Aksak . Jaki Liebezeit & Holger Mertin
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staubgold 139
2015. cd . dl . lp
Akşak is the exciting encounter of two exceptional musicians from different generations: legendary drummer Jaki Liebezeit (Can, Depeche Mode, Chet Baker) and percussion wizard Holger Mertin (Drums And More). Like a zen master of the minimal, repetitive beat, Liebezeit - famous for his hypnotic precision - creates with only few sound colours the perfect matrix for Mertin’s unleashed playing on any imaginable percussion instrument. The result is a mighty, complex pulse - the groove of a better world.
On the basis of that musical matrix, sound magician Joseph Suchy has produced a jaw-dropping album which defies any categorization. Even if other instruments like violin, guitar, brass or electronics sometimes seem to take the lead, the compelling pulse is always in the center of this swinging music. Liebezeit, Mertin and Suchy have created a timeless masterpiece which despite its complexity always stays melodic and danceable. That’s how modernity sounds (and swings) !
Jaki Liebezeit plays: World Drum Kit, Hand Cymbals, Dholak, Tambourine, Bongos and Onestring Percussion Instrument.
Holger Mertin plays: Hang, Hand Cymbals, Gongs, Modulationsscheiben, Cymbals, Tubesticks, Framedrum, Snaredrums, Melodic and Metal Percussion, Helix Bowl, Tambourine, Spoons, Singing Bowls, Kalimba, Marimbula, Waterphone, K.G. Sound Sculpture and Overtone Drum.
Jaki Liebezeit
Jaki Liebezeit (born 26 May 1938 in Dresden, Germany) is a drummer best known as a founding member of Can, who has been called "one of the few drummers to convincingly meld the funky and the cerebral“. In the mid-1960s, he was part of Manfred Schoof's quintet, who were early exponents of European free jazz. He subsequently moved towards the new possibilities being opened by psychedelic music as a member of Can. His drumming was prominent in the band's sound, particularly in his much-admired contribution to the side-long "Halleluhwah" on Tago Mago. Liebezeit is best known for his exceptional "metronome" style of playing; other members of Can have suggested that he sounds as though he is "half-man, half machine“. Liebezeit provided drums, in his patented "Motorik beat", for Michael Rother's late-1970s solo albums.
In 1980, he became a member of Phantomband and has formed drum ensembles such as Drums off Chaos and Club off Chaos. Later he recorded with numerous musicians, such as Jah Wobble and Philip Jeck, with whom he produced an album for Jah Wobble's 30 Hertz Records, and has contributed drums and percussion to many albums as a guest throughout the years, such as the Depeche Mode album Ultra and Brian Eno's album Before and After Science. Recently, he has worked with Burnt Friedman on the Secret Rhythms albums and with Schiller on the Atemlos album.
http://www.spoonrecords.com/history/jaki_liebezeit.php
Holger Mertin
Holger Mertin (born in 1977) is a multipercussionist and specialist in rhythmic traditions. He is involved in diverse transdisciplinary projects. Mertin’s play is characterized by his spontaneous, both melodious and rhythmic style that is equally reflected by his individual instrumentarium. Mertin already collaborated with internationally renowned musicians and artists, among others Jaki Liebezeit (Can), Milan Sladek (mime), Eberhard Kranemann (ex-Kraftwerk), Martin Sasse (Sting, Martin Sasse Trio), Hayden Chisholm, Paul Shigihara (WDR Big Band), Roland Peil (Die Fantastischen Vier) and jazz star Ali Haurand (European Jazz Ensemble).
Among his current projects figure the popular concert series Drums And More, the Liebezeit Mertin duo and the dance/music happening Mitumba by the Cologne-based dance company Mouvoir. Mertin recently performed as improvising soloist with the Nuremberg Philharmonic State Orchestra. Moreover he composed the musical score of the WDR 5 radio production 14 Tagebücher des Ersten Weltkriegs (14 Diaries of the First World War, 2014).