release

Best of 2020… Thank you.

Das letzte Jahr war für mich sehr produktiv. Ich freue mich sehr über die Kollaborationen samt den vollendeten Werken. Für mich zählt der intensive Austausch, der stets zu vorerst steht. Somit kam auch einiges zusammen an interessanten Begegnungen, die so belassen wurden. Wenn ich jetzt zurückblicke, denke ich mir, wow, wo habe ich die Energie und Zeit hergenommen und vergesse, wie aussergewöhnlich 2020 gewesen ist. Ich nutzte die Zeit für Musik und Weiterbildung, wenn ich nicht gerade in meinem Café für den Take Away an zu treffen war und weiterhin bin. So nun auch in 2021. Das Jahr beginnt spannend mit weiteren interessanten Begegnungen aus dem letzten Jahr. Mal sehen, was hier entstehen wird. Zu erwähnen ist eine wichtige Kollaboration für mich, die ich gleich im ersten Lockdown 2020 nach dem Album «Where We Meet» mit dem spannenden Musiker Stefan Schmidt angegangen bin. «RAUM» erscheint im Mai auf Karlrecords als Special Edition CD. Stefan und ich arbeiten bereits am Nachfolger. So auch geplant der Nachfolger für «Where We Meet» mit Stijn Hüwels auf Slowcraft Records :-)

2020 war generell weltweit sehr produktiv. Um so mehr freue ich mich, dass meine Arbeiten Beachtung gefunden haben. Neben Airplays und Reviews freue ich mich besonders über die Best of Listen, die Redakteure in nächtlicher Kleinstarbeit mühsam zusammenstellen. Diese sind mir besonders sympathisch. Danke für die Erwähnungen allerseits und auf ein neues spannendes Jahr. Hier eine kleine Zusammenstellung…

«Where We Meet» Auswahl auf Headphone Commute: https://headphonecommute.com/best-of-lists/headphone-commutes-best-of-2020/music-for-being-together-alone/

«Where We Meet» #17 auf pimpod, Quiet Space Top 100: https://www.pimpod.com/2021/01/10/quiet-space-top-100-countdown-best-of-2020-part-5-162/

«Of Mirrors» #53 auf Shumamb Hatena Blog: https://shumamb.hatenablog.jp/entry/2020/12/19/175120

«Maya Deren» #68 auf Post Post Lux: https://postambientlux.tumblr.com/post/637962663954137088/best-ambient-of-2020?fbclid=IwAR0XrFPTaG4PcyXPe5KVclk2mukgQWfLKSZHHUS03uuY9Ei6fh_xt8rTqQs

«Of Mirrors» wird im April unter anderem von Mary Anne Hobbs auf BBC6 gespielt

«An Moku – Klangkünstler und Soundtüftler» Beitrag von Gabrielle Weber: https://neoblog.mx3.ch/index.php/2020/12/30/deutsch-dominik-grenzler-aka-an-moku-klangkuenstler-und-soundtueftler/?fbclid=IwAR1MWr7Y-2ZVHH5Wkkmp98GyDfF9IWCut73EZDWS5184-v-fMhhntOUWHaw&lang=de

Safety in Solitude: Ask the Snow (Backstage Exclusively)

Good evening Everyone! Hope you are doing great?!

Right now I have released my 4th Safe in Solitude track: Ask the Snow. This piece of music has been made exactly one year ago. I do not own the original project files anymore (!!!) so I left it unchanged. If you ask me, I love it :-)

For this session I was working with the «gastronomic luminary» and authoress from Berlin, Nicole Klauss. The photography has been taken a few days ago during her long walks. She says, whenever she needs to think, she listens to my music. Thank you, Nicole. 

Enjoy Ask the Snow! 
(Headphones recommended) 

Video:  vimeo.com/505783873

anmoku.bandcamp.com/track/safety-in-solitude-ask-the-snow-2

Photography: Nicole Klauss  
www.neuetrinkkultur.de/ueber-mich/

Backstage Subscription:  anmoku.bandcamp.com/backstage

«Safety in Solitude» is kind of a diary for my Backstage Subscribers which I started last year. The pieces of music I am publishing will be calm sketches, experimental draws or misty landscapes that did not make it to appear officially yet. Maybe some of them will, some don’t. Maybe. I think they are beautiful as they are. Some of you might know that I am not interested in harmonic melodies that much. What I love are moods and repetitions with their micro alterations which you might not even notice. I am hoping to let you float and give room for own interpretation and imagination.

