Dictaphone - Poems From A Rooftop

Ručno-izrađeni nu-jazz roboti marke Oliver Doerell & Roger Doering vraćaju se iz 22. u 17. stoljeće i snimaju klasičnu muziku koju emitiraju šume u plamenu, krovovi kuća, vijugave prašnjave ceste i mrtvi pobunjenici.

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Oliver Doerell and Roger Doering's revive their much-loved Dictaphone project, last active in the early-mid 2000s on City Centre Offices, for a new album on Sonic Pieces. Joined this time around by Alexander Stolze on violin, they generate a lavishly cinematic sound, at times distinctly Continental, at others given a decidedly Arabic lilt, especially on the gorgeous 'Manami' and 'Soylent Green (1973)'. There are echoes of the micro-level loop-finding experiments of Jan Jelinek, at others the midnight arthouse blues of Julian Neto, but Dictaphone have got their own thing going, and Poems From A Rooftop is an elegantly constructed work of modern electronic jazz, suavely bohemian without being flip, beautifully detailed without being over-fussy, and warmly recommended. - boomkat

Underneath the rage, there is a disturbing sense of calm, an overwhelming sadness that fails to show its true colors; once ground shaking emotions have been vanquished and deemed to live in the sub-terrain, palpable to some yet utterly nonexistent to most. This, in very simplistic terms, is the more prevalent feeling I have gotten from people during my time in Iran so far, the sense of being overpowered yet fully knowing that it’s only a matter of time, until all hell breaks loose. The “Green Movement” which found itself at a loss when fighting the powers that be, is gone, but only momentarily; it’s merely a matter of time. Dictaphone’s third album “Poems from a Rooftop”, which gets its name from the above-mentioned movement’s call for people to shout their dissatisfaction from their rooftops after the highly controversial elections in 2009, represents this sense of lurking anger and disdain in magnificent fashion. It is sadness which you can snap your fingers to, a testament to the trio’s grip on mood and texture and a gripping experience from start to finish.
Occupying the spectrum that lies between nu-jazz and minimal electronica, Dictaphone have shown time and again that they are a group whose albums merit the gaps between them. The music is thoughtful, intricately crafted and avoids the pitfalls of redundancy or reliance on formulae. Listening to their albums is a walk down a route less taken, a parallel road that meanders, turns and twists and ends up at a point of new found realization, an awakening; the listener is left elated and mind boggled. Perhaps the addition of violinist Alexander Stolze is the source of this new found knack for the new found mysticism in their sound, this clash between East and West that’s particularly evident in tracks like “A Bout Du Souffle” and “Au Botanique”.
The one track with vocals, “Rattle” is indeed the liveliest of the bunch and the catchiest as well; it is the hook that brings the listener back and is probably the most surprising inclusion amidst the much more somber natured songs on the album. That’s not to say the lyrics are anywhere near being happy or optimistic, on the contrary, it simply has more going on and that’s what the album needed a little past it’s halfway mark, a gentle push forward. It works in the same way that “Long Enough” worked for Nils Frahm and Anne Müller’s 7Fingers, the song that will please more listeners than the rest; the contrast that accentuates all around it.
Contrast is key to the success of Poems from a Rooftop actually. It is what lingers in one’s head long after the final note is gone, the contrast between contemplation and action, rage and surrender, electronics and brass contradict each other yet end up making full sense, the guitars and contrabass on opener “The Conversation” push forward yet the strings pull away. A confusing rhetoric that leaves the audience in a state of befuddlement and drags them to go through it again to fully comprehend what Dictaphone are trying to convey; a sweet mystery of silence and immaculate use of sound.
Last year I came across Julien Neto’s “Le Fumeur de Ciel”, an album that lives in a more classically influenced parallel to Poems from a Rooftop and one that hardly got its fair share of press or hype. Both artists successfully convey their influences yet take it beyond the derivative and that’s why they work, they add to one’s life rather than waste time, they forge bonds between person and music that become almost indestructible with every passing listen. Fans of everything from Bohren and Der Club of Gore to The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation, Kammerflimmer Kollektief to The Hidden Orchestra, this album is for you! - Mohammed Ashraf fro Fluid Radio

Vertigo II

"Vertigo II" is the second album from Oliver Doerell and Roger Doring under the Dictaphone tag, further honing their delicately homespun tape loops and jazz emissions into a new kind of midnight effervescence. As anyone who has had the indignity of using one will know, Dictaphone's tend to be awkward little buggers that happily tape the conversation across the room whilst rendering the intended subject incomprehensible. Thankfully Dictaphone have taken this appellation as a starting point only and whilst there is undoubtedly something of the 'overheard' about 'Vertigo II', at no point are you compelled to readjust the contrast and bring the foreground into focus. The serendipitous coming together of Oliver Doerell and Roger Doering, 'Vertigo II' marks a clear evolution from the sound on 'M.=Addiction' (towerblock010); whilst diluting none of the spirit which made it so irresistible to begin with. Laying down a membrane of mealy clicks, glitches and sliced digitalis, 'Vertigo II' at times resembles the intricate bedrock of artists such as Jen Jelinek or Angelo Badelamanti. Yet whereas many would be happy to leave it at that, Dictaphone then go about building layers of aural sediment atop this foundation; producing a sound which is always ambitious, perfectly judged and downright addictive. Very much enraptured by sonorous bass, 'Vertigo II' happily indulges this predilection and in doing so allows the loose-limbed horns and digital detritus to roam the spectrum without becoming detached from the guiding core. Peppering the LP with snatches of shortwave-interference (most memorably a snooker match), found-sound snapshots and soundtrack conventions (including a haunting nod to Ed Wood), Dictaphone manage to massage an astonishing amount of material into an end result that feels as light as a feather and refreshingly clean, whilst avoiding the inherent sterility this can often imply. Littered with a vault full of lost memories and escaped snatches of conversation, "vertigo II" reads like a montage of recollections torn and cellotaped by david lynch in a smokey room in an unmarked hotel room..someplace in the middle of nowhere. - boomkat

Nacht EP

Dictaphone's work for CCO has been perhaps the finest example of why we started a label in the first place. Their love of innovation that slowly creeps its influence onto the smokey traditions of Jazz and film scoring has made for a truly inspired amalgamation of musical styles old and new. After their highly acclaimed debut album "M.=Addiction", Dictaphone have spent precious time in the studio caressing their instruments and eventually delivering another mesmerising set of tracks. "Peaks" and "Warszawa w nocy" are based around recordings made in a rehearsal room somewhere in Berlin with some microphones hanging from the low ceiling. Roger Döring (saxophone & clarinet on the Dictaphone album), Stephan Wöhrmann (drums) & Piotr Rybkowski (bass) met up for a couple of sessions over the last two years, fragments of which were taken away and re-assembled by Oliver Doerell in preperation for these four new tracks. "Peaks" is more than a hommage, clearly inspired by the theme of a well known TV-series, it takes that certain haunting groove and transforms it into the most perfect base for Döring's saxophone. "Warszawa w nocy" sounds like a million things happening at the same time, but in the end, all that's left is noise, hiss, a pleasently disturbing groove and the saxophone. The B-Side features two classic Dictaphone tracks, made by Doerell and Döring evoking the same breathless haze of childhood and long, late nights that their album managed to portray so vividly. This is deeply cinematic music of the most moving kind - we urge you to check it out at and dip into something utterly individual and stunningly beautiful. Sublime music. - boomkat

 

M.= Addiction

One of those rare times that a demo has caused consternation within our City Centre Offices family was when Dictaphone's compelling and unbeleiveably complete debut album reached us some time earlier on this year. The main player behind the dictaphone name is Oliver Doerell, a multi instrumentalist originally from Brussels who now resides in the musical heartland of Berlin. The last 3 years have been spent working on the Dictaphone project, assisted by the saxaphone and clarinette playing Roger Doering. Their past has been spent in similar fields, Oliver has composed numerous scores for theatre work, and Roger has a film soundtrack for 'Alaska.de' which was a major box-office hit in Germany. Their first full length work, 'm.=addiction' is a beautifully crafted work that trancends classification with all it's throwbacks to Jazz, Electronica and found sound works. Points of reference ranging from the Cinematic Orchestra through to Boards of Canada and down to a deeply unconscious underground aesthetic, the beauty of this album is in its warmth, its accessability and its undeniably microscopic, home-baked construction. One of the loveliest album's that we've released to date, retaining a gloriously widescreen cinematic edge, we are immensly happy that this album is finally available to public consumption, warming up the cockles of any who come in its way. Sublime.- boomkat

".......they are certainly deserving of a few headlines..." ( IDJ )

"Dictaphone ist die Jazz-überraschung im Elektronikaland . Endlich mal erwachsen sein, ohne sich langweilig zu fühlen."( de:bug )
"........... tout simplement obsédant.........."( Chronicart )
"..Dictaphone gelingt es, dem Konzeptionellen Wärme, den Gedanken einen Körper und der Musik eine Atmosphäre zu verleihen ."( Spex )
".....Music for our times and times yet to come......"( Moving Hands )
".........un disque minimaliste et subliminal .................. "( Arte-tv )
"...........timeless, unusual and beautiful........."(Colin Newman )
"...........wie das " laughing stock " (Talk Talk) des jahres............ "( 371 )
".........Gleich einer guten Geschichte für bewegte Bilder..."( Raveline )
"................album electronique de l´année !.... "( Infratunes )


 http://www.dictaphone-music.de/