Rising Fall
Water Damage, Lisa Streich at MusikFest Berlin, Michael Thieke & Beat Keller, Serious Series
The Glorious Sound of Destruction: Water Damage
Sometimes things just hit right. I’ve listened to some of the recordings made by the Austin, Texas juggernaut Water Damage in the past, and I’ve enjoyed them, but knowing that the group was making its Berlin debut this coming week—and being reminded of the wonderfully idiosyncratic playing of guitarist and group member Jonathan Horne, whom I caught with Ingebrit Håker Flaten’s superb (Exit) Knarr recently at Jazzfest Saalfelden—I made a deep dive. I wish I hadn’t waited so long. Water Damage is crude and simple, hitting upon a simple riff and riding it into the ground for an extended time, sometimes for an entire set, as with the killer performance captured on Live at Le Guess Who? (12XU/Cardinal Fuzz). But it’s also super deep.
The group counts around ten regular members, but personnel shifts often depending on availability. Even on its current tour the line-up changes from night to night. For the Berlin show at Neue Zukunft on Sunday, September 7 the group will consist of Horne, Travis Austin, Nate Cross, George Dishner, Thor Harris, Danielle Hills, and Jeff Piwonka. Apart from Horne I only know about sometime Swans drummer Thor Harris and Nate Cross, the owner of Astral Spirits Records. But I don’t think that matters. Water Damage is an elastic collective that seems to be community-driven more than anything else, getting together and creating spaced-out time stretching music, primitive jams that could cycle into infinity. Some may hear this as little more than raw jamming, a kind of neanderthal Grateful Dead—which certainly sounds more appealing than the actual Dead. Still, the triumphantly simple, repetitive nature of the musical frameworks would support some version of that assessment. But to me it’s all about the churn, not just the relentless grooves that barely if ever deviate apart from how they’re articulate, but the constantly morphing texture of multiple instruments all failing away at the same chord in phrases the shift from one bar to the next. It’s mostly guitar levitating in that viscous sonic olio, which makes the violin of Mari Maurice (aka more eaze), who is sadly not on this date, or the saxophone of a guest musician like Patrick Shiroishi sound that much more striking.
Since the rudiments of Water Damage’s music are so familiar it’s hard not to spit out points of comparison and for me it adds up a cross between Flipper and Outside the Dream Syndicate, the ripping 1973 album by Tony Conrad and Faust, although the vibe veers more to the trance out qualities of the late. Interestingly, the band’s new studio album Instruments (12XU/Cardinal Fuzz) fills its fourth side with a reduced cover of “India (Slight Return)” by the pioneering Swedish psych outfit Pärson Sound, but it’s a natural fit within the Water Damage sound so by the time you hear it feels less notable. The new record also offers a different tactic on “Reel 25,” with an extended drum-free drone hovering tenderly for the opening four minutes—which feels like the blink of an eye. When the beats kick in a lilting little stab on what appears to be violin enters, repeating over and over, conjuring the role of the queasy synth arpeggios that drags through Throbbing Gristle’s “Hamburger Lady.” You can hear the whole glorious 20 minutes of it below. The group’s recordings are more like documents that capture evolving emanations of a single ideal, but in the last couple of weeks I’ve happily let all of their albums wash over me, details blurring, pieces fusing. My question becomes will the recordings be less effective after catching the group playing in its natural habitat, live on stage? I’m eager to find out.
In Celebrating Helmut Lachenmann, Getting Pulled in by Lisa Streich
In honor of the singular German composer Helmut Lachenmann turning 90 on November 27 of this year, Musikfest Berlin, which began this past weekend, has programmed a variety of his works over the next few weeks, including a couple in the coming days. On Wednesday, September 3 at the Philharmonie Berlin Ensemble Modern and members of IEMA-Ensemble 2024/25 will play his superb 2005 ensemble work Concertini, and on September 7 in the same location Ensemblekollektiv, under the baton of Enno Poppe, will play ‘… zwei Gefühle …’, Musik mit Leonardo, a work from 1991-92 that pays homage to fellow composer Luigi Nono. The Berlin sound artist Christian Kesten will read the Leonardo da Vinci text at the performance. Both concerts are notable, of course, but in the process of looking into the program of both concerts I began to explore the music of Lisa Streich, a Swedish composer whose work is featured alongside Lachenmann, and, on the September 3 event, Unsuk Chin. I’ve heard some of her music here and there, including the terrific solo violin piece “Falter,” which Sarah Saviet recorded on her wonderful 2023 album Spun—check it out below.
But since I hadn’t heard any of Streich’s music for large ensembles I belatedly dug into a pair of portrait albums featuring such material. Much to my chagrin, it’s a process I only began only a few days ago, so I’m still getting my head around the music contained on Pietà (Wergo, 2018) and Augenlider (Kairos, 2019). In recent years I’ve struggled with a lot of hardcore new music. Most of it seems stuck in its own regressive artistic bubble, endlessly recycling or revisiting played out tropes, a judgment I double down on when it comes to contemporary orchestral music. I’m generalizing, of course, but it’s increasingly hard to justify the existence of a lot of symphonic work beyond fulfilling funding cycles and subscription sales. Streich’s ensemble music definitely feels like new music, but over the last few days it’s consistently excited me, making me scratch my head at what’s going on, each mysterious turn or sound pulling me in further, as I try to make sense of how it works and what the composer’s motivations are. I can’t say I’ve arrived at real answers yet, butI feel confident in recommending the concerts.
