burnt friedman + jaki liebezeit – secret rhythms vol. 2 (nonplace) feb 2006
the ex-CAN drummer jaki liebezeit and sonic scientist burnt friedman team up with a stellar cast of musicians featuring morton gronvad (vibes), tim motzer (guitars), hayden chisholm (reeds) and vocalist david sylvian. don’t miss this record.

“Amazon Review:”Cologne-based artists Burnt Friedman (one half of Flanger) and Jaki Liebezeit (former Can percussionist) have a mutual fascination with non-Western rhythm structures. This second instalment of their Secret Rhythms project sees the duo continue their curious explorations of rhythmic time signatures beyond the traditional or at least ubiquitous (in Western culture) 4/4 format, addressing all kinds of styles and syncopations and flirting with world music and jazz along the way. The songs featured here are playful and naturally off-kilter, steering away from the wilful intellectualism of past Friedman/Liebzeit-related projects. Guitarist Tim Motzer, vibraharpist Morten Gronvad, bass-player Daniel Schroeter, singer David Sylvian and guitarist Joseph Suchy are drafted in to add texture, melody and harmony to the hypnotic structures, helping create an album that both mystical and mellow an ideal if idiosyncratic chill out option.”

The follow up to ‘Secret Rhythms’, ‘Secret Rhythms 2’ eschews any fancy appellation adjustment in favour of reacquainting the protagonists Burnt Friedman (Scape) and Jaki Liebezeit for more percussion pressed goodness. Having earned his stripes as Can’s drummer, Liebezeit is no stranger to the skins; coaxing a cavalcade of percussive elements into a cohesive whole that doesn’t rely on its existence to keep things propelled forwards. Opening with ‘Sikkerhed’, Friedman and Liebezeit allow a fog of waterlogged atmospherics to slowly breach the almost tribal rhythms, acoustic guitar and lazy horns; leading to a sound highly reminiscent of Friedman’s Nu Dub Players (even if it does share a melody with Girls Aloud’s last single…), albeit stripped clear of the overt shrugging that characterised their output. Next up is ‘The Sticks’ (re-recorded here after it’s appearance in 2005) wherein cut+sliced acoustica is given a wash of sun-set soundscapes and gradually toughening percussion, before David Sylvain contributes a tobacco stained vocal on ‘The Librarian’. Fermented further by the discrete funk-guitar of Tim Motzer, tracks like ‘Niedrige Decken’ and ‘Caracolas’ rattle along with a sense of jovial intent that never descends into frippery, whilst the micro-sound creases found on ‘Broken Wind Repair Kit’ and ‘Mikrokasper’ suggest Jan Jelinek with the window open. Your new best kept secret… 
(boomkat)

URSULA RUCKER – MA’AT MAMA (k7)
Philadelphia poetess Ursula Rucker is back with her third album. With Ma’at Mama (named after an ancient Egyptian kemetic principle, the foundation of universal order and balance), Ursula shows a new level of maturity in her writing. “Ma´at Mama is pure poetry, sensuality and poignant social criticism, uniquely blending Hip Hop and Funk with sparse beats. Productions by Anthony Tidd, Tim Motzer, Rob Life and others. Released in the US Feb 07.

LATE NIGHT WITH KING BRITT (swanky)
a late night downbeat chill mix disc from our favorite dj featuring featuring Ellie Perez – La Vida, Plant Life, and an exclusive track written by King Britt + Tim Motzer ‘ Love is the Answer’…King’s best mix effort yet.

NINE HORSES – SNOW BORNE SORROW (samadhisound)
the alignment of david sylvian, burnt friedman, + steve jansen with a world collective of brilliant musicians (including ryuichi sakamoto, arve hendriksen, stina nordenstam, hayden chisholm, tim motzer, keith lowe, thomas haas, theo travis, morton gronvad, daniel schroeter, tim elsenburg, joseph suchy, and so many others) present nine dark beautiful thought-provoking songs.

from tim motzer:
“about 4 years ago, i met burnt friedman, he of flanger and nonplace fame, at popkomm in cologne, germany. not long after my tour, i emailed him to suggest we do some music together. turns out, he liked the idea but was busy at the time and wanted to wait until there was a suitable project. on my next return to cologne a few years later, burnt came to our show, and suggested now was a good time and that jaki liebezeit would be involved. incredibly exciting stuff. burnt followed this a month or so later with about nine tracks as i recall that he sent me to create to. i loved the tracks and spent a few weeks in my studio working up multiple layered guitar parts for each track. the thinking was, that this would become the next friedman-jaki liebezeit record: secret rhythms 2. burnt and jaki loved the guitar tracks and i was very happy. shortly thereafter, things changed. burnt emailed me to tell me david sylvian had sung on 5 of the tracks. i’ve been a long time david sylvian fan, so this was incredible news. as time went on burnt mixed the record with sylvian’s vocals, and sent a copy to each of us. as i understand it, david wasn’t really happy with the mix, that it had lost some of it’s fullness. so david asked to mix the record. burnt told me that he had sent him his hard drive with all our parts on there. amazing story. as it turned out, one of the tracks turned into ‘the day the earth stole heaven’ – a track that i had co-composed with burnt for the friedman-liebezeit record. it’s a beautiful track, and to me takes you back to david’s brilliant trees period. my guitars ended up on 3 other tracks ‘a history of holes’, ‘serotonin’, and ‘the librarian’ . the burnt friedman mix of ‘the librarian’ appeared on ‘out in the sticks’ a 12″ teaser, and will also be on the forthcoming friedman/liebezeit album ‘secret rhythms 2’ due in january on nonplace. to me, nine horses is a brilliant album on so m any levels and reflects both inwardly and outwardly our crazy times. i think it represents some of david’s best work. consequently, what started out as a chance meeting with burnt turned into two records and a 12″ and a roomful of new friends. it’s a privilege to be a part of such wonderful creative works. just proof that good things still happen in this crazy world.”

www.ninehorses.com
www.davidsylvian.com
www.samadhisound.com
www.nonplace.de