{"id":694,"date":"2010-12-27T21:08:42","date_gmt":"2010-12-27T21:08:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davidfenech.fr\/wp\/?p=694"},"modified":"2022-05-27T14:42:42","modified_gmt":"2022-05-27T12:42:42","slug":"popewaffen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidfenech.fr\/wp\/2010\/12\/27\/popewaffen\/","title":{"rendered":"Gino Robair + Wendelin B\u00fcchler + David Fenech + Ezramo &#8211; PopeWaffen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-697\" title=\"PopeWaffen\" src=\"https:\/\/davidfenech.fr\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/PopeWaffen.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100%\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davidfenech.fr\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/PopeWaffen.jpg 450w, https:\/\/davidfenech.fr\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/PopeWaffen-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">PopeWaffen<br \/>\nrelease date : 2010<br \/>\nlabel : corvo records<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Popewaffen &#8211; Vinyle LP (Corvo\/core 001) 2010<br \/>\n( <a href=\"http:\/\/www.corvorecords.de\/\">CORVO RECORDS<\/a> ) Price: \u20ac18.00<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8220;The work is settled between weird pop, avanttrash, improvised music, mediterranian folklore and noise drones. As the artists are coming from different social and musical backgrounds, the recording is not just a mix of sounds and names but a creation of unique and exciting experiences.&#8221; High quality live recording, made at Ausland, Berlin, March 27, 2010.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Tracklisting :<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A1. easter sunday raid<br \/>\nA2. <a href=\"https:\/\/davidfenech.fr\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/deserto-nella-bula-notte-blu.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">deserto nella bula notte blu<\/a><br \/>\nA3. sibilo canino<br \/>\nA4. stellvertreter zum stellwerkdreher<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">B1. the creator has a masterplan<br \/>\nB2. hitodama<br \/>\nB3. crepare di maggio<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">EZRAMO &#8211; vocals, prepared zither, sampler, melodica<br \/>\nGINO ROBAIR &#8211; blippobox, percussion<br \/>\nDAVID FENECH &#8211; guitar, walkman<br \/>\nWENDELIN B\u00dcCHLER &#8211; prepared guitar, theremin<br \/>\nfeat. ARGO ULVA &#8211; trumpet, electronics<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 400px; height: 373px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=4085377034\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=small\/transparent=true\/\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http:\/\/corvorecords.bandcamp.com\/album\/popewaffen\">PopeWAFFEN by Gino Robair, David Fenech, Ezramo, Wendelin B\u00fcchler, feat. Argo Ulva<\/a><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">LP \/\/ 7 tracks \/\/ 28:45 mins. \/\/ strong handmade cardboard cover with custom silkscreen coverprint \/\/ numbered edition of 500 copies.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>* Gino Robair<\/strong> is a percussionist, music journalist, and published composer living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Gino frequently tours North America and Europe as a soloist and often improvises in ad-hoc groups. He has performed and\/or recorded with Anthony Braxton, Tom Waits, Fred Frith, John Butcher, Otomo Yoshihide, Eugene Chadbourne, John Zorn, Nina Hagen, Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, ROVA Saxophone Quartet,\u00a0 The Club Foot Orchestra, and many more &#8230;. Gino has studied percussion with Ron George, AMM percussionist Eddie Prevost, William Kraft, and William Winant; studied composition with Barney Childs, Lou Harrison, David Rosenboom and Larry Polansky; and has earned two masters degrees&#8211;Electronic Music and composition&#8211;from Mills College, Oakland CA. He also runs the Rastascan Label.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">* <strong>Ezramo <\/strong>(aka Alessandra Eramo) is an italian sound artist, composer and performer, currently living and working in Berlin. Her research is focused upon the hidden archaic memory in music and upon the writing in its multiple forms. Her main instrument is the voice, combined with acoustic instruments like prepared zither, piano, percussion, theremin and field recordings. She played and recorded with LaDonna Smith, Fred Frith, Xabier Iriondo, Jon Raskin, Alexandre Kittel and many more&#8230;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>* Wendelin B\u00fcchler<\/strong> is a german guitarist that plays prepared electric guitar. he runs the Corvo records label. Currator and teacher, he has played and recorded with musicians such as Fred Frith, Xabier Iriondo. He currated the Max Experimentl music series and now lives in Berlin.