Gonzo Circus # 82 (Belgium)

His Voice # 2 / 2008 (Czech Republic)

The city of Hamburg is often overlooked abroad musically because everyone is looking at Berlin. Nonetheless, in terms of experimental music it might even have surpassed Berlin in quantity and quality. A small but productive scene has developed over the last few years, of which both the two artists on this new LP are an important part.

For those not in the know, Black to Comm is the recording name for Dekorder label owner Marc Richter. On his side of the split LP, he follows the path laid out by his recent double LP “Wir können leider nicht etwas mehr zu tun”. Its first track entitled “Blizzard Angels of the Golden Stratosphere” needs to be listened to at maximum volume. A one note organ tone and distorted electric guitar build up a massive wall of sound that is plain amazing to listen to. The title of the track seems to nod at some of Tangerine Dream´s track titles, and indeed “Blizzard Angels” is not too far away from TD´s 1971 classic “Fly and Collision of Comas Sola”. The second track on the Black to Comm side is less powerful and features what sounds like alien farts over distant stringed sounds.

Aosuke on the other side is the duo of Ulf Schütte on guitar and electronics and Tobert Knopp on electronics and tapes. After several releases on Schütte´s Tape Tektoniks outlet and a CD on the Audiolith label, these three tracks are a fine example of their ability to add a new twist to the already trodded path of echoed guitar/effects and electronics releases. Not that their sounds are revolutionary new, but they´re definitely very well made and convince through their subtle composition and density.

Stephan Bauer | FOXY DIGITALIS

More on the same label comes from label head Marc Richter under his musical alter ego, Black To Comm. His slowly unfolding, almost static organ/electronics/effects feast is quiet by nature but totally blows my mind when turning it up loud. This is an ambient noise mantra and circular groove that keeps repeating itself for the entire first side and the overall effect is both cavernous and mesmerizing. Black To Comm shares space on this LP with Hamburg duo, Aosuke. This is a new name to me but if these three tracks are any indicator of where they’re usually at I am sure we’ll here a whole lot more from these guys further down the line. Tobert Knopp and Ulf Schütte throw in a bunch of influences into these ambient proceedings, ranging from the quieter side of Krautrock, pulsing synth traumas, meandering guitar explorations and spaced-out drones. The final result is surprisingly melodic and quite meditative.

Mats Gustafsson | THE BROKEN FACE

Avant rock with all its highly interesting brothers and sisters, from that weird new kind of folk music to droning ambient sounds to pure noise freakouts, has – in my opinion – taken the run over from jazz. I mean, that all the exciteness and wildness of jazz that was there until the late Sixties, probably the early Seventies (until Miles Davis recorded “On The Corner” probably), the never ending will to experiment and try out all kinds of new ways and things and music, has gotten lost in jazz and is now taken up by avant rock. And Avant Rock meaning all kinds of music played by musicians not computers, that is not made to dance to, that has no evident structure or at least tries to expand the current definition of what is music and what is not music. Because, in contrast to pure noise (aka Merzbow and such) these bands still see themselves inside the confines of music. They don’t want to form an alternative or opposition, they want to be musicians, but explore the fringes. That is also what jazz musicians tried to do back then, before they became all sucked up in success and lifestyle and the cosy niche they have found in the establishment.

Why do I get to these thoughts listening to the Black To Comm / Aosuke-split on Dekorder? Because this record as well as the other current Dekorder release, an album by Scandinavian drone legend Uton, made me think, no feel that there is a lot of energy and wonders, a lot of discoveries and mysteries to be solved in all kinds of avant rock. These soundscapes and experiments are open to exploration and to the most individual interpretation, but most of all they are blistering with life and energy. They are much more than their parts, which means you cannot dissect them piece by piece to get behind their magic, because they stand on their own in that special texture that they are offered in. That is the kind of magic I am looking for in music, the kind of magic that keeps me interested and thanks to labels like Dekorder I am able to get a dose of this magic energy every now and then.

Now to the music: After a long droning intro an almost random array of bass tones and other noises leads into what is the most organic, the most human release by Black To Comm to date. The first track nevertheless is still a long, multifaceted drone, but after a while that bass tone starts to form a beat and a higher keyboard sound sings a long, one-note melody to it. The other track by Black to Comm starts with the sounds of nightly creatures and a manipulated (oh, the echoes!) voice sample and builds into an exciting piece of music, somewhere between Soft Machine and Meredith Monk. If you ever believe that. The two tracks sit next to each other like day and night, the first one, titled “blizzard angels of the golden stratosphere” (that is like warm milk on the tongue) being quite warm and open and full of sunlight, and the other one dark, titled “Stereo lung flute” (that one leaves a somewhat nasty aftertaste) brooding and dangerous. Marc Richter aka Black To Comm is also the boss of Dekorder and these two tracks are a nice topping to his last double album epic “wir können leider nicht etwas mehr zu tun…”. The enigmatic atmosphere remains, but that special organic feeling, as mentioned, is more to the foreground.

Aosuke is not another Scandinavian weirdo duo working with small, instant made loops that are played live, recorded, manipulated and treated and then re-recorded without overdubs, that Richter met on his latest holiday in Finland or Norway, because Aosuke are from Hamburg as well. Maybe he met them in Scandinavia were both were checking out the newest tape releases by Kuupuu or trying to catch up with the Animal Collectives’ lost early bootleg recordings, who knows. They all seem to own a sense for globetrotting, if possible by all means. Tobert Knopp und Ulf Schütte cloak themselves in their own sense of humor and a musical sensibility that forfeits structure for a more trancendental approach. Croaking, creeking and crashing sounds over re-repeated lines, ever changing like the weather, with surprises here and there and more consistency than you might expect from this akward description. With Aosuke it becomes clear why almost all reviews in this area of music contain the words “freak” or “weird” or inflections thereof over and over again.

Georg Gartlgruber | CRACKED

Although the music of label owner Marc Richter's solo project Black to Comm and Aosuke, a duo of Torben Knopp and Ulf Schütte (the latter also operates the label Tape Tektoniks), is, in a way, more refined than that of Uton and Kuupuu, they all share similar aesthetic sensibilities and a love for a warm, emotionally charged sound.
(.....)
Black to Comm's side of the split LP continues in this vein, with another elegant one-tone organ drone, which starts out soft and rippling and then rapidly gains momentum a few minutes into the piece. The second track stands out here, as it is created with voice and effects only and recalls similar pieces by Kuupuu, but is still less raw than the latter and adds a new and less heavy shade to Black to Comm's aesthetic. Aosuke combine the melancholic shimmer of slightly fuzzy guitars and gently pulsating delay patterns with processed vocal snippets and occasional electronic additions. Their tracks surprise with reduced, yet highly beautiful melodies woven into a fabric of warm drones and create a pleasantly relaxed atmosphere. This split LP is Aosuke's second release after last year's "Monotone Spirits" album (unfortunately unheard by me yet) and they are definitely worth keeping an eye on, as their blend of drone and melody is among the best I've come across recently, avoiding the arbitrariness of much predominantly digital drone music, while at the same time not opting for the charm of an ostentatious lo-fi sound.

Magnus Schaefer | VITAL WEEKLY

Those of you drone freeks who are getting bored with sorting through seemingly endless stacks of similarly under-packaged CDs and CD-Rs may wish to search out the sumptuous gatefold double-vinyl LP WIR KÖNNEN LEIDER NICHT ETWAS MEHR ZU TUN (‘We Can’t Do These Songs In Anymore Than We Already Have’) by Northern Germany’s mournful drone outfit Black To Comm. For, despite taking their name from the MC5’s most obstinately and arduously uncommercial freakout track, Black To Comm’s organ/harmonium/tape-looped pieces inhabit a vigorous deep drone space somewhat in the vein of Klaus Schultze at his minimal, minor-chord best. Probably, this is because each Black To Comm track comes replete with its own side order of cranky and extraneous noise, much like the inevitable overly-loud motor hum that accompanies every Mellotron 400, or the wandering pitch of the early VCS3 synthesizers that gives such personality to recordings. I’ve also been listening to Black To Comm’s wonderful split 12” LP with duo Aosuke, which was released on Dekorder Records back in May. Search out Black To Comm via www.dekorder.com or trawl their own excellent website at www.blacktocomm.org.