As far as I know no recordings of the four pieces being performed this week have been released, all of them composed since the release of Streich’s two portrait albums. But I’d suggest listening to some of the older stuff to whet your tastebuds. Below you can check out the title piece from Augenlider, a 2015 work performed here by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin with guitarist Laura Snowden. The first time I heard it I was simultaneously enraptured and bewildered, as the prepared guitar part seemed to be colliding with the orchestra in a totally alien fashion. I actually thought Snowden’s part was drifting in from an open window, serendipitously finding a snug fit in the fitful score, at once incongruous and aesthetically perfect. The orchestra moves through a number of gripping episodes—stark, humorous, and perfectly pitched, all of it elusive and tough for me to parse thus far—while the guitar resides deep in the sonic distance, sounding like a jazz guitarist improvising to stripped-down, suspense-filled sustained sound. When the orchestra falls silent, the guitarist picks tentatively across a suddenly empty space, as if emerging slowly from the rubble caused by an explosion. I’ve never heard anything quite like it.
Much of Streich’s music embraces silence or quietude, unfolding with exquisite patience and subtlety. The first time I listened to Pietà, for example, I thought some defect was responsible for how hushed much of it was, forcing me to lean in and pick out details as if I was hearing Morton Feldman for the first time. That’s also the case of Ofelia, the 2022 work (performed on the 7th), for which IRCAM’s João Svidzinski will oversee the computer music element of the piece, which you can hear below.
The Extravagant Hush of Michael Thieke and Beat Keller
I have deep admiration for Berlin clarinetist Michael Thieke, a musician of uncommon sensitivity and focus who’s overlooked too often. That’s often what happens sometimes when subtlety is your calling card. While he’s got deep jazz roots, and can deliver his own take on the music of, say, Jimmy Giuffre in the excellent trio Der Lange Schatten (with pianist Håvard Wiik and double bassist Antonio Borghini), he’s known best for his deep connections to the city’s so-called echtzeitmusik scene, playing in groups like the International Nothing (with fellow clarinetist Kai Fagaschinski) or Splitter Orchestra. On Wednesday, September 3 he’ll celebrate the release of a recent duo album with the Berlin-based Swiss guitarist Beat Keller with a set at Sowieso. Naturally, Last Breath’s City Looks Kind Heart (ftarri) is an all improvised album of exquisite restraint and elegant refinement. Depending on the piece the musicians veer close to one another, holding liquid tones that produce psychoacoustic ripples or they set their instruments apart, subtly, natch. On “Kind,” which you can hear below, Keller produces some tender swells of quiet feedback as Thieke alternates between percussive key clacks, breath spill, and what might be some gentle tongue slapping, while on the opening track it’s Keller that’s disruptor, unleashing a noisier, more guitar-identified turbulence. They’re both keen, sharp listeners and I’m eager to hear the bond they share unfold right in front of me.
Serious Series Returns
In recent years the long-running improvised music festival the Serious Series has taken some hits. The organizers skipped an edition in 2024, and the pandemic wiped out editions in 2020 and 2021. I’m delighted to report that the festival will return in 2025, between December 12-14 at Exploratorium. The event’s new curators are saxophonist Anna Kaluza and double bassist Jan Roder, and while the line-up certainly clings to a familiar aesthetic, the line-up looks terrific. Opening night includes the long-running duo of the new curators alongside a remarkable pairing of reed masters Evan Parker and Peter Van Bergen and the thrilling trio of Serbian pianist Marina Džukljev, Swiss bassist Christian Weber, and Berlin drummer Michael Griener. You can find the full line-up here.
