Stephan Thelen – Music for Watermelons

Stephan Thelen – Fractal Guitar 2 (MoonJune 2021)

2021 ambient Andi Pupato David Torn Jon Durant Markus Reuter Moonjune postminimal prog Stephan Thelen

By Marcello Nardi Mar 27, 2021 0

Like a place I’ve been before, Stephan Thelen’s music retains that level of intimacy to my ear, whatever he plays. Exploration of rythmic fractals are, from the perspective of the Swiss guitarist, a neverending source of looking glasses and revolving doors that hint at a direction and take another. No surprise that Fractal Guitar 2, the sequel to the 2019 album on MoonJune Records, starts with a similar pattern with a the same line-up of incredibly high level of musicianship, but then veers in another place.

Sonar with David Torn – Tranceportation Vol.1 [RareNoise 2019]

2019 David Torn Manuel Pasquinelli postminimal RareNoise SONAR Stephan Thelen

By Marcello Nardi Nov 17, 2019 0

What initially started as a follow-up of Vortex, eventually sprawled to more than 80 minutes of music and became a double album, whose second volume will be released in May 2020. In a move equal parts bold and conservative, Tranceportation Vol. 1 is moving the music of Sonar and their collaboration with David Torn ahead. Staying faithful to one of the rules that lies underneath the music of many Swiss postmininal musicians, that which says that minimal structures do not cage the music, instead unleash a new world of possibilities, Sonar and David Torn are now delving into new depths

Stephan Thelen – Fractal Guitar [MoonJune 2019]

2019 Andi Pupato Barry Cleveland Benno Kaiser Bill Walker David Torn Henry Kaiser Manuel Pasquinelli Markus Reuter Matt Tate Moonjune postminimal prog SONAR Stephan Thelen

By Marcello Nardi Jan 23, 2019 0

When I go to a concert I like to hear the ideas behind the actual music and how these ideas unfold and evolve over the course of time. In other words, I’m always interested in a process that is based on a good and interesting idea which is presented in a very clear and transparent way. The idea itself can be very simple, but it should have the potential to create complex and interesting results. With Sonar we often very slowly build up a piece where one instrument starts and then others join in. In that way, you can clearly… Continue reading

Sonar with David Torn – Vortex [RareNoise 2018]

2018 postminimal prog RareNoise SONAR

By Marcello Nardi Mar 30, 2018 2

“Repetition does not change anything in the repeated object, but changes something in the mind of the observer” (Deleuze, Difference and Repetition in Margulis, On Repeat, Oxford University Press). Swiss band Sonar works to create this space between music and listening, between repetition and the listener since 2010. Their playing is made by clean guitars, overrepeated rhythmic patterns, slow, sinister and isomorphic grooves, stripped of barely all the melodic content. Resulting in an hypnotic, ancestral outcome, which changes with each listening, like if it were the perfect explanation of Deleuze’s sentence above. A line-up made by guitars, strictly tritone-tuned, played by Stephan… Continue reading