Review: Maya Deren

Un vapore crepuscolare che si espande gradualmente saturando l’ambiente di inquieto mistero. Evidenti e perfettamente introiettate sono le premesse da cui nasce la collaborazione tra Dominik Grenzler aka An Moku e Joel Gilardini, primo incrocio tra due musicisti che utilizzando mezzi diversi perseguono una visione artistica affine.

Concretizzatosi in seguito all’invito a partecipare ad un festival dedicato alla sonorizzazione di film muti ricevuto da Grenzler, il connubio tra i due si sviluppa come rapido percorso improvvisativo rivolto alla ricerca di un comune denominatore espressivo. Senza essere al corrente della materia visiva assegnata, i due iniziano un fertile dialogo sonoro che li porterà a stretto giro a realizzare le musiche di accompagnamento di tre cortometraggi girati negli anni quaranta dello scorso secolo da Maya Deren, commento di cui le tracce di questo album rappresentano soltanto una premessa.

Cogliendo lo spiccato simbolismo di matrice surrealista e l’attitudine introspettiva profonda e convulsa che distingue la produzione della regista americana, il suono plasmato dal duo si irradia oscuro e penetrante, strutturato in percorsi enigmatici che fondono in modo inscindibile le nebbiose frequenze sintetiche di An Moku e le trame taglienti della chitarra baritona di Gilardini. Una commistione densa e viscerale che assume la forma di dilatate elucubrazioni droniche intarsiate da risonanze spigolose (“5”), a tratti percorse da delicate linee melodiche (“2”), o di algide derive nutrite da modulazioni ruvide e correnti elettriche disturbanti (“13”).

Una prima prova convincente che sancisce un legame artistico certamente destinato a produrre ulteriori condivisi capitoli.

https://sowhatmusica.wordpress.com/2021/01/12/an-moku-joel-gilardini-maya-deren/

#3: Iteration 

This is the 3rd picture of the talented photographer from Spain, Juan TRakO and my 3rd «Safety in Solitude» track which is a lovely sketch from last summer. I am working on it now with my dear collaboteur Pablo Ortega from Germany. Folks, be aware, you will never hear it like this ever again. 13mins full of beautiful iterations (Backstage exclusively).

As you already know, Safety in Solitude is kind of a diary. For a few weeks I am posting a piece of my music. Weekly.

Enjoy Iteration!
(Headphones recommended)

Safety in Solitude: Reflections (Backstage Exclusive)

Safety in Solitude is kind of a diary. For a few weeks I am going to post a piece of my music. Weekly. For you, my dear Backstage-Subscriber. The pieces of music will be calm sketches, experimental draws or misty landscapes that did not make it to appear officially yet. Maybe some of them will, some don’t. Maybe. I think they are beautiful as they are. Some of you might know that I am not interested in harmonic melodies that much. What I love are moods and repetitions with their micro alterations which you might not even notice. I am hoping to let you float and give you room for your own interpretation and imagination. This is the 2nd piece of music…

For the fist «Safety in Solitude» tracks I am working with the talented photographer from Spain, Juan TRakO. I asked him for three pictures of his choice. This is the 2nd picture.

Enjoy Reflections and Happy New Year!
(Headphones recommended).

https://anmoku.bandcamp.com/track/safety-in-solitude-reflections

Safety in Solitude: Upon

«Safety in Solitude« is kind of a diary. For a few weeks I am going to post a piece of my music. Weekly. For you, my dear Backstage-Subscriber. 

The pieces of music will be calm sketches, experimental draws or misty landscapes that did not make it to appear officially yet. Maybe some of them will, some don’t. Maybe. I think they are beautiful as they are. Some of you might know that I am not interested in harmonic melodies that much. What I love are moods and repetitions with their micro alterations which you might not even notice. I am hoping to let you float and give room for own interpretation and imagination. 

For the fist «Safety in Solitude» tracks I am working with the talented photographer from Spain, Juan TRakO.
I asked him for three pictures of his choice… 

Enjoy Upon and Merry Xmas! 
(Headphones recommended) 

Head over to Bandcamp to be Backstage -> Subscribe!

«Where We Meet» Review by SoWhat

https://sowhatmusica.wordpress.com/2020/12/01/an-moku-stijn-huwels-where-we-meet/

Un lungo piano sequenza che si estende disegnando i labili contorni di un ambiente onirico placidamente avvolgente. È questo il risultato dell’incontro tra le istanze sonore di Dominik Grenzler e Stijn Hüwels, connubio virtuale che racconta della volontà di due amici/artisti di sentirsi vicini malgrado i limiti e le difficoltà dell’attuale momento storico.

