Eyal Hareuveni at Salt Peanuts:
Koole explores the sonic potential of this vintage guitar as a string sound generator and improvises-investigates methodically its raw, primitive and brutal sound and its resonant qualities or as an instrument that corresponds with worldly and otherworldly exotic string instruments. There are no familiar narratives or predictable chord changes. oê [39:08] is released as a limited edition 12’’ vinyl, and both sides begin with urgent, fractured themes, followed by pieces that suggest more dense and complex textures, almost mechanical ones on the second side of the album.
https://salt-peanuts.eu/record/matthias-koole/
Four years after [34:46], a solo guitar album that looked back on my work with the electric guitar, I am releasing oê [39:08], an album that aims to open up new paths.
It is an album recorded on a steel string guitar, a very old, tiny parlor guitar that I acquired shortly before the recording. The recording was part of the process of getting to know this instrument, which has since become a dear part of my instrumentation.
The titles are references or deferences to influences in the form of persons, entities or objects. On this album, I use no electronics at all, only a few objects that are usually not very unusual for guitar playing and music making, such as a capo, spider capo, cello bow or drumstick. Perhaps the most unusual object is a balloon. My intention with this album is not to change or transform the sound of the guitar, but to meet its material potential.
Side A consists of 5 tracks, on side B I start from a similar point as on side A, but take it in a different direction.
No cuts or overdubs.
The album was produced by Labor Neunzehn and is part of our residency in the context of the Weltoffenes Berlin program of the Berlin Senate.
Cover design: Valentina Besegher
Recording: Matthias Koole
Mix: Emygdio Costa
Mastering: Paulo Dantas
Released on OEM Records on October 02, 2023
Frans de Waard in Vital Weekly:
The guitar remains the guitar, but Koole takes a radical approach to his playing. No chords, no strumming, just hard plucking and rattling along the strings, with the occasional objects playing a role but never resulting in something that renders the guitar unrecognisable. Like the CD by Meirino/Noetinger, reviewed elsewhere, Koole has a somewhat brutalist method, without the electronics and hard cuts, but with the music being so loud/close to the microphone, it becomes alive and a monster it is. The second side contains some quieter moments, but it doesn't put you to sleep, far from it. Quite a blast these nearly forty minutes of guitar trashing.
https://www.vitalweekly.net/1408.html
It is an album recorded on a steel string guitar, a very old, tiny parlor guitar that I acquired shortly before the recording. The recording was part of the process of getting to know this instrument, which has since become a dear part of my instrumentation.
The titles are references or deferences to influences in the form of persons, entities or objects. On this album, I use no electronics at all, only a few objects that are usually not very unusual for guitar playing and music making, such as a capo, spider capo, cello bow or drumstick. Perhaps the most unusual object is a balloon. My intention with this album is not to change or transform the sound of the guitar, but to meet its material potential.
Side A consists of 5 tracks, on side B I start from a similar point as on side A, but take it in a different direction.
No cuts or overdubs.
The album was produced by Labor Neunzehn and is part of our residency in the context of the Weltoffenes Berlin program of the Berlin Senate.
Cover design: Valentina Besegher
Recording: Matthias Koole
Mix: Emygdio Costa
Mastering: Paulo Dantas
Released on OEM Records on October 02, 2023
Frans de Waard in Vital Weekly:
The guitar remains the guitar, but Koole takes a radical approach to his playing. No chords, no strumming, just hard plucking and rattling along the strings, with the occasional objects playing a role but never resulting in something that renders the guitar unrecognisable. Like the CD by Meirino/Noetinger, reviewed elsewhere, Koole has a somewhat brutalist method, without the electronics and hard cuts, but with the music being so loud/close to the microphone, it becomes alive and a monster it is. The second side contains some quieter moments, but it doesn't put you to sleep, far from it. Quite a blast these nearly forty minutes of guitar trashing.
https://www.vitalweekly.net/1408.html
Andy Hamilton in The Wire Magazine:
“On “Donkey Kick", it's hard to believe the percussive sounds come from flute. On “Inchworm”, additional effects are produced by a spring attached to the flute’s base, while the guitar is played with a cello bow. The noises on “Burpee” are uncannily reminiscent of a dentist’s high-pitched drill; “Duck Walk” is like a grumpy conversation. Droll, luminous and eventful.”
