Unscharf

Artist :
Title : Unscharf
Release Date : November 10, 2023
Catalog ref. : er_116

Schrödingers Katze - Unscharf

The Swiss duo “Schrödingers Katze” explores uncharted musical realms once again.

The new album by the band kicks off with a track titled “Electrons,” an extensive piece that stretches forward for eight minutes, or perhaps even sideways. It initiates with a form of musical Morse code, driven by a menacing electronic bass and rhythmic drums, creating the sensation that Simon Althaus and Manuel Pasquinelli are guiding the intrigued audience on a musical odyssey. Like tectonic plates, musical elements, fragments of sound, and rhythmic patterns shift and intermingle, culminating in an almost conventional keyboard solo accompanied by a fusion of sounds after six minutes. However, this too lasts only a few bars; ideas shoot around like electrons in space.

“Electrons” sets the tone for an outstanding album, the duo’s second, continuing the sonic journey of their first work, “Superposition.” The album goes by the name “Unscharf,” which can be envisioned as a Polaroid photograph, where images gradually come into focus over time. Initially, it may confound when a keyboard waltz pattern is rhythmically intercepted by the drums. But with time, this music transcends the ordinary and begins to make profound sense, or, even better, it evokes a sense of the unheard. However, it’s crucial to note that this isn’t an exercise in abstraction; it’s a playful, atmospheric, and above all, groove-laden experience. At times, it harkens back to the sonic landscapes of the German seventies, with a more intricate rhythmic twist. But beware, this is not cerebral; it’s playful, atmospheric, and, above all, groovy. At times, it evokes the sounds of the German seventies, electronic sonic landscapes rendered with more intricate rhythms.

So, what do you call this? Is it jazz, rock, jazz-rock, or electronica – or perhaps a fusion of them all? In the eyes of the two musicians, it doesn’t really matter, as they firmly believe that true artistic freedom transcends labels.

© & by ℗ 2023 by Schrödingers Katze & Everest Records

Electrons (Single)

Artist :
Title : Electrons (Single Version)
Release Date : October 13, 2023
Catalog ref. : er_116

Schrödingers Katze - Unscharf

© & by ℗ 2023 by Schrödingers Katze & Everest Records

SUPERPOSITION

Artist :
Title : SUPERPOSITION
Release Date : November 12, 2020
Catalog ref. : er_095

Schrödingers Katze - SUPERPOSITION

Less than three seconds into the journey, the world-famous Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger starts speaking. His words about “partial truth-value” fade away over a repetitive keyboard riff and a bouncy drumbeat, creating atmosphere. Thirty-six minutes later, the journey is over, it’s flown by, and then Erwin Schrödinger appears again. His 1952 talk is followed by a question: “What’s this quantum mechanics all about, then?” Good question!

His 1935 quantum mechanics experiment is not easy to explain. Let’s leave it at this: it was a thought experiment about a cat, a box, a Geiger counter, a hammer and a bottle of hydrocyanic acid. The result can either be logical or preposterous. It’s the starting point for the Bernese duo “Schrödingers Katze” – keyboardist Simon Althaus and drummer Manuel Pasquinelli, two musicians who work with musical fragments, short sequences that progress uniformly before slowing changing; grooves meander, dovetail, slide over each other. Some of it is reminiscent of early 1970s prog rock, but without the baroque pomp. What’s left is moments of rhythmic complexity, but also points of indefinable beauty. The musicians call these fragments “positions” and they form the basis of this dense, atmospheric music. It sparks images in the listener’s mind, a frantic sequence of still images and slowly emerging film scenes, trance-like music that sounds both composed and improvised – like the ocean, its steady waves both eternally the same and yet ever-changing. The debut album, “Superposition”, from “Schrödingers Katze”, makes for rewarding, and in some places, compelling listening.
Eric Facon

© & ℗ 2020 by Schrödingers Katze & Everest Records