Klammer & Gründler Duo

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Klammer & Gründler Duo

The Klammer & Gründler Duo (KGD) is a Graz- based Austrian music project that has been active since 1985 and combines influences from different musical styles such as improvisational rock, free jazz , electro-acoustics and electronics in an original style.

style

Klammer and Gründler are regarded as pioneers of electroacoustic improvised music. The originally rock-socialized musicians practice an electronically and medially enhanced jazz and new music based structured improvisation music . In the 1980s in particular, their music was strongly influenced by an open reference to media technology as well as sampling , networks and digitization . At the moment, the musical element, which is linked to an expanded history of jazz and improvisation, is more in the foreground again.

Biography and musical development

Drummer Josef Klammer and guitarist Josef (Seppo) Gründler met in Graz in 1976 , but initially made music in different formations and contexts. In 1979 Seppo Gründler founded the avant rock cabaret band " FUT " together with Simon Pichler as a singer in Graz . a. Ernst M. Binder participated as a drummer. The original line-up of six, strongly influenced by Frank Zappa , Checkpoint Charlie and Floh de Cologne , performed live with up to 14 players. In 1981, the native of East Tyrol joined as a drummer. In 1984 the band, now renamed "ÖMÖ die Rocksau" , disbanded .

Klammer-Gründler formed a project with Gunter Falk that eventually became a permanent trio with Falk. When Falk died before a planned tour of Germany, Klammer-Gründler founded the rough music trio " Sforza " in 1984 (initially Kurt Kristofferitsch on bass, later Thorsten Zimmermann ), which was characterized by complex compositions of very odd rhythms and intricate structures. From 1986 Klammer-Gründler concentrated exclusively on their duo, which was characterized by a technically very demanding and hard-played mix of improvisation and composition .

The duo's electronics initially consisted of stompboxes and drum computers . "At that time there was no network of scenes in Austria, and there was no similar music at all," said Gründler. The duo's free and eclectic mix of styles soon turned it into an Austrian underground and art audience tip, also due to the connections that Klammer had established with the art world from 1981 onwards. From 1985 Klammer-Gründler began to deal intensively with electronics and the expansion of the sound spectrum. For the 1986 project "Heimatklang / Klangheimat" they used samplers for field recordings from the Eisenerz area . An electronic Dynacord drum set and an Ibanez midi guitar were purchased from the fee for this project. They describe this step as the "real origin of the Duo program". The new style manifested itself on the 1988 album “Blue Ex”, which was continued by the 1991 album “Earshots”. The albums defined a previously unheard style of electroacoustic improvisation music.

Due to their explicit concept and context expansion, Klammer-Gründler were often understood primarily as media musicians in the following years. From 1987 onwards, her headphone concerts were important milestones. Another highlight was the world's first multilateral midi concert “Razionalnik”. In 1987, as part of the exhibition "Unbounded Borders" by Kulturdata , the duo played as a data network over the telephone lines Graz - Budapest - Lljubljana - Trento , thus crossing space and borders. The follow-up project “RGB” from 1997, a synchronized score on television, was intended to be more critical of the network concerts by other protagonists of the media music scene, which have become more and more frequent, and which often sounded uniform and musically unproductive to Klammer-Gründler.

Towards the end of the 1990s, Klammer-Gründler played less and less live. Instead, they produced radio works, sound installations or theater music and worked a lot in the studio. From 1995 Klammer also concentrated on the fine arts, Gründler worked at the Graz Institute for Electronic Music and Acoustics and played many solo projects. They also set up the V: NM (Association for New Music) and the V: NM Festival, which takes place every two years in Graz.

From 2005 onwards, Klammer-Gründler will be performing live on a regular basis again, also because the musical aspect is currently in the foreground again. They see the term media music as outdated for their work and rather refer to it as "communication art", for which electronics have become a natural aid and an extension of the range of instruments, as well as "structured improvisation", which relies heavily on the musical handling of the material and is characterized by a genuinely modernist attitude. Both musicians are still active as solo artists, but describe their duo project as central.

Discography

  • 1987: Single Razionalnik
  • 1988: LP Blu Ex
  • 1991: Earshots CD
  • 1991: CD Han and Amin / V
  • 1995: CD five , two reassembled concerts, live at the Knitting Factory / New York
  • 1995: CD Musikprotokoll '95 , Sampler, Steirischer Herbst '95
  • 2006: CD BERLIN
  • 2010: 2CD sampler Schrattenberg Hotel Pupik 99-09
  • 2016: LP Urban Sound Band

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