Julian Cope | HEAD HERITAGE

Hinter Black To Comm verbirgt sich Marc Richter, Betreiber des hervorragenden Hamburger Dekorder-Labels. Sein Debüt bestand vorwiegend aus Loops, gewonnen aus Fremdmaterial, alten Schellack-Platten, nun sind die Drones auf "richtigen" Instrumenten erzeugt worden, darunter Orgel, Harmonium und Gitarre. Und diese Drones haben sich gewaschen!
Sosehr, dass selbst La Monte Young noch ein ehrfurchtsvolles Zittern durchdringen müsste, würde er dies hören. Das hier ist keine esoterische Loop-Einschläferei, sondern hier tut sich was, wird ständig Lava ausgestoßen. Hitze erzeugt. Steigerung, Intensivierung heißt das simple, aber effektvolle Prinzip. Das basiert alles ganz deutlich auf alten Minimal-Prinzipien, doch die werden noch einmal verschärft durchgespielt, als sei Phillip Glass von Aleister Crowley ins Bein gebissen worden. (Was werder eine Lanze für den Spinner Crowley noch für den Langweiler Glass brechen soll, doch in dieser Kombination werden die Tollwütigen unschlagbar!). Das hier ist zerrend, bisweilen flirrend, so dass der alte Jim O'Rourke-Trick ganz gut tut, auch mal ein bisschen entspannte Country-Klänge zwischenzuschalten. Um es etwas weniger euphorisch, aber dennoch bestimmt auszudrücken: Monatlich erscheinen zig Loop- und Drone-Platten, das Ganze ist schon zu einem richtigen Industriezweig geworden, doch diese hier gehört sicher in die oberste Kategorie der Weniger- bis Nicht-Verzichtbaren.

Martin Büsser | TESTCARD

Black to Comm is the pseudonym of Dekorder boss Marc Richter, and leave it to the label boss to come up with the finest release on an already reliable imprint. Lying somewhere in-between Machinefabriek and Deathprod this is heavy, dense drone in the best possible sense; building, seismic slabs of noise, but the record never loses a sense of restraint and of harmonic balance. This isn't a noise record and, like Machinefabriek, Richter knows how to strike a balance between the emphasis of cacophonous noise and whispering near-silence. For me there aren't enough records like this, and the fact that it's on vinyl (actually it's ONLY on vinyl.) makes it even more attractive, separating the work into four movements, giving the listener some kind of interactivity and connection with the music itself. You know what you've got to do, if you like droning heaviness then you can't go another minute without owning this, even if it has got a rather long German title that I don't really understand. A brilliant record.

BOOMKAT

“Unfortunately, we cannot do a little more…” says (after a fashion) a popular web-based translation applet if I type "Wir können leider nicht etwas mehr zu tun…" I’m not sure about whether or not Black To Comm’s Marc Richter could have done more, but this album, released as a double-LP set, ranks high among 2007’s best drone records. Richter handles a fair range of instruments -- from harmophon (sounds like a harmonium to me) to computer and found objects -- and does so alone, for the most part. Renate Nikolaus contributes very quiet vocals on one track and guitars on another; the latter piece also features Gregory Büttner on trumpet. Four of the six pieces are stretched-out, blissful textural drones made of reedy organ/harmonium chords and delicate feedback. “Harmophonie III” stands out for its uncannily peaceful harmony. The short “The Male Garden” acts like a postlude to “Pill Drop Geisha”, almost an afterthought surfacing and quickly dissipating at the end of Side 3. The album’s undisputed highlight -- and its less representative track -- is “Happy Brown Lego Star”, the piece with extra guitar and trumpet. It marvelously switches gears (and moods) halfway through, changing from a thick drone to an open, pretty acoustic guitar piece with quiet trumpet calls reminiscent of Supersilent’s Arve Henriksen. This unexpected development also evokes Giuseppe Ielasi’s quieter pastures. Despite being a double LP, "Wir können leider..." clocks in at under an hour, but there is a lot of quality droning in here, more than on Black To Comm’s debut CD for Dekorder.

François Couture | ALL MUSIC GUIDE

Dekorder's one of those labels that doesn't put out much, but when they do (in fact there are 3 things this week alone!) it's always worth checking out. Black To Comm deliver an albums worth of pure drone sounds that take elements of labels like Kranky and more, then strip them down to an even more hypnotic and stark flavour. This is utterly compelling and the tinge of darkness that cuts through is incredibly appealing. Drone fans will want to get their hands on this pretty quickly as vinyl pressings of things like this don't last long. Absolutely superb.

SMALLFISH

A brand new record from one of our new favorite drone outfits, the strangely named Black To Comm, who do indeed share their monicker with a killer MC5 track and a bad ass magazine, but whose sound is well removed from any sort of garage stomp, instead, these guys occupy some glorious netherworld where the sounds of Fennesz, SUNNO))), Earth, Merzbow and Troum all blend into one epic organic whole.

Utilizing a relatively limited musical palette, organ, tape loops, feedback, vinyl loops, computers, voice as well as the less obvious kitchen gamelan and harmophon, Black To Comm weave epic slow motion doomscapes, as textural and dreamy as they are dense and heavy.

The disc opens with huge organ drones, reminiscent of Niblock or Palestine, rumbling and whirring, massive waves of thick sound, while beneath lurk microscopic squeaks and creaks. The tones and layers subtly shift as does the stereo panning, making the sound intensely immersive and almost dizzying. It eventually builds into an impressive squall, with the addition of swooping and bleeping spacey FX buried beneath the cascading organ tones. And that's just the first track!

The second track begins with a constant foghorn tone, mesmerizing and thickly layered, while far off in the distance tiny sonic events occur, melancholy pianos record crackle, the whole thing transforms into a cacophony off brass-like skree, piled atop warbly snippets of sound, somehow managing to remain dreamy and hypnotic, even at its most chaotic.

The flip side of the first disc begins with a super dense blast of blinding sonic effulgence, so rich and thick and glistening, sparkling with a million fluttering notes all swirling and whirling and beginning to crumble in that gorgeous dying sun sort of way. This intensity eventually gives way to a strange acoustic second half, all serene steel strings and distant kitchen sink clatter.

Side C is all rumbling low end warble, draped thickly over strangely twisted fun-house-mirror melodies and little alien squiggles of sound, the low end pulsing and beating offering up super subtle almost-rhythms.

And finally, the record closer, which takes up ALL of side 4, and epic droning monster, that begins like just another slab of rumble and shimmer, before some serious dissonance is introduced, more brass-like tones that give the sound a very Nitsch like quality. If you can imagine a Pop Ambient Hermann Nitsch you might be close. And c'mon! Pop Ambient and Hermann Nitsch in the same sentence, in the same review, that is all you should need to hear. Way recommended.

AQUARIUS

With his new album „Wir können leider nicht etwas mehr zu tun...", Hamburg´s Marc Richter turns 90 degrees compared to his last album „Rückwards Backwards". While "Rückwärts" was full of twists and turns within each of its eight tracks, noisy outburts interchanging with quiet parts, "Wir können" is a slow moving texturally dense drone monster. As before, Richter released the album on his own Dekorder imprint, but this time as a vinyl-only limited edition double album. The album looks absolutely gorgeous with its gatefold sleeve and close-up photos on the front and back, and the content follows that good example.

While Richter´s first 10" consisted of damaged computer sounds and "Rückwärts" was put together largely from vinyl loops and field recordings, "Wir können" was mostly played with real instruments, especially a Harmophone and Organ. Most of the six lengthy tracks are based on a continuous low hum and several additional one chord layers on top of it. The album starts with its best track, entitled "Harmophonie III", which sounds like the logical progression of Tangerine Dream´s "Fly and Collision of Comas Sola" from 1971´s "Alpha Centauri" album. Spacey sounds, bells and wordless vocals add to the mighty harmophone drone which rises and falls like a soufflé in the oven. Side B is more monotonous. "The North Tower" begins with a glacial dark drone before turning into a ghostly organ passage, which ends the track. "Happy Brown Lego Star" has a decidedly warmer feel to it. The track is a good example of the strength of the album consisting of three or four layers of sound that practically don´t move. Richter only adjusts very fine parts of it, so that the different parts of the drone come forward, go back in line to make room for other parts, etc. The track ends with a nice guitar and trumpet section where Richter gets help from Gregory Büttner and Renate Nikolaus.

