Matthias Kaul: Solo Percussion

by Matthias Kaul

Overview

There is something about Solo Percussion that is so inside -- even a small joke that permeates each selection -- that listeners are kept outside the record's language. It talks to them, but not in a manner listeners can grasp because the language it speaks is private. That this should occur on a percussion session is unthinkable. Of all musical communicators, rhythm is the most basic of elemental forces both inside and outside the human body -- in every living thing, actually. So how does a fine percussionist like Matthias Kaul, who has worked so productively with other musicians and ensembles, push an audience so far to the margin that they stand outside of it? After repeated listenings in different situations, that question may remain unanswered. But the entire proceeding feels cold, disconnected, and insular. Again, given the nature of rhythm and its virtually limitless textures, overtones, and timbres, it is the great earthly communicator to both worldly and heavenly issues. Kaul seems unconcerned with anything but abstractly yet systematically expressing what he's already found, not what he's looking for. There is no crack in his proceedings that allows for a listener to either get inside his own sound world or climb out of it in hope of discovering something else along the line. This predeterminancy seems to overshadow whatever technical wonder Kaul has to offer, and provides listeners precious little to grasp and hold on to. This is precisely the way not to make a record. ~ Thom Jurek

Product Details

Release Date:	06/25/1999
Label:	Hat[Now]Art
UPC:	0752156013020
Rank:	238351

Tracks

1. Kutunga, poems (2) in Swahili for 2 frame drums
2. Timpani Ride, Spheric scene for bicycle & timpani
3. Mazza, About the edible character of sounds for percussion & voice
4. Roma, Cymbalom, Gopichand and tape, words in Romani, written & spoken by Stefan Romeyan
5. Hendrix, for electrified timpani

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Matthias Kaul   Primary Artist,Percussion,Vocals,Frame Drum,Cimbalom,Timpani,Cymbalom,Hurdygurdy,Telephone Voice
Mattias Kaul   Tape,Voices,Timpani,Cymbalom,Frame Drum,Percussion

Technical Credits

Matthias Kaul   Composer,Telephone Samples
Wolfgang Korb   Producer
Peter Niklas Wilson   Liner Notes
Werner X. Uehlinger   Executive Producer
Peter Pfister   Mastering
Christoph Classen   Recording Supervision
Mattias Kaul   Unknown Contributor Role
Pia Uehlinger   Executive Producer