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Recorded Live At MaerzMusik
Haus Der Berliner Festspiele
March 17, 2002
UK and European release: September 10, 2007
North American release: September 4, 2007
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Lou Reed's 'Metal Machine Music' may be the most misunderstood work ever created by a popular musician. The original double vinyl set, released in 1975, was mostly noise: feedback squalls, amplifier hums and the tortured screech of electronic gadgets. The consensus at the time was that it was not music, but a protest by Reed to his then - record label, RCA.
People may not know that avant-garde musicians like John Cage, LaMonte Young, Iannis Xenakis and Reed's Velvet Underground partner John Cale had a considerable influence on the way he approached composition, even his more accessible rock and roll songs. |
Metal Machine Music was in some way a logical extension of atonal romps like "Heroin" and "Sister Ray."
Today, 'Metal Machine Music' has become accepted by the avant-garde and highly regarded for its contribution to the "noise" movement in popular culture. Directed by Reinhold Friedl, the 11-member ZEITKRATZER ensemble from Berlin gave Reed's album a thorough listen.
Ulrich Kreiger, the group's saxophone player, transcribed the sounds to create an acoustic music score for their ensemble to play live. Those familiar with the often-criticized 2-disc album might wonder how they pulled this off. Zeitkratzer has the will and the musical ability to give the music the attention it deserves, having already produced minimalist reworkings/collaborations with artists including Keith Rowe, Sonic Youth's Lee Renaldo, Carsten Nicolai and Elliott Sharp.
Zeitkratzer performing Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music at
MaerzMusik, Haus Der Berliner, Festspiele, March 17, 2002 |
Lou Reed performing Metal Machine Music at MaerzMusik,
Haus Der Berliner, Festspiele, March 17, 2002 |
"Let me give you a little background," says Lou Reed. "Metal Machine Music was made 32 years ago. It was taken off the market three weeks after it was released. Still, time goes by and people get more used to what you call loops and electronics and noise and feedback. Zeitkratzer gets in touch with me, 'Can we play Metal Machine Music live?' I said, 'It can't be done.' They said, 'We transcribed it. Let us send you a few minutes of it and you tell us.' They sent it, I listened to it, and the results were unbelievable. I said, 'My God! Okay, go do it.' They said, 'Will you play guitar on the third part of it?' So Metal Machine Music finally got performed live at the Berlin Opera House. It's extraordinary, because all those years ago it was considered a career ender."
Lou Reed (guitar) and Zeitkratzer performing Metal Machine Music
at MaerzMusik, Haus Der Berliner, Festspiele, March 17, 2002 |
Lou Reed and Zeitkratzer performing Metal Machine Music at
MaerzMusik, Haus Der Berliner, Festspiele, March 17, 2002 |
Reed's pronouncements on his most infamous opus have always been confusing, perhaps deliberately so, forcing listeners to come to their own interpretation about what they're hearing. Whatever the truth is, there's no denying the musicality (yes, the musicality) of Zeitkratzer's interpretation.
With the 11 musicians – Burkhard Schlothauer, violin; Christian Messer, viola; Ulrich Maiss, violoncello; Alexander Frangenheim, contrabass; Ulrich Krieger, soprano and tenor saxophones;, Franz Hautzinger, trumpet; Melvyn Poore, tuba; Reinhold Friedl, piano; Luca Venitucci, accordion; Adam Weisman, percussion and Lou Reed, solo guitar - spread out over a large stage, the ear is free to wander into and around the music, picking out rhythms, overtones, hints of melody and other nuances that were largely submerged in Reed's original all guitar and amp onslaught.
Lou Reed (guitar) and Zeitkratzer performing Metal Machine Music at MaerzMusik, Haus Der Berliner, Festspiele, March 17, 2002
The relentless sound forces the mind to put aside its preconceptions about what music is supposed to sound like, or feel like, or look like. The brain starts to implode, or explode, or dissolve Zen-like into the controlled chaos of the performance, discovering a strange exhilaration, accepting an invitation to explore the outer reaches of texture and timbre and experience a sonic freedom that's rare in any art form.
CD TRACKLISTING
- Part 1 – 16:28
- Part 2 – 16:28
- Part 3 – 17:47
Running time – 50:43
DVD CONTENTS
- Concert Video – 50:29
- Lou Reed interview – 25:07
- Audio Options – Stereo / 5.1 Surround Sound
DVD includes the 50-minute long Metal Machine Music concert performed by Zeitkratzer and Lou Reed at MaerzMusik, Haus der Berliner Festspiele, March 17, 2002. The DVD is mixed in stereo and 5.1 Surround Sound. An exclusive 25-minute interview with Lou Reed conducted by Diedrich Diederichsen is also included on the DVD.