Side C starts with the weakest tune of the LP. "Pill Drop Geisha" has little highs and lows. "The Male Garden" brings the album back to life. It´s a shimmering piece of ambiance that reminds of the best days of ambient Krautrock. The album is concluded with the long piece "Weiss White", which might be a reference to The Velvet Underground´s "White Light/White Heat" or to white noise or might not reference anything at all. Anyhow, "Weiss White" is the most noisy and abrasive tune on the album and quite a mind-expanding affair. The changes in the texture of the track are so subtle that notions such as time become irrelevant. Even though Richter´s approach that he took on "Rückwärts Backwards" was maybe more varying, "Wir können" is an equally fascinating, yet different affair. It´ll be interesting to hear where he will take things from here.

Stephan Bauer | FOXY DIGITALIS

This project's moniker could  appear very peculiar, but not for those who know the saga of anti-establishment and anti-hippie rock 'n roll. It's challenging though, to find other relations to Detroit's proto-punks MC5. This Teutonic one-man-unit is from top to bottom uncooperative on planet riff.

Certain composers refuse to accept that music is divided from the environment in which it is created. We assume that Marc Richter, manager from the small Dekorder label and man behind this vigorous project, could be one of them. It  may be the reason why he's using of field recordings. Inspired and enthused by the Black Forest, somewhere at the periphery of Germany, these field recordings make gratifying delights and derisive strategies, even though we're not sure whether it is digital or organic input we hear. Very few has been left completely unprocessed, we guess.

Fashioned to get fired up and to be stimulated in his creativity, Richter invited Gregory Büttner, whose breathtaking, moving trumpet glitters on Happy Brown Lego Star. Renate Nikolous inserts this attractiveness with acoustic and electric guitars and makes this hymn heading towards gloomy Animal Collective (only link with this band, full stop).

Other songs are faint and sly tone-silhouettes, operating in the dimness and phantom spirit of minimal overtones, slightly moving from dust to dust. Like the unsurpassed orator is perfectly pronouncing and placing his words, Richter is building a sonic universe on the wide scale of instruments from Harmophone and organ to kitchen gamelan and vinyl loops. And unless we think that the first two instruments have done their work supreme, we're still unsure about the sounds' origins.

The music of Richter becomes visible via a nostalgic and maybe slightly naïve path, but it does so seemingly purposed and with a confident stance. It gave us an incentive to wander, a trip to console and a codex to beneficence. The music is stifling, decelerating and suffocating, but in a polite way. Must!

WHITE HEAT

As we all know, the rekkid industry is "in crisis".. sales are slumping on average more than 10% each year, and if you excluded the money generated from sales of mobile phone ringtones (quelle horreur), the picture would probably be bleaker than that. Not that I'm shedding many tears for the so-called "majors", who don't give a monkey's about music as such unless it rakes in enough dough to keep the shareholders happy, but it's not a rosy situation for the kind of small independent labels that readers of these pages know and love. Even in the small world of adventurous new music, the shift towards mp3 format is just as noticeable - and not something to be sniffed at, either: bravo outfits like 7hings.com for their adventurous download release programme - it seems that in a few years we'll all be listening to music on shiny little things about the size of a dachshund's penis, downloading this and that to make our own mix'n'match compilations ("make your own Brötzmann's Greatest Hits mixtape! A-and don't forget to download that Fuck De Boere ringtone, kids!"), stepping in dogshit, falling down open manhole covers and getting run over as we trot gaily along the city streets eyes glued to a screen the size of a packet of smokes trying to watch some hip noise band on YouTube. One day I suppose you'll be able to listen to, watch, send fanmail and even talk directly to your favourite alt.music star all at the same time on an iPhone. Suppose I'm getting too old, but I just don't get much of a kick out of the idea. Not that I've got anything against downloading, especially when the album concerned is way out of print and way out of my price bracket on eBay - you should see all the shit I've got from Church Number Nine recently - but even if I print out the "original album cover", convert the mp3 files to .wav and burn the whole shebang on a brand new CDR, it's not the same thing as a "real" disc, is it now? The folks out there who invest their time and money in running a label for this kind of music are certainly heroes in my book, even if it's a burn-to-order-in-yer-bedroom operation. But going to the trouble of putting out a vinyl LP in 2007, complete with artwork, notes, and all round beautiful design is a real labour of love. And, if you care for the music they're putting out, one that deserves your support.

It's no surprise that Wir können leider nicht etwas mehr zu tun, the latest double LP of Black To Comm is on the Hamburg-based Dekorder label, because BTC is the pet project of Dekorder head honcho Marc Richter, who in addition to providing vocals plays "harmophon, organ, tape loops, microphones, bells, feedback, kitchen gamelan, vinyl loops and computer." He's joined on a couple of tracks by Renate Nikolaus (vocals, guitars) and Gregory Büttner adds a touch of trumpet on "Happy Brown Lego Star". These six spacious tracks - the word "drone" singularly fails to do justice to the wealth of detail Richter creates with his loops, patches, pots and pans - could probably all fit on one CD, but they wouldn't sound half as good. Not that I didn't enjoy BTC's Rückwärts Backwards CD, but the warmth of vinyl seems more appropriate for the music Richter makes (here we go, he's sounding like one of those tedious fuckin VINYL SNOBS.. yawn gimme a break, pass the Wolf Eyes CDR dude). And the great thing is it looks, feels and smells as good as it sounds.

Dan Warburton | PARIS TRANSATLANTIC

There is no such thing as monotony, at least not in music. If you don't believe me, get an album by Tony Conrad. Or even better, catch the new album by Black to Comm, the second full length finished by Marc Richter, who also runs Dekorder. It is four vinyl sides and six tracks of glistening, dense yet encompassing and massive drones that stand tall and wide as a building made of bricks. But if you take a closer look, or rather a closer listen, then you'll find a lot of things warbling and swaying within these sounds. Or is it your perception? As you know, there is no way you can trust your senses. They lie to you every minute. And your brains on top, which are always hiding, ignoring or re-interpreting things. Did you know that everytime you remember something it is not at all like getting something old from a cupboard, but the brain is saving the memory new each time, and each time it adds or substracts a little, depending on how you connotated the memory this time around. If you get old enough you'll experience more and more the strange situation where two close friends have vastly differing memories of an experience they had together and they will swear by their mother's graves that they are right. Both of them. But I am digressing. The main point is the multi-layered and ever changing horizon of sounds within the static and massive drones of Black To Comm.

My most impressive experience with a drone was flying on a jet plane for ten hours after sleeping too little because I was on a festival for electronic music. With the sounds of some of the most progressive and weird electronic artists still ringing in my head and the constant, muffled thundering of the mighty machine I was sitting in, I felt as if I was able to hear the humming of the smalles part of the machine or my body. Before falling asleep I wasn't even sure anymore I'd be able to tell the difference between the two. The tracks on here offer the same quality of density, depth and variety. One note, seperated into several parts and blown up into enormous proportions, added with layers and layers of other sounds in the same note, with some breaks and changes, a chord here or a little line of notes or sounds on other places. If you turn around and around on the same spot like a whirlwind, who is able to tell where you're gonna end up in?

The new thing about this album by Black To Comm is that these drones are made from "real" instruments, which is interesting because on his first releases Black To Comm was about questioning the notion of the real instrument, by using filters for grafic software to produce sounds or by using old recordings and shellacs. The range of ideas is rather limited in consequence in comparison to "rückwärts backwards", and by all means "wir können leider nicht …" is a basic drone album. And for a drone album its scope is immense. From a submarine to an ultralight glider, from double gravitation to weightlessness, from walls pressing onto your mind to uplifiting sounds of freedom and liberty. From spooky and eerie darkness to the light and shine of a day at the beach. Destinations chosen by your brain.
One exception, though, the third track (#2 on side 2) first builds into impressive noise with a lot of layers and subtle changes and then suddenly falls into a wonderful set of fingerpicked acoustic guitar and interferences from the electric guitar done by Renate Nikolaus and an impressive, yet restrained muted trumpet played by Gregory Büttner. Even some barely audible vocal aahs before fading out after some minutes. A heartwarming and joyous surprise and probably a hint as to where the travel is going to. For, as with any interesting artist, live is a travel filled with experiences.

