Browse by Artist: VOGT, MICHAEL

Artist:	VOGT, MICHAEL
Title:	Argonautika
Label:	RECOMMENDED (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	RER TUBA2CD

"One doesn't normally think of the tuba as a sexy, dark electronic instrument, fronting a megalithic industrial soundscape band. Here Michael Vogt, lead tuba player with the Berlin Symphony orchestra, seems to have done just that. 'One very childish trace is my wish to be Jimmy Hendrix playing the tuba', he says. It's a turn of events that must have the rather conventional 'Tubby The Tuba', a staple of children's novelty tunes from the 1950's, turning in his grave. The story of Tubby, however, was also that of a tuba who wanted to carry the melody line, so this turns out to be extremely appropriate. In Argonautika the melodies are restrained fanfares, rather in the manner of a Laibach opera. At other times the tuba is played through a vocoder, or processed electronically to sound like a fuzz metal guitar. There's a series of disturbing, threatening electronic environments through which the tuba stalks; occasionally the raw brass of the tuba cuts through, summoning up a lost classicism that only intensifies the gothic atmosphere. The journey of the tuba is a perfect metaphor for the heroic, epic journey of the Argonauts, as they make their way through terrifying adventures. You will believe a tuba can not only fly, but plunge right down to the very depths of hell."

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