Fabrício Vieira in FreeForm, FreeJazz:
“As faixas podem ser divididas em dois blocos; de um lado, sete peças mais breves, duas delas com menos de 1 minuto, nas quais as ideias se desenvolvem de forma mais direta e pontual (exceção a “Donkey Kick”, que chega a 7 minutos e oferece mais tempo para as ideias irem preenchendo nossos ouvidos e atenção). A oitava peça, “Full Arch” (que forma sozinha o lado B na versão LP), se revela como uma síntese do projeto, abrindo e ressignificando caminhos pontuados pelas faixas mais breves. Com seus 18 minutos, “Full Arch” mostra a dupla em seu mais alto vigor criativo, desenvolvendo plenamente o proposto no projeto.”
Calisthenics is
the first album by Institute
for Certified Nomadic Illicit Sonic Practices (ICNISP),
the Berlin-based duo of Brazilian musicians Marina Cyrino (flute) and
Matthias Koole (el.guitar).
With a mixture of electronic and acoustic sound sources, objects and preparations, inside amplification and no-input mixing, the duo leads guitar and flute towards a common hybrid terrain. Sound perspectives are shifted, instrumental identities are displaced. The piccolo can function as a noise generator and a percussion instrument, the guitar can sound like a bird, the alto flute can be played by an external balloon that moans.
Partly inspired by drawings of the Handbook of Calisthenics and Gymnastics: A Complete Drill-book with Music to Accompany the Exercises by J. Watson, first published in 1864, ICNISP came up with a series of musical exercises to stay healthy and fit during the several lockdowns over the past few years. In a playful way, the titleCalisthenics also translates an agitation present in many of the duo's energetic playing modes.
On Side A, Calisthenicscomprises 7 tracks - or exercises - of different lengths, with a focus on specific instrumental materials or preparations. Side B consists of one track in which a larger form unfurls, with elements of the exercises concatenated into a Full Arch.
No cuts or overdubs.
Marina Cyrino - Amplified Piccolo and Alto Flute.
Matthias Koole - Electric Guitar.
Recorded and mixed by Rabih Beaini at Morphine Raum in Berlin. Mastered by Paulo Dantas in Rio de Janeiro.
Cover art by Sara Lambranho.
Dave Foxall in aJazzNoise:
“The A-side is a series of short, often-abrasive, sound sketches that combine electronic, acoustic and electrified sounds (if you’ve ever wanted to live inside a flute, this is what it sounds like). Then the B-side is a single, agitated ‘suite’. The intimacy and immediacy of the sound lifts this far above the usual ‘soundscape’ recording.”
With a mixture of electronic and acoustic sound sources, objects and preparations, inside amplification and no-input mixing, the duo leads guitar and flute towards a common hybrid terrain. Sound perspectives are shifted, instrumental identities are displaced. The piccolo can function as a noise generator and a percussion instrument, the guitar can sound like a bird, the alto flute can be played by an external balloon that moans.
Partly inspired by drawings of the Handbook of Calisthenics and Gymnastics: A Complete Drill-book with Music to Accompany the Exercises by J. Watson, first published in 1864, ICNISP came up with a series of musical exercises to stay healthy and fit during the several lockdowns over the past few years. In a playful way, the titleCalisthenics also translates an agitation present in many of the duo's energetic playing modes.
On Side A, Calisthenicscomprises 7 tracks - or exercises - of different lengths, with a focus on specific instrumental materials or preparations. Side B consists of one track in which a larger form unfurls, with elements of the exercises concatenated into a Full Arch.
No cuts or overdubs.
Marina Cyrino - Amplified Piccolo and Alto Flute.
Matthias Koole - Electric Guitar.
Recorded and mixed by Rabih Beaini at Morphine Raum in Berlin. Mastered by Paulo Dantas in Rio de Janeiro.