Georg Gartlgruber | CRACKED

Although the music of label owner Marc Richter's solo project Black to Comm and Aosuke, a duo of Torben Knopp and Ulf Schütte (the latter also operates the label Tape Tektoniks), is, in a way, more refined than that of Uton and Kuupuu, they all share similar aesthetic sensibilities and a love for a warm, emotionally charged sound. The title of Black to Comm's double LP (again beautifully packed in a full-colour gatefold cover) recalls the language of poorly translated user manuals and ultimately helpless service departments and should win the prize as this year's best album title, along with Jazkamer's "Balls the Size of Texas, Liver the Size of Brazil." Recorded in 2005 and 2006 with acoustic instruments and analogue gear (organs, tape loops, feedback, voice, etc.) plus some digital editing, these tracks offer drone music of the heavier kind, not particularly noisy, but dense and massive. As they are usually build around one single sustained tone or chord, there is something monumental to them, but Black to Comm works out a fine balance between sonic intensity and elegant beauty. This is most explicit in "Happy Brown Lego Star", which all of a sudden, yet almost seamlessly, changes its tone and shifts from a thick, blurred drone to relaxed guitar and trumpet sounds (provided by Renate Nikolaus and Gregory Büttner), accompanied by soft concrete rumbling. However, this balance is a characteristic feature of all the tracks on "Wir können leider", inscribed into the manifold layering of sounds and fusing subtlety and massive sonic presence into a mesmerizing amalgamation.

Magnus Schaefer | VITAL WEEKLY

Vier Plattenseiten lang aufregende Monotonie. Im Hamburger Hafen liegt dichter Nebel und nichts scheint sich zu rühren. Aber die tiefen, weit tragenden Signalhörner der Containerschiffe geben die Weite des Raums an, an dessen Seite die Stadt liegt. Das kann bedrohlich sein aber auch beruhigend. Denn die Gewalt und Macht der Natur sind nur die eine Seite, die Ursprünglichkeit und Geborgenheit in der Mutterfigut die andere. Und auch wenn es oft wie eine dicke, undurchdringliche Wand aussieht, so besteht sie doch aus lauter kleinen Teilen. Vier Plattenseiten lang trägt Black to Comm dicke auf. Mit Ausnahme eines wundervollen Fingerpicking und mute trumpet Zwischenspiels regiert der massive Klangwall, die statische Welle aus vielen vielen Schichten Töne, Lärm, Krach und Harmonie wie in der zeitlichen Dimension festgefroren. Als ob Gott die Luft anhält und abwartet, was denn jetzt wohl kommt. Wo die erste Seite eher den Freunden ambientöser Frickelei gefallen wird, zwischenzeitlich die eine oder andere minimale Abwechslung die Wogen glättet und gerade zieht, dehnen sich die Massen an drohendem Brummen und Rauschen auf der vierten Seite (oder Saite) schon stark in Richtung Erde oder Sonnn)))e. Es ist kein einfaches Leben, aber ein vielschichtiges, sich stetig im Gleichbleiben veränderndes, das Marc Richter aka Black To Comm auf seinem zweiten „echten“ Langspieler zelebriert. Früher hat er mal Grafikfilter als Soundtools verwendet, dann alte Schellacks und Aufnahmen, aber auf dem seltsam benamsten „wir können leider nicht …“ sind es richtige Instrumente. Sag mir doch mal einer, was ist denn das: richtige Instrumente?

BIG LOAD

sex unter der decke?
jedenfalls wird hier immer erst einmal ein glattes laken gespannt. und dann auch noch fester gezogen. strammer. aber darunter, da passiert einiges. vergleiche das cover, wo durch einen vorhang gespäht wird. wo offensichtlich auch gerade etwas interessantes passiert. von wegen drones der statischen art.

intim und trotzdem voller weite; keine untiefen des halls, sondern (so der erste eindruck) rein der naturklang des jeweils verwendeten instruments; als weite ebene und weiche decke. bis sich im weiteren hören all die schichten eröffnen, die sich unter diesem ersten eindruck befinden, dort miteinander ringen, sich ablösen und wieder von neuen starten. oder sich herausstellt, das bereits die schon identifizierte, vermeintlich monostrukturierte decke eigentlich aus einem feinen geflecht unterschiedlichster zutaten besteht. und bei "happy brown lego star" auch einmal weggezogen wird und akustikgitarre, fielrecordings und trompete (!) platz macht. oder dem gelungenen sprechgesangsbeitrag "eine kleine mieze-kat-ze", dargeboten von renate nikolaus im ausklang von "pill drop geisha".
und noch so ein auf falsche fährten lockender erster eindruck: alle 6 stücke scheinen auf jeweils einer, zwar stets eigenständigen, aber sich auf der vollen länge nicht verändernden harmonischen basis zu gründen. auch diese erkenntnis stellt sich als so trügerisch heraus wie die der allumfassenden decke: die innere harmonische bewegung ist omnipräsent; unter / über einem pedalton, zwischen abgefilterten tonsträngen, innerhalb der bogenartigen dynamikverläufe. das alles mit einem sehr schönen gatefold drumherum, das seine geheimnissvolle botschaft nicht freigeben möchte. musik für eine reise wie die der rentiere im innencover. auch für leute, die growing mögen, genau wie stars of the lid. und noch für andere.

UNRUHR.DE

Black To Comm is the solo moniker of Dekorder head honcho Marc Richter. The German Dekorder label is perhaps best known for a Hafler Trio release from a few years back but if there’s any justice in the world the label will also soon be known as the one that has released the music of Black To Comm.

Rückwärts Backwards is an organic floater that’s created from scratchy shellac and vinyl loops interspersed with all sorts of gentle found sounds and blurry ambience. The distant collage-like song fragments (psychedelia, free jazz, folk and more) that often remain in a somewhat remote corner of the soundscapes presented are probably what make the outcome warm and organic, rather than haunting and claustrophobic. That doesn’t prevent things from being quietly disturbing but it manages to be so without ever abandoning that melodic touch and the abstract drone alley chosen for the specific track. The whole album is very dream-like, mystical and fascinating, like being in the middle of a fog bank and loosing your sense of direction but always knowing that you’ll find your way out one way or the other.

Mats Gustafsson | THE BROKEN FACE

Dekorder label boss Marc Richter uses the Black to Comm name for his quiet explorations of electro-acoustic space. His use of modified turntables and field recordings has obvious recent precedents in William Basinski and Philip Jeck, both of whom influence aspects of this record. However, Ruckwarts Backwards is no pastiche of superior antecedents; Richter adds his own voice to the field very capably, capturing a sense of faux nostalgia through the constant deployment of warped tones and vinyl crackle, both of which suggest the material decay of time.

But Richter is no formalist, and he infuses his tools with a rich warmth and openness, rather than the cold brutalism that is symptomatic of so much contemporary sound art. “El Huis pt. 1” and “Es Gibt Kein Morgen” constitute some of the most aesthetically appealing, ebullient drone pieces this side of Stoke.

Nor is Richter afraid to indulge a more flippant side to puncture the austere air. “Lucifer Lacca,” three minutes of guitar moaning reminiscent of Dean Roberts, culminates unexpectedly in carefree childish singing. Whether he is tying the record as a whole to a lost sense of childhood wonder, or simply wanted to lighten the mood, the effect is to add to the intrigue that elevates Ruckwarts Backwards well above the more run-of-the-mill efforts that clutter this field.

John Gibson | GROOVES

Matthew Herbert's recent Plat Du Jour CD included an attack on bottled water companies, implying they are making a fortune out of what should be a free, Earth-given human necessity. Musicians who use nature recordings are engaged in a similar process: why buy a disc that opens with the sound of buzzing bees on a summer day when you can stroll out and hear the same thing for nowt? That's how Rückwärts Backwards begins and ends, with "Virtuosity Is A Means To An End", nocturnal summer sounds interrupted by kitchen gamelan.

Black To Comm is Hamburg's Marc Richter. He also runs Dekorder, which has put out quality editions of records by the likes of Hafler Trio and Tu m'. His pulverous, gravelly electronic laminates are liberally dosed with digitally altered field recordings, incorporated in a way that adds to the musicality of the whole. The title track is chalky and crackly as space dust, recalling Fennesz or Tim Hecker's crumbly, floury vapournoise. "Levitation" is like the intro to a Gas track, a sampled unidentifiable musical source flayed to reveal the heart; "March Of The Vivian Girls" a militaristic step over a contorted Weimar movie sample. You can clearly hear him mixing, as though watching a painter crushing pigments from silica and lapis blocks. As with so much currrent laptop sound, the lines between organic and digital are invisible, a reminder that no one thought of music as 'organic' anyway until the computer arrived on the scene.