Fuse in un’unica liquida corrente sonica, le peculiari visioni dei due musicisti danno forma ad una sinuosa traiettoria ipnagogica in cui caldi bordoni trasportano minute risonanze a tratti orientate alla formazione di fragili e luminosi nuclei melodici. È uno sviluppo lento eppure costante, privo di soluzione di continuità che gradualmente rapisce infondendo un quieto stato ipnotico a cui interamente abbandonarsi privi di qualsiasi riserva.

È un accurato lavoro di cesello che conduce alla costruzione di micro stille armoniche prive di consistenza materica aleggianti in uno spazio diafano,  un paesaggio silente libero dalla gravità che offre una preziosa via di fuga da un presente sempre più inquieto ed incerto.  

English:

A long sequence shot that extends to draw the faint outlines of a placidly enveloping dreamlike environment. This is the result of the meeting between the sound demands of Dominik Grenzler and Stijn Hüwels, a virtual union that tells of the desire of two friends / artists to feel close despite the limits and difficulties of the current historical moment. Merged in a single liquid sonic current, the peculiar visions of the two musicians give shape to a sinuous hypnagogic trajectory in which warm drones carry minute resonances at times oriented to the formation of fragile and luminous melodic nuclei. It is a slow yet constant development, without solution of continuity that gradually kidnaps, instilling a quiet hypnotic state to which to abandon oneself entirely without any reserve. It is an accurate chisel work that leads to the construction of harmonic micro drops without material consistency floating in a diaphanous space, a silent landscape free from gravity that offers a precious escape from an increasingly restless and uncertain present.

Review by Headphone Commute

In yesterday’s Out Today column for November 6th, I briefly mentioned a new record by An Moku & Stijn Hüwels, but I actually meant to write a little more about it. As you can see from that very small sampling of music coming out these days, it is absolutely impossible for me to listen to every single album, let alone cover each one in detail. And so the best float to the top. Speaking of floating – it is precisely the feeling I get when playing through this gorgeous half-an-hour piece [in fact, it is often left on repeat, to play for an hour, and sometimes for two]. James Murray‘s newly launched Lifelines digital series of releases has graced us with music, with art, and with words, most recently appearing on these pages with Mathieu Karsenti‘s Downstream Blue EP. And yet this new collaboration between Dominik Grenzler[that’s An Moku’s real name] and Stijn Hüwels is something else entirely. Born out of the exchange of ideas [yes, during this lockdown], Where We Meet is a magnificent exploration of texture and tone, often approaching the spiritual, the angelic, and the divine. Microfibers of elemental particles sparkle and drift through the marvelous ambiance of abundant reverb, expanding harmonics, and minimal piano [?] notes. This atmosphere continuously evolves and moves and whispers, like an early morning mist, spreading substance through vapor and breeze. “Here, on the duo’s first collaboration together, carefully weighted melodic gestures and micro-textured sound design merge effortlessly with long-form, widescreen ambient drone, resulting in a dreamy and beautifully judged display of integrity and restraint.” It’s a gem of a track, even as a single release for the series.  And it’s only enhanced by the art from June Murray and the mastering touch by Ian Hawgood on his analog gear. Give this a play, and I’m sure you’ll be looping this track all through the winter. Lots of encouragement from my side for a full-length release!

https://headphonecommute.com/2020/11/11/an-moku-stijn-huwels-christopher-bissonnette-pinkcourtesyphone-and-the-ideal-setback/

Where We Meet

“Many are in need of a lifeline today. Where We Meet will pull you to safety.”

Yesterday I have released a piece of music with my friend Stijn Hüwels who started this work with a record of a wonderful guitar drone. To be honest, this piece of music is the first collaboration during the lockdown and it is not a pessimistic one. «Where We Meet» stands for friendship, hope and a steadfast creative spirit through unusual times.

Fluid Radio wrote about «Where We Meet»:
http://www.fluid-radio.co.uk/…/an-moku-stijn-huwels…/…

And mentioned by the Headphone Commute:
https://headphonecommute.com/out-today/november-6-2020/

A testimonial by Francis M Gri:
 This album is something special…delicate and so deeply emotional. It’s always a pleasure to listen to music made with heart…
Fully recommended!

A Making-Of will follow…

Meanwhile, enjoy!