CD Endangered Guitar Processing

CD ENDANGERED GUITAR PROCESSING

Solo Mini-CD (3″), recorded live in France June 2001, released on German label Nur/Nicht/Nur. Endangered Guitar plus realtime sound processing with Max/MSP. Total Time: 21 Minutes.

Preview and buy at iTunes or at the Bandcamp player below. I usually throw this Mini-CD in if you buy a “full” CD, however, email me here if you just want to purchase this product.

François Couture, AllMusicGuide 2002

One step further for Hans Tammen, clearly one of the best experimental guitarists to come forward during the 1990s. It’s not that he brings with him a revolutionary technique or tool. Other musicians have worked with pins, styrofoam, steel wool, Ebows and computers, but Tammen manages to transcend the means so that only the results matter. Endangered Guitar Processing is a 3” CD that completes or updates his previous release on the German label NURNICHTNUR Endangered Guitar, 1998. What is new here is the computer. Tammen processes his guitar sound in real time with the use of Cycling 74’s Max/MSP software. This shift to the machine could worry the fans who see the laptop computer as a drastic and yet cliché-ridden change in free improvisation, but the fact is that the guitarist’s music has not changed much. The computer expands his sound palette even further, but it works seamlessly, never relegating his technique and improv sense to the background. Acutally, these two pieces, recorded live during a short tour of France in June 2001, are simply stunning and rich in details.

Klaus Hübner, Westzeit 2002

In einer direkt aufgenommenen Performance im Juni 2001 in Frankreich führt Hans Tammen so etwas wie ein Zwiegespräch mit Gitarre und Soundmaschine. Knapp einundzwanzig Minuten für zwei Titel, die auf einer Mini-CD des auf ungewöhnliche Soundproduktionen spezialisierten Labels Nur/Nicht/Nur realisiert sind. Es ist ein Kleinod improvisierter akustischer Kunst, für die das Wort Musik einfach zu eng ist. Tammen beherrscht den Prozess der freihändigen Klangerzeugung mit Souveränität. Denn er lässt an einem akustischen Geschehen teilhaben, das durch seine Einmaligkeit begeistert und jederzeit (über die CD) wiederholbar ist. Improvisation wird zum wiederkehrenden Erlebnis.