Cold Peace Counterpoints
A solo CD project containing fourteen new compositions composed between 1997-2006,
is released on ReR Megacorp.
Complete album preview – all excerpts are in mp3 format:
Concerto grosso - for keyboards, string instruments and cpu
(To the Memory of Djordje Delibašić)
1. - I. Introduzzione - molto nervoso (2006)
2. - II. Passamezzo Ongaro II. (2006)
3. - III. Polyostinato (2006)
4. - IV. Bugle Counterpoint (1997)
5. - V. Sempre Pulsato (2006)
6. - VI. Les adieux (2006)
Cold Peace Counterpoints
7. E-guitar Ostinato (1997)
8. Troparion (2005)
9. Violin Ostinato (1997)
Five Bagatelles for a Polyhistor
(To the Memory of Bada Dada)
10. Kazimir Malevich on Beach* (2006)
11. Our Fashion is Our Brain* (2006)
12. The Brave Ventilator* (Timeline V Remix) (2006)
13. Ott fogsz majd sirni (Crippled Tango N°2) (1995)
14. Ali jednog dana…(2006)
(* - Original titles of Bada Dada poems)
Credits:
Stevan Kovacs Tickmayer - acoustic and processed piano, prepared upright piano, harmonium, keyboards & sampler, toy piano, el. guitar, double bass, voices, Hungarian zither, CPU, end dialogue (6)
Robert Drake - electric guitar (7), bass (7, 9), drums (9)
Pedja Milosavljevic - violin (9)
Chris Cutler - drums (2, 4), bowed cymbals (11)
Djordje Delibašić – drum samples (1, 13) voice (1), end dialogue (6)
Recorded July-August 2006 at Musique & Equilibre, Orléans, France.
Mixed & mastered September-October 2007 at Civitella Ranieri Center, Italy.
Recorded, mixed and mastered by S.K.Tickmayer.
Robert Drake recorded all the instruments played by him and Chris Cutler,
also mixed and mastered compositions under numbers 7 & 9 at Studio Midi Pyrenees, France.
Samples of Djordje Delibašić were recorded by Attila Németh, Amsterdam.
Artworks by: László Kerekes
Cold Peace Counterpoints - commentary
The term "cold peace" comes from Achille Bonitto Oliva who stated that the balance between the forces on the contemporary world map is no longer denoted as a division between East and West (known until recently as the "cold war" of counter-posed political and social systems) but by the difference between North and South, sign of a "cold peace" established on the ground of extremely complicated and unequal economic relations. For somebody who comes from the South from a country that has in the last ten years been systematically destroyed and neutralised by wars, this is an idea that demands serious consideration.
Instrumental music is certainly not an ideal tool for politico/social action of any kind, yet at a quite abstract level it still often reflects back much of our lives and everyday conditions. This is something we cannot escape, even if we are unconscious of it.
For me the North-South division is not only a politico/economical category but, transposed into my approach to music, is also a question of the balance between technology (which comes from the "rich North" to continue with Oliva's distinction) and musicality (which comes in my case, certainly, from the "poor South"). Moreover, the critical balance between "thinking and singing"; civilization and culture; technology and spirituality was, and still is, very important to me.
I learned music in Eastern Europe, where it is still a vital component of everyday life and later acquired knowledge of technology in the West. The marriage of the two presents serious challenges; it is not always an evident or easy synthesis - and consequently long, critical, self-interrogation is required for me to come to any final result.
The material on this CD is clearly divided in a two distinctive groups of composition: the /Concerto Grosso/ and the /Cold Peace Counterpoints/ cycles deal with the heritage of ‘classical and ‘contemporary’ music’ produced and recorded through technology - especially through the manner characteristic of rock and pop - using overdubs, effects, processing, mixing and post-production, etc. The third cycle, entitled as/ Five Bagatelles for a Polyhistor, retains the same broad approach but replaces the ‘classical’ material with references to folkloric and ‘light music’ (tango, calypso, etc.).. The duality of my very mixed ethnic upbringing seems thus to be reflected in my musical language. But, being somewhere between "serious" and "non-serious", East and West, modernism and the old tradition also seems nowadays, sadly, to mean: being a stranger.
