martin baumgarnter – Shoot’s Huft

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«…Elemente aus Fantasy, Science Fiction und Horror bohren sich in den Schädel, invasiv und aggressiv, dabei unsichtbar und ungreifbar. Selbst das Aggressive ist nur Vermutung, die ‚Sprache‘ der Fremdartigen ist nicht zu entschlüsseln. Seit Langem hat mich keine For-4-Ears-Musik mehr derart gepackt.»
(R.Dittmann, Bad Alchemy)
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Swiss label For 4 Ears is among the scarcely diffused imprints publishing laptop-generated music that sounds a hundred yards away from those click-clacking, glitch-skipping fizz-fizzes we are submerged from since portable computers became the weapon of choice of pustulous students who couldn’t get a woman (or a man…) to save their lives so decided to give it a try in “creativity”. Not only Baumgartner doesn’t belong to that group, but his stuff is largely ferocious, with a few welcome exceptions under the guise of calmer droning electronics that don’t last too much anyway. Still, the large part of this CD borders on pure terrorism, indeed at times sounding more akin to something that could have been released by Mego. Baumgartner’s adroitness in alternating strata of dirty distortion and hypnotic loops just blemished by a sub-skin grittiness constitutes the point of strength of the work which results lively, surprising, doubtlessly interesting to the ears. Yet it’s violence that mostly fills the menu du jour, the kind of sonic guerrilla that makes one pant “got to turn down the volume or I’ll become deaf”, but instead is missed when it ends. Because while this noise might bite, it also contains forms of grace that the expert’s ear immediately picks up. Despite the difference in style from the label’s canon “Shoot’s huft” is a well-built, stubborn record on the same quality levels of the rest of their production.
(M.Ricci, Touching Extremes)
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Recorded over a span of three years in Australia, NYC and Lucerne, Martin Baumgartner’s “Shoot’s Huft” is a mish-mash of various musical aspects. For one, Baumgartner’s fascination is split between that of pure noise and a transcendental aspect of crackling high-pitched waves. When the noise hits, it hits fast and heavy. It’s pure, unfiltered and harsh. Resembling a starving beast one minute, while flirting with spaced-out, machine-like qualities the next, the guy hits a nerve while keeping his finger on it for as long as possible. It’s the more subtle aspects of his music that pull me back towards this release the most. The first few minutes of “O.O.O” feature a lightly clicking sound resembling a pair of out-of-tune warbly keyboards that are played during a power outage. It’s almost a shame that the harshness comes so soon as an alien mood created here is pretty phenomenal. Then again, provided you’re patient with this music, there’s plenty of variety here for everyone. Recommended as a tool of exorcism for a load of frustrations.
(Tom Sekowski, http://vivo.pl)
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Martin Baumgartner – composition and production
Anji Bergkvist – bambi artwork
released 2.4.2008
www.for4ears.com