David Moss + Michael Rodach = "Fragmentary blues"

(Traumton, 1999)

"Who could imagine ? A blues album -- a "fragmentary blues" album? Well, I never really imagined it either. But then Michael Rodach and I met in Berlin at a recording session for trumpeter/composer Paul Brody's "American Folk Songs" project. From the beginning we loved each other's sound and style, approach and eccentricities, energy and rhythms. Fate ! Then Michael invited me to play a duo with him (as live music with the old Warner Brothers "Road Runner" cartoons) for a jazz festival. So in December 1997 we played together for the first time: funk riffs, improvisation textures, fast changes, odd sustains, blues quotes, rhythm fragments, odd melodies and (James Brown inspired) screams -- all mixed with that minimalist/repetitive and definitely dada-inspired cartoon bird and coyote. After the concert we both knew it was only the beginning. And Stefi Marcus, of Traumton Studio, who heard us that night, realized the potential of our duo and invited us to record at the studio sometime and "see what happens...". And somehow we both felt that the power of our duo came from an odd mixture of improvisation, noise, fund and blues elements.
Then, after more than a year of schedule conflicts we finally set up at Traumton. We wanted a 'live'-feeling: no headphones, no room dividers, no vocal booths; just the guitar, drums, and voice hearing each other in a room, playing and responding. After 3 days recording, and some vocal and guitar overdubs (we couldn't resist, because so many songs gave us new ideas), this was the result: improvised songs based on our own eccentric perceptions of the blues. Guitar, drums, and voice -- on the one hand, pretty basic; on the other hand, perverse, distorted, fragmentary, transformed.
Through it's lyrics and rhythms, "Fragmentary Blues" pays homage to the blues music that we've heard for years. The words, voices, passion, sounds, noises, beats, fractured blues forms, quotes and warped riffs are playful elements of old and new music, Michael and I found many sounds and ideas that we'd never made before. We certainly never imagined the 20 songs on this CD before we sat down in the room together to discover these fragments and moods. But hasn't "blues" always been about personal voices, life-stories, intense moments and surprises, anyhow ? We both wonder how listeners will react."

David Moss, Michael Rodach, Berlin, June 1999 (liner notes)

HERE