Meanwhile, the Viennese duo Rotterdam have released additional music. But they had sent me this CD in 2016. By now you are familiar with this writer’s dusty archives hiding numberless peculiarities worth rescuing and reporting about, even if belatedly. Susanne Amann (cello, electronics) and Michael Klauser (guitar, tuba, electronics) will forgive me. Perhaps.
A virtual straitjacket holds tight a tranceful drive that would love to propagate in a thousand directions. Hints of techno-mechanical ritualism, upgraded by the resonant qualities of the acoustic machinery. Imagine Rapoon busy on an awkward assembly line, all the workers around him responding to that strange cadence in perfect sync. Or – should you prefer ternary-paced materials – edgy waltzes (good for aerobics) stripped bare of any harmonic content, with mutilated mannequins as dancers. Imagination gallops, as the Italians hungry for clichés say.
Contrary to what the press release stated, there is no actual de-emotionalization in this record, only respect for the exactness of a purely mathematical progression. However, such mathematics is not that exact. The pair’s pounding souls are easily detected; their detached humor – presented with the same attitude of an armed robber hypnotizing his victims before acting – is definitely evident if one listens “between the lines.”
I enjoyed having my brain thumped by Gizicki, albeit four years late. This freezing afternoon’s leaden sky had a rather unusual soundtrack; I’ll try it on sunnier days, too, it will work. Just wondering if Arnold Dreyblatt ever listened to Rotterdam. They might become friends. Maybe they already are, who knows.
MASSIMO RICCI. TOUCHING EXTREMES. 