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Reviews : <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Excellent record of improvised music recorded at a Berlin venue and played by an international five-piece of musicians. The American percussionist Gino Robair might be known to some of you, but for me Ezramo is quite a revelation; this Italian player delivers some tremendous effects with her distinctive vocalisations, her zither playing, and sampler-playing; I&#8217;m looking forward to hearing her solo LP on this label. Two guitarists, David Fenech and Wendelin B\u00fcchler complete the band, plus there&#8217;s the guest trumpeter Argo Ulva; everyone contributes electronic elements to the crackling environment as well. I think what I like most here is the strong sense of cooperation, leading to a very productive musical workplace; no showing off, much genuine dynamic interaction. To this I would add the overall group imagination, the highly pleasing mixtures of sounds and playing styles, and the way that incredibly free and open music can be produced in a orderly and civilised manner, without the need for frenetic frottage and hand-gesturing every five minutes in order to achieve a climax. The title of this release is quite ingenious, making use of the German language&#8217;s propensity for compression of ideas into a single word; it roughly translates as &#8220;PopeWARFARE&#8221;, implicating the Vatican and the Catholic church in modern conflicts, and perhaps arms trading to boot. The theme is picked up by the child-like drawings on the cover (I particularly like the crude drawings of various handguns) which indicates that it might be more of a piece of sloganeering than a thought-through political statement, but it&#8217;s nice to see some social criticism back in the world of free improv again. We haven&#8217;t had much of that sort of radical thinking since John Stevens in the 1970s (though Charles Hayward made good efforts). Recommended record; great music, compressed, exquisite, taut, and beautifully recorded and presented too. Nearly perfect.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Ed Pinsent, The Sound Projector #20 &#8211; All Vinyl Issue 9\/2011<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Superbe rencontre enregistr\u00e9e live \u00e0 Berlin le 27 mars 2010. Une bien belle prise de son par Dave Bennett de ce quintet original avec EZRAMO (voix, guitare, m\u00e9lodica, sampler, sitar pr\u00e9par\u00e9), artiste sonore italien actant notamment dans les musiques pour films et th\u00e9\u00e2tre, Gino ROBAIR (percussions), percussionniste californien que l\u2019on a pu entendre avec Tom Waits, Peter Kowald, Terry Riley ou encore Anthony Braxton (rien que \u00e7a !), David FENECH (guitare, baladeur), entendu ces derniers temps en trio avec Gh\u00e9dalia Tazart\u00e8s et Jac Berrocal, Wendelin B\u00dcCHLER (guitare pr\u00e9par\u00e9e, theremin), guitariste allemand ayant jou\u00e9 avec Fred Frith, et une invit\u00e9e, Argo ULVA (trompette et \u00e9lectroniques). Sept morceaux \u00e0 la subtilit\u00e9 rare entre le bricolage primitif, la recherche d\u2019une certaine m\u00e9lodie dans l\u2019improvisation collective, un regard astucieux vers les musiques \u00e9lectroacoustiques de chez ses pr\u00e9curseurs, une habilet\u00e9 dans la qu\u00eate de milieux arides un tantinet blues&#8230; Telle est la marque de fabrique de ce quintet improbable pour un disque pr\u00eat \u00e0 marquer les esprits de par ce savoureux m\u00e9lange, rarement entendu d\u2019aussi belle mani\u00e8re ces derni\u00e8res ann\u00e9es. Il en ressort une fraicheur incroyable, qui nous replonge parfois dans les productions lo-fi de chez Rectangle. Sur terre jusqu\u2019\u00e0 \u00e9puisement de ses 500 exemplaires.