Recommended Shows in Berlin This Week
September 2: Camila Nebbia, tenor saxophone, Taiko Saito, vibraphone, and Jan Roder, double bass, 7:30 PM, Junge Welt Maigalerie, Torstraße 6, 10119 Berlin (register at maigalerie@jungewelt.de or by calling +49 30 53 63 55-54)
September 2: Assane Seck, tama, djembe, sabar, Joel Grip, double bass, percussion, Simon Sieger, piano, flutes, percussion, Axel Dörner, trumpet, Mia Dyberg, alto saxophone, 8 PM, Au Topsi Pohl, Pohlstraße 64, 10785 Berlin
September 2: Liz Albee, trumpet, Edith Steyer, reeds, and Tomaž Grom, double bass; Ute Wassermann, voice, objects, Raed Yassin, double bass, objects, and Martin Küchen, sopranino saxophone, percussion, 8 PM, Richten25, Gerichtstraße 25, 13347 Berlin
September 2: Titanic, 8 PM, Kantine am Berghain, Am Wriezener Bahnhof, 10243 Berlin
September 3: Ensemble Moderne & IEMA-Ensemble 2024/25 (Lisa Streich, Unsuk Chin und Helmut Lachenmann), 7 PM, Philharmonie Berlin, main auditorium, Herbert-von-Karajan-Straße 1, 10785 Berlin
September 3: Conny Bauer, trombone, and Kalle Kalima, guitar, 8 PM, Alter Schwede, Schwedenstraße 11A, 13357 Berlin
September 3: Oceans Roar 1000 Drums (Todd Capp, drums, cymbals, Andrew Lafkas, double bass, Xavier Lopez, modular synthesizer, and Bryan Eubanks, saxtronics); Bryan Eubanks, solo, 8:30 PM, Morphine Raum, Köpenicker Straße 147, 10997 Berlin (Hinterhof 1. Etage)
September 3: Kenny Warren & Friends (Kenny Warren, trumpet, Michaël Attias, alto saxophone, Matthias Pichler, double bass, and Andreas Pichler, drums), 8:30 PM, Donau115, Donaustraße 115, 12043 Berlin
September 3: Assane Seck, tama, djembe, sabar, Joel Grip, double bass, percussion, Simon Sieger, piano, flutes, percussion, Axel Dörner, trumpet; Erin Honeycutt and
Savannah Morgan, voices, 8 PM, Au Topsi Pohl, Pohlstraße 64, 10785 Berlin
September 3: Beat Keller, electric guitar, and Michael Thieke, clarinet; Zeynep Ayşe Hatipoğlu, cello, electronics, voice 8:30 PM, Sowieso, Weisestraße 24, 12049 Berlin
September 4: Max Arsava, piano, Tomaž Grom, double bass, and Florian Fischer, drums, 8 PM, Exploratorium, Zossener Strasse 24, 10961, Berlin
September 4: Axel Dörner, trumpet, Assane Seck, tama, djembe, sabar, Joel Grip, double bass, percussion, Simon Sieger, piano, flutes, percussion, and Antonin Gerbal, drums, 8 PM, Au Topsi Pohl, Pohlstraße 64, 10785 Berlin
September 5: Raed Yassin’s Eternal Ghost; Diana Miron’s Monstera, 8:30 PM, Morphine Raum, Köpenicker Straße 147, 10997 Berlin (Hinterhof 1. Etage)
September 5: Assane Seck, tama, djembe, sabar, Joel Grip, double bass, percussion, Simon Sieger, piano, flutes, percussion, Antonin Gerbal, drums, and Ádám Fekete, drawings and texts, 8 PM, Au Topsi Pohl, Pohlstraße 64, 10785 Berlin
September 6: Assane Seck, tama, djembe, sabar, Joel Grip, double bass, percussion, Simon Sieger, piano, flutes, percussion, Antonin Gerbal, drums, Maurice Louca, guitar & electronics, sand Ádám Fekete, drawings and texts, 8 PM, Au Topsi Pohl, Pohlstraße 64, 10785 Berlin
September 6: Declan Forde Quintet (Michaël Attias, alto saxophone, Tobias Delius, tenor saxophone, Declan Forde, piano, James Banner, double bass, and Dae Bryant, drums), 8:30 PM, Donau115, Donaustraße 115, 12043 Berlin
September 6: Aki Takase, piano, Vinicius Cajado, double bass, and Tony Buck, drums, 8:30 PM, Sowieso, Weisestraße 24, 12049 Berlin
September 6: Martin Küchen, sopranino saxophone, percussion; Raed Yassin & Diana Miron; Küchen/Yassin/Miron trio, 8:30 PM, Morphine Raum, Köpenicker Straße 147, 10997 Berlin (Hinterhof 1. Etage)
September 7: Ensemblekollektiv, Enno Poppe conductor, Christian Kesten speaker, and João Svidzinski, electronics (Lisa Streich and Helmut Lachenmann), 4 PM, Philharmonie Berlin, main auditorium, Herbert-von-Karajan-Straße 1, 10785 Berlin
September 7: Water Damage; Nadja; Grimm, 7:30 PM, Neue Zukunft, Alt-Stralau 68, 10245 Berlin
September 7: Martin Küchen, sopranino saxophone, Diana Miron, violin, voice, Ute Wassermann, voice, objects, and Raed Yassin, electronics, 8 PM, Petersburg Art Space, Kaiserin-Augusta-Allee 101, 10553 Berlin, entrance in the courtyard, Aufgang II, 1 OG
September 8: Ulrich Gumpert B3 (Silke Eberhard, alto saxophone, Ulrich Gumpert, Hammond B3 organ, Andreas Henze, bass, and Kay Lübke, drums), perform at a launch party for “East of the Sun,” a new podcast about the history of East German jazz, 8 PM, Kunstfabrik Schlot, Invalidenstraße 117, 10115 Berlin
September 8: Rodrigo Amado New Orbit (Rodrigo Amado, tenor saxophone, Joel Grip, double bass, and Michael Griener, drums); Frank Gratkowski, reeds, 8 PM, 8 PM, Petersburg Art Space, Kaiserin-Augusta-Allee 101, 10553 Berlin, entrance in the courtyard, Aufgang II, 1 OG