What's your favorite ECM release?
Mine's Holon by Nik Bärtsch's Ronin, this ECM release from 2008 puts a modern twist on the ideas of Eberhard Weber and Jan Garbarek, mixing jazz instrumentation with a minimalistic layered approach. Despite being a jazz album on paper, the heavy production and meticulous composition combined with the deficiency of improv elements means this record can only be described to those not versed with the ECM label as “groovy classical with jazz instruments”.
Pairing it’s minimalistic instrument lines with uncommon varied time signatures gives this a polyrhythmic feel at times, and sucks you in to it’s hypnotic phase shifting melody. The minimalism elements are handled well, allowing slow layered builds for tension and sudden relief as the melody is instantaneously stripped back to it’s root.
The drumming definitely comes off more post-rocky than jazzy, but compliments the atmosphere well and is varied in technique and approach. The other instruments are almost always playing patterns, so the variation in harmony comes from layer splicing or occasional outlying instruments, which may be improvised, or composed to sound improvised. The layering and production is incredibly pleasing to listen to, and each song is unique and memorable on it’s own.
It’s really all about the gnarly bass lines on this. Recommended.
