KRIEGER, ULRICH - /RAW:ReSpace/

"Ulrich Krieger's /RAW:ReSpace/ is the first ever experimental noise-metal saxophone solo album, changing and redefining how the saxophone can sound and what saxophone playing means. No saxophone player has ever dared to explore these uncharted outer realms of woodwind expression. RAW brings together noisescapes, electronica, death- and doom-metal approaches, and contemporary instrumental composition techniques, while ReSpace combines soundscapes of dark ambience and controlled feedback with a reductionist approach to create eerie ambient sound-fields. All sounds are saxophone-produced and performed live, with no sampling and no purely electronic sounds. RAW and ReSpace are part of the ongoing Universe series. Krieger is well known as a saxophone player in the worlds of rock, noise, contemporary composition, and free improvised music, and as a composer of chamber music and electronic music. He has been active in pushing the boundaries of saxophone playing in general and the function of the saxophone in rock and noise in particular, collaborating with Lou Reed (Metal Machine Trio, Lou Reed Band), Lee Ranaldo (Text of Light), Faust, and Zbigniew Karkowski, in addition to leading his own death-doom-noise-metal band Blood Oath. His original compositions vacillate between just intonation, silent music, noise, and instrumental electronic, often asking for elaborate amplification, and exist in the abysses of rock culture, refusing to accept stylistic boundaries. In his distinct style of amplified saxophone playing, Krieger processes refined acoustic and quasi-electronic sounds, using his saxophone more as an analog sampler than a traditional finger-virtuoso instrument. By amplifying his instrument in various ways, he gets down to the grains of the sounds, changing their identities and structures from within. Ulrich Krieger: electric tenor saxophone, saxophone-controlled feedback, pedals, delays, ¼-inch jack cable, vocals; Joshua Carro: drums (CD 1 tracks 3 and 5). In his liner notes, Ivar Bjørnson of Enslaved writes, "When Ulrich introduced his 'acoustic electronic' concept, there was another door blown wide open, and another glorious field of pure expression revealed. There is an openness, and a level of abstraction to the music that leaves room for 'me' to exist within the music; I can bring my own associations, patterns and inner visuals -- and let it blend, mutate and morph into the intended delivery from the artist. The acoustic element in Ulrich's music makes the sonic reality deeper, as the organic qualities of acoustic-to-electronic resonate with the mind and flesh in a way electronic-to-electronic cannot."" - XI Records.