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Cyrille Lano\u00eb, Revue et corrigee 3\/2011<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sarebbe buon costume, quando si trattano dei musicisti per la prima volta, riuscire a dare delle coordinate ben precise. Ma se il re \u00e8 nudo anche il sottoscritto in questa circostanza lo \u00e8. In parole povere non ne so una fottuta minchia. Non so neppure se \u201cPopeWAFFEN\u201d (da qualche parte riportato come PopeWAFFEN!) \u00e8 solo il titolo del disco o anche il nome del quartetto (qui addizionato dal trombettista Argo Ulva) che lo ha registrato. Le poche cose che so provengono quasi interamente dalle brevi note leggibili sul sito della Corvo Records alle quali rimando il nostro lettore. Quasi interamente, ch\u00e9 Gino Robair da quando ha collaborato con Tom Waits lo conoscono anche i lettori delle riviste per l\u2019infanzia. Il francese David Fenech, poi, \u00e8 noto per aver riportato \u2018in vita\u2019 il grande Gh\u00e9dalia Tazart\u00e8s e, sicuramente lo ricordate, abbiamo anche pubblicato su sands-zine la traduzione di una sua intervista a quest\u2019ultimo. Ma riguardo agli animatori del progetto (Alessandra Ezramo e Wendelin B\u00fcchler) \u00e8 quasi buio completo. I due fanno di frequente coppia (sicuramente a livello artistico e forse anche nella vita) e su internet ho trovato anche traccia di una loro collaborazione con Xabier Iriondo. Sicuramente i due sono amanti del vinile, dal momento che al momento hanno deciso di pubblicare i loro materiali in questi due LP ben confezionati ed in tiratura molto limitata (rispettivamente a 500 e 300 copie). Sulla musica: improvvisazione radicale non idiomatica, un settore nel quale stanno forse uscendo un po\u2019 troppe cose, interpretata ai massimi livelli. Quello che pi\u00f9 mi piace in questo tipo di lavori \u00e8 l\u2019intercambiabilit\u00e0 dei ruoli e l\u2019incertezza nella quale viene precipitato l\u2019ascoltatore, dal momento che non si \u00e8 mai sicuri su chi ha prodotto quello o quell\u2019altro suono. Potresti prendere uno dei migliori dischi d\u2019improvvisazione radicale non idiomatica e ascoltarlo per una vita intera, e alla fine moriresti con il dubbio su chi e come ha fatto quel dato effetto acustico. Certo gi\u00e0 con la new thing si poneva il quesito dell\u2019intercambiabilit\u00e0 dei ruoli, o meglio dell\u2019annullamento di vecchie categorie come sezione ritmica, sezione fiati, strumenti solisti eccetera. Ma comunque un tamburo restava tale e restava tale anche un sax. E un gruppo restava in ogni caso composto da enne entit\u00e0 ben distinguibili. Qui le varie personalit\u00e0 sono davvero fuse a formare un\u2019entit\u00e0 unica e, anche senza considerare le possibili manipolazioni elettroniche o d\u2019altro tipo, un tamburo pu\u00f2 essere suonato con l\u2019archetto e una tromba pu\u00f2 essere percossa come un tamburo. Siamo veramente agli antipodi di una sinfonia di Beethoven, dove ogni nota ed ogni strumento stavano al proprio posto. Siamo nel regno dell\u2019informale.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Ettero Genio, Sands Zine 8\/ 2011<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8220;The very first release in this German label\u2019s catalog is a vinyl comprising a communal effort recorded at Berlin\u2019s Ausland in 2010 for a total duration of less than half an hour (good move, if you ask me: improvisational statements exceeding this time span, if not supported by proven artistry, sound rather boring to this reviewer\u2019s ears). Some of the group\u2019s members have worked \u2013 in various guises and projects \u2013 with Fred Frith, whose zing-and-jangle ghost looms on the near-entirety of the music. The palette is indeed rich in strings (prepared guitar and zither) but a measure of balance is assured by the presence of flexible sampling, assorted types of electronic device, a theremin and the occasional eruption of Ezramo\u2019s voice, which in \u201cThe Creator Has A Masterplan\u201d chatters, roars and laughs wickedly in a cheap embodiment of a possessed version of Shelley Hirsch (forgive me Shelley, for I have sinned). Still, there\u2019s a quantity of lively energy in several of the combinations generated by the participants; inconveniences, malformed chords and twisted tunings become the means for different sorts of charged reverberation, the decentralization of instrumental personality at the basis of a couple of unlawful tracks where getting involved by the complexity of the collective timbral tissue comes easy. All things considered, this LP deserves a number of attentive listens, offering different angles of enjoyment and \u2013 why not \u2013 fun.