These compositions then, written by a professional stranger, are dedicated to two old colleagues and friends, both of whom sadly died, one after the other, in the short space of a year: Djordje Delibasic, a drummer, and Bada Dada, an extraordinary poet and painter. Both seeded, and left, deep trails in my artistic and aesthetic life, and without the influence of these two original and unusual minds, my own music, and many of my artistic perspectives, would have been be both different and poorer.
* * * * *
Selected Reviews :
JAZZ REVIEW
A resident of France since 1991, Yugoslavian born and classically trained composer/instrumentalist Stevan Kovacs Tickmayer is a prominent artist who engages projects with ex-Henry Cow alumni, guitarist Fred Frith, and drummer Chris Cutler among many cutting-edge stylists. Over the years, he's spread his wares throughout a broad spectrum, covering classical and avant-progressive rock amid numerous genre-scorching proclivities.
Cutler and guitarist/drummer Robert Drake perform on various tracks along with others, yet it's Tickmayer's bizarre fusion of off kilter classical, free-improvisation and Eastern folk melodies with prog-rock grooves that convey his all-encompassing skills. With freaky EFX treatments to complement music that skirts a rather frenetic pace, Tickmayer's arsenals of pianos, electric keyboards, and samplers enable him to generate an armada of unlikely hues and textures. But in certain movements, his acoustic piano performances conjure up imagery of jazz giant, Cecil Taylor. It's partly about controlled chaos, where notions of a social breakdown in a large metropolis occasionally come to mind.
The album is segmented into three multi-part pieces: Concerto grosso, Cold Peace Counterpoints and Five Bagatelles for a Polyhistor. Through it all, he executes an onslaught of metrics. On “E-guitar Ostinato,” he projects a hyper-mode Henry Cow type scenario via his odd-metered phrasings and Drake's complex e-guitar lines. This is followed by the dark, ethereal piece “Troparion,” which sounds like a theme for a mysterious sci-fi thriller. In other areas, Tickmayer projects a high-impact and discombobulated vision of humanity, or so it seems.
He embeds circus music with harmonium-based phrasings to counter mutant folk and pop-rock motifs as well. It's a fiendishly crazed and mesmeric sequence of musical prospects that most will most assuredly probe your psyche. And it's all quite entertaining.
Reviewer: Glenn Astarita
(source: http://www.jazzreview.com/cd/review-20392.html)
****
LEONARDO REVIEWS
Too intense, too demanding, too disturbing. That these two CDs weren’t appropriate workshop background music for the first-year students of my Beginning 2D Design class was evident in the first few notes of Stevan Tickmayer’s first cut. For Tickmayer’s Cold Peace Counterpoints and Michael Maksymenko’s Businesscide are challenging projects that require attentive listening to be appreciated.
Michael Maksymenko’s Businesscide are challenging projects that require attentive listening to be appreciated.
The “Introduzzione Molto Nervoso” that is the first movement of “Concerto Grosso” finds the listener deep in the rising foam of Tickmayer’s frenetic piano. Electronics proceed as if disgorged from a dumptruck full of old radios (or their mid-century shortwave transmissions), tumbling into a pit. “Pazzamezzo Ongaro II” sounds like Emerson, Lake and Palmer (showcasing Chris Cutler’s Palmeresque drums) with a heavy musk of orientalism, while the ascending runs of “Polyostinato” highlight Robert Drake’s bass, ending in piano chord inquiries that might be asked by Sun Ra. The “Bugle Counterpoint” sounds more like digitally-enhanced virtuosity upon a harpsichord than bugle, dodging cartoonish vectors of double-bass; imagine cellist Charlotte Moorman as Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase. The “Sempre Pulsato” lies far undersea, where the cans on the back of a wedding party’s car clang as they bounce along the sea floor. It then ends in a dubious Gypsy camp seized by disco drumming.
Tickmayer’s “Five Bagatelles for a Polyhistor”, dedicated to the memory of a painter and poet called Baba Dada, begin with “Kazimir Malevich on a Beach”. Its major chords and contrapuntal percussion seem to lose their bearings after a while, wandering in befuddlement, in birdlike piano and a little jingle on the organ. “Our Fashion is Our Brain” is straight ahead Lion-Sleeps-Tonight rock, while “The Brave Ventilator” (title of a Baba Dada poem) could be the theme from an after-school TV special, percolating till it finds treasure. “Crippled Tango #2” also quotes gospel blues, leaving the listener wondering if its muttering men, and those oddball vocals in “Ali Jednog Dana...”, might be the pianist’s late friend Baba Dada himself.
