Musikhaus by Black Online
After the Brueder Selke had worked on their past in the GDR in a fascinating way with the albums "Concrete Fields", "Waende" and "Hiddensee", which I had already praised in the highest terms, they dealt with themselves on their last album. "Hausmusik" became an intimate chamber piece, which was unusually direct and brittle for the duo. Instrumentally limited to their two main instruments, cello and piano, the album interestingly kept the balance between house music in the traditional sense and classical minimal avant-garde.
The now following rework album "Musikhaus" on the other hand offers a view from the outside on the brothers Daniel and Sebastian Selke. 10 musician-colleagues* reinterpret on it just as many pieces of "Hausmusik". Overall, the tenor of the reworks has become clearly more electronically offset and dronig warm in the mood. In detail, Pascal Schumacher, Thor Harris, Midori Hirano, Marina Baranova, David Allred, Simon Goff, Arnold Kasar, Ben Lukas Boysen, Mara Simpson and Hoshiko Yamane have taken the pieces of "Hausmusik" and provided each with their own musical characteristics.
My absolute personal favorite among them is the "Belka" variation by David Allred, who brings muted dark jazz hypnotically into play. This is closely followed by Ben Lukas Boysen, whose "Fallen" rework begins with pounding piano strokes and ends melodically shimmering. Most unusual for CEEYS, on the other hand, is the interpretation by singer & songwriter Mara Simpson, who for the first time combines guitar and vocals with the "classical" cosmos of the Selke brothers. However, also the other adaptations not explicitly mentioned here all implemented successful changes of the original pieces.
Basically, the reworks on "Musikhaus" seem like a self-contained album, because the basic mood has remained consistently monochrome clouded and melancholic. "Musikhaus" is released in a vinyl edition limited to 200 copies and the 180g pressing in a sturdy cardboard cover thereby convinces in quality in all respects. (Marco Fiebag)
