Moritz von Oswald Trio
The Moritz von Oswald Trio brings together acclaimed artists Moritz von Oswald (Basic Channel), Max Loderbauer (Sun Electric, nsi.), and Vladislav Delay (aka Luomo, Uusitalo) in a unique live performance project. The three, each pioneers in Berlin’s early 90s electronic music scene, meld their varied approaches and shared history into a reinvention of dub-electronica: the new project is an exploration of the possibilities inherent in live, collaborative improvisation, with Von Oswald playing electro-acoustics, Loderbauer on analogue synthesizers, and Vladislav Delay again taking up drums, his original instrument, to play metal percussion. In a fascinating extension of previous work, the trio exploits slow tempos to establish an ‘endless groove’; a funk-like de-emphasis on melody and harmony that puts the rhythmic pulse of percussion in the foreground. They develop grooves into a series of extended vamps layered with electronics and suspended synth tones to weave gliding, deconstructed techno from their live performances. MvOT keeps their base rhythms in constant flux, leaning towards hybrid fusions of afrobeat and electronica. They play with a tribal egalitarianism; the kind of musical democracy celebrated by Can, creating space for multi-directional freedom. It gives the trio’s music a hypnotic, rarefied quality.