LOTHAR OHLMEIER, ISAMBARD KHROUSTALIOV, RUDI FISCHERLEHNER-HYPERTIDE OVER KIRIBATI.

dereksmusicblog ♦ September 20, 2019 ♦ Leave a comment

Lothar Ohlmeier, Isambard Khroustaliov, Rudi Fischerlehner-Hypertide Over Kiribati.

Label: Not Applicable Recordings.

Each week, a vast amount of new albums are released into the global musical marketplace by artists and bands from every corner of the world. This should mean that there’s a constant stream on ambitious and innovative music being released. Sadly, that isn’t the case, and sometimes, it’s as if time has stood still as artists and bands rehash the same sound that was popular twenty or thirty years ago. Their rationale seems to be that deep house, twee indie pop or hair metal was once popular, and brought fame and fortune to many artists and bands and can line their pockets with filthy lucre. However, times have changed, and record buyers are looking for new and groundbreaking music that will push musical boundaries to their limits and beyond. Thankfully, music like this is still being released.

This includes by the truly talented triumvirate of Lothar Ohlmeier, Isambard Khroustaliov, Rudi Fischerlehner, who have just released a new album Hypertide Over Kiribati, on Not Applicable Recordings. Hypertide Over Kiribati, which was recorded at Keller4 Tonstudio, Berlin, in March 2018, showcases the considerable talents of drummer Lothar Ohlmeier, Rudi Fischerlehner  on bass clarinet and Isambard Khroustaliov  whose specially is modular synths and computers. The trio recorded four tracks that last forty-nine minutes, and they  became Hypertide Over Kiribati. They’re a welcome reminder that there are still artists who are willing to innovate and release cerebral, genre-melting music that that is inventive and pushes musical boundaries to their limits. For that we should be grateful.

Lothar Ohlmeier, Rudi Fischerlehner  and Isambard Khroustaliov assure us that the not only is the hypertide is real, and so is Kiribati,  a real life paradise  in the central Pacific Ocean.  Tragically, the   hypertide threatens to submerge and decimate Kiribati. This Lothar Ohlmeier, Rudi Fischerlehner  and Isambard Khroustaliov compare with how we’re gradually the hypertide that will drown both the real and the virtual. This philosopher and computer scientist Jaron Lanier once described as: “a vast pointilist spew” of platform sterilised media that’s been robbed of any history or culture and no longer has any meaning.

Nowadays, artists and record companies place great importance on likes, plays, views and shares, fretting over a slew of stats in the internet age. As a result, many record companies are becoming much more choosy about what they release and are reluctant to release anything that isn’t populist. Hard luck if you’ve recorded a groundbreaking album of leftfield music that explores the relationship between music and computation. Sadly, you’re out of luck and that project is unlikely to be released by the majority of record labels. That’s a great shame.

Especially since there’s been many examples of experiments and of going back to the 20th century, and range from  jazz musicians exploring the creative uses of improvisation right through to the use of electronic instruments and technology in dance and music. This includes what were some of the earliest computers, which were issued by what were mostly classically trained composers who were pioneers who were looking to innovative and create new music that was very different from what had preceded it. The use of technology that was constantly evolving and continues ton evolve, has  freed several generations from constraints and allowed them to push musical boundaries to their limits and beyond. That is the case today, and is the case on Hypertide Over Kiribati.

It’s a very personal album by Lothar Ohlmeier, Isambard Khroustaliov and Rudi Fischerlehner who embarked upon a musical odyssey, and were determined to challenge what they call the:  “anonymising, anodising force of platform capitalism in music.” To do this they’ve recorded an album of ambitious, inventive and innovative genre-melting music where Lothar Ohlmeier, Isambard Khroustaliov and Rudi Fischerlehner fuse elements of avant-garde, electronica, electroacoustic, experimental, improv and jazz that pushes musical boundaries to their limits and sometimes beyond on album what’s hopefully the first of many albums by this truly talented triumvirate of musical mavericks and pioneers.

Lothar Ohlmeier, Isambard Khroustaliov, Rudi Fischerlehner-Hypertide Over Kiribati.