ZombieNation by Leonhard Huhn - Udo Moll
ODG145: Leonhard Hunh - Udo Moll / ZombieNation
The roots of this project reach back to a residency that Udo Moll spent in Kyoto in 2018. He started researching ancient japanese video games that were mainly released in the 1980s and 90s for the Nintendo and SEGA platforms. Based on images taken from those games and on texts from William Shakespeares the Tempest, Udo developed the first version of the electro-acoustic multimedia-performance Shakespeare ZombieNation.
In the beginning of 2020, right before the CoVid-outbreak, he decided to expand on this subject tin collaboration with Leonhard Huhn. Together, they conceived Shakespeare ZombieNation II and premiered it, already without audience, in the middle of Germanys first lockdown. This performance then turned into a video production that took place in a quite eerie World War II - bunker in the middle of Cologne.
During rehearsals, Leonhard Huhn recorded a lot of improvised material, that forms the basis of this release. Nonetheless, this is not a documentation of improvised music. All the compositions are results of extensive editing, cutting, splicing, layering and thus, re-contextualising of the initial improvisative process. Consequently, this modus operandi positions Huhn and Moll as well in the tradition of musique concrète as in recent developments in genres like minimal techno, Hauntology or Onkyokei.
Because both musicians started their careers as Jazz performers on acoustic instruments (Udo Moll is trumpet player and Leo Huhn plays mainly alto saxophone), they developed a very idiosyncratic approach towards electronic instruments by incorporating concepts like breath, acoustic space, orchestration and microtonality into their work with modular synthesizers and electronically altered saxophones and voices.
Tracklist
| 1. | Kenseiden | 3:25 |
| 2. | Urchins Shall All Exercise on Thee | 4:50 |
| 3. | Cave noire | 7:03 |
| 4. | A Huge Grounding by the Street | 3:50 |
| 5. | Hell Is Empty and All the Devils Are Here | 3:58 |
| 6. | Dracula Hakushaku | 9:22 |
| 7. | Asterix' Helmet | 3:49 |
| 8. | Solbrain | 3:26 |
| 9. | Cloven Tongues Do Hiss Me into Madness | 6:36 |
| 10. | Bogs, Fens, Flats | 1:36 |
Credits
Leonhard Huhn _ alto saxophone & electronics
Udo Moll _ modular synthesizer
All tracks taken from a live performance enhanced by a video and remastered after.
