Release Stimmen In Prague

The polyinstrumental composer and curator duo Brueder Selke (CEEYS), with Sebastian Selke on cello and Daniel Selke on keyboard instruments, born in East Berlin before the fall of the Berlin Wall and now at home in the inspirational UNESCO City of Film Potsdam, presents here their album and concert film STIMMEN IN PRAGUE.

The release is based on an almost unabridged live recording of their remarkable debut performance at Palác Akropolis at the legendary music festival “Spectaculare” in the Czech capital at the beginning of 2022. Just as in East Berlin, State-prescribed socialism had fundamentally shaped the everyday lives of Prague citizens until 1989 such that this coming together between the German artists and their Czech audience was able to produce historical, biographical and with it also humorous parallels, and made the concert feel almost like a home crowd.

While elsewhere improvisation as an expression of disorganisation is sometimes ridiculed, in the Czech Republic, just like in East Germany, it is considered a great art. The ability to react to life’s demands with humour and creativity makes the Czech masters of improvisation – and that’s how they proudly see themselves. And it is against exactly this background that the Brueder Selke concert was for all participants on and in front of the stage one of the rare artistic rays of hope in the middle of the corona pandemic.

Musically the concert offered the first opportunity for an expansive setup – directly preceding the more intimate performance at Dresden’s “Jazzclub Tonne” which was likewise recorded on film and has already been released as the corresponding first part of the duology: BELKA & STRELKA. And so the releases move temporally backwards, contrary to the actual event dates, and serve as a (literal) trip into the past.

In the concert, Sebastian’s Klingenthal cello was played alongside Daniel’s grand piano and together with electronic modules from VERMONA as well as a wide palette of experimental sound generators from SOMA Laboratory. And so it was that in this setup dominated by synthesisers, the only acoustic instruments were the cello and piano, though the cello was of course modified by Sebastian’s well-known signature chain of effects using ping-pong and a sequenced filter.

The concert included some familiar pieces that have been further developed and some new works that meticulously sound out the potential of the acoustic as well as the additional electronic components. All are based on fragmentary compositions that become complex but at the same time recognisable unities through the mutual action and reaction in the interplay between the brothers – through “listening to each other’s Stimmen (German: voices)”.

The recordings were made directly from the stage with high-end field recording equipment and several cameras. In their Klingenthal Studio, the brothers then selected the pieces for the album and used their keen sense of the accordant lighting, the spirited stage design, as well as the increasingly euphoric reactions of the audience to reflect the emotional atmosphere of the event in their Gesamtkunstwerk.

The creative, interlocking aspects of the approach of Brueder Selke follow a central idea to which both stay deeply committed: the search for a harmony between musical profession and human existence – transported by a constant balancing of the specific elements of their work. In the process, their reductive and in part minimalistic approach is applied to a contemporary aesthetic based on their personal experiences and immanent handling of the restrictions of daily life in former, socialist East Germany.

As CEEYS (CS), Sebastian and Daniel Selke have released six albums – three duologies – that tell of episodes from their childhood in the former GDR. Together with the acoustic HAUSMUSIK as well as the corresponding rework album MUSIKHAUS, they provide a context, organisation, and at the same time also perspective for their work today.

The invitation to the festival in the Czech Republic (CZ) was for the brothers more than just a performance in the eastern hemisphere, but also brought to light the aforementioned curious parallels to their own past growing up in the real existing socialism of the GDR – from the familiar architecture of the brutalist Plattenbaus and the socialist monuments that remain very present there to the cheerful/pensive reactions of the Czech concert audience who were able to bring to the night their own historical experiences.

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, encounter and exchange with like-minded people and musicians has become the fundamental drive of the Selke brothers. And so this album and concert film yearns, but with a certain lightness, to once again confront the subject of societal upheaval, especially in this time of contradictions, separations and confrontations, and at last to overcome it.

After the release of their bridging duology – THE GRUNEWALD CHURCH SESSION as CEEYS at the beginning of 2022 and MARIENBORN as Brueder Selke at the end of 2022, the end of 2023 saw the completion of their first duology as Brueder Selke with the album GO EAST, which in its line-up and production process can be seen as a turning point in the work of the collaborative duo. Now the two longstanding musical partners present a second album with concert film, and thus with the predecessor BELKA & STRELKA complete the second duology under their real names.

