Reviews Zarek 09
ANDREA ERMKE – PIKE
Likewise I never heard of Andrea Ermke, who is from Berlin. She works with field recordings and sampling of ‘hand-made sounds’. Her improvisational work is different from the usual things coming out of Berlin, as she isn’t exactely ‘onkyo’. The piece ‘Pike’ lasts almost nineteen minutes and is very upfront, very present in your space.
Taking field recordings and feeding them through the sampler this is also a raw work, even when it is made more refined than Iovae’s release. Shifting through loud passages aswell as several softer spots, but at the same time it is also a bit unfocussed in what she wants with her music. It’s nice enough but moves around too much to leave a fully satisfied impression.
Frand de Waard – Vital Weekly
??Ignaz Schick, who runs the Zarek label, was (is still?) a member of Berlin’s Phosphor collective and the trio Perlonex (with Burkhard Beins and Jörg Maria Zeger), but has recently distanced himself somewhat from the chilly lowercase aesthetic that characterised Phosphor’s debut album on Potlatch. These two latest outings from Zarek represent a move away from the introvert asceticism of Petit Pale, Schick’s earlier outing with Andrea Neumann, towards a noisier outside world. Berlin-based Andrea Ermke’s Pike – she seems to have a thing about fish.. the last track of hers I came across was “Fish In A Box” on the excellent Charhizma compilation Labor (either that or it’s a homage to Ian Lavender’s character in the cult BBC comedy series Dads Army, though I seriously doubt it) – is a splendidly active 20-minute piece using sampler, minidisc and field recordings. Gritty clusters and oppressive hums combine with gasps, sighs, roaring traffic, dripping taps and slamming doors to produce a rich and rewarding listening experience. File this one alongside Joel Stern and Michael Northam’s Wormwood on Ground Fault. Watch out for the surprise ending too while you’re at it.??
Dan Warburton – Paristransatlantic