Rob Young | THE WIRE

Black to Comm is the solo project of Dekorder label boss Marc Richter and occupies a playfully eerie space with a mixture of vinyl loops, microphone, voice and kitchen gamelan. ‘Bees’ begins with just that - a field recording of our honey-producing friends. Their peaceful meander becomes subsumed to a more disconcerting noise as human voice start to emulate bee, resembling no less than Teiji Ito’s incredible score to Mata Deren’s ‘Meshes in the Afternoon’. This Deleuzian line of flight (sorry but it had to be done) paves the way forward for a wayward, unpredictable but nonetheless involving and innovative long player.

‘Levitation’ is a queasy sound mix- crackling vinyl, a woozy loop, a liberal buried piano/ keyboard tinkling and, high in the soundfield, shards of backwards noise. There is a sudden change as the soundscape becomes warmer and fluttering nature comes to prominence as yet more queasy textures lurk in the background. The overall effect is so stunningly strange- leaving the listener pleasantly dazed and confused as if you were lying in a field with the sun’s rays stopping you from getting up and taking shelter.

‘Laccifer Lacca’ treats us to a multitude of varying voices, looped and deeply reverberating along with children at play. The loop takes on an almost b-movie style prominence as a dirty and amplified grunge bass counterpoints the increasingly hysterical tractor beam of vocals all abruptly faltering to the sound of a small demented choir of non-children.The title track sounds like Nico’s ‘Marble Index’ produced by William Basinski instead of John Cale with vague traces of glockenspiel becoming increasingly carnival-like, wandering behind decaying hiss. Special mention must also go to the accelerator tones and military rigour of ‘March of the Vivian Girls’ which slowly build to a collapse of trebly noise.

The whole thing weighs in at around 35 minutes but there is so much depth, warmth and weirdness that this will just keep pulling you back for more. What with this and Dictaphone’s ‘Vertigo II’, electronica is enjoying a stupidly rich month. If this isn’t in the end of year reviews, you’re reading the wrong things. Grab this, take the phone off the hook, whack up loud and buy yourself and your living room a ticket to a strange place.

Jon Fletcher | INDIECULT

Black to Comm is the recording name for Dekorder label owner Marc Richter and “Rückwärts Backwards” is the follow-up to a limited 10” that came out a while ago. Compared to that 10”, Richter´s sound has changed and improved significantly.

Back then, Richter created all or at least most of the sounds with a computer and his music was very dark, industrial, harsh and noisy. “Rückwärts Backwards” is a much friendlier affair. It was recorded by use of old shellac and vinyl records, field recordings, voice, kitchen gamelan and a computer. If his 10” was a January in the city record, his new one is a walk outside in May record. The field recordings used (recorded in the Black Forest in the south of Germany) are mostly very welcoming, like bees buzzing, birds chirping and children speaking to their mothers. On top of these, you´ll find some disturbing sounds, like on the track “Laccifer Lacca” where a looped woman´s voice interferes with dark slap bass notes. The noisy drones during the first half of “Es gibt kein Morgen” are not suitable for babies´ ears either. Most of the source material transports very warm emotions though. I like the title track especially. The rustling of old vinyl is augmented by digitally created crackles and a looped organ gets more intense by the minute until it peaks in a lovely melody.

What makes this record stand out so much is its attention for detail and the thoughtful combination of source material and additions. On the album opener “Bees” for example, somebody humms over the sound of bees. It just fits perfectly. The same goes for the vintage sounding sweet lullaby loops on “March of the Vivian Girls” that get shadowed by a full distortion noise attack. Over the course of its eight tracks, “Rückwärts Backwards” exemplifies this hard-to-achieve equilibrium of beauty and repulsion, of nature and civilization. A fascinating listen.

Stephan Bauer | FOXY DIGITALIS

First of all this CD is beatifully packaged with a tri-fold disc holder. Each picture bears its own character (blurry forest with handscrawled text, a sleeping cat, and what appears to be an old wallpaper pattern) But on to the music. Black to Comm (aka Marc Richter who also runs Dekorder) knows how to keep it short and sweet with 8 songs clocking in at under 37 minutes. Ruckwarts Backwards opens with the aptly titled 'Bees' some gentle buzzing of said insect is later accompanied by some child-like hums, this gives way to the second song 'Levitation' which is a gentle soundscape of rising and falling organ tones backed by a field recording. 'Lucifer Lacca' ushers in an operatic vocal loop that reaches crescendo and ends with another bit of childrens singing. The feel is still subdued and continues throughout the record, I'm reminded at times of Tape, not so much in sound but in how I feel while listening to them. The title track is a series of interlocking vibraphone melodies that are augmented by computer processing. The computer treatments are more of an enhancement rather than something that would radically alter the source sounds. Track 5 is my personal favorite with a minimalist and slightly buzzing drone that crossfades with a quieter drone. The remainder of the album hits just the right drone spot! Minimal loops with a somber feel, that guides you right to the end. The credits list microphones, voice, and kitchen gamelan, and Marc is good at assembling seemingly unrelated segments into gently blurred landscapes that roll by with an ease and comfort. In a few words..... simple, and elegant. Ruckwarts Backwards follows a self titled 10" also on Dekorder. Very curious to hear to more from this project.

Chris Jeely | VITAL WEEKLY

Dekorder label head Marc Richter obviously has a penchant for collecting vinyl – or that’s at least what this debut release under the moniker Black To Comm suggests. Compiled from an epic array of vinyl sources ranging from obvious traditional/classical to psychedelica and distorted free jazz, Richter revitalises his abstracted sources, seeking out loops and fragments to create new swirling arrangements. Like many records involving the use of vinyl, the album ebbs and flows in a predictable but suitably rewarding way; Black To Comm continues in the vein of many contemporary turntable users, processing the sources heavily. Texture remains a reference to the origins of this session, rather than the purpose of investigation itself. Surface noise is an important element, but never quite resolves to become the central focus of any one piece. With the odd field recording thrown in, this record is an genuinely enjoyable listen. From dronescape to detail, it’s simple but well crafted and efficiently executed.

Lawrence English | PARIS TRANSATLANTIC

Eine höchst anschauliche Platte, die mit einem Track über Bienen beginnt auf dem sehr viel gesummt wird, dann geht's weiter mit einem erhebenden Track ordentlich psychedelisch, rückwärtsgeloopter Zausel, der sich passend, klar, "Levitation" nennt, und so geht es weiter quer durch verschiedenste Szenerien als wären wir alle digitale Pfadfinder mit einem Kulturbeutel auf dem Rücken an dem wir schön leicht tragen. Brilliant und extrem angenehm, eine Platte die zurecht eine schnurrende Katze auf dem Cover hat.
*****

Bleed | DE:BUG

Auf dem Hamburger Minimal-Music-Label hat Chef Marc Richter alias Black to Comm seine bildschönen field recordings in ein Albumdebut umgesetzt, das vornehmlich aus Aufnahmen von Shellacplatten, Vinyl-Loops und Umgebungs- geräuschen besteht. Daraus zieht er eine dichte, verschroben gesampelte Spielzeugtruhenmusik, die mit Shellac-Cracks einlullt und mit digital veränderten Geräuschaufnahmen stört. Über kurz repetierte Loops wird die Nostalgie der Nestwärme durch den Computer gefälscht und zusammen mit Versatzstücken aus Vaudeville oder Free Jazz in einen emotionalen, letztlich hochkonzeptionellen und stets auch räumliche Enge kreiierenden Sound verblichener Zeiten überführt, der so wahrscheinlich nur heute entstehen kann.

