Since
their appearance at C3 2009, Brandt
Brauer Frick have
risen from relative unknowns to must-haves, releasing a full-length
album on !K7 and assembling a concert appearance archive which reads
like a 'most impressive' list of major festivals and arts venues -
Glastonbury, Mutek, Sonar, The Big Chill, Bestival, MIDEM, ICA,
Museum Ludwig (c/o Pop), The National Museum of Art, Architecture and
Design Oslo...
For
Brandt Brauer Frick, the drums, strings and pianos that have long
been the bedrock of Western music serve as the common thread between
the classical past and their techno present. But while devoted to the
rich tones and timbres of orchestral instrumentation, the German
trio's rousing tracks are rhythmically focused and rendered with the
mechanical precision of four-to-the-floor club tracks. The
computers they used last year to arrange their first CD "You make me
real" were traded in for a 10-piece band, being able to play handmade
dance-groves live.
At C3 Festival 2011 they present their new CD "Mr Machine" (Label:
!K7/Alive). The instrumentation is opulent and unconventional:
violins, cello, harp, piano, trombone, tuba, kettledrums, marimba,
vibraphones, drums, percussions and Moog-synthesizer. Daniel, Jan and
Paul found the other ensemble-members in Berlin's contemporary
piano-music scene. Most of them play in highly renowned ensmebles such
as Adapter, Kaleidoskop or Ensemble Modern, others in jazzbands such as
Formelwesen.
Daniel
Brandt and Jan Brauer first joined forces in school jazz ensembles, a
musical relationship that was rekindled when the pair formed the
jazz-influenced dance group Scott.
Paul Frick was steeped in classical music from a young age, studying
composition with Friedrich Goldmann at the Berlin University of the
Arts. Having mutually admired each other's music, the three met in
2008 and soon realized their shared passion for classical forms was
an opportunity to work together. EPs for Tartelet Records and their
self-founded imprints Doppelschall and The Gym soon followed, with
„You Make Me Real“ for !K7 serving as the
culmination of the
trio's musical chemistry and theoretical approach.
Techno
has long been the provenance of synthesizers and drum machines and
Brandt Brauer Frick perform their classically influenced productions
with the exactitude of automation. Their unique interpretation of the
classical palette is invigorating and transcends listeners' usual
ideas. Their musical point of view speaks fluently in an increasingly
beat-driven culture with the perspective afforded by a deep knowledge
of music's foundations.
At C3 in Essen they will perform as the Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble.
www.brandtbrauerfrick.de