SPIN by Nik Bärtsch's Ronin

„My favorite set from the entire four-day event (Big Ears Festival 2024) – and probably one of my top shows ever – came Thursday evening with Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin“ Ryan Reed, SPIN Magazine


SPIN is the 9th release of the working band RONIN since its foundation in 2001 and the first with the new bass player Jeremias Keller, who joined the band in 2020. The band still consists of the founding members Nik Bärtsch and drummer Kaspar Rast and reeds player Sha who is part of the group since 2004.

Since their last release AWASE (ECM 2018) the band has continuously developed the repertoire further in their weekly concerts on Monday - even during the Corona time - at the own EXIL club in Zurich. In January 2024 they played MONTAGS concert number 1000 and will celebrate 20 years of Monday concerts this November. The new album therefore shows not only the newest developments like Modul 63 and Modul 66 but also a combination of new and old material in Modul 70_51 (51 recorded on the ECM album “Llyría”, 2010) and the two classics Modul 14 and Modul 23 in completely new arrangements and interpretations.

SPIN shows the phase in which the band is now: looking back and forward at the same time. The RONIN rhythm culture based on pattern, cycle and groove developments with refined beats is still present, combined with playfulness and the consciousness for freedom within the clear structures. The band members’ ear for chamber music-like details, blending, ghost notes and micro phrasings refreshes the music live and on the record as always.
What is new is a compact band sound, creating subtle alignments with indie, post rock and ambient pop. The direct groove energy in this new quartet with Jeremias Keller is obvious. Keller also recently presented rich sound variety and class on the amazing solo album "ALLOY" (RRR 2023) where he played all instruments himself and also produced the whole album, based on Modul compositions by Nik Bärtsch.

RONIN played constantly live at their club EXIL and on tours in the US, Europe and Asia, therefore this album is also nourished by the joy and energy the band developed in contact with a dedicated audience all over the world. Recorded by the band's sound engineer Lars Dölle, produced with the local community and released completely independently, the album shows the true and original RONIN spirit with the full focus on music and its community. All music is played together live in the studio based on the idea of handmade groove quality, which is the credo of the band since its foundation in 2001.

There is no single release of a track of the album because SPIN emphasizes the good old idea of a full album as a dramaturgy and program, which is based on the experience of performing together over years. The different tracks show several aspects of RONIN's philosophy and way of working and bandleader Nik Bärtsch's concept and composing for the band.

Modul 66 was written by Nik Bärtsch especially for the bass sound of Jeremias Keller and his way of playing. With him RONIN shows a new aspect of its band sound, comparable to the work Sha and Kaspar Rast explored in the band "Sha's Feckel": a full attack indie and post rock attitude with ingredients of odd meters funk. The crafty structure and the piano sound give this combination a fresh and authentic RONIN ritual rock flavour. The harmonic developments are based on Nik's idea of "structural harmonies" and mirrored chords which he recently explained in his book "LISTENING - music, movement, mind" (Lars Müller Publishers 2021). The starting pattern in 11/4 developing towards a 4x5 in the piano versus an 11+9 in the drumbeat also shows a new way of working with beat developments and pattern shifting. It seems simple and complex at the same time, kind of "simplex". The pattern was already consistently explored in Nik's long percussion quartet piece "Seven Eleven" for the "Mannheimer Schlagwerk" (on the record "The Numbers are Dancing - New Works for Mallet Quartet", Solaire Records 2022).

Modul 63 is a polymetric jazz paraphrase, a distant homage to jazz although structurally differently organized. Memories of Herbie Hancock's legendary percussive album "Inventions and Dimensions", especially "Succotash" shimmer through the structure and Sha's playing shows his admiration for Paul Desmond's sound and sense for space. The composition is based on linear counterpoint cycles in 5 and 3 and it is reminiscent of Nik's experiments with harmonic halftone shift fields, known in different forms for example from Modul 18, 26 or 35.

Modul 70_51 combines one of the most beautiful harmonic counterpoint bass lines of the Modul series with a new development. It is taken from Modul 51 and dramaturgically combined with a newly distilled groove weave of 9, 6 and 4. Like this it becomes a classic RONIN arrangement, which sounds simple and direct but has a tricky and smart structure. Sha also shows here his mastery in playing energetic dramaturgies, subtly supported by Jeremias' sounds. Sha's dramaturgical development can also be heard on his recent solo record "MONBIJOU" (RRR 2021).

Modul 14 is a very early piece, which was already presented on the legendary first RONIN record "Randori" (RRR 2002) which is still today a RONIN reference record for club people and DJs. It completely changed its form, sound, dramaturgy and direction although it is still based on the originally composed beat and bass line in 2x7/4 and its bizarre "theme" with just one note, repeated three times. It is a good example for an early "One Page Piece" by Nik, which finally in its execution mainly shows the capacity and creativity of the players and group as an organism. It also shows Kaspar Rast's elaborated quality in developing an energetic drum dramaturgy over a whole piece, spiced with extraordinary pick-ups and a tasty break culture. He reinvents the written beats, as if he was playing them already in the third generation.

Modul 23 is another early composition classic, released already on "REA" (RRR 2004). Over the years the original structure and legendary "talking beat" in 5/4 got here an additional theme in 6 and new parts and interpretations, which show how Ronin developed from a radical minimal and ritual groove band into an experienced, playful and energetic band with a whole community around it.
All of these compositions are brought to life by the band's unique way of modular playing as an organism. Balancing aspects of composing, interpreting and improvising has over the years become the bands characteristic way of making music - nourished by the same source of musicality and musical curiosity of the members.

Originally characterized as zenfunk because of its combination of minimalistic emptiness and highly intensive groove, the band's style now develops into a kind of nanofunk with even more refinement, details and nuances on the micro level of music making.

Text: Kim Longin, Ronin Rhythm Records


The record will be released together with the documentary film "Ingredients for Disaster" and with a series of six short film episodes about the bands work, philosophy and history on Nik's YouTube channel by British director Julian Phillips.

nikbaertsch.com