and a sly sense of humor.
Olive, Tim / Kayu Nakada
Kanpu
(845 Audio)
The 2nd album from the duo of Japanese circuit bender Kayu Nakada, using circuit boards from electronic instruments short circuited for new effects, and Japan-based Canadian electronic instrument maker Tim Olive (845 Audio) on shortwave radio, magnetic pickups & undokai, recorded together in Kobe, Japan and then edited and composed into these two intriguing works.
M (feat. Ben Stapp / Fred Lonberg-Holm / Marco Colonna / Steve Swell)
Broken Songs
(Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))
A set of blues songs of a personal nature, concepts for a broken yet hopeful age, written and sung by improvising guitarist Marcin "M" Olak (Gadt/Osborne/Zakrocki/Olak, Agusti Fernandez) performed and expanded by a set of stellar improvisers: Ben Stapp on tuba, Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello, Marco Colonna on flute and Steve Swell on trombone.
Armaroli, Sergio / Steve Piccolo / Elliott Sharp
What Went Wrong
(Leo Records)
The fifth album on Leo Records for vibraphonist Sergio Armaroli, and his second with NY guitarist, saxophonist & electronic artist Elliott Sharp and bassist Steve Piccolo, using lyrical interpretations of jazz standards as a jumping off point for experimental and unusual approaches to improvisation, a unique balancing point in a fascinating collection.
Sewelson, Dave
Smooth Free Jazz
(Mahakala Music)
A soulful and even honky-tonk take on jazz from baritone saxophonist and vocalist Dave Sewleson, covering tunes like Nat King Cole's "Nature Boy" (two versions) or leaning back on riffs from popular music through lap steel guitarist Mike Neer, with Dave Hofstra on bass and Bernice "Boom Boom" Brooks on drums, a surprisingly enjoyable merging of popular and free playing.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC