Double CD for the price of a single disc.
Nick Robinson – electric and acoustic guitars, loops, keys
Peter Rophone – vocals, tuned percussion, classical guitar
Martin Archer – organ, synths, saxophones, woodwind
Jon Short – bass guitar, electric double bass
Steve Dinsdale – drums, keys
with
Jenni Brooks – flute
Sam Ehret-Pickett – brass ensemble
Open Up The Door is the sixth release from Das Rad, and continues our group’s progression from studio based instrumental music to live performance unit – featuring the sublime voice of Peter Rophone alongside the multi instrumental talents of the other players.
Some years ago Martin Archer came up with the term Improg for this music – progressive rock music rooted in group improvisation, but brought to fruition through extensive post production editing and arrangement. Almost all of this album was created using this process, capturing the spontaneity of the group via studio improvisation played from scratch with just a scrap of a start point – not just jamming on well-worn ideas – and taking it from there, with all group members working co-operatively to bring ideas to the arrangements.
Unlike much progressive rock, Das Rad are not remotely interested in neat and tidy muso perfection. The music keeps all of its rough edges and inconsistencies during this composition process, and in this respect we stay true to the common ancestor krautrock sounds and methods which originally inspired the group to form.
The suite of songs on Disc A form the backbone of the journey, while the free bonus Disc B collects material from around our Buzzsaw 7” release from a couple of years ago (our interpretation of The Turtles psych-garage classic), our remixed dub version thereof Dubbsaw, plus the new and epic Lost Constellations which takes a live solo looping gig by Nick Robinson as its foundation.
It is a real pleasure to find that the whole thing is so well crafted and enjoyable to listen to. – Guy Stuckens, RADIO AIR LIBRE
Not music for the masses, fascinating anyhow, it all derives from studio improvisations, yet enhanced and reworked in the aftermath, this five musicians produce a rather unusual peculiar sound crawling into your brain, proper Avantgarde attitude, reminds a bit of Japan respectively Rain Tree Crow – Awesome Prog https://awesomeprog.com/search?text=das+rad&type=releases
They keep on rolling. With *Open Up The Door* (DISCUS 212, 2xCD), DAS RAD embarks on its sixth winding journey. ‘Red Gods’ and ‘Blue Gods’ mark the entry and exit points. Blue—vegetating within the simulacrum as a bio-battery for the Matrix, amidst “dark dreams & monstrous schemes.” Or—red—stepping out into the harsh, adventurous “now,” a present currently shaping itself as a prequel to the *Terminator* apocalypse and the Wachowskis’ dystopia. Nick Robinson, Peter Rophone, Martin Archer, Jon Short, and Steve Dinsdale—a multi-instrumental collective wielding guitars, loops, keys, vocals, percussion, organ, synths, saxophones, woodwinds, bass, and drums—allude to the “Krautrock” roots of their “Improg” style with the track ‘Dreimalriffe’. The title evokes the perilous choice—”The Lady, or the Tiger”—lurking behind the door. ‘Threshold’ points to the transition from bad to worse, or perhaps to something better. Does ‘Sirens’ refer to illusory, Pied Piper-like temptations? And does ‘Ubu Mort’ suggest that a farce is currently making history as a “farce squared”? ‘Mizzle’ (drizzle) and ‘The Driftwood Man’ round out this jazz-rock song suite—a creation born of collective spontaneity and Archer’s arranging prowess. What makes these songs—sensitively delivered by Rophone in a bright tenor—so special is their unconstrained, almost ambient flow and their dreamlike drift. ‘Electric Eden’ serves as one signpost for this, while ‘kosmisch’ (cosmic) acts as another, pointing the way toward the *Doors of Perception*. Rophone’s “starry poetry” and music played in the key of trust and friendship provide the key to it all. A bonus CD follows, featuring their psychedelic cover of The Turtles’ ‘Buzzsaw’ and—in the form of ‘Dubbsaw’—its ganja-infused remix, complete with melodica and harmonica. Then there is the freak-rock track “Babbit & RAT” and—featuring additional brass—the five-part “Lost Constellations,” based on a solo guitar-loop performance by Robinson (whose playing has also graced the work of The Archers Of Sorrow and Carla Diratz). This piece is structured into the movements “Quadrans,” “Noctua,” “Leaena,” “Malus,” and “Rangifer.” Instead of lyrics, the track features androgynous vocalizations and soft, sustained orchestration; this arrangement ensures the guitar avoids any hint of machismo, embedding its bite—and all its rock-style edge—within an ambient soundscape while veiling it in synth and keyboard textures. Rophone only utters a few words during “Malus,” yet the bass “speaks” more eloquently. Ultimately, the bass also keeps the glitchy guitar on track—a guitar that Archer, enveloped in electronics, steers forward alongside the saxophone. – Rigobert Dittmann, BAD ALCHEMY
You can buy your CD or DL either direct from Discus Music or from Bandcamp. The prices and the postage charges are the same on both sites, but Bandcamp will charge you VAT on DL only purchases. Whichever site you choose, the DL element is delivered to your Bandcamp collection.
Discus pays a 10% commission to Bandcamp on sales there, but if you buy direct from Discus Music we get to keep 100% – which of course we prefer! But in the end, please buy from whichever site suits you best.
