Now available at bandcamp as part of the ::: MirrorWorldMusic Archives ::: project :

This is a 6-track EP from 1997 containing “electrosonic dance version” reworks of previous LOCUST FUDGE material, which were produced together with Mario Thaler and Martin Gretschmann (The Notwist, Console, etc.) in 1996 at Uphon Studios, Weilheim; a cover version of The Notwist’s “Our Alien” featuring The Locust Fudge Band, recorded in Prague while the band was touring around Europe at the time; and a 4-track cassette home recording version of Schneider’s song “Green.”

The new die ANGEL album “Utopien I” is out now as 180g LP / DL on Karlrecords !

Download available now also at MWM bandcamp:

die ANGEL, the improvisational duo project of ILPO VÄISÄNEN (ex-PAN SONIC) & DIRK DRESSELHAUS aka SCHNEIDER TM, starts its 3rd decade of sonic explorations with the release of album #10 which bears the programmatic title “Utopien I”.

die ANGEL (or just ANGEL in the early days) was born in 1999 during a joint European tour of PAN SONIC and SCHNEIDER TM with the aim to use electronics, string instruments and effect loops to develop a sonic world that goes beyond fixed structures and clearly defined genres. Coming from different musical backgrounds proved quite an advantage for the duo as it meant that ANGEL had to find their particular modus operandi: communication through noise and action, instant composition, spirit.
Over the course of over 2 decades now, die ANGEL crafted a catalogue of 10 albums released on labels like EDITIONS MEGO or EDITION TELEMARK that were recordings of either the core duo or featured like-minded artists like cellist HILDUR GUDNADOTTIR, OREN AMBARCHI, LUCIO CAPECE or BJ NILSEN. die ANGEL delve deep into the microcosms of tones, shaping nuanced layers of abstract sound that integrate elements of Musique Concrète, Minimal Music, Industrial, Noise, Blues and Psychedelia, and yet bear the unmistakable die ANGEL signature.
“Utopien I” is not only the duo’s latest effort (feat. OREN AMBARCHI) but also a clear political call: in a world of a general decline, we need new ideas and approaches to design the future.

New video : die Angel “Epikouros”
Directed by Edward Quist / embryoroom

Available now as download at MWM bandcamp!

Damo Suzuki (ex-CAN) : voice
Dirk Dresselhaus (Schneider TM, die Angel) : electric baritone guitar, effects
Ilpo Väisänen (Pan sonic, die Angel) : electronics, effects
Michael Beckett (Kptmichigan, Super Reverb) : electric guitar, effects
Claas Großzeit (Saal-C) : drums, percussion
Tomoko Nakasato (Mio, JINN) : dance, electric rake

These instant compositions were played & recorded on November 24th 2011 at Marie-Antoinette, Berlin (GER).

“I find it fairly difficult to say something about how the music in this concert came about, cause we didn‘t plan or rehearse anything and hardly were able to hear each other on stage. Wherever it came from, the energy and course of this concert is very much based on group dynamics and an almost telepathic sort of communication, like a swarm of fish. When I mixed the sound later on in the studio I discovered a lot of weird things on the separate tracks: for example Kptmichigan‘s guitar signal is changing level for about +/-30 dB once in a while which is a lot and was probably caused by a broken microphone cable. Luckily the fucked up parts made the sound even heavier and more distorted instead of destroying it.” (Dirk Dresselhaus)

2xLP / concert movie stream available at PlayLoud!

Healing music from members of The Fall, Faust & Schneider TM…ready to stream & download now at MWM bandcamp:

These 3 improvised pieces were recorded on 12th of March 2018 in Berlin by NOHE NOSHE (Elena Poulou of The Fall & Petr Step Kišur), Dirk Dresselhaus aka Schneider TM & Faust drummer Werner ‘Zappi’ Diermaier.

Elena Poulou: synthesizer
Petr Step Kišur: harmonium
Werner ‘Zappi‘ Diermaier: drums, percussion
Dirk Dresselhaus: processed electric guitar, cello bow

KPARR DIRÈ – Balafon Music from Lobi Country
(Edition Telemark / MWM)

LP+DVD / download AVAILABLE NOW at MWM bandcamp !

LP plus DVD with full-length movie (125 minutes) of Balafon music of the Lobi people, recorded in and around Gaoua, Burkina Faso, on a two-week journey in June 2014, by Dirk Dresselhaus (Schneider TM), Julian Kamphausen and Arved Schultze. Packaged in a full-colour gatefold sleeve with DVD slide, with numerous photos and an extensive interview with Dresselhaus, released by Edition Telemark in cooperation with MirrorWorldMusic.

ALL PROFITS generated with downloads & physical formats at MWM bandcamp go to the involved musicians in Burkina Faso !

The Lobi are an ethnic group of about 180,000 people living in southern Burkina Faso and bordering regions. The primary instrument of their traditional music is the balafon, played solo or in a duet, usually accompanied by percussionists. Lobi balafon music serves as a complex language for communication with the audience but also with ancestors and spirits. Different kinds of music are used for different purposes and social atmospheres (birth, death, joy, hunting, war, etc.)

At its core, this music is hundreds of years old and knowledge of its mastery is passed on from generation to generation, with different styles emerging in different regions and outside influences picked up on the way. The first well-known recordings of Lobi balafon music were made in 1961 and published on the Ocora LP “Musiques du pays Lobi”. While the tunes heard there clearly show their ancient roots, the music on this release is not isolated from current influences and carries traces of modern African electronic pop music and Contemporary R&B that is widespread in the region. This has led to a new minimalist, poly-rhythmic and breakbeat-laden style prominent in Gaoua, to our knowledge recorded here for the first time. Yet the pieces are the same traditionals, played differently from generation to generation and from day to day.

Musicians on the LP are Martin Kensiè (Da Toh Alain) and ensemble, and Palé Goukoun. Their fathers Kambiré Tiaporté and Palé Tioionté, respectively – had been recorded in the 1990s for the Ocora CDs “Pays Lobi, Xylophone de funérailles” and “Pays Lobi, Xylophones du Buur” that served as the starting point for this journey. The DVD features a full-length movie by Arved Schultze, documenting the trip through various localities and villages, with numerous performances also including other musicians.

RELEASE PARTY:
22.03.2020 – 17:00 CET @ ausland, Lychener St. 60, 10437 Berlin, Germany – cancelled / postponed !

Screening / Talk / Performance
w/ Schneider TM, Sarata Diallo Koné, Tomoko Mio, Maurice de Martin, Arved Schultze, Edition Telemark & DJs Phonosphere (Werner Durand & Jens Strüver) / Timmytim

Facebook Event

:::

KPARR DIRÈ – Balafon Music from Lobi Country – long story short
(by Dirk Dresselhaus, Berlin 22.02.2020)

When I entered an Afro shop in the train arches near Alexanderplatz in Berlin in spring 2003, I had no idea what this moment would trigger in the years after. So I entered this shop and saw two strange percussion instruments that were unknown to me: a kind of prehistoric xylophones with a lot of calabashes underneath. The nice owner of the shop explained to me that they were balafones that he had brought from an old man in northern Ghana. We quickly agreed and I bought one of the two instruments that I used for the next few weeks while recording a new Schneider TM album. After a while I got curious and went to the world music department of Dussmann, a book and media retailer, to research balafon music from West Africa. Much of the music from Ghana, Ivory Coast etc. I found was great, very pentatonic and sometimes a bit cheesy, but it was only when I discovered the two Ocora releases of Lobi music from Burkina Faso (“Pays Lobi, Xylophone de funérailles” and “Pays Lobi, Xylophones du Buur”) that it really blew me away. The open (dis-)harmonies, very similar to the tuning of the balafon I had at home, and syncopated polyrhythms moved me deeply and were somehow the most futuristic thing I had ever heard. In the years that followed, I often incorporated the two CDs into my DJ sets and mixed some of them with drone & noise music, which somehow complemented each other perfectly. Like two long lost relatives who suddenly see each other again.
In 2013 I received a call from Arved Schultze and Julian Kamphausen regarding a possible study trip to Africa, funded by the TURN fund of the German Cultural Foundation, to look for musicians or artists with whom there should subsequently be an African-German cooperation as a cultural exchange. I immediately thought that we absolutely have to go to Gaoua, Burkina Faso, to find out if the Lobi musicians were still around whose music I had sucked in all the years before and about whom you could otherwise hardly find any information on the Internet etc. The two initiators were immediately enthusiastic and in June 2014 the trip took us via Bamako (Mali) and Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso) finally to Gaoua:
 TRAVEL BLOG

As luck would have it, my sister knew a university friend who was to build a street for an NGO in Gaoua in 2001 and since then had a good friend in Burkina Faso who had lived in Gaoua for a long time and worked there as a German teacher. We met this friend, Issaka Yameogo, at a bus station on the way to Gaoua, and on the same evening he introduced us to his old friend Somda Desiré, who was very well connected in the capital of the Lobi people and in turn directly brought us together with the balafonist Martin Kensiè. Martin turned out to be the son of one of the musicians who unfortunately had already died at that time and who had played on the Ocora CDs from the 1990s. All of this happened immediately after arriving in Gaoua and was the start of two intense weeks in which we were introduced to the music and culture of the Lobi and Dagara people and deep friendships were formed. This was when the recordings took place that are now released as LP & DVD by Edition Telemark / MWM and that originally were intended only for documentation as preparation for future collaboration. Since there never was a collaboration between Martin Kensiè, his ensemble and us experimental musicians from Europe due to a lack of follow-up funding, we have at least managed to make these unique and magical recordings available to the public after a long period of preparation.

“Tell The Drummer I Still Love Her” (LP & download out on IZBIT IN ZID Records bandcamp)

Record Release Concert 02.03.2020 @ Roter Salon / Volksbühne Berlin

GIRLS is the band of Zeitkratzer drummer Maurice de Martin and the actress and performer Susanne Sachsse with Dirk Dresselhaus alias Schneider TM and Hillary Jeffrey. GIRLS is also the reincarnation of a southern Bavarian “International Ladies Show Band”, founded in 1967 by Anny de Martin, the mother of Maurice de Martin. The band broke up when Anny died in 1971 and was quickly forgotten. In fact, the formation was exceptional in several ways: a band made up entirely of female members who composed themselves was something very rare at the time. To do this, they played an experimental music knitted from loops and patterns beyond the classic rock / pop song structures, which is now commonly referred to as “Krautrock” and influenced a whole generation of musicians from David Bowie to Brian Eno. Maurice de Martin catapults his family history into the present with a new cast and reinterprets his mother’s legacy and work.