TOTEM reviews

Thank you to all the reviewers for their interest and efforts! Please check out their websites. Links are given at the end of each review.

Prognaut (English)

Tuner is a duo of percussionist Pat Mastelotto (King Crimson) and guitarist Mark Reuter (Centrozoon) Their debut album, Totem, was released in 2005 through Unsung Records. The music of Tuner is based in the experimental, electronic and industrial genre of music. These two create a very good sounding album with a big sound which is mainly due to the looping of music. For the most part this is a instrumental album with some spoken parts especially on one track, The Morning Tide Washes Away. It has a dark gothic feel to it with synthetic female vocals.

There are some obvious similarities to Centrozoon and King Crimson (mostly the projeKcts)., but it stands very much on it’s own. In fact I do believe the combination shows the best of what Centrozoon and King Crimson’s music. Fans of Crimson will notice in many places the bite showed in their last few albums. As much as I’m a Crimson fan, I must admit to enjoying Tuner much more than the last few albums. (Ducks to avoid sharp objects propelled my direction).

This is truly one of the more original albums of 2005 and hopefully it’ll get much more press outside the King Crimson and Centrozoon camps. It’s recommended to those bands as well as fans of experimental music. Generally this type of music is outside of what I normally listen to but I have enjoyed it more with each listen. I know I’ll be enjoying it for years to come. I hope there will be more Tuner albums in the near future. This is definitely a favorite album of 2005.

Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on December 13th, 2005
[www.geocities.com/prognaut]

ChainDLK (English)

Except for the Young Gods and more live-d'n'b-oriented projects (such as the ones by Jojo Majer or Guy Licata), it seems to me that very few bands have understood how much a live drummer rocking out on his skins (instead of just swinging on the cymbals like many goth bands have done) can add to an electronic music project, making it more exciting, more powerful and more delivering. This record might not be able to change the course of events for the better in the future, but at least adds another great example of how effective the drum+electronics union really is.

US drummer Pat Mastelotto is certainly not new to this concept (he used to also play for King Crimson for more than 10 years), so when you pair up a guy like him with Germany's virtuoso touch-guitarist Markus Reuter (of Centrozoon fame), you'll pretty quickly end up with some kick ass good electronic-rock music. Contrarywise to what you might expect, this is not your average technical-abilities-showcasing prog-rock old-timers reuinion were skilled cats celebrate themselves with never ending solos and intricate fusion of rock tunes and jazz constructions. "Totem" rather focuses on composition and on conveying the message, whatever that might be, in an articulate, powerful and engaging way. Their mixture of avant-rock is heavily infuenced by the sum of the duo's experiences but sounds new and original all together. The multi-faceted talents of Mastelotto's versatile performances come out in the form of wild cymbal-heavy experimental drumming, drum-pad beats, square on the money drumming with powerful tom toms breaks (that might actually remind you of some of the afore-mentioned Swiss trio's stuff) and all of what's within the wide spectrum of a drummer's sonic and rhythmical palette. The space around him is smartly and un-obtrusively filled by guitar, bass, hammond parts, layers of electronics and even heavily-manipulated vocal parts, all written by Reuter in a way that complements Mastelotto's ideas while still showing Reuter's training without having to splatter out one single note of what you'd conventionally refer to as a solo. In fact you'll hardly ever hear anything like a regular guitar sound at all, since Reuter's prime pride is his touch-guitar, an instrument with an eight octave pitch range that he complements and interfaces with all his other electronic equipment (that includes what seems to be becoming every live musician's favourite digital performance software-based tool: Abelton Live).

Without getting too technical or too windy, I strongly suggest that you check out this Unsung Records release. The CD also features a video clip (directed by Renee Stieger) that showcases the most drum'n'bass (speaking off...) track on the record. Too bad that nothing of the duo's performance is included in the video.

Also make sure to check out www.patmastelotto.com and www.markusreuter.com.

A great example of musicianship and electro-acoustic rock-electronica.

Review by: Marc Urselli-Schaerer

[www.chaindlk.com]

progressiveears.com (English)

The title track is another weird one (just so I don’t repeat myself, I could probably describe everything on this disc that way.) to compliment the electronic percussion. Reuter’s guitar work closely resembles Robert Fripp’s, Things start out with “flinch” and honestly I thought there was something wrong the first time I played the disc. so folks looking for a Crimso fix should be able to sink their teeth into this one.

This duo has crafted an absolutely brilliant album that I’ve been totally hooked on for the past week or so since I got it. The main ingredient here is loops, “up, down, forward and return” atmosphere. You don’t need to know who she is. The track they start out simple with just a tribal drumbeat and some background is the first on this disc to employ what seems to me as an almost random writing technique. More strange random lyrical and vocal development arise.

Words and phrases get chopped up and reassembled into the mix. If I used the phrase ‘chopped up’ to describe the last track, these must have been put in the blender. “hands” sees the duo diving into the really deep end of the pool with a funky African motif. The next two tracks can be very harsh ala Skinny Puppy and “kiss the earth” feature some really trippy “better take your head off” guitar work from Reuter. Focusing mainly on the industrial/electronic side of the musical spectrum, the at one moment and then turn into some crazy experimental thing at the next moment.

