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Product Description
Review
Although this is his third album for ECM, Swiss pianist Nik Bärtsch has been releasing albums of what he calls "zen funk" or "ritual groove music" since 2001. Sparse but always elegant, his compositions are pared-to-the-bone affairs consisting of crisply constructed acoustic piano patterns occasionally wreathed in electric Fender Rhodes ghost notes.
Against slivers of melodies graced with a Satie-like simplicity, the rest of the musicians tug and gnaw at the rhythmic opportunities his pieces gleefully expose. In another situation the brass player, Sha, might be expected to run away with freewheeling solos; but here, like every other musician in the group, he stays close to the immediate space around the themes. His sax offers up soaring notes of purest silver, whilst his parping contra-bass clarinet often digs deep, doubling Björn Meyer’s subterranean bass guitar runs.
Sometimes the pair will lock horns, and then go in and out of phase with Bärtsch’s constantly tumbling rhythms. This creates a complex hive of activity that’s both hugely entertaining and deeply rewarding.
Similarly, drummer Kaspar Rast, who has worked with Bärtsch since they were kids, keeps rock-solid time with only the most minimal of rolls and twists around the kit, keenly wedded to the less-is-more principle. With percussionist Andi Pupato adding exotic metallic dissonances and brilliantly imaginative counterpoints, their grooves quickly establish a relentless quality that sweeps up everything in its path.
With everything so tightly controlled, it can sometimes feels akin to being inside a large, perfectly-turned clockwork mechanism. Yet it’s this painstakingly created environment where even the tiniest of shifts in time or motion take on an almost cathartic grandeur.
Frequently astonishing in the depth and richness of its conception, Bärtsch’s grasp and exploitation of tension and release is fascinating. His music thrillingly combines a Steve Reich-like minimalist aesthetic with the kind of effortless funk-punch reminiscent of a Headhunters-era Herbie Hancock. That said, nobody currently on the scene comes close to sounding like this remarkable, and remarkably accessible, outfit.
--Sid Smith
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The Guardian, (John Fordham), December 17, 2010
(4 stars) The modulating four-note melody of Modul 51 has a Bad Plus-like atmosphere, and builds to an ecstatic dancefloor anthem.
(4 stars) His group's marriage of Steve Reich minimalism with Sly Stone grooves still sounds exhilarating...tunes have become more prominent.
(4 stars) Lyria sees them loosed up...hammered rhythms give way to melodies...Sha and bassist Meyer take advantage of the new space.
(4 stars) His group's marriage of Steve Reich minimalism with Sly Stone grooves still sounds exhilarating...tunes have become more prominent.
(4 stars) Lyria sees them loosed up...hammered rhythms give way to melodies...Sha and bassist Meyer take advantage of the new space.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I love ECM and think they're a label still putting out great music and moving fowards. This album, though, is one of their best of the last few years and is one of the best jazz albums I've heard lately. The playing on it is excellent and the pieces are really good. I don't like music that is complicated for the sake of it and I'm glad to say that the music here is complicated but in a very creative and beautiful way, with overlapping ryhthms and diverse solos.
The recording is also excellent.
Highly recommended.
The recording is also excellent.
Highly recommended.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
The music of Nik Barsch's Ronin is instantly recognisable and surprisingly difficult to describe (even with the assistance of Wittginstein's quotation about "Empathis und Phrasierung" in the liner notes). Barsch's own (not entirely happy) phrase "zen funk" captures some of the internal conflict behind such disciplined music and reviewers of the previous release "Holon" highlighted comparators such as the American minimalists, the much-missed EST and Autechre.
Publicity releases for "Llyria" have highlighted its increased melodic and lyrical sense and corresponding "loosening of the ritualistic grooves" in comparison to its predecessor "Holon". Nonetheless, "Llyria" is no volte face or abandonment from the group's previous work, rather a refinement or natural development and, for all the excellence of "Holon", an improvement. The use of acoustic instruments save for electric bass provides a warm and organic feel which militates against the disciplined construction of the music, the complete absence of ego and notion of soloists, and the austere description of all the pieces as numbered modules.
The percussive precision throughout, best exemplified on fourth track "Modul 47", and shifting pulse match any of Jaki Liebzeit`s contributions to Can's "Future Days". Bartsch's piano has a more crystalline quality than before and his patterns, whilst still very rhythmic with lower register stabbings providing as much propulsion as the bass or percussion, are indeed more melodic and even impressionistic. On third track "Modul 55" in particular the mysteriously named Sha's saxophone even has echoes of Stephan Micus's (zen but resolutely un-funky) music.
The range of comparisons and synthesis of melody and rhythm, pre-conception and improvisation means that this is music which should appeal to Ronin's existing fanbase, a wide new audience and fellow musicians looking for samples and directors for film-music. Undemonstratively brilliant.
Publicity releases for "Llyria" have highlighted its increased melodic and lyrical sense and corresponding "loosening of the ritualistic grooves" in comparison to its predecessor "Holon". Nonetheless, "Llyria" is no volte face or abandonment from the group's previous work, rather a refinement or natural development and, for all the excellence of "Holon", an improvement. The use of acoustic instruments save for electric bass provides a warm and organic feel which militates against the disciplined construction of the music, the complete absence of ego and notion of soloists, and the austere description of all the pieces as numbered modules.
The percussive precision throughout, best exemplified on fourth track "Modul 47", and shifting pulse match any of Jaki Liebzeit`s contributions to Can's "Future Days". Bartsch's piano has a more crystalline quality than before and his patterns, whilst still very rhythmic with lower register stabbings providing as much propulsion as the bass or percussion, are indeed more melodic and even impressionistic. On third track "Modul 55" in particular the mysteriously named Sha's saxophone even has echoes of Stephan Micus's (zen but resolutely un-funky) music.
The range of comparisons and synthesis of melody and rhythm, pre-conception and improvisation means that this is music which should appeal to Ronin's existing fanbase, a wide new audience and fellow musicians looking for samples and directors for film-music. Undemonstratively brilliant.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Nik Bartsch's music evolves with every album, and always for the better - this is his most interesting album to date. Departing from his earlier well constructed minimalist compositions he is developing into a singular voice in modern music. This is what I would call true fusion music, true because it compromises none of the elements. It is jazz, trance, contemporary minimalism and something more as well - the whole is more than the sum of the parts. Zen funk indeed.
Highest recommendation for both the performance and the recording.
Highest recommendation for both the performance and the recording.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Sha shines bright
If you liked the last two Nik Bartsch ECM disks, Holon and Stoa, you will probably enjoy this just as much. Read more
Published 18 months ago by N. A. Myers
MODULARS AND ROCKERS
This is the third relase on ECM for ronin,and shows steady progress,the first two albums were perhaps a little to experimental for some tastes,but thus seems to hit the rright note... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Finbar the looney
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