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>massimo richi &#8211; touching extremes<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8220;Mi\u0119dzynarodowy kolektyw odpowiedzialny za PopeWAFFEN to wypadkowa kabaretu, grupy free improv i chyba jeszcze kilku innych trudnych do zidentyfikowania element\u00f3w, sami wspominaj\u0105 mi\u0119dzy innymi o avanttrash, weird pop, noise drone. Wszystko si\u0119 zgadza. Utwory bogato utkane z warstw akustycznych i elektronicznych, \u0142atwych do wy\u0142apania brzmie\u0144 instrument\u00f3w i niemal nierozpoznawalnych szmer\u00f3w i ha\u0142as\u00f3w, g\u0142osu Ezram &#8211; nieraz zupe\u0142nie piosenkowego, innym razem ograniczaj\u0105cego si\u0119 do wydawania niekontrolowanych odg\u0142os\u00f3w. Intryguj\u0105ce i trzymaj\u0105ce w napi\u0119ciu z ka\u017cdym kolejnym utworem, troch\u0119 jak stary strych, na kt\u00f3rym, przeczesuj\u0105c kolejne sterty szparga\u0142\u00f3w, co i rusz odkrywamy nowe przedmioty raz zupe\u0142nie zapomniane, innym razem budz\u0105ce \u017cywe skojarzenia lub tylko ich odleg\u0142e echa. Nawet gdy spojrzymy w pozornie pusty k\u0105t i zaczniemy si\u0119 baczniej przygl\u0105da\u0107 okazuje si\u0119, \u017ce pod\u0142oga w nim us\u0142ana jest drobnymi przedmiotami, a ka\u017cdy ma jakie\u015b znaczenie.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>mirt. m | i magazine 5\/11<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Avant trash free association noodling between these multi-national weirdos. Ezramo (Alessandra Eramo) is a Italian sound artist, Robair the prolific Bay Area freakophile, Fenech a French composer\/guitarist, Buchler a German guitarist who runs Corvo Records, and Argo Ulva (Liz Allbee) another Bay Area transplant played in groups like Le Flange Du Mal and Neung Phak. Live recording at the ausland venue in Berlin captures the raw playful energy of this collaboration of oddlings and bizarrities. Tingling zither demons dancing aboard a zeppelin raid, spaghetti standoff at a nautical traffic stop between sewer slob and nervous neddy, bloated sumorai showdown on a squishy winter night, goomprov drone and sharpie shredding amidst goofsayer chants. On side B we have a shaman jazz freekout, goblin baby lullaby and mutant chicken plays funerary violin singing along with village preschool meditations. A truly perplexing experience, delicious.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>abacus, KFCJ review (<a href=\"http:\/\/spidey.kfjc.org\/?p=16367\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">link<\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Es liegt etwas grund-sympathsiches in der Labelgr\u00fcndung von Corvo, das mich an die Euphorie um die eigene Installation des Anthropom,etrics-Imprints erinnert. Ein junger Bursche (Wendelin B\u00fcchler, auch Musiker), geht mit Improv-Vinyl an den Start, in einem Genre, dessen Publikum mit Tontr\u00e4gern eh hadert und mit Vinyl schon mal erst recht. Bitte also unbedingt durchhalten! Und noch etwas ist toll: die zweite Seite des Livemitschnitts aus dem Ausland in Berlin-Friedrichshain ist so Improv-untypisch dronig, dabei satt, elektronisch und vielschichtig, das h\u00e4tte auch aus einer postindustriellen Werkstatt kommen k\u00f6nnen. Aber hey, 2011 interessieren Kategorien wenig und so sollte das Erfrischende an PopeWaffen eigentlich selbstverst\u00e4ndlich sein. Im ersten Teil des Albums sind die Instrumente vereinzelt aktiv, man h\u00f6rt wie sich die Player zueinander stellen und das H\u00f6ren im Spielen trainiert wird und gleichzeitig zur Handlungsanweisung mutiert. So schmuck und schn\u00f6rkellos kann Improv sein. So zart. So rau. So neu.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zipo &#8211; Aufabwegen<\/strong> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aufabwegen.de\/magazin\/?p=3330\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">link<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PopeWaffen is an improvisation collective including Gino Robair (percussion), Wendelin B\u00fcchler (guitar), David Fenech (guitar), Ezramo (voice) and the mysterious Argo Ulva (trumpet). Free improv recorded live in Berlin, Germany. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":698,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[216],"tags":[366,504,499,497,500,503,496,498,501,493,492,502],"class_list":["post-694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-as-part-of-a-group","tag-366","tag-argo-ulva","tag-ausland","tag-berlin","tag-corvo-records","tag-ezramo","tag-free-improvisation","tag-germany","tag-gino-robair","tag-lp","tag-vinyle","tag-wendelin-buchler"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidfenech.fr\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidfenech.fr\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidfenech.fr\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidfenech.fr\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidfenech.fr\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/davidfenech.fr\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidfenech.fr\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidfenech.fr\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidfenech.fr\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidfenech.fr\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}