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XXXmas
24 Dec2006
MERRY CHRISTMAS
NIZZARY
FM Einheit + Caspar Brotzmann
Merry Christmas
Thirsty Ear : 1994
CB, guitar; FME, percussion.
We here at Dest:OUT sincerely hope you and yours are enjoying a wonderful, safe, and prosperous holiday season. We’d been debating whether to mark the occasion with a special post – free jazz Christmas carols? – when we ran across this album.
If you’re looking for holiday cheer and goodwill to men on Earth then you’ll want to find something else to download. However, if you’re sick to death of syrupy holiday tunes, forced-march good cheer, and your insufferable family — have we got the soundtrack for you!
Brotzmann and Einheit’s Merry Christmas has got to be the most noxious “holiday” music ever waxed. They work hard to redefine ugly – not as something aberrantly beautiful but as something truly pestilent and corrosive to the soul. When you combine Einheit’s tenure in Einsturzende Neubaten with Brotzmann’s noise lineage, it’s not surprising what you get – music that expertly mixes the sickliest wheezes of free improv with the grinding gears of toxic industrial circa the early ’80s. Ho ho ho.
The title track sounds like, uh, Santa Claus getting plugged with a revolver for B&E while the reindeer aimlessly stumble around the rooftop’s slushy snow high on dopamine. Happy holidays! “Nizzary” – which evokes a Snooped-up “Nazarene” to one of us here –  is reminiscent of a shortwave radio tuned to static while Derek Bailey sticks himself with a large tuning fork and bleeds little drops of feedback. Mazel Tov!Â
May all your eggs be noggy, and your Christmases, white (noisy).
3 Responses to XXXmas
mc
December 25th, 2006 at 8:22 pm
Hi.
I regularly read and check out the acts you list, most before my time. These guys, though, I saw live. It was at the 930 club in DC, and I went with a buddy. Einheit was playing a piece of sheet metal, banging hit with a hammer, or using a drill on the edge to create insane, screaming noises. (Microphones hung by their membrane at various points to amplify and catch resonant points on the metal.) I still have brick pieces that he smashed, collected off the stage after the show as I talked to the man.
He and Brötzmann played for what could not have been more than 10 minutes before they blew out the sound. Another 5 and they did it again. After another 5, Einheit leaned forward and grumbled something along the lines of “That does it, we quit.” I was sorely disappointed. Such a short show!
So my buddy and I head out into the fresh air, me planning to take the metro home. We look at our watches. It was 2 hours after the show had started. Time had stopped during the noise fest. Holy cow, how did THAT happen?! There was no sense of place, of time, of passage. It was Just There.
Totally intense, one of the more amazing musical experiences of my life.
Thanks for letting me share.
ledrew
December 30th, 2006 at 10:55 pm
Belated thanks to YOU, mc, for the great recollection. Added Christmas night, no less. That sense of being suspended in time (and sound) is a rare and wonderful thing. Cecil Taylor’s live performances often generate that feeling for me. Anyway, thanks again, and be well.
Robert
January 4th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Holy, holy,
this is in fact a different kind of X-Mas album. Saw these two several times live the early 90ies in Berlin, and it was in one word unbelievable. Caspar Broetzmann sadly seems to be a bit quiet these days. Would also recommend “Last Home”, the duo-album of Broetzmann senior and junior, and last but not least The März Combo. Maybe something for a later entry?
A Happy New Year and thanks a lot!