Pascal Blum | KOMMERZ

Man muss kein Freund esoterischer Lehren sein, um sich für die meditative Ruhe der Black-To-Comm-Musik begeistern zu können. "Rückwärts Backwards" ist das Albumdebüt des Dekorder-Label-Betreibers Marc Richter, das er zwischen 2003 und 2005 in seiner Wahlheimat Hamburg und seiner Kindheimat, dem Schwarzwald, aufgenommen hat. Mit elektro-hippieskem Charme kombiniert er in seinen Tracks Psychedelia-Gitarren- und Geigen-Feedbacks mit Knarz- und Rausch-Loops, Vogelgezwitscher und anderen Naturgeräuschen. Trotz oder wahrscheinlich vielmehr aufgrund des Spannungsverhältnisses zwischen den zufälligen Fieldrecordings und den manipulierten Geräuschquellen erhält die Musik Black To Comms ihre atmosphärische Lebendigkeit und Dichte. Egal, in welcher Situation oder Umgebung man "Rückwärts Backwards" hört, die vertrauten als auch fremden Samples entrücken den Hörer von der Realität und umschließen ihn anheimelnd warm. Man fühlt sich geborgen und aufgehoben, als ob man dem Schnurren einer Katze lauscht. Nicht ohne Grund findet sich solch ein Vierbeiner auf dem Cover abgebildet, der bereits visuell auf die wohligen Klänge einstimmt.

Matthias Schneider | INTRO

At times it is hard to define in electronic / ambient / experimental music between composition and construction. Most of the times even the distinctions between the two get blurred. Unless there is a certain theoretical element outspoken before the recording or production starts, the mashing of these terms is one of the main features of a lot of music from the fringe. Almost every artist or release on Dekorder had this opposition and its destruction at least as a subtext hidden somewhere inside. Most of what you can find on the label defies any kind of structural process of development along guidelines akin to the “rules” of classic composition or songwriting but prefers to tag along very subconscious and emotional lines, which are perfunctorily established, mutated and just as easily destroyed by the idiosyncrasies of the artist, the basic atmosphere and of whatever happens during the process of recording itself. Thinking about it, this very intimate touch and look into the artists mind gives a lot if not most releases on Dekorder its special warmth, depth and humanity. And that is even true for Hegre.

On “rückwärts backwards” the warmth and emotional lushness of the tracks / sounds also comes from their origin as old vinyl loops from operas, springtime field recordings – there is birdsong all over the first third of the records – and the sounds of old-fashioned instruments. The hissing and scratching still imbued from the vinyl loops and the recording of those instruments adds another layer of antiquity. The title refers to this using vintage sounds and instruments, though it hides that these sounds are being used in a deeply modern manner for ambient soundscapes and drones. So there is nothing conservative or reactionary about this record, rather the reviving of old found (?) sounds and the re-connotation within a (for most people anyway) still futuristic and avantgarde concept of music is brewing up a recipe for safeguarding the way into the future for at least some of the concepts developed in the last years.

The effect is an awesome listening experience, as you can almost feel the streams of emotion and innovation running from the past into the future right by your side. In parts the sounds are reduced to the crackle and hiss of old records under a worn needle and those sounds blown up to supersonic proportions, to detect their minutest details. At other times field recordings like birds or the wind rustling bring up pictures in the mind of long lost peaceful autumn days in your childhood. In between the mood changes between droning layers of minimalist sounds mixed with noise bristling with life and energy and sample-based tracks contrasting quite clearly discernible bitparts of sound sources.

I am hard pressed to find the “slightly disturbing atmosphere hidden beneath the surface” the info-sheet writes about, except in some instanced where monotonous signals grow from nothing into big wavering sirens and then into single-note wall of sound drones, as for instance in “El Huis pt.1”. Most of the tracks, for me at least, shine with warmth and light, embracing the listener in a squivering and hovering feeling of home and all the good of a personal history. The variety of emotions encoded in the eight tracks on “rückwarts backwards” is quite big, but overall and within my poinf of view they are all more on the positive and lively side. Some of them even happy. Maybe it is just the picture of a cat peacefully sleeping that can never evoke any kind of negative connotations but radiates a feeling of pure comfiness.

Apart from the overall effect it is also worthwhile and nicely fullfilling to open an ear towards all kinds of small things and parts that were mixed into the tracks. “March of the Vivian Girls” is a moving, wavering and finally accelerating drone that takes its title from a short span of marching drums mixed into the back. At times the noises and crackles in the back are taken from old records, at other times they seem to come from distorting digital sounds until they sound like the analogous recording of wood burning in a stove. Where do the birds come from? Where do the vocals come from? Where do the various kinds of noise come from? Let’s check the glockenspiel in all its traditional, folkloristic glory or is it just an incident of randomness? Let’s track back the backwards recorded sounds of some tracks, e.g. the very last one, back to the title and enjoy the fine wordplay that seems to spring from the thought. Sometimes in dealing with these more subtle and refined electronica-records they can only give you as much as you give back to them beforehand. In other words, it depends on you, the listener, how much you’ll get back from them.

Marc Richter aka Black To Comm is the mind behind the Dekorder label, so the expectations towards this album were quite high. They were even raised higher by re-listening to his first 10” on Dekorder, where he produced sounds by using a filter that transformed pictures into sounds, which produced intense multilayered yet peacefully hovering walls of sounds and drones. What I wanted to hear was something satisfying both intellectually and as a pure listening experience. By which I mean, that when listening to it, I wanted to be able to enjoy it as an experience on a purely physical level but also get the undeniable feeling that I am listening to something new, exciting and worthwhile. The whole mass of people producing and releasing in electronic music have made both points harder to reach and more and more important for me as a listener. “Rückwärts backwards” lives up to all of these expectations and beyond.

Georg Gartlgruber | CRACKED

I was not familiar with Dekorder owner Marc Richter's musical alias, who must have released some vinyl or ep before, this "Rückwärts Backwards" being his full-length debut. The lavish, multi-coloured and vaguely surreal collage-based packaging serves as a good introduction for BTC's approach to music: Richter basically revisits pre-existing melodies by using shellac and vinyl loops, adding some bizarre vocals here ("Bees"), some toy gamelan there ("Virtuosity Is A Means To An End") and environmental recordings, creating floating and fragile soundscapes which will appeal anyone into Philip Jeck's humane turntablism. Tracks like "Lucifer Lacca", with its looped choirs and a slowed down, hyper-dilated string plucking, or "March of the Vivian Girls", with a triumphant crescendo of distorted melodies and skipping snare drums, show Richter's talent for out there but emotionally moving compositions - I'd dare say "experimental pop" (there are a lot of pops throughout, actually) if it didn't suggest radically different things. Not all tracks are as convincing and memorable as the above mentioned examples, but "Rückwärts Backwards" is still a finely crafted album, perfect for quiet and melancholic afternoons. (3.5/5)

Eugenio Maggio | CHAIN DLK

Già autore di un omonimo 10" dal crudo cipiglio rumorista (BU #69), Black To Comm - al secolo il signor Dekorder Marc Richter - cambia pelle e, obliterando le ragioni di siffatta denominazione (un pezzo dei torrenziali MC5), riveste di foschia drone-ambient le otto tracce di "Rückwärts Backwards". Ed è tutto un tremolare di field recordings, bisbigli di habitat boschivi, plananti melodie d'organo e vibrafono processate digitalmente, vecchie lacche inceppate in loop dal profilo sobriamente severo. Niente che non si sia già ascoltato, ma qui c'è l'indubbio merito di un assemblaggio di classe. (7/8)

Nicola Catalano | BLOW UP

Interessante uscita di Marc Richter sotto il moniker di Black To Comm, forte della sua stessa label, la teutonica Dekoder (quella dell' Hafler Trio), in un tripudio gentile e sperimentale di manipolazioni sonore e field recording. Elaborazioni ambientali ed anche melodiche fra organi vintage, piano, chitarre acustiche ed elettriche, registrate in analogico, sospese, quasi irreali nella finta nostalgia dei tempi andati, mescolando frammenti di free jazz, psichedelia, canzoni da vaudeville e motivi ancor più tradizionali, volendo al tempo stesso quasi celarne le fonti, mantenendo leggere queste influenze sull'ispirazione complessiva. Solo otto le tracce, approntate fra Amburgo e la Foresta Nera, un lavoro di due anni, personalissima meditazione che puntualmente c'induce a riflettere su quanto la computer music al suo meglio non sia affatto medium impersonale ma al contrario intima ed eclettica ricognizione su quello che sempre attorno a noi è presente e fluido.

