Zeitkratzer & Keiji Haino - Stockhausen: Aus Den Sieben Tagen [Zeitkratzer Productions 019]

To be released in late February is cat.no. 019 in the Zeitkratzer Productions ever growing catalogue, a collaboration of the Zeitkratzer ensemble and Japanese Noize / Experimental artist Keiji Haino which spontaneously came to life throughout the Ruhrtriennale festival a while ago. Together on this album they're performing five of the fifteen pieces from Stockhausen's cycle "Aus Den Sieben Tagen" which he had originally written in May 1968 - the Zeitkratzer ensemble on the musical / instrumental side of things whilst Keiji Haino provides an additional layer of eruptive vocal performances on top. Starting with "Unbegrenzt" we're entering a dark, threatening maelstrom consisting of mostly low frequency string instruments, "Verbindung" can be described as a highly experimental take on unsettling Dark Jazz and "Nachtmusik" provides a general feel of buzz and danger when whirring flutes are twinkling hectically through thick layers of broadband Noize. With "Intensität" we're presented a short, but intense - hence the name - cacophonic experience of off-kilter trombones and horns accompanied by Haino's excessive voice and the final 17 minutes of "Setz Die Segel Zur Sonne" are a solemn, ceremonious affair telling droney, adventurous tales of decampment and recurrence in the days of our forefathers. What a journey.