Earth Dances  
   Rain Dances

Mario Rechtern     -      reeds and electronica

Georg Edlinger     -       drums and electronica

This is a review that is juxtaposed with dialogue from the artist based on my correspondences with
the artist.  All quotes below are those of Mario Rechtern. (2 CD’s in 2002 on his label l.abop)

l.abop is multi-reedist, Mario Rechtern's foundation. It has mutated from a Laboratory of (H)Armonic Basics and Open Products in the 80-ies to a forum for improvised action during the 90-ies. It is inspired by the "open rehearsal black music orchestra" of the University of Wisconsin where he played in the 70-ies. It is an lsg-austria/vienna registered label carrying his name .  

      The cover that appears as attractive animal skin, earth/brown and rain/blue, presents the elements: earth and rain dances …with ,of course , fire and wind .This is all that we are and all that engulfs and surrounds our bodies. It is a wilderness of sound between the human and the electronic and frequently one cannot know the difference. There is a suggestion of incidental music, but with a high and low tension that makes casual listening impossible. bravo! Sounds and samples recede and resurface creating an orchestra out of two.  
 

“but i grew up with that statement, not just about my sound..

I  had a lot of sounds to penetrate, ask questions and do not let the

listener have any peace- if he wants that : he go in the mountains and

look for the real...i said long time ago ( i lost a friend on a glacier

in switzerland when i was 17), but as a general statement to saxophone

I had to hide my first sax from my parents (while officialy  playing

violin (and clarinette- that was allready nice of them to concede that

reed) and had to practice in the forest at night....).yet at 28 i was

playing concerts or was sitting in in jazzbands, that were very quickly

ended by a policeintervention - of course because of loudness , but all

musicians agreed: that is not the reason--- there is s.th. else ---again

look down into your review - you describe, what a lot of people in

europe do not support: their culture here  is bio and wellness while at

home their kids rip off the legs of the flies they get hold of and their

parents might do other things to each other while unseen....

yes if frank wright was steelworker in detroit he is the best address to

express what i mean and what i call real bricks in music. ever heard a

metall-circularsaw?”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Sometimes I imagine this music as a satire of hip hop tracks with its humourous squeeks and scratches which is charming in the dada sense. There are some turkish as well as chassidic flavored   melodies on some tracks. The endings are often suddenly cut at a busy moment which is startling if you're listening.

“ things that look like ironic onto hip hop etc or the mixing of dry and

wet or  putting up the low and high  against the middle class making

casual listening impossible was very intentional even the dada sense

(there is another concert CD on a Schwitters exposition called:

hermetologies about and within the eclectic electronic music scenery )

the turkish (persian) and chassidic colour is fact and my musical

basics(origin) and reference. the endings were cut off harshly after

long weekends and thoughts about fading out or not- i made georg come 60 km

to listen to this detail and help on decision. hahaha : one might have

to search through every locker untill one found the transmitter that

sounds like my life: the research of  lost times. yes thats it, what i

mean. and thats why this turkish and chassidic. we had a good review at

the times being but a lot of people did not like it and got mad on the

review.”

 At times I get lost in the texture, contemplating the tapping of plants and animal sounds in motion or rain coming down.  Reeds become sand and wind with flagellating plant stems. Machines click in the background amidst screams and seals in heat with wailing hyena vibrato and metal circular saws (the reverend Frank Wright was a steel worker) that turn into saxophones.  There is  an uplifting feeling as the pure saxophone/percussion duet emerge from the the bubbling samples, a kindred beauty with John Coltrane,Albert Ayler and Frank Wright. Occasionally it sounds like a tiny cassette player hidden in a metal locker in a row of lockers in an empty metal room. One might have to search through every locker until one found the transmitter like some GI pirate radio in Vietnam. My contemplation keeps bubbling to the surface and making me laugh.

Without these human voices the jungle would seem lonely. Music is mysteriously ideology. There is no peace, only the joy of hunger and fulfillment, continuity and exquisite form.

Contact Mario Rechtern 
l.abop@utanet.at