There’s definitely a lot of Bruford that rubbed off on Pat, and that’s a great thing. The next piece is also the one featured in the video that comes on the enhanced portion of the disc. Things keep getting added on and it gets rather complex. The piece ends on a quiet synth coda. is a little more restrained than the first couple of tracks, reminding me of something that might have come from Boards Of Canada or a similar electronica outfit. The liner notes state the vocals are provided by sirenée. His tone palate is a very broad and he does things I don’t even think Fripp or Eno could conjure up. The rhythm patterns and percussion implementation “mouth piece” are very interesting throughout in both acoustic and electronic elements. Early on in “a test of faith” there are some vocoder parts that bring to mind KC’s “The Deception Of The Thrush”. he can tell you. It was as if somebody kept pushing the pause button on the CD player. The heavy drumming and mesmerizing guitar work just enhance this effect.

Later on, the duo grooves into a mid-tempo piece that has some nice heavy bass sounds. It’s probably not that important. I really like this kind of stuff and seeing two of today’s top players creating it is an extra treat. This turns into a dreamy ambient space thing.

The song is really cool and gets things off to a heavy start, even if it does make me flinch. “The morning tide washes away” is another peculiar track. I’m not really sure what to make of the vocal bits on this one. Now this is what I’m talking about! The track “the morning tide washes away” features synthetic female vocals reciting lyrics that were created in that same shuffle and paste fashion mentioned earlier. Pat Mastelotto (best known for his percussion work with the recent King Crimson and associated side projeKcts) recently got together with Markus Reuter from the German group Centrozoon.

What? More industrial insanity?

I didn’t like the review I wrote and wanted to rewrite it but I decided to scramble the sentences instead. Just ask “dexter ward”;

[www.progressiveears.com]

Review by ffroyd

Sid Smith's Blog (English)

Hot Tuner Produces Some Uneasy Listening. . .

Anyone who has seen Pat Mastelotto’s playing within King Crimson will know that describing him as a drummer spectacularly fails to convey the full extent of his contribution to that band and its development. In ProjeKcts 4 and 3 his restless, inquisitive playing lent the group an electronically acerbic edge that constantly nudged his fellow players into sometimes remarkable sonic territories. Although the studio album, The ConstruKction of Light, failed to deliver on this promise, it wasn’t for the want of Mastelotto’s trying.

A distinguishing feature of his work has been the relentless pursuit of the more jagged, off-beat modes of electronica; whether with Mastica, BPM+M (with engineer Bill Munyon) or TU (with ex-Crim Trey Gunn), Pat has covered a lot of diverse ground and continues to do so in this venture with Centrozoon’s Markus Reuter. No slouch himself when it comes to pushing the envelope, the German touch guitarist has been carefully making a name for himself as a talented and thoughtful soloist blessed with a gorgeous melodic approach. On albums with veteran electronica pioneer, Ian Boddy and in both instrumental and vocal incarnations of Centrozoon, his formidable technique remains accessible and unpretentious. In Tuner he's largely set aside his more melodic approach in favour of something more textural and perhaps more in keeping with the aural assualt which characterises much of this record.

The opening track Flinch has been trailed on the internet for some time, bravely ducking and diving along a Jazz Funk racetrack of sharp cuts, glitches and a brace of down and dirty vibes guaranteed to have you toes tapping – though not necessarily in unison with each other.

Mouth Piece delivers some oh-so-low body blows of subsonic bass that see the duo flirting with mass market appeal out on the drum n’ bass dance floor. Suggestive of Rupert Parkes’ Photek incarnation (one of Mastelotto’s favourite artists in the genre), a utilitarian Euro-dance melody skates across the surface to catchy effect. And just in case anyone is worried about the boys selling out or getting too commercial, fans of Centrozoon in its more atonal / experimental setting (see Blast, Cult of Bibbiboo) will find an old friend in the title track,Totem; not so much head-banging as banging-a-nail-in-your-head dissonance.

With Tuner things rarely stay in one place for very long though when they do the result is usually something both mysterious and beautiful as in the multi-movement epic, The Morning Tide Washes Away. Featuring the processed vocals of Sirenee and little else aside from a few Floyd-esque touches on the organ, it is utterly captivating, as it offers an island of calm reminiscent of J Peter Schwalm’s work with Brian Eno on their dreamy Drawn From Life collaboration.

Up Down Forward and Return has Markus giving it some clipped Kraftwerk vocal whilst Pat plays half-time against the prevailing rhythm in a manner not unlike Bill Bruford’s style on BLUE’s Cerulean Sea. With a dramatic descending pattern, it’s full of false endings and surprising twists of timing and dynamics that would be sure to keep the Crimheads happy but draw complaints from those who like their dancing a little more conventional.

When they first got together they described this venture as “music beyond the musicians' mastery of their instruments, it's a test of faith.” They ask the listener to make a similar jump on the track, Test of Faith, a somewhat precarious outing with Markus as the filtered voice of doubt; a kind of morose Sparky and His Magic Piano caught between bursts of baritone guitar and drop-dead bursts of funksome grooves that eventually make way for a spooky cycle of arpeggios.

Often with this album, one feels wrong-footed. The music bounces along in an alarming manner that’s about as predictable as a rugby ball. Both Reuter and Mastelotto have in common a playful joy at the heart of their playing. Sure it’s serious stuff but that doesn’t mean you can’t be having fun at the same time.

There’s an anarchic sense of play that appears to guide this record, sometimes pulling it in different directions, racing here, veering there, to produce some decidedly uneasy listening that is nevertheless richly varied but as tight as the proverbial drum.

Review by Sid Smith

[sidsmith.blogspot.com]