camille emaille/hans koch/dieb13 "äbe" confront recordings 2023

camille émaille: percussion dieb13: turntables hans koch: soprano saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet
recorded by oli dutton, marc lardon and dieter kovačič
le Singe, biel/biene, 10-11 january 2022
postremise, chur, 11 january 2023

mixed and mastered by martin siewert, hans koch, and dieter kovačič

cover photography by camille émaille
design by matthew brandi
produced by mark wastell

reviews:
squidco.com
thewire.co.uk



squidco.com review:

Camille Emaille / dieb13 / Hans Koch
Abe
(Confront)

review by Jeph Jerman
2023-11-07
This ominous flat black disc houses an enchanting set of free improv from the trio of Camille Emaille on percussion, dieb13 on turntables and Hans Koch on reeds. Sound sources are often concealed within each other and difficult to parse, though occasional recognizable instrument sounds pop out like signposts pointing toward more familiar territory. Bits of warped transmissions comment or cajole, and there's a slight queasiness that appears from time to time. Bent feedback? Check. Metallic gristle? Check. Knuckle-rapping and chair squeak? Double check.

A lot of these pieces are pyramidal in form, which is not a criticism but merely an observation. At times the sounds might seem at odds with each other, being gradually brought into coalescence by nothing short of sheer bloody-minded insistence — the alien becoming familiar through continued attention. Perhaps then this is the aim? To find ways of interacting which "make sense" to all involved? This is certainly a worthwhile endeavor, having as it does a myriad of uses in everyday life as well as in future musical investigations.

The exercise entitled "Hibou des Marats" could be a case in point. Quick bird-whistle warblings are set amid vinyl crackle and a slippery high-pitched ringing that mimics tinnitus. Add some wooden knocks and electronic brujeria and we're in a land where quotidian things are rendered uncanny. "Downhill From Here" lets us in on a quiet confab of tottering frequencies and low growl with insistent clickety click. By the time things grow heated, we're thoroughly invested and routing for the gathered to come to a consensus. Believe me, it all makes perfect sense. The aforementioned queasiness is much in evidence for "Grampoolschybe". Waves of warped tones are joined by watery bubblings and reedy tight-rope balancing. A maybe-pulse questions and then recedes, and some lip burble offers a comment. Footsteps? No wait, it's definitely someone snoring, dreaming of Dr. Caligary and Dr. Suess playing cards in a parchment lined room. Here, wanna see?

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thewire.co.uk review:

Camille Émaille/dieb13/Hans Koch
ÄBE
Confront CD/LP
Are Turntables the most haunted of musical sound sources? In dieb13's hands they seem to suggest a ghostly presence - like a thick layer of dust - whether through the accretion of vinyl crackle or sudden blasts of unidentifiable, achingly nostalgic radio blare. Saxophonist/clarinettist Hans Koch adds phlegmy gurgles and piercing siune waves, while percussionist Camille Émaille interposes scrapes and rumbles, occasionally rising to a free yet restrained barrage of kick drum and cymbals. A sense of tentative unease pervades these improvised sketches, menace lurking in the wide interstices, like walking into a room and instantly knowing you shouldn't be there.

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