Reviewer: Michael R. Mosher
(source: http://www.leonardo.info/reviews/dec2008/mosher_cold.html)
****
SEA OF TRANQUILITY
Composer, multi-instrumentalist Stevan Kovacs Tickmayer doesn't create what you'd call easy listening or easy on the ears music. His compositions which categorically fall into what you'd call experimental or avant-garde, are both complex and intense in nature. Basically they demand the listeners attention, yet they are not particularly easy to digest.
Cold Peace Counterpoints is made up of three distinctly different suites of music, two of which are dedicated to artistic friends of his who passed away within a short period of each other. Performed almost entirely by him alone, the first and final suites, Concerto Grosso and Five Bagatelles for a Polyhistor are definitely the most out there musically. You get a veritable sonic potpourri on the Concerto suite as Tickmayer blends his frenzied acoustic and prepared piano excursions together with various samples, wildly off kilter drum patterns and funky bass work, which makes for some very strange yet intriguing results. The "Passamezzo Ongaro" and "Polyostinatio" pieces kind of have an early Mothers of Invention feel to them.
The Cold Peace suite contains only three compositions. "E-Guitar Ostinato" features some furious almost Fripp-like runs up and down the fret board before segueing into "Troparian" which is a dark atmospheric track comprised mainly of just piano, harmonium and eerie synth washes. The suite concludes with a short piece of music entitled "Violin Ostinato".
If Concerto Grosso is the more difficult and complex suite, and Cold Peace the one that is easier on the ears, then Five Bagatelles for a Polyhistor finds some middle ground between the two, although there is some pretty adventurous material here as well. "Ott fogsz majd sirni (Crippled Tango No.2)" is a particularly abstract piece of work with a bit of humor thrown in as well. The highlight of this final suite is the six minute "Our Fashion is Our Brain" which morphs into a lightning fast drum 'n bass track as Tickmayer's fires off a flurry of notes on his piano in order to keep up with frantic rhythmic pace.
All in all I'd have to say Cold Peace Counterpoints as a whole is pretty eclectic collection of music that, as I mentioned at the top of this review, won't be easy to digest especially if you're someone who's not usually inclined to go down the experimental route. If however you're looking for some real adventurous music to dig your teeth into and you're willing to invest some time trying to figure out what Tickmayer's all about musically, then I think you'll find this one has plenty to offer. While I definitely didn't 'get' all of it, I did like most of it.
Reviewer: Ryan Sparks
(source: http://www.seaoftranquility.org/reviews.php?op=showcontent&id=7809)
****
PROGBRASIL
Cold Peace Counterpoints é o novo CD de Stevan Kovacs Tickmayer, multi-instrumentista, tecladista e compositor da ex-Iugoslávia. Além de gravar com seu grupo Tickmayer Formatio, ele já participou do Science Group, ao lado de Chris Cutler e Fred Frith, espécie de continuação do Art Bears e recentemente tocou com o Thinking Plague em sua tournée Européia. Cold Peace Counterpoints reúne três peças de Tickmayer. Concerto grosso é dividido em seis partes e foi escrito para teclados, cordas e computador; Chris Cutler toca percussão em duas partes. Música contemporânea total, atonalidade, sobreposições, processamento e percussão processada. Parte das peças é tocada por teclados processados pelo computador e dão a impressão de cravo futurista, muito louco, sempre acompanhado de vários ruídos e efeitos eletrônicos ao fundo. As composições são super complexas e já aparecem motivos escondidos da próxima peça, Cold Peace Counterpoints. Essa composição era maior e só três partes da gravação original foram usadas e, neste CD, é o que mais se aproxima de R.I.O. Bob Drake (Thinking Plague, The Nudes, 5´UUs) arrebenta na bateria, baixo e guitarra em duas partes; a energia e contrapontos da primeira parte cedem lugar ao movimento do meio da peça, que é mais sombrio, executado com harmonium, teclados e samplers de violino e percussão; a faixa que fecha a peça usa contrapontos de arrebentar, com violino muito dissonante, bateria, baixo e teclados, tudo muito rápido com muitas e muitas variações. Essa porção central deve agradar aos que gostam das composições complexas e pesadas do Science Group ou Thinking Plague. Five Bagatelles for Polyhistor tem cinco partes, nas quais voltam as colagens, o processamento e a sobreposição de gravações de vários teclados, samplers de percussão e efeitos. A sensação geral é algo na linha Cassiber, sem saxofone e vocal. Essa peça é a decolagem para o final do CD passando por um tango “aleijado” e terminando com música folclórica eletrônica. Isso é música contemporânea séria, cheia de experimentalismo e contrapontos, não é uma barulheira desconexa, várias partes têm melodias bonitas e interessantes, mas o que manda é a complexidade. Um trabalho maduro de Stevan Kovacs Tickmayer.
