In the 21st week of 2015 Margerita and me did a small tour from Frankfurt to Berlin. We’ve frequently been playing together in the past year, though mostly in ensemble sized groups, just once in a duo, so naturally we never had a more intense time of exploring the energies, intuition, thoughts and awarness of each others approaches towards improvised music and it´s relations to our daily life.
First we played two sets in the quite vacant „3 Königskeller“ in Frankfurt, sharing the evening with the local legendary one-man band and ‘Ententreter’ Adi Uhl, who’s also running a secondhand music store in the neighbourhood, which gave us the opportunity to get to know each other again after some time of not playing together.
With Gretl getting interested in ‘concrete’ guitar playing again, after a long period of abstraction using mostly extended techniques in combination with electronics and his emerged interests in performative and vocal material and myself expanding my range of voice on the saxophones with, next to playing Alto, getting into Tenor and Bariton, we had a lot of uncharted terrain to explore.
In Berlin we played in various places like the XBLiebig, at some kind of carnival, on the terrasse of a bar, in the park, in an underground station, the entrance of a S-Bahn station and next to an open field in the middle of nowhere, taking it to the people.
Whilst those lively experiences we went to capture this first duo recording in Margie´s rehearsal room, defining the playground and frame of a more intimate musical communication and the starting point of our new collaboration which seamlessly fit into open channels of exchange on different personal levels.
Markus Krispel, 2015
credits
released April 20, 2016
Margaret Unknown \voice \electronics \guitar
Markus Krispel \alto- \tenor- \baritone saxophone
Recording\ Margaret Unknown
Mixing\ Markus Krispel
Cover Draft\ Theresa Eipeldauer
Executive production\ Stefano Giust
Setola Di Maiale
Chmafu Nocords
")))))((((( is just 'Margaret Unknown' and 'Markus Krispel', and {} is a amalgam of freejazzy saxophones (alto, tenor and bariton, no less) and 'concrete' guitar parts (concrete like concrete .. 'Beton' in german), a voice, and electronics .. and is that strange ?
That nickname I mean, the CD title and this kind of music?
No.
(The things that are strange & the things that are not. The mobydickalbum turned out not to exist anymore but her facebook page did. And nevernevernever I received a message that the 'belfamielje' was lifted) (I think she is dead) (I think she is hiding) (Randy Newman, anyone?)
(in my soul she is dead)
The deconstruction of the WORD and the deconstruction of music. Thrown back at itself: Merely speechsigns AND SO music that merely referes to itself. That is not totally without presedent or tradition.
)))))((((( fishes in waters where as well 'Little Women' fishes in, and before that as well fellows like Karel Appel, The Nihilist Spasm Band, Wild Classical Music Ensemble, The Spontaneous Music Ensemble of Derek Bailey, Pat Metheny, Gregg Bendian and Paul Wertico with their, as far as I know, only collaborative project: the widely maligned 'Sign of 4'.
(come on: apply Deleuze to the fine arts (god, hear me) & where else can you end up but here?)
Is it 'bad noise'? Yes, of course it is bad noise!
But little in the world tickles so nicely in my ear and on my skin as 'bad noise' of this kind and PHUK knows that, with the arrival of the pale woman, one needs not much more then )))))(((((‘s {} on ten & on repeat."
