Hans Koch
Erfolg
SWITZERLAND DESZPOT #005 CD (2014)
In German, to say you have done something mit erfolg means that you have done it successfully. I’m enjoying hearing the Deszpot label’s output. Here is the fifth instalment just arrived on the doormat. All five titles have involved bass clarinets so far, which is probably due to its proprietor, Christian Müller, being a bass and contrabass clarinettist himself. Clearly, Deszpot has an intention to promote the instrument; previous releases have featured Marc Lardon, Christian Müller, and DEER (Silber Ingold, Christian Müller, Hans Koch); bass clarinettists all. Here, Koch also utilises his soprano and tenor saxophones.
The music presented is dry, close mic’ed recordings of an intimate nature. The first three pieces are short, deliberate explorations of the instrument’s physical characteristics. ‘Inside’ makes it purr like a Chris Watson close-mic recording of a big cat. Track four, ‘Multi’, presents a longer, more immersive approach. This is an exploration of long tones and possibly feedback. ‘Slap’ works with the possibilities offered by the manipulation of the keys. The seventh piece, ‘Whizzing’, is another longer piece. Koch produces a high pitched whistling which I, at least, have not encountered in anyone else’s playing before. You can just make out the sound of breath through the body of the instrument as a background colour around 3 minutes. Whether this is simultaneously produced or the result of overdubbing I’m not sure. Some kind of overtone effect is produced later in this piece which is also a surprise to these ears. Pleasant, too.
There are four tracks entitled ‘Feedback’, which are all very deft attempts to master the feedback produced by amplifying the clarinet. How, exactly, and with what equipment the instrument is amplified I am at a loss to explain. These are all fairly brief and serve to break up the density of the material on the rest of the album, but I for one could easily stand to listen to a whole album’s-worth of this kind of thing, should Hans Koch be considering such a project.
‘Overtone’ is a stand-out track; a constant field of unstoppable blurt. I’m guessing produced by means of circular breathing, is it? Evan Parker is not the only exponent of this technique, then. Good. I do enjoy Evan Parker’s music, but it does remind me of a concert at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall by Jaki Liebezeit, Burnt Friedmann and Jah Wobble over ten years ago, where halfway through their set, the stage was invaded unannounced by Evan Parker and friend whose name escapes me. Both of them sharing an inability to actually stop playing at any point marred the proceedings for me, somewhat. It is not that I have a problem with Evan Parker’s playing; far from it, it’s just that his contributions seemed too out-of-place.
Koch leaves his most exploratory playing until the end; the sounds on Sinking squeal like airbubbles escaping from under wet jars on a kitchen counter top and on the final piece, ‘Bow’, Koch takes a selection of objects to his horns and rubs and scrapes and so forth.
Erfolg comes in Deszpot’s now familiar die-cut card sleeve, with a screen-printed design. The inner sleeve (visible through the die-cut) is a golden yellow with black text digitally printed. For those who are interested, the Deszpot website has a great section devoted to showing how their distinctive sleeves are produced using traditional hand-printing techniques.
Previous reviews for this series:
Bock
One
Mörder In der Pulvermühle