Reviewer: Renato Moraes
(sourece: http://progbrasil.com.br/ExibeResenha.php?eID=572)
****
KATHODIK
Tickmayer è un polistrumentista, compositore e improvvisatore serbo di origine ungherese con alle spalle una nutrita serie di collaborazioni con prestigiosi colleghi quali, tra gli altri, Fred Frith e il mai abbastanza compianto Peter Kowald.
Questa sua ultima recentissima uscita presenta diversi punti di interesse: tanto per cominciare una musica ben bilanciata e un ensemble affiatato che interagisce col leader (che è accreditato ad una serie impressionante di strumenti, dal piano preparato all’armonium, alle tastiere, alle chitarre, al piano giocattolo, al contrabbasso, voci, allo zither ungherese e al computer), composto da Robert Drake (chitarra, basso, batteria), Pedja Milosavljevic (violino), Chris Cutler (batteria e cimbali), Djordje Delibasic (batteria campionata, voci).
Il lavoro consta di tre composizioni principali scritte nell’arco di un decennio: il Concerto Grosso, articolato in sei movimenti (composti tra il 1997 e il 2006), la title track Cold Peace Counterpoints (tre movimenti, 1997-2005) ed infine Five Bagatelles For A Polyhistor (cinque movimenti, 1995-2006). Ciò che colpisce positivamente è il voluto (e trovato) equilibrio tra tradizione colta, tradizione popolare, improvvisazione di stampo tipicamente europeo e sperimentazione elettronica, quest’ultima sapientemente dosata ad evitare pleonasmi e saturazioni che ne avrebbero banalizzato gli esiti. Non solo attraverso la musica, con fasi improvvisative concitate e percussive a fare da contraltare ai pianissimo e ai piacevolmente consueti languori mitteleuropei, ma anche con la scelta dei titoli, dai classici in italiano (Introduzione-molto nervoso, Sempre pulsato nel Concerto, Violin Ostinato nel secondo brano), alle reminiscenze del paese d’origine di Tickmayer (Passammezzo Ongaro II nel Concerto, due movimenti in lingua ungherese nel terzo brano), fino agli ossimori antico-moderni (Troparion nel secondo brano, Kazimir Malevich On Beach, The Brave Ventilator nel brano conclusivo, questi ultimi due ispirati a liriche del poeta-pittore ungherese contemporaneo Bada Dada), si pone in evidenza un retroterra assolutamente ricercato. Non manca anche uno scherzo musicale, Ott fogsz majd sirni (Crippled Tango n. 2), gustoso divertissement dal sapore vagamente zappiano.
Non è facile addentrarsi in una descrizione di questa musica e dei suoi innumerevoli ed improvvisi cangiantismi: l’ideale sarebbe ascoltarla ed apprezzarne le infinite sfumature. Un’ultima riflessione sull’elettronica: in questi ultimi anni, in cui l’elettronica la fa da padrona e si tende a farne uso ed abuso, eravamo ormai abituati a conoscerne e subirne la meccanicità e la troppo spesso eccessiva ciclicità. Ma gli strumenti elettronici possono insinuarsi ed improvvisare assieme a quelli acustici senza necessariamente sostituirsi all’elemento umano. Ascoltare ‘Cold Peace Counterpoints’ per credere.
Reviewer: Paolo Cruciani
(sourece: http://www.kathodik.it/modules.php?name=Reviews&rop=showcontent&id=3265)
