专辑简介

Tony Buck - drums, percussion Steve Heather - drums, marimba, percussion Martin Siewert - guitars, lap steel, electronics, keyboards zeitblom - bass, keyboards Alexander Hacke - vocals Cover design by Kim Hiorthoy. "Within the 48 minutes of this album, a lot of what can happen in music (plus a lot of what had hitherto been unthought of) takes place. On first hearing of this music, the two tracks with vocals (provided by Alexander Hacke of Einstürzende Neubauten- and solo-fame) could serve as a welcome starting point of this adventurous musical ride." (Ralf Bei der Kellen) "Sweeter as the years roll by" is a phrase which many will associate with wine. The music of the 21st century has during these last eight years turned out to be the proverbial "old wine in new skins" which is small wonder, since remixing, cut'n'paste or whatever name one wants to bestow on these ancient methods of producing new culture by using the old, have become available to almost everyone. The "digital revolution" of the last two decades has also made these processes easier than ever before almost everybody can apply them. One side effect of this welcome development has been a glut of uninspired and often blatant recycling products. On first hearing the music of Heaven And, one could easily dismiss it as belonging in exactly that category. Elements of the diverse musical styles from the last five decades are clearly discernible. Listening to the first track "as if a star", one can make out a vast range of influences: A psychedelic backwards guitar cuts through the whir of a cymbal reminiscent of jazz and trance music, while in the second half, a layer of guitar sounds hovers over it which reminds one of the sounds emanating from the Fender amps of the bands belonging to the so-called "Americana"-movement. At the same time, the track comes across as an update of those stoic monster tracks of early seventies krautrock. (And when it comes to minimalism, the bass line on "as if a star" beats any of Holger Czukays in terms of sparseness.) The third track "bring back those happy days" with its manic, almost exploding guitar and its rompish, hippie-like percussion orgy is quite another cup of tea. "Art Ensemble Of Chicago meets Keiji Haino"? Or "Pharoah Sanders meets Sonny Sharrock meets Boredoms"? In the course of the album's duration, Heaven And take their listeners on an unsettling roller coaster ride of styles. Sometimes, elements of the blues stick out, while at other times, elements of heavy metal, post rock, avantgarde, free jazz or noise are up front, so that the listener keeps wondering what (in heaven's name) it is s/he's hearing. One clue to this is the list of participants on this project. One look at it makes it clear that this is not music concocted by some part-time musician at his laptop, in which the fissures between the elements are still evident through the electronic glue. From musicians such as Martin Siewert (guitars, lap steel, electronics, keyboards), Tony Buck (drums, percussion), Steve Heather (drums, marimba, percussion) and zeitblom (bass, keyboards) one has never heard a single stereotypical sound. In Heaven And, they use musical forms which through their overuse have almost all turned into clichés and fill them with new ideas their ideas. So in fact its the other way round: The music of Heaven And is old skins with new wine (only tasting a lot better). These four individuals create their music without making the slightest compromise, sounding only like they themselves could in this constellation which renders all attempts at describing their music futile. The one thing that can be said is that their music teems with energy and a "take no prisoners"-attitude. And there is the fact that everything has been played in real time (thus harking back to the production methods of an era in which the computer was not yet the supreme ruler in the studio). BIOGRAPHIES: Vienna-based guitarist MARTIN SIEWERT has been playing in diverse bands and collectives as well as working solo. Otomo Yoshihide, Oren Ambarchi, Elliott Sharp, Philip Jeck, Kammerflimmer Kollektief, Wayne Horvitz, Werner Dafeldecker, Christof Kurzmann, Max Nagl, Franz Hautzinger or Christian Fennesz are only a few of the artists, which whom he has been collaborating. In his work with the trio Trapist, Siewert focuses on the song form. In recent times, theatre and moviegoers also had the possibilitiy of coming into contact with his music. Drummer and percussionist TONY BUCK has been an integral part of the Australian jazz scene for some years. He is a member of the trio The Necks as well as the main man behind Peril, a hardcore improvisation-band, which he founded in 1992 in Japan with Otomo Yoshihide and Kato Hideki. His range of musical activities stretches from playing in no-nonsense-rock-outfits to audio-visual designing of museums. His main interest is free improvisation. In the past, he has been playing with Tom Cora, Peter Brötzmann, The Ex, Paul Lovens, Jon Rose, David Moss, Aki Takase, Ground Zero, Markus Stockhausen, Phil Minton, John Zorn, Haino, Hans Reichel, Han Bennink, Wayne Horvitz to name but a few. He devides his time between Australia and his current place of residency, Berlin. Not only is STEVE HEATHER Tony Buck's co-drummer and percussionist in Heaven And, but he also hails from Australia. After studying music, he played for a long time in Melbourne's local scene, from whence he moved to Amsterdam and then to Berlin. He works as a composer, sound designer and performer in the fields of dance, theatre, film and new media. He has been collaborating with Andy Moor, Joe Williamson and Boris Hauf among others. zeitblom is sort of a veteran, a doyen of the experimental music scene in Germany. In 1984, he founded the avant rock band Sovetskoe Foto, in which he played until 1993. In the following years, he has been active as electro-acoustic composer, producer and bass player; he realized installations as well as music for theatre and radio plays, while also appearing live in numerous band-contexts. Fred Frith, Arto Lindsay, Jim 'Foetus' Thirlwell, John Zorn, Christian Fennesz, Christian Marcley and Pole are only a few name that stick out in a long list of musical collaborations.