Aurelio Cianciotta | NEURAL.IT

Black To Comm alias Marc Richter, fondateur du label Dekorder (John Hegre, The Hafler Trio, Guido Möbius…) dévoile avec ce Rückwarts Backwards un opus où prédomine l'art de la boucle. Ainsi se côtoient sur les huit titres que compte l'album sonorités psychédéliques et free jazz - orgues et glockenspiel à l'appui - soutenues à l'occasion par des chants d'oiseaux et autres fantaisies. On pénètre peu à peu dans un univers peuplé de mélodies surannées et d'arrangements naïfs, qui réussissent à créer une atmosphère à la fois mélancolique et cotonneuse, empreinte d'une douce nostalgie. Une démonstration de sensibilité et de simplicité à l'état brut.

Elodie Pellissier | OCTOPUS

Si l'introductif Bees nous laisse pendant 3 minutes en compagnie d'un essaim d'abeilles évoluant dans un milieu naturel où le vent souffle, les oiseaux sifflent et l'eau clapote, la suite des excursions sonores proposées par Marc Richter est fort heureusement quelque peu différente, quoique tout aussi curieuse.
Essentiellement basée sur la superposition plus ou moins abondante de drones, d'orgues vintage, de boucles chopées sur de vieux vinyles, de craquements, souffles et documents naturalistes, la musique de Black to Comm nous convie à des ambiances surréelles, hypnotiques, troubles et pas toujours des plus accueillantes.
De ce tissu sonore diffus émergent parfois des bribes de mélodies souvent sous forme de notes inversées de guitare (Levitation), de glockenspiel opacifié (Rückwärts backwards), de mbira (Virtuosity is a means to an end) ; des tambours militaires qui roulent (March of the vivian girls) ou des petits cris de gnomes et des voix féminines échappées d'un gramophone centenaire (le flippant Laccifer lacca).
Etrange et intrigant à plus d'un égard, Rückwärts backwards est un disque aux climats troubles, moites, parfois oppressants. (7.0)

Sébastien Radiguet | ONDE FIXE | BENZINE

Premier album de Marc Richter sorti sur son propre label Dekorder, Rückwärts Backwards, avec son titre bilingue qui sied bien à la musique enregistrée ici, semble s'inscrire tout droit dans la ligne défendue par Dekorder, au point que celui-ci semble n'avoir creusé de sillon que pour accueillir cette sortie. Sortie qui synthétise ainsi parfaitement l'esprit, mais qui est aussi, du coup, un peu attendue, et assez tranquille - trop peut-être pour secouer nos habitudes d'auditeurs.

Evoluant entre psychédélisme et musique informatique pure, en passant par les manipulations vocales et les arythmies métalliques fabriquées de bric et de broc pour un tribalisme bon marché et amusant, la musique de Black To Comm semble vouloir se jouer à plaisir des contraintes et des formes de productions. Lo-Fi bien que produite avec subtilité et sensibilité, elle juxtapose sons écorchés et boucles d'ampleur et d'intensité variables, liant l'ensemble à l'aide de synthés vintages, de guitares et de glockenspiel. Grenier musical où les samples ne se distinguent plus des compositions originales, où le field recording trouve une fonction ornementale que la musique électronique a tendance à délaisser désormais, et qui semble suggérer quelque souvenir triste à son auditeur, un parfum de mélancolie, une atmosphère qui ne manque pas de charme bien qu'un peu lénifiante. Dommage, malgré le charme certain de cet album, qu'il n'ait pas choisi plus résolument l'énergie et la vitalité à la mélancolie : l'ensemble n'en aurait été que plus séducteur.

Johnny One Shot | INFRATUNES

Het fijne Dekorder label wordt gerund door Marc Richter uit Hamburg (niet te verwarren met Max). Zelf blijkt hij ook in staat muziek te maken, want als Black To Comm debuteert hij nu met de cd Rückwärts Backwards. Het album is een verzameling opnames die hij tussen 2003 en 2005 heeft gemaakt en bestaat hoofdzakelijk uit gruizige scratches, vinyl loops in combinatie met veldopnames en elektronica. Je hoort onder meer stemmanipulaties, gamelan, duimpiano en insectengeluiden die hij hand in hand gaan met geluiden van orgels, gitaren, piano en klokkenspel. Dat levert een spannende, duistere en bovenal hypnotiserende hybride op van glitch, ambient, Vaudeville, psychedelische muziek, plunderphonics, soft-noise en drone-muziek. Het houdt het midden tussen Graeme Revell, Fennesz, Francisco López, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Deaf Center, Rapoon, Pimmon en Loren Nerell. Telkens word je verrast door de "gevonden" geluiden en de beklemmende, filmische atmosfeer die geproduceerd lijkt door het Tropische regenwoud. Marc Richter creëert hier een bloedstollende aaneenschakeling van intrigerend geluid.

Jan Willem Broek | SUBJECTIVISTEN

Jeg sitter inne og stirrer ut av vinduet på en vår, ja det er faktisk vår, som er gråere og tristere enn noen gang jeg tidligere kan huske. Det er grått, det er kaldt og vått; en verden stikk motsatt av den vi serveres på Marc Richter aka Black To Comm sin debutplate Rückwärts Backwards. Richter er også mannen som står bak det lille plateselskapet Dekorder som kan skilte med blant annet John Hegre og Maja Ratkje-utgivelser i katalogen.

Vanligvis murer jeg meg inne gjennom hele den mørke vinteren med et utvalg plater som står til været. Avbruddene kommer kun av nødvendigheter som forelesninger eller jobb. Mørket, snøen og regnet skaper en stemning som innbyr mer til en flaske rødvin og Deaf Center, enn det gjør lyst øl og The Thrills. Men så pleier da mars å komme, ja jeg husker den gode gamle mars, den mars der snøen smelter bort og sola titter fram. Da dagene starter med at lyset sniker seg inn mellom gardinene i stedet for det uavbrutte og tunge mørke som har både startet og avsluttet hver bidige dag i tre måneder nå. Samtidig som været blir lysere, blir også sinnet åpnet og all slags varme omfavnes med større glede enn noen annen tid på året. Det er som om din beste venn, eller kjæreste, har returnert etter en flere måneder lang reise, der du med få unntak har hatt kontakt med han/henne.
Selv om det er en fullstendig mangel på vårlige elementer i år, kan det virke som om det er en biologisk innstilling i meg som forteller meg at det er på tide å tre ut av mørket igjen. Den som skaper den første varmen denne våren er tyskeren Marc Richter.

Plata starter med ”Bees”, et rent feltopptak av bier som surrer rundt i lufta. Surringen kommer nærmere for så å fjerne seg igjen, før den etter tre minutter forsvinner helt. Selve låta er ikke spesielt memorabel, men det er en god pekepinn på landskapet Richter tegner opp for oss på resten av plata. Stemningen er intim og naiv, som et perfekt soundtrack for de sommerdagene du befinner deg i en liminalfase. Andre sporet er ”Levitation”, platas sterkeste spor. Koselig vinylknitring ligger over en repeterende orgellinje og forsiktig klokkespill. Det hele får et varmt, meditativt preg, og etter hvert som låta svever av gårde fletter Richter inn feltopptak av skildrende bekker og fuglekvitter som skaper et stort og vakkert lydbilde uten å være for påtrengende. En vakker ambient hyllest til naturen, og en perfekt avkobling for alle som trenger fem minutters pause fra hverdagslivets evige mas.

Perlene fortsetter som på en snor etter dette. ”Laccifer Lacca” er en jagende låt bygd opp av korte loops som Richter har samplet fra noe som høres ut som en dramatisk operaoppsetning fra 40-tallet. Over samplingen høres et hav av stemmer og en dommedags lignende gitarspilling, og akkurat når lyden virker å nå sitt klimaks kuttes alt brått og tjue sekunders naiv barnesang avslutter et herlig forstyrrende spor. Tittelsporet kombinerer varm fuzz med repeterende klokkespill og gamle psykedeliske samples. Assosiasjonene går i retning av de fineste øyeblikkene man kan få med Fennesz eller Belong, og er en godbit for alle med en forkjærlighet for varme harmonier druknet i fuzz.

