专辑简介

»Nowhereland« marks the coming together of Spur alias André Wittmann’s vast influences which transcend both genres and cultural boundaries. »I find it disturbing to see how all those fields of music are still strictly separated until this day. I’d rather see them all combined«, he explains the idea behind his album to which he also refers to as »a dance of cultures«. Seemingly odd – to the Western ear, at least – time signatures form the backbone of what are essentially club-orientated tracks. »I don’t really write music to make people dance to«, says Wittmann. »But during my live sets I have witnessed that it’s possible, even when my music is sandwiched between two Techno sets.« Both his ambition and his remarkable perfectionism were there from the beginning: When young Spur first opened his mouth to emit something that would finally make sense to the world, it wasn’t a single word but a whole sentence. However, some twenty-something years later he prefers expressing himself through music. »Sometimes I really hate myself when I am talking – I’d rather say it with a chord or a progression of notes”, he says. Does he consider music to be an ersatz or maybe even a universal language? Not quite. »I see it as an extension of language.« Where words fail, notes can fill the gap. Incorporating elements from – quite literally speaking – all over the place thus seems only natural to Spur. »It’s similar to borrowing different words and phrases from other languages.« After having uttered his first sentence, Wittmann habitually took to his Bavarian family’s kitchen to seek out anything that he could use to make rhythms and noises with. His parents finally complied with his unrelenting passion, giving him his first drum kit at the age of 10. When he was 13, he first joined a local big band before becoming a member of the renowned Landes-Jugendjazzorchester Bayern and taking over drum duties in pandoras.box, the band he founded with Antime founder Martin Steer and others. Spur meanwhile took to other instruments, learning to play the guitar, jamming on violins or marimbas and taking piano lessons in preparation for his studies in Lübeck where he is currently enrolled and will receive his Master of Music in the foreseeable future. Just like you can’t pinpoint Wittmann’s influences – Hip Hop was his first love, he still holds a great passion for The Beatles and Radiohead, but has also extensively studied composers like Beethoven or Stravinsky and cites Flamenco and Gamelan as significant points of reference –, it is hard to pigeonhole the essence of »Nowhereland«. »Basically, it’s about getting to know yourself better and putting the vocabulary you have acquired over the years to good use«, muses Wittmann about his first full-length album under the moniker Spur. »I’ve always loved both the analytical and theoretical side of music«, he explains. »I aim at putting the mind and the body in motion.« »Nowhereland« compiles a selection of the best cuts out of 20 to 30 compositions Spur perfected them during a month-long stay in Ghent in early 2014. It was a busy time in the Belgian city which he visited for his long-time friend and collaborator Lucie De Lay, who contributed vocals to »Flavoured Green« and »Allthesethings« as well as the album’s title track which also prominently features Antime founder Martin Steer on vocal duties. Antime label mate Sebastian Dali contributed his signature bassoon playing to »The Beautiful Bird« and Siranush Asatryan played violin on »Nowhereland«. Their distinctive voices perfectly complement an already polyglot album which was made with both the body and the mind in order to indulge in a beautifully odd and yet very familiar dance of cultures.