Nik Bärtsch's RONIN: LIVE 2-CD Set, 2012

Nik Bärtsch's RONIN, LIVE, 2-CD Set
ECM 2012
Ritual Groove Music 10

CD 1

Modul 41_17 Lörrach
Modul 35 Leipzig
Modul 42 Wien
Modul 17 Tokyo
Modul 22 Amsterdam

CD 2
Modul 45 Mannheim
Modul 48 Gateshead
Modul 47 Mannheim
Modul 55 Salzau

Listen on the ECM Player

The third album from one of the most exciting young European bands, “Llyrìa” follows on from “Stoa” and “Holon”, the recordings that established Swiss band Ronin on the international scene. Leader Nik Bärtsch’s “modular” pieces still define the context of the group’s music but the committed input of the individual Ronin members has lifted the work to the next level, blurring the distinctions between composition, improvisation and interpretation. The music has become more open, so much so that Bärtsch’s old buzzwords like “Zen funk” and “ritual groove music” now scarcely apply and even “minimalism” is only a distant reference. Reed player Sha shines brightly here, and lyrical melodic themes make themselves felt, but perhaps this is, more than its predecessors, a drummer’s record, its beats lovingly crafted by Kasper Rast and percussionist Andi Pupato. Recorded in the South of France in March 2010, with Manfred Eicher producing.