Michael Thieke & Beat Keller
Last Breath’s City Looks Kind Heart
Ftarri | 2025 | CD
Beat Keller | feedbacker electric guitar
Michael Thieke | clarinet
01. Last 04’12
02. Breath’s 06’32
03. City 04’09
04. Looks 02’06
05. Kind 06’30
06. Heart 07’31
ftarri-931
Recorded on March 4 & 5, 2024 at Room Q-141 in Berlin, Germany.
Mixed and mastered by Beat Keller at Lagerstudios in Winterthur, Switzerland.
Artwork by Michel Pretterklieber
Design by Cathy Fishman
All music by Michael Thieke & Beat Keller
about:
Michael Thieke is a clarinetist and composer living in Berlin. Known for his delicate, deft playing style, he is involved in many projects on the improvised/experimental music scene. Thieke is also known for his work in the clarinet duo The International Nothing, which has released several CDs on the Ftarri label. Beat Keller is a guitarist, composer and sound engineer based in Winterthur (Switzerland) and Berlin. He plays the distinctive „feedbacker electric guitar“ and carries out highly unique performances.
This CD is made up of six tracks, each between 2 and 7 minutes long, recorded by the two musicians in March 2024. Thieke plays clarinet, while Keller uses feedbacker electric guitar. Restrained sounds dominate throughout, and nearly all the tracks are made up of subtly shifting, finely detailed sustained sounds (with extra sounds occasionally mixed in).
Michael Thieke はドイツ、ベルリン在住のクラリネット奏者、作曲家。繊細で巧緻な演奏を得意とし、即興音楽 / 実験音楽シーンで多くのプロジェクトに関わる。クラリネット・デュオ The International Nothing の活動でも知られ、Ftarri レーベルはこのデュオのCDを数枚リリースしている。Beat Keller はスイス、ヴィンタートゥールとドイツ、ベルリンを拠点に活動するギター奏者、作曲家、サウンド・エンジニア。彼独自のフィードバッカー・エレクトリック・ギターを使用し、非常にユニークな演奏をおこなう。
本CDにはそれぞれ2〜7分の6曲 (2024年3月録音) を収録。Michael Thieke はクラリネット、Beat Keller はフィードバッカー・エレクトリック・ギターを使用。抑制されたサウンドが全体を支配し、ほとんどのトラックが、ふたりの放つ微妙に揺れる精細な持続音（時に他の装飾音を交えつつ）で構成されている。
reviews:
The Extravagant Hush of Michael Thieke and Beat Keller
I have deep admiration for Berlin clarinetist Michael Thieke, a musician of uncommon sensitivity and focus who’s overlooked too often. That’s often what happens sometimes when subtlety is your calling card. While he’s got deep jazz roots, and can deliver his own take on the music of, say, Jimmy Giuffre in the excellent trio Der Lange Schatten (with pianist Håvard Wiik and double bassist Antonio Borghini), he’s known best for his deep connections to the city’s so-called echtzeitmusik scene, playing in groups like the International Nothing (with fellow clarinetist Kai Fagaschinski) or Splitter Orchestra. On Wednesday, September 3 he’ll celebrate the release of a recent duo album with the Berlin-based Swiss guitarist Beat Keller with a set at Sowieso. Naturally, Last Breath’s City Looks Kind Heart (ftarri) is an all improvised album of exquisite restraint and elegant refinement. Depending on the piece the musicians veer close to one another, holding liquid tones that produce psychoacoustic ripples or they set their instruments apart, subtly, natch. On “Kind,” which you can hear below, Keller produces some tender swells of quiet feedback as Thieke alternates between percussive key clacks, breath spill, and what might be some gentle tongue slapping, while on the opening track it’s Keller that’s disruptor, unleashing a noisier, more guitar-identified turbulence. They’re both keen, sharp listeners and I’m eager to hear the bond they share unfold right in front of me.
Peter Margasak, Nowhere Street
Michael Thieke and Beat Keller’s collaborative album for the Tokyo institution Ftarri sounds quiet and restrained, but there is a lot going on in this conversation between the former’s clarinet and the latter’s feedbacking guitar. »Last Breath’s City Looks Kind Heart« is that rare thing, improvised music made for deep listening.
Kristoffer Cornils, Field Notes
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