METAL MACHINE MUSIC
Performed live by Zeitkratzer and Lou Reed, March 17, 2002
Arrangement and Score: Ulrich Krieger (2002)
(with assistance of Luca Venitucci)
Transcription: Ulrich Krieger and Luca Venitucci (2002)
ZEIKRATZER
Directed by Reinhold Friedl
MUSICIANS
Reinhold Friedl (piano, artistic director)
Burkhard Schlohauer (violin)
Christian Messer (viola)
Ulrich Maiß (cello)
Alexander Frangenheim (contrabass)
Ulrich Krieger (soprano and tenor saxophones)
Franz Hautzinger (trumpet)
Melvyn Poore (tuba)
Luca Venitucci (accordion)
Adam Weisman (percussion)
Lou Reed – Solo guitar (end of track 3)
Produced by Reinhold Friedl and Rolf M. Engel
For Atelier Markgraph in cooperation with Maerzmusik / Berliner Festspiele
Venice Festival and Sister Ray
Stage Design and Technical Direction – Rolf M. Engel
Light Design – Atelierstromberg.de
Show Production Management – Christiane Gumpert
Technical Production – Marcus Mechelhoff / Mediapool
Technical Consultant – Jorg Ackermann / Atelier Markgraph
AUDIO
Recording produced by Reinhold Friedl
Mixed at Asphodel Studios, San Francisco
Mixed by Ralf Meinz, Rienhold Friedl and Lou Reed
Frank Golchert – Live Show Mix FOH
Ralf Meinz – Live Backline Mix
Marcus Waibel – Live Recording
Mike Rathke – Mix Consultant
Naut Humon – Executive Coordinator
Bob Ludwig – Mastering
Recorded Live at MaerMusik, Haus Der Berliner Festspiele, March 17, 2002
DVD
Directed by Rolf M. Engel
Mixed in 5.1 Surround Sound
Lou Reed interview conducted by Diedrich Diederichsen
Editorial Direction – Beate Priolo
Cameras – Thomas Ladenburger, Astrid Menze
Video Editing – Brian O'Reilly, Asphodel
Design – C. Musgrave / DVD Authoring – Asphodel
Metal Machine Music – Written by Lou Reed
Copyright © 1975 by Oakfield Avenue Music Ltd. (BMI)
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Lou Reed reflects on Metal Machine Music
In 1975 I made an all guitar feedback plus melody album with a two speed Uher analogue tape recorder, two 4x12 vox amps and three guitars tune to various open tunings… For instance all strings tuned to B. My goal at the time was to have a keyless album of ever changing rhythm with no lyric or vocal – pure guitar driven sound in which to surround and intoxicate yourself. I made it out of love for guitar driven feedback and the squall of the metal machine.
I had a loft in the garment district and would record at 5am in the morning…when no one was about. I would set the guitars up to feedback and then the two waves of sound would hit each other causing a new sound and then another and then another – an array of overtones pure as the strings that were vibrating, ever multiplying and causing yet another overlay of rhythm. Across these I played various melodies and manipulated the speed they were recorded at. I thought of it as energy music and continuation of my work with the Velvet Underground.
The record was taken off the market in three weeks. It had the highest rate of returns I was told of any record prior, at least by me. It was dismissed as noise. The only person who seemed to get it was a critic named John Rockwell. It existed as a bootleg for 20+ years until it was re-released as a 25th anniversary remastered by Bob Ludwig. We were proud of it then and we are proud of it now. I only wish you could hear the version that was mixed in quad.
I had a line I thought was really good in the liner notes – "My week beats your year" – A try at a Warholian soundbyte. All the specs were a lie. But not everyone saw the humor and I was told I would never record another record again. My friend at RCA at the time, Mr. Ken Glancey, gave me a chance. I could record again, but no son of Metal Machine. I then made an album called Coney Island Baby after a doowop record by the Excellents.
And so here it stands, solo and proud, a survivor none the less through the underground of sound. METAL MACHINE MUSIC.
I tried to do more of this in my album, The Raven, in a piece called Fire Music, a reaction to 9/11 but that's another story." |
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Also available from Zeitkrazter and Asphodel Records -
XENAKIS (A)Live: Performed by Zeitkratzer
Released by Asphodel Records on Monday September 10th
Equal parts composer, performer and curator, Berlin's Reinhold Friedl is a veritable renaissance man. In conjunction with his highly regarded orchestra Zeitkratzer ("time scraper" in German) as well as in collaboration with such artists as Lou Reed, Lee Renaldo and Merzbow, Friedl has helped set new standards for Europe's art music scene, crossing every conceivable line that separates chamber from computer music, and piano from studio composition.
On Xenakis [A]Live, Friedl and Zeitkratzer paint an impressionistic tribute to Greek composer and electro-acoustic pioneer, the late Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001). Quite literally a stylistic dedication to the flavor of Xenakis classic tape compositions through the use of amplified orchestral instruments, Xenakis [A] Live recreates acoustically what were once primarily studio generated sounds. The dramatic results convey an aesthetic link to Zeitkratzer's other homage to the early seventies; Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music.
With both projects Friedl and his associates compared the "orgiastic" and "holistic" elements of these dense sonic architectures from two socially distinct composers of a common historical era. What emerges from giving an ear to Zeitkratzer's flesh and blood transformations realized in Xenakis [A]Live and its "Metal Machine Music" companion (both on Asphodel) is a re-orchestrated aural expedition that musically refreshes & correlates these epic textural excursions.
Unlike "Metal Machine...", Xenakis [A]Live is not a literal scored translation of any specific Xenakis works; it instead focuses on the listening experience that hearing these pieces invokes and transforms the amalgamation into Reinhold’s acoustical perception of Xenakis’ broad electronic influence and prevalent stochastic techniques.
Directed and created by Lillevan (from Rechenzentrum), the accompanying video is equally inspired by Xenakis’ mathematical compositional technique. Based on photographs and filmic fragments of the Iranian city of Persepolis, this award-winning German video artist manipulates his source material beyond recognition, using it as the raw material for a full-length film which organically reflects the dynamic intensity of Xenakis' music. |
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For further information please contact:
Peter Noble and Tracy Gosling @ NOBLE PR
Central Ignition
1 Mercers Mews
London N19 4PL
Tel: +44 (0) 207 272 7772
Fax: +44 (0) 207 272 2227
E-mail: peter@noblepr.co.uk | tracy@noblepr.co.uk
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