Awkee
"Die Band heißt: )))))(((((, der Titel ist: {} (Setola Di Maiale, SM2990), die Musiker sind: Margaret Unknown \voice \electronics \guitar & Markus Krispel \alto- \tenor- \baritone saxophone. Dieser Vogel aus Wien nimmt mich für sich ein mit dem sympathischen Bekenntnis "ich mag den Begriff „Free Jazz“ noch immer gerne, weil er für mich immer noch was verheißungsvolles hat und in mir eine Erwartungshaltung von Intensität, Spannung und Abenteuer hervorruft" und mit seinem vogelweiten Horizont vom Heavy-Doom-Duo [[[ALTAR:THRON]]] über das ungarische AKM Trio bis zu - kleine Welt - Albatre, bei denen er als Gast einstieg. In der unbekannten Gretl verbirgt sich Max Bogner, obskure Hälfte obskurer Zwiegespanne (Cosmic Debris, Cream Team, Gueule Populaire...), aber doch auch mit der legendären Linda Sharrock, Mario Rechtern und Didi Kern als (In) The Abyssity of the Grounds unterwegs auf den Spuren von Ariadne und Eurydike. Der Stoff für {} entwickelte sich on the road in Königskellern und xbliebigen Berliner Winkeln und wurde nach der Heimkehr fixiert. Wohin führte das? In Weißglut, in farblos entbundenes Grau aus den farblosen Tiefen der Negativität, zu fieberhaften Visionen von dem, dessen Name Legion lautet, von Megaira, der rasenden Furie. Mit furioser Attacke von Bariton und Gitarre, wie Hippie Diktat (ohne Drummer), aber noch bohrender und grobkantiger. Danach tastend, jaulend, mit elektronischen Wellen und aus einer Gießkanne geröhrtem Wiener Blues. Die Gitarre mit extremer Vehemenz und krass kokophon, Krispel mit knatterndem Stakkato dann post-ayleresk, während die Gitarre Verwünschungen um sich spuckt. Was für eine aufgekratzte Willkommenskultur für Sturm & Hagel, Ratz & Brötz. Mit fiebrig & Olaf-Ruppig geharkten und bekrabbelten Saiten, ostinatem Spotzen, ölschlierig verzerrter, infernalischer Hymnik. Jetzt auch mit akustischem Strumming, Schimpfluchglossolalie, tuckernder Motorik und sirrender Automatik. Während Krispel Poesie auf seine Weise definiert, schlägt Gretl einen Ebow auf den Saiten kurz und klein und löst damit Sirenenalarm aus. Und hat nicht das abschließend aus Kurt Vonneguts Katzenwiege gezerrte und ersäufte "Round and round we spin with feet of lead and wings of tin" bis auf Weiteres das Zeug zur aktuellen Europahymne? "
[BadAlchemy 90 rbd]
"In nome di un anarchismo sonoro prospiciente alle arti si trova anche la proposta del duo di improvvisatori Margaret Unknown (chitarra elettrica, voce ed live electronics) e Markus Krispel (alle tre tonalità di sassofono): austriaci di nazionalità, i due musicisti sono delle mine vaganti con un'idea precisa sul da farsi dal punto di vista musicale. Se vi addentrate nel sito della chitarrista, troverete subito un passo del poeta francese Henri Chopin, un'avanguardista della poesia che, sfruttando le manipolazioni ai nastri e le registrazioni multi-traccia, darà luogo agli audio-poémes prima e alla poesia "concreta" dopo, due filiazioni di ciò che è accaduto nella storia della musica. La complessa decostruzione di Unknown e Krispel, verificabile anche nella titolazione (parentesi graffa aperta e chiusa e cinque parentesi tonde, aperte e chiuse), scorrazza in una fantasia cacofonica, dove è possibile trovare un pezzo nobile rispettivamente di Bailey e di Ayler, ma direi una bugia se non aggiungessi che il caos prodotto non offra una prospettiva molto aggiornata dei due termini di paragone citati; in mezzo a tanta creatività le variabili che l'improvvisazione raccoglie durante il percorso trovano nella chitarra di Margaret spesso un gelo espressionista che non può che appartenere a lei stessa, così come Markus si porta quasi naturalmente in territori ruvidi e frammentati che sono il risultato di una personale decostruzione; è un quadro naif senza pause, totalmente avulso dalla normalità della rappresentazione, con tinte sempre accese ed un apparente disallineamento espressivo tra i due musicisti. I lasciti funzionali di questo duo raccolgono istanze improvvisative ampliabili, persino addomesticabili al post-rock."
"As I lay down fading night by night, to be reborn in bloom of the nothing that encompasses my being, worlds surrender to
me."
...blending elements of performances/‘Aktion’, sonic architecture and dance, as well as decoding the subliminal power structures within language and the preconscious establishment, Max Bogner's work can most simply be described as eclectic.
Modular synths sparkle amidst piano, vibes, and other organic instruments stringing together constellations of sound. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 22, 2023
