| 19 - Secret Rhythms 2 | | Print | |
Complete Tracklisting:
LP version instrumental 04. Mikrokasper (3:38)
Watch this video for a dance groove played by Jaki Liebezeit in Vitamin C (Can) "... this album may cross-over to fans of dub and ambient. It's difficult to categorize, but easy to enjoy." (review by Jacob Arnold / gridface.com) Even before putting on Secret Rhythms 2, we're sure about one thing: with long-time Can member and frequent Jah Wobble collaborator Jaki Liebezeit occupying the drummer's chair, there's clearly no need to worry about the possibility of dull 'rhythmning.' The tunes on this sequel to his and Burnt Friedman's 2002 outing, however, aren't hell-raisers but languorous atmospheres of nuance and mystery. Still, though the feel is loose, the songs are far from aimless; what in lesser hands might be noodling, here becomes compelling exploration. The duo treats their tunes and rhythms elastically, stretching them out to accommodate a guitar texture or melodica shading here and a vibes or clarinet theme there. The set's 'world music' ambiance emerges immediately in "Sikkerhed," an African-flavoured folk-jazz march enriched by Hayden Chisholm's clarinet playing, while the dub style of Friedman's Nu Dub Players is revisited in "Fearer" and "Caracoles." The album's also distinguished by David Sylvian's vocal appearance on "The Librarian," his relaxed singing a natural complement to the others' similarly laid-back delivery (a different version appears on Snow Borne Sorrow, the Nine Horses album produced by Sylvian, Steve Jansen, and Friedman). Call Secret Rhythms 2 sophisticated mood music that, more 'invisibly' than Superstructure, merges electronics with acoustic instrumentation, even if the material clearly emphasizes the latter throughout. (review by Textura.org / February 2006) Jaki Liebezeit: Es hat möglicherweise viele Elemente dieser Erde aufgenommen, ohne bestimmte Elemente zu featuren. Die einzelnen Elemente sind abstrahiert worden, da ist kein nationaler Charakter mehr vorhanden oder ethnischer Charakter, nichts Typisches aus Sevilla, aus Istanbul, sondern es sind die Gemeinsamkeiten, die alle Musikarten gemein haben, sind abstrahiert und verarbeitet worden. (...) Das erste was ich gehört habe, war wahrscheinlich Tanzmusik oder sowas, wie ich 10, 11 Jahre alt war, habe ich Jazz entdeckt, und war ein Jazzfan bis in Ewigkeiten, bis ich eben auch andere Musik gehört habe, ich habe früh angefangen mit Ethnosounds, indische Musik gehört, arabische Musik gehört, habe viel Flamenco gehört in Spanien, was mich sehr beeidnruckt hat, weil ich merkte, da läuft mindestes so ein guter Rhythmus wie im Jazz, wenn nicht noch heisser. Und dann habe ichverschiedene Sachen kennen gelernt und die Konsequenzen daraus gezogen und mich vom Jazz verabschiedet, weil ich erkannt habe, das das ja nicht meine Musik war, das war ja nur angenommen. Deswegen habe ich inzwischen auch aufgegeben, das herkömmliche, das amerikansiche Schlagzeug zu spielen, habe mich anders orientiert, und spiele einafch nur Trommeln. Weil die alte Spielweise beruhte ja immer nur auf den right cymbals, man kennt die amerikanischen Ausdrücke dafür, die habe ich alle beseitigt bei mir. Es wird mir immer nachgesagt, dass ich so reduziert spiele, aber ich spiele nicht reduziert, ich lasse nur die unnötigen Dinge weg! (from an interview with Michael Engelbrecht, DLF, Germany) The German duo's secret rhythms expertly skirt the boundaries of genre and style jazz, dub, funk, African, acoustic, electric, etc ... and stubbornly refuse to commit to any single one. Liebezeit provides the acoustic beat backbone, his drumming stark and seemingly simplistic and, as always, easy to identify. Friedman, also a drummer among other things (he's usually credited simply with 'other instruments'), supplies the digital marrow and his signature attention-to-detail production to bring it all together and make it all shine. Although it's no doubt a fully collaborative and probably improvisational effort, Liebezeit is firmly entrenched in Friedman's hard drive driven atmosphere and groove. A handful of additional players from around the world flesh things out with clarinet, melodica, vibraphone, bass guitar and acoustic and electric guitars. These tracks don't stand still but they're in no hurry to get anywhere in particular either: the music is deceptively lazy in it's fluidity and thoroughly addictive in due time. The first three of the eight tracks were born elsewhere prior but here they re-appear in new versions. The opener "Sikkerhed" surprises with brash acoustic guitar strums and windwood melodies akin to the sorrowful horns of Burt Bacharach. "The Sticks" and "Mikrokasper" gracefully funk through micro sounds and, in the former, bass/beat interplay and touches of guitar. "The Librarian" is the lone vocal track and is more sparse here than on last year's intriguing Nine Horses (David Sylvian / Steve Jansen / Burnt Friedman) album, Snow Borne Sorrow. Sylvian's inimitable vocals are much to the fore, yet befitting of the vibraphone laced beats and vice versa. He longingly talk-sings "oh my pretty, oh my sweet girl, it's a marvelous place / she designed it with escape routes for you and me / so to the library with a new card, grab your favorite books / look for blueprints to the strains of our love." Lovely guitar harmonics and occasional chords highlight "Niedrige Decken" while bell tones accentuate the utterly hypnotic heart beat of "Fearer". The closer "Caracoles" (Spanish for "snails") builds nicely before lapsing into strains of melodica and marimba. "Secret Rhythms 2" is addictive, and the more I listen, the more I want to listen to it, its predecessors and its hopeful successors. (review by Mark Weddle / brainwashed.com)
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