Slik fortsetter siste halvdel av plata også, det er ingen svake spor her. Rückwärts Backwards er gjennomført vakker og mestrer en perfekt balanse mellom naive arrangementer og surrealistiske, jagende droner. Plata ligger i krysningspunktet mellom den tradisjonelle og stille naturen, og den urbane og stressende moderniteten. Varmen som de analoge opptakene skaper står i kontrast til de jagende samplingene som bygger seg opp til mektige lydbilder. Men fokuset til Richter ligger på det varme og det gode. Akkurat som den mørke ”Laccifer Lacca” ender i barnesang, har hver eneste låt en avslappende og rolig atmosfære bak lydveggene. For meg virker det som om Richter aller helst vil ligge på en gressplen i stekende sol dagen lang, mens han lytter til lydene fra naturen rundt seg, men har innfunnet seg med at dette er umulig. Likevel deler han sin fantasiverden med oss, og gir undertegnede, og forhåpentligvis en liten haug andre, en perfekt start på våren. Og ja, nå tittet visst sola fram også gitt.

Morten Finslo | HISSIG

Got a beautiful new single from Black To Comm, the solo project of Dekorder head Marc Richter. Levitation/Astoria (Black To Comm 7") is a gorgeous, lathe-cut picture disc that combines one side of meditational float with another that chatters and boings like one of those great Nonesuch Explorer LPs heard through a closed window at the wrong speed when you're about ten years old and feeling very foggy on a combination of fever and cough syrup. Frankly, I prefer the more screwed-up side, but listening to it made me go back and get a bit deeper into the subtleties of its flip.

Byron Coley | THE WIRE

This is debut release from a 'new computer music artist from Hamburg, Germany'. I have no clue who is behind this, but I am sure it's someone who loves to put on some drone music, in combination with some finer points of computer processing. The result may count to some as drone music, but it's drone music of a more violent nature. The bowed sounds that open the b-side of this record, explode within seconds into a mighty violent drone, with machine gun shots fired through plug ins. References in the computer treated guitar music are obvious (think early Fennesz or Pimmon), but the whole violence that is generated is more linked to noise music ala Merzbow, even when there are more quiet spots to be noted here than on an average Merzbow CD. Quite a nice little record, which is albeit too short to have a good picture of what this guy can do. Looking forward therefore to the more extended programm.

Frans de Waard | VITAL WEEKLY

Presumably named after The MC5's free rock epic, Black To Comm is a computer music artist from Hamburg. On their debut release, Black To Comm, the sounds consist of cascading short bursts of electronic gibberish, woven into sheets of shimmer that fall through space glistening, then wiggle on the floor with all the grace and beauty of twitching Moray eels. It appears there are some guitar samples jammed into the mix at points, but it's a bit less like The MC5 than some might hope. Still, if you can imagine a version of that group evolving inside digital traditions, maybe there's a synaptic connection after all.

Byron Coley | THE WIRE

Label Chef Marc Richter präsentiert auf dieser titellosen 10“ seine eigene Interpretation von Drones, denen jeglicher meditativer Charakter abhanden gekommen ist. Die Platte beginnt mit einer unscheinbaren und langgezogenen Klangschwurbel, die sich plötzlich zu einer kratzigen Lärmkaskade entwickelt und genauso abrupt abbricht. Auf der B-Seite hat es dann den Anschein, als ob Marc einem australischen Ureinwohner seine alte Metalkutte überreicht, anschließend die Klänge dessen Didgeridoo´s durch einen Gitarrenverzerrer jagt und dann mit digitalen Kommentaren seines Computers versehen. Ein im positivem Sinne seltsames und viel versprechendes Debüt.

Daniel Döring | REVELATION

The info says something I don’t understand: photoshop-composition. Please, explain that to me. I want to know, how that works. But don’t ever explain this record to me. I don’t want to know how it works. It is more than sufficient to see and experience it work. These sometimes harsh, sometimes tragic multi-layered drones of Black To Comm live by their obscurity and enigma. Lots of frequency manipulation, digital and analogue, sampling and computer-effects make up an interesting and addictive mix of plain noise and colourful walls of sounds in effective drones. Expect to be drawn in, chewed and spit out, but leave a better person than you were.

Once again Dekorder strays far away from the dancefloor and releases music from the fringes of electronic music, even though visually – minimal design with uni-colored sleeve and no printing, clear-vinyl and limited edition of 250 – this ten inch might easily be mistaken for a dance-record in the bin. I’d like to see the face of the aspiring DJ, when he puts this record on the turntable in the store to do his customary ten-second-a-plate-listening (usually using his full hands and fingers to handle the records, which makes an old vinyl-lover like me cringe with disgust and pain. Obviously, these DJ-wannabes, though they all demand vinyl-records, either no absolutely nothing about vinyl – for instance that touching the surface with your fingers leaves marks of sweat and fat which make dust and dirt stick to the surface and thereby ruin the record – or they just don’t give a damn anyway.) Anyway, our young, supercool DJ-dude puts on Black to Comm, expecting some cool beats and a groovy bassline, and, of course, he puts the needle right in the middle of the first side, and ?boom? – he is confronted with a multilayered, quirky and weirdly sounding drone that actually starts at the beginning of the side, grows and grows and adds more and more layers and the slowly but definitely stops towards the end of the side. Our aspiring super-DJ won’t believe it, so he will flip the needle further and further into the record only to discover bigger and bigger walls of indescribable sounds.

Unbelievingly shaking his head, he might even turn the record over and start his accustomed procedure of listening into records, the well-known ten-second-a-record marathon by only listening to small portions of each record at the beginning, the middle and the two thirds-mark of each side. This way he is not at all prepared, for what is to come next, because side A of this release turns into a beautiful harsh-noise-piece at the end. Side B starts off like a Melvins-bass-drone-record and then moves slowly but steadily into the harsh-noise-territory of the end of side A by laying interferences and bass-drones over each other over and over again and then suddenly introducing interference-sounds and white-noise-frequency-manipulation. Actually, this is a beautiful mixture of Aube and Buddhist mantras, but I don’t think our DJ will see the references. My guess is, he will put the headsets away after ingesting Black To Comm, take a deep breath and search for the latest EP by Basement Jaxx or by any other well-known dance-project.

That’s a pity, because that way he misses the third track, that closes of this wonderful EP. Another nameless track, that combines more frequency-manipulation, but this time more subtle, with distorted noises that sound very much like a monster-robot breathing and a monotonous bell-sound. The dragon’s nightmares in the cellar of a Buddhist temple? Let your connotations and associations run wild, with Black To Comm, because there is not a single hint as to how you should take this music. What kind of liberty and freedom the artist employs you with, ain’t that grand? You won’t be able to put your finger on the spot and say what this really is. Definitely a hard ride through some surprising sounds, mingling with your own traumas and experiences and setting you on fire with noise, at other times lulling you into the belly of the beast to be devoured gladly. Or some such.

Georg Gartlgruber | CRACKED

Und die dritte 10" dieses recht obskuren Labels aus, ja woher eigentlich, ah, Webseite ist schön, Hamburg von allen Orten. Metaphorisch betrachtet würde ich mal behaupten diese Platte klingt wie der Sound einer digitalisierten Kloschüssel von unten. Jedenfalls auf der A-Seite die sich lang lang Zeit lässt, bevor sich mit in unerwartete (man dachte es passiert eigentlich nichts mehr) Harmoniewechsel, tja, wechselt um mit brachialeren Drones abzuschliessen. Auf der Rückseite dürften alle die solche Musik nicht kennen vermuten, dass das Bruttosozialprodukt über Nacht in die Höhe geschnellt ist, weil die Arbeiter sich in der Wohnung neben an so ins Zeug legen, ich vermute aber dieser Klang der eiserne Spähne wehen lässt dront aus einer anderen Richtung. Der letzte Track klingt so als hätte man einen Bienenstock in die Wanduhr gesperrt und würde die nun als Inhalator benutzen. Vielseitig das.

Bleed | DE:BUG

Auf der namenlosen 10? gibt Labelmacher Marc seinen eigenen musikalischen Einstand und liefert damit gleich einen Festschmaus für Freunde computergenerierter Musik ab, welcher zwischen pulsierenden Datenpaketen, tiefergelegten Hardrocksamples versus bohrenden Lärmschleifen (Sunn O))) als Laptop Variante?) und Kratz’n Knister Electronica pendelt. Auch ohne Pathosanfälle befindet sich das "Black" im Titel nicht ohne Grund.

Sascha Bertoncin | TRIGGERFISH

Die 10" des Projekts Black to Comm fasziniert mit sirrenden Laufgeräuschen. Wie singende Heuschrecken im Nebel klingt das.

Yves | AUF ABWEGEN