“These two complementary albums and the corresponding concert films underline our profound yet playful search for our own origin and identity in relation to each other in a concert setting – and at the same time in partnership with our audience.”
– Sebastian & Daniel, Brueder Selke

STIMMEN IN PRAGUE is now the second project to be recorded on a live stage, this time of an expansive performance at a music festival in Eastern Europe, preceding the more intimate session at Jazzclub Tonne in Dresden. Together with its predecessor, the album titles form the hybrid phrase: Belka & Strelka stimmen in Prague, whereby the German word “stimmen” evokes various interpretations such as voices, tuning or agreement.

The record was mixed by the exceptionally gifted Edward Sikorski at his Studio B in Dresden and mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri at his boutique Black Knoll Studio in New York.



About the Artist:
The polyinstrumental composer and curator duo Brueder Selke, with Sebastian Selke on cello and Daniel Selke on piano, combines a long-standing passion for music and an impressive résumé under the pseudonym CEEYS.

Organically and in short time, they have won over a dedicated fan base, and “luminaries” such as Mary Anne Hobbs speak of “an extraordinary piece of music”, just as The Guardian attests to the double LP HAUSMUSIK as having a “horror-movie intensity”.

Richard Allen recently wrote about BELKA & STRELKA on his chosen music blog A Closer Listen: "...everything here is appealing, from the concept, to the cover, to the visual and aural execution..." and named the album cover as one of the best of 2023.

After four albums that as two duologies capture their past in the former, socialist GDR, a third two-parter HAUSMUSIK & MUSIKHAUS followed, bringing them into the present, during which time both artists – also affected since 2020 by the impact of the pandemic – had already begun to compose under their real names Brueder Selke.

Following closely the intimate predecessor project BELKA & STRELKA, STIMMEN IN PRAGUE marks the expansion of this musical approach with a major festival performance including stage design. This awareness is rendered through a truly astute selection of acoustic and electronic instruments on which their works, originally created through improvisation, are now performed with their personal and unmistakable style.

Alongside their releases, Brueder Selke hosts each year in Potsdam the highly respected Q3AMBIENTFEST, a bespoke happening for contemporary music, and is already planning the ninth edition in 2025.

“This second album under our real name Brueder Selke and the corresponding concert film underline our deep, innate joy in experimentation. This time we are not only searching for hidden sounds from Daniel’s piano and Sebastian’s curiosity for unconventional ways to play the cello. Here we are searching for – without taking ourselves too seriously of course – our identity in relation to each other in a concert setting – and at the same time in partnership with our audience.” – Sebastian & Daniel, Brueder Selke 

CONCERT FILM PROJECT
PRODUCED BY BRUEDER SELKE

ALL MUSIC WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY BRUEDER SELKE RECORDED BY SEBASTIAN SELKE AT
SPECTACULARE / PALÁC AKROPOLIS IN PRAGUE, MARCH 2022 MIXED BY EDWARD SIKORSKI AT STUDIO B RE-RECORDED TO TAPE BY ANTONIO PULLI AT LEITER STUDIO MASTERED BY RAFAEL ANTON IRISARRI AT BLACK KNOLL STUDIO

COVER ILLUSTRATED BY VIKA VALTER PHOTOGRAPH BY ROMAN KOBLOV DESIGN & LAYOUT BY DANIEL SELKE AND MATTHIAS REHLING & CLAUS DRESSLER

THANKS TO CHRISTIAN WAAGA
JOSEF SEDLON & EVERYONE AT SPECTACULARE / PALÁC AKROPOLIS
MATTHIAS REHLING & CLAUS DRESSLER AT OSCARSON
EDWARD SIKORSKI, ANTONIO PULLI, RAFAEL ANTON IRISARRI
ROMAN KOBLOV, VIKA VALTER
WILLIAM CHANG, TORSTEN POSSELT
LEVIN HAEGELE, SALVADOR VANEGAS
JOHANNES-JEREMIAS BLACKSTEIN
VLAD KREIMER & EVERYONE AT SOMA LABORATORY
SUSANNE STEPHAN
RAJK BARTHEL & EVERYONE AT KICK THE FLAME
EVERYONE AT TOBIRA RECORDS, EVERYONE AT NORMAN RECORDS
EVERYONE AT BIS AUFS MESSER, EVERYONE AT THE BUSINESS
EVERYONE AT MOTORPOOL, EVERYONE AT INPARTMAINT
JAMES VELLA & EVERYONE AT FIVE WORLDS
OUR LIKE-MINDED FRIENDS AND BELOVED FAMILY

DEDICATED TO OUR DEAR PARENTS HARALD & GABRIELE

FOR ALMA LUCIA *22.02.2019

℗ & © 2024 OSCARSON GERMANY
PUBLISHED BY KICK THE FLAME PUBLISHING

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, MADE IN THE EU
LC30329 OSCNO55