Cover art by Sara Lambranho.
Dave Foxall in aJazzNoise:
“The A-side is a series of short, often-abrasive, sound sketches that combine electronic, acoustic and electrified sounds (if you’ve ever wanted to live inside a flute, this is what it sounds like). Then the B-side is a single, agitated ‘suite’. The intimacy and immediacy of the sound lifts this far above the usual ‘soundscape’ recording.”
Dave Foxall in a Jazz Noise:
“Two improvised live sessions – phantasmagoric soundscapes, electronically shaped, acoustically evolved. Flutes, guitars and amplified objects rub up against computer electronics and field recordings.”
The album Quem Indica? consists of two
improvisations performed in the improvisation series Qi -
Quartas de Improviso, organized in Belo Horizonte (Brazil)
by Henrique Iwao and Matthias Koole. At Qi, they invite
individuals, artists or not, to improvise with them. In
these recordings, the guests are the musicians Natacha
Maurer and Ariane Stolfi, respectively.
The recordings for this album are part of a virtual season held during the Covid-19 pandemic. The recordings were made with Natacha Maurer in São José dos Campos, Ariane Stolfi in Arraial d'Ajuda, Henrique Iwao in Belo Horizonte (all in different states of Brazil) and Matthias Koole in Berlin.
In Qi157, Natacha improvises with objects and randomly selected noise and audio. The track has a noisy character, with Henrique playing snare drum, objects, shakuhachi flute, and electronics. Matthias plays steel string guitar and No Input mixing. In Qi148 Ariane plays with her own digital interface, Playsound.space, and acoustic objects generating textures and loops with which Henrique and Matthias interact in a more gestural way.
Todd McComb in medieval.org:
“The result is also rather coherent, in that the DIY vibe doesn't yield (much) to sonic exoticism, or feature instrumental technique per se. Instead, a collective sound is developed, and timbres are shifting constantly to elaborate & respond to that sonic environment. There's thus a sort of situated menagerie, novel overall textures at various points, but a sense of world (even "framed" in QI148). As the forgoing might already suggest, there's also a stability & repetition at times (such that a textural comparison for some passages might again beCompassion & Evidence...), often with more rhythmic drive on QI148, yet still with space for extended passages invoking a sort of insect-like twittering (& then even a generalized amphibian-amphibology...). There's perhaps a sort of sense of imminent chaos at times too, but these twisting & sculpted worlds don't seem to break apart. […] So, once again, there's projection of hope (or at least life...), here around hybridity & perhaps pace changing habitats-worlds....”
The recordings for this album are part of a virtual season held during the Covid-19 pandemic. The recordings were made with Natacha Maurer in São José dos Campos, Ariane Stolfi in Arraial d'Ajuda, Henrique Iwao in Belo Horizonte (all in different states of Brazil) and Matthias Koole in Berlin.
In Qi157, Natacha improvises with objects and randomly selected noise and audio. The track has a noisy character, with Henrique playing snare drum, objects, shakuhachi flute, and electronics. Matthias plays steel string guitar and No Input mixing. In Qi148 Ariane plays with her own digital interface, Playsound.space, and acoustic objects generating textures and loops with which Henrique and Matthias interact in a more gestural way.
Todd McComb in medieval.org:
“The result is also rather coherent, in that the DIY vibe doesn't yield (much) to sonic exoticism, or feature instrumental technique per se. Instead, a collective sound is developed, and timbres are shifting constantly to elaborate & respond to that sonic environment. There's thus a sort of situated menagerie, novel overall textures at various points, but a sense of world (even "framed" in QI148). As the forgoing might already suggest, there's also a stability & repetition at times (such that a textural comparison for some passages might again beCompassion & Evidence...), often with more rhythmic drive on QI148, yet still with space for extended passages invoking a sort of insect-like twittering (& then even a generalized amphibian-amphibology...). There's perhaps a sort of sense of imminent chaos at times too, but these twisting & sculpted worlds don't seem to break apart. […] So, once again, there's projection of hope (or at least life...), here around hybridity & perhaps pace changing habitats-worlds....”