THEO ALTENBERG

“Veteran producer and master of electronic kraut-funk, Burnt Friedman returns for another solo album after his acclaimed collaboration with David Sylvian, Stina Nordentsam and Arve Henriksson on the Nine Horses project. First Night Forever finds Friedman recruiting a number of vocal contributors, including Australian singer Steve Spacek, Funkstoerung collaborator Enik, Berliner Barbara Panther and Daniel Dodd-Ellis. The productions themselves are the real stars here though, Friedman’s multi-layered studio excursions sewing together detailed drum edits, misty horn sections and even the odd burst of strings when needed. There are some very peculiar moments on the album though, most of which come on tracks lent vocals by Theo Altenberg, an artist whose roots lie in the Vienna Friedrichshof commune scene of the ’70s. He makes a number of appearances on the album, seemingly styling he’s hollered, gruff vocals on a hybrid of Tom Waits and James Brown, resulting in the screeching electro-gospel mania of ‘The Healer’ and dub freakshow ‘Need Is All You Love’. Good stuff.” (boomkat.com)

“Burnt Friedman has worked under noms de plume such as Nonplace Urban Field and Flanger, as well as forming The Nu Dub Players and collaborating with Can´s Jaki Liebezeit on Secret Rhythms (2002) and Secret Rhythms 2 (2005). The Can connection is apposite, as Friedman´s music shares that group´s sense of tropical, funk humidity and cool schematics, as especially evinced in their mid-to late period ( at times it recalls Rite Time, Can´s 1989 comeback album). First Night Forever exudes the idyllic, citrus warmth implied in its title and features a number of soulful guest vocalists, including Steve Spacek and Barbara Panther, as well as the rather more caustic Theo Altenberg, the artist/singer/writer formerly involved in the 70s Commune movement in Germany, who lends a tot of rum to this heady mix. “Healer” threatens at any second to break into Sly & The Family Stone´s “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again)”; “Walk With Me” has the feeling of exploring the back streets of soul´s old town; “Western Smoke” hangs together by silken jazzy threads. First Night Forever is a music that gets into you, rather than vice versa. It is music to be seduced by, rather than straightforwardly consumed. With its mosaic of myriad, sensuous intricacies and sound colours, it´s tactile on the eardrum, almost palbably aromatic, a complex feast of sensations which bring you back to every -first time- you ever experienced.” (David Stubbs, The Wire, Oct 07)

FIRST NIGHT FOREVER

record release

nonplace 22
September 21
feat. Theo Altenberg

www.nonplace.de
www.burntfriedman.com

Investmentfonds - Blue Chips

Art Exhibition
from 14th September to 14th October 2007

Konzett Galerie
www.artkonzett.com

Spiegelgasse 21
1010 Vienna, Austria

Artists: Theo Altenberg, Nobuyoshi Araki, Joseph Beuys, Herbert Brandl, Günter Brus, Bruno Gironcoli, Dieter Roth, Martin Kippenberger, Zenita Komad, Kurt Kren, Otto Muehl, Herrmann Nitsch, Arnulf Rainer, Rudolf Schwarzkogler, Andy Warhol, Hans Weigand, Franz West, Erwin Wurm

07/08 Interview with Theo Altenberg on the programm “Summer of Love”