va - berlin strings (absinth)

from the world of improvised music, or taking us to that world, here's a split with 4 artists from berlin who play string instruments, as a 2nd release on a relatively new absinth records. every artist has one mini 3" cdr with ~20 minutes. of all artists included here i'm most familiar with andrea neumann, she plays inside piano and mixing desk here and has 4 tracks. in her first track you won't here the piano strings, just variations of rather static noises, in some of the other tracks the strings are recognizable, sometimes maintaining a vague rhythm. very well done. michael renkel has one piece of 18 and a half minutes and is credited with guitar, zither and preparations. his style is more conventional than andrea neumann's and he plays the guitar in a very quiet way. lots of silence, a bit absent music. as a contrast comes olaf rupp (maybe known to some from grob records) who plays just acoustic guitar but in a much more dynamic way, fully present. he has 9 shorter and separate pieces of music, but all a part of one longer piece and very much alike. it's played with lots of intensity and energy, though somehow careful at the same time, nice music. serge baghdassarians plays guitar (though i can't hear it) and mixing desk, in a much more experimental way than the previous two, and similar to andrea neumann. nice and captivating noises, developing well in the specific manner of improvised music.