The Duo Ludwig Wittbrodt, that‘s Emily Wittbrodt on cello and Edis Ludwig on laptop. The two develop a thicket of sounds and melodies that absorbs us in a completely unpretentious way and fills us with associations and warmth. Sometimes in the jungle, sometimes under water in the desert, we are reminded of the achievements of both Krautrock and Neue Musik, of early electronic music as well as Drone and Ambient. Ludwig Wittbrodt released their second album “schleifen” march first 2024 on Ana Ott.
The duo of Edis Ludwig and Emily Wittbrodt pairs two musicians from different musical worlds, intersecting in experimentation. (…) For Schleifen (“Grind”) the cello and laptop become a mini-ensemble, capable of producing contemporary classical music, drones, and kosmische musik, within a consistent framework. Lovely stuff. FBi Radio Sydney
“Make you stay“ is a cycle of eight compositions by Emily Wittbrodt: Experimental recitatives and instrumental pieces with text about separation by Astrud Gilberto, E.E. Cummings, Stine Sampers and Emily Wittbrodt. Annie Bloch/ organs and voice, Jan Philipp/ drums and voice, Wolfgang Pérez/ guitar, electronics and voice, Edis Ludwig/ electronics and voice, Emily Wittbrodt/ cello, voice and composition.
“Via glitchy textures we segue into the genre-repudiating music of Emily Wittbrodt, from her new album Make You Stay, released by the equally unpigeonholeable label Ana Ott. The album is a cycle of eight pieces, alternating between “recitatives” and “arias”, adapting these baroque & early classical forms for a contemporary band. (…) Thus we have music that shifts between quite classical sounding arrangements, indiepop songs, burbling, glitching electronics and free jazz. It’s charmingly strange and strangely engaging music.”
The New Noise (Italy):
“(…) It is a strongly evocative and dynamic work by the German musician, who is not afraid to scale unorthodox heights or dissolve into languorous beauty (…)”
Groove Magazin:
“Freie Musik von freien Geistern. (…) Mit eingewebter, gesungener oder gesprochener Lyrik und geborgten Song-Lyrics wird aus den digital prozessierten Cello-Klängen und der zurückhaltend aufspielenden Jazz-Trio-Besetzung ihrer Backing-Kombo eine eigene, ziemlich moderne Art von Art-School-Pop. Unverkrampfte Avantgarde, die ganz unverhofft zum Mainstream werden könnte, ja sollte.”
Ephemeral Fragments is an electro-acoustic improvisation trio based in Berlin, Cologne and Zurich. Their music is characterized by an enormous density of textures and depth in sound without wandering too far away from a solid sense of control and reduction. Ephemeral fragments released their first album in 2022 on Umland records.
“Eine weitere Vinyl-Novität aus dem Hause Umland stammt von Ephemeral Fragments aka Emily Wittbrodt (Violoncello), Florian Walter (Tubax) und Korhan Erel (Electronics). So flüchtig und fragmentarisch ist das Ganze aber gar nicht, eher ein klangintensives Erlebnis von neun Trio-Stücken „Mit Gefühl“, so der Titel der Platte. Da braut sich mit atmosphärischer Dichte so Einiges zusammen in hybriden Farbmischungen, feinen Geräuschnuancen und melodischen Restbeständen zwischen Unruhe und Kontemplation, versehen mit einem gehörigen Quantum Melancholie. Am besten spät hören… “
One of hilde’s great strengths is her ability to find completely unexpected, sometimes downright daring links between abstract sonic invention and traditional grace. This rare gift is most evident in her live performances. It hardly matters who is responsible for which playful impulse, which tone colour, which composition or which spontaneous idea. Four musicians merge into one person, hilde, an individual with four heads and eight arms, who confronts us with massive gentleness on “Tide”. The same goes for the whole arc of the album. Each song stands on its own, but the order is not arbitrary. hilde is telling a story that needs to be heard from the first to the last note.
We like beautiful things,” hilde exclaims in unison. For them, improvisation is an expression of freedom that excludes nothing and allows everything. What sounds like a matter of course is – as 60 years of freely improvised music soberingly show us – not at all. Beautiful sounds, melodiousness and song structures that invite you to sing along are not embarrassing slips of the tongue, but deliberate. The basis for this intuitive unity goes far beyond the much quoted mutual trust. It is based on a benevolent reliability that is seldom lived in this unbreakability, which gives each of the four musicians the feeling of security they need to be able to go to the extreme as hilde and always reach the innermost – and vice versa.
Text by Wolf Kampmann
This is hardcore free music improv at its best: intense, focused, quick changing, challenging to the listeners and musicians alike and the excitement factor is up high. Vocalist Marie Daniels is particularly strong throughout, glad to hear her do her thing, cast her up there with Sainko, Iva Bittova & Catherine Jauniaux. What makes this disc so special is that all four members are equally strong, focused and intense improvisers. The interactions are often astonishing! – Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG (New York City)
Hilde rely on musical contrasts. For example, beautiful vocal passages can be coupled with true noise orgies, melodiousness meets dissonance, dreaminess meets high energy. There are no stylistic boundaries in this experimental, constantly surprising wonderland of contemporary chamber music, jazz, improv and avant-pop – so we can only wish this outstanding quartet from Cologne an influx of open-minded fans from all musical backgrounds. And anyone who experienced hilde at Bezau Beatz last year, for example, will also appreciate their stunning live qualities.
It doesn’t crash brutally and it never gets completely quiet. What Emily Wittbrodt (cello) and Hanna Schörken (voice) create together is rather a minimal approach to a common pulse. It is explored and transformed into sound. What? Exactly? Exploring subtleties, unraveling and entangling language, getting to the point, picking up and discarding.
Emily Wittbrodt and Hanna Schörken have been playing together since 2019 and met in the Ruhr area. Their music is created at the intersection of free improvisation, folk, jazz and poetry. Musical influences of the two musicians strand at different points in this project: Role models such as Jeanne Lee or Björk, as well as the lyricist E.E. Cummings and their own texts are reinterpreted by the duo and steered into very own paths. The communication of the instruments always remains transparent and direct, close to each other and at the same time independent of each other. They released their debut album on Umland records in September 2022.
Trio Vließ explores the sound possibilities of freely impovised chamber music. With a broad spectrum of techniques, objects, preparations and microtonal beats, the ensemble moves through a diverse soundscape. Whirring drones, percussive textures or diffuse tonal structures are woven and spun in counterpoint. The research processes draw from the players’ different musical imprints and lead to an interweaving of perspectives, sound ideas and experiences. The search for sound combinations forms the basis for their approach, resulting in a dissolution of genre boundaries and creating a sophisticatedly varied but contemplatively scenic listening experience.
Vließ released their debut album enz in April 2023 on IMPAKT records.
