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Holon | 
 enlarge | Artist: Nik Baertsch's Ronin
Label: Ecm Records
Category: Music
List Price: $17.98
Buy New: $10.51
You Save: $7.47 (42%)
New (41) Used (9) from $10.51
Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 6232
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 001052602
UPC: 602517486720
EAN: 0602517486720
ASIN: B000ZWWRXG
Release Date: February 5, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW Factory Sealed - Ready to be shipped within 24 hrs from California - Average 5 workdays delivery time - Excellent customer service - Buy with confidence!
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| Tracks:
| • | Modul 42 | | • | Modul 41-17 | | • | Modul 39-8 | | • | Modul 46 | | • | Modul 45 | | • | Modul 44 |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Album Description
* Eagerly-anticipated second ECM album from Swiss pianist-composer Nik Baertsch and his committed young `Zen-funk' or `ritual groove" band Ronin, whose label debut Stoa received rave reviews all around the world. * Baertsch's Ronin is recognized as one of the most exciting discoveries of recent years. * Holon follows up directions set in motion by Stoa and takes them further, thanks both to the band's growing confidence and also to ECM's glowing sound-mix. * Nik Baertsch's music occupies a niche all its own, equidistant from contemporary composition, funk/soul grooves and scattered world musics. In some ways further removed from jazz than the other idioms it has nonetheless been warmly embraced by the jazz community, its grooves and interlocking rhythms now frequently heard also at the jazz festivals - as well as in new music spaces and rock clubs. * CD booklet includes artist photos and a liner note by Nik Baertsch in German and English
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| Customer Reviews:
ecm,does it again. August 26, 2008
4256 reasons why (southern ohio)
wow, this was a killer album, classical spacious music,with serious groove, yes groove. that bass is bone rattling, and the icey cold piano ,cuts like a knife, mix in a bass clarinet with that creepy sound ,you have a winner. i mean they are really cookin. plenty of ear pearcing alto too ,like john surman style. the music is meditative and stirring. so i guess jazz isnt dead .this album fools me into thinking its electric ,but it isnt. only the bass is .i get an est vibe here, but more upbeat, but yet plenty of meloncholy. i just love it.gorgeous.
FULL OF ENERGY QUALITY AND WARMTH June 16, 2008
K. Prousalis (drama GREECE)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Minimalistic modern jazz approach blended with funk, avan-garde and fusion elements in a very completed versatile and harmonic way.Great interplay,excellent bass lines ,wonderful and spacious piano playing from Nick Bartch and his quintet with energy rythm and warmth.EXCELLENT.
The shape of jazz to come? May 3, 2008
Simone Oltolina (Morbio Inferiore, TI Switzerland)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
*THE CONTEXT...*
In the world of jazz 'avant-garde' there are two main currents: on one hand, you have the musicians who are simply content with re-enacting the canon (Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra, sometimes to amazing results it must be said) while on the other there are those who prefer to push the envelope by going, if ever slightly, beyond the boundaries of the genre.
Mostly this is done by combining jazz with 'other things', i.e., influences coming from different musical fields. Hence, a lot of experimentation mixing jazz with electronics, hip-hop, minimalism, indie rock, etc.
While this 'mixing' concept is in no way new (didn't bossa nova stem from the jazz+latin music formula?), it can often produce exciting results.
Matthew Shipp work with Thirsty Ear, ups and downs notwithstanding, is a good example (or at least a widely publicized one)
*...AND THE ACTUAL REVIEW*
Nik Baertsch's Ronin Quintet does the same, fashioning a record that borrows from minimalism, funk (especially in the use of bass), IDM and, just like some other reviewer noted, middle-eastern motifs.
He (Nik) calls this concoction 'Zen Funk', I call it 'good enough to deserve 5 stars'.
Each composition is based on hypnotic piano modules (think of minimalist repetition) played by Baertsch himself. This is the foundation on which the other instruments play, either by building the groove or by showing amazing interplay and exciting solos.
This album is truly amazing and has been on heavy-rotation in my player since the day it reached my mailbox. Kudos to NB for pushing the genre to new directions and, most importantly, for delivering such an exciting record.
Zen Funk Indeed! April 14, 2008
Srinjay Banerjee (Ithaca, NY)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This musical project in my opinion would be Europe's answer to Medeski, Martin, Wood. This review is based purely on first impressions. It's hard to describe this music, and doing such never quite does justice to it. Suffice it to say that I heard this record for the first time, following Mingus' "The Black Saint and Sinner Lady" and it held its own. I don't know if I can exalt this album's glory much further than that.
Till this day, I was completely unfamiliar with Nik Bartsch music. I'm putting this record right up there in between Keith Jarrett's "Changeless" and MMW's "Electric Tonic" - it bridges the gap perfectly.
Thoroughly engaging March 27, 2008
David J. Ohanlon (Lilyfield, NSW Australia)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
Not having listened to Stoa, I really had little idea what to expect here. I looked at the somewhat strange titles & thought maybe I was in for a John Cage-esque experience & although certainly there are elements of Cage, there's much more of Steve Reich, Christian Wallumrod & even Esbjorn Svensson here, meaning that whilst every piece is structured such that you can often predict when an established, largely minimalist pattern is going to change, you're often surprised as to exactly how this happens & where the change leads. In virtually all cases, the changes are exciting, engaging & never one-off (ie. each piece changes instrumentation, mood & dynamic several times &, apart from three brief blazing saxophone interludes in Module 45, these are never abrasive). Further, the Middle Eastern modes of Module 44 were a delight.
If there's to be a minor criticism, I found the 14' 51" second piece took a little TOO long (6' 57" to be exact) to change out of its initial Reich-esque pattern, which, on just this one occasion, fell on the wrong side of the thin dividing line between rivetting/mesmerising & annoying/repetitive minimalism.
Minor criticism(s) aside, an excellent album.
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