16-17

16-17 - Utrecht

Basel, Switzerland, early 1980ies. The local punk scene was not a scene really. Too small. But for the remainders of those who kept their interest in the attitude, 16-17 were the fathers of the true spirit. The do-it yourself idea, the no-musical-boundaries-for-nobody attitude, the forward thinking, experimenting musicians, leaving everything else behind. 16-17, in their original line-up, Knut Remond on drums, Alex Buess on saxophone and bass clarinet, and Markus Kneubühler on guitar, have been pioneers in what was later called jazzcore, noisecore or avantgarde jazz-punk, all helpless attempts to put a genre label on something that has successfully escaped all genre descriptions. At the time a fully improvising trio, they introduced electronic elements early on, electronic percussion, tape loops or guitar sounds shaped by modular synths.

16-17 performances were rare. If you happened to attend one of their shows, it was an experience that called on your full body and mind. Their shows were loud, very loud, an intense live experience that resonates to date. Their exhaustive playing seemed to include the whole venue. The room became one large instrument. Walls seemed to be additional players, giving you a true immersive, 3-dimensional experience, long before that would become a thing. Something  I would otherwise perhaps only witness later, at performances of Borbeto Magus at the Museum of Fine Art Berne or at an appearance of Suicide at the Camden Palace, London 1986.

But 16-17 have not only been an inspiration to the local scene, they have been a predecessor and inspiration to many of the most known actors of forward looking, experimental and powerful music of the last 30 years. The likes of John Zorn or Painkiller, most notably the Flying Luttenbachers, whose main anchorman Weasel Walter later appeared as a (re-)mastering engineer for the early 16-17 albums, eventually released on CD by the french record label Savage Land

Kevin Martin (God, Ice, The Bug, Zonal), had been a follower of 16-17 for many years, when he and Alex Buess met whilst recording Alboth!’s Liebefeld album. Their common ground was obvious. Both shared their love for a most dense sound, an urge to going beyond common boundaries. Inevitably this led to the production of  a 16-17 album that would take the band to new ground. 

Yet, 16-17 releases had been carefully chosen tracks from live recordings, collections of most significant moments of improvisation, provokingly intense, meaningful, and certainly ahead of their time. Now Kevin and Alex took a more granular approach to further condense the sound. Loops of live recordings were arranged to tracks and Alex‘ horns were recorded carefully to the necessary spots in the composition. In addition, Kevin brought in G. C. Green of Godflesh, who added a bass fundament to the trio. The next step in 16-17 history, and certainly a milestone in the realm of Jazz, Noise, Avantgarde and their relatives: Gyatso

16-17 Rehearsal
16-17, Damian Bennett, Alex Buess, Michael Wertmüller, rehearsal room, Basel, Switzerland

The Production of Gyatso, the change to a temporary studio project as well as personal changes  led to significant signs of fatigue within the band. Alex Buess consequently continued the work alone. He developed a somewhat more controlled sound, introducing elements of songwriting and of classical composition. In Michael Wertmüller (Alboth, Full Blast, Higgs) on drums and Damian Bennett (Khost, carthage, Gauge, Deathless) on bass, he eventually found two extremely talented and powerful musicians to complement the work.

Alex now used stripped down elements of longer pieces, and methods of his complex and polyrhythmical contemporary classical compositions as a skeleton for new 16-17 tracks. The live outline incorporated midi sequences and samples. In some passages the band would play along very tightly, while improvising within pre-practiced free forms in other parts, and then completely free in further parts. The result was – again – a hyper dense sound, yet perhaps a little more comprehensible to a wider audience.  It included the complexity of contemporary classical music, absolute free forms, as in free jazz, but pushed over the edge, as well as the pure power of hardcore – without fitting in any of these genres. Although, to some extent, performing a much more controlled sound, 16-17 remained recognisable in its very own style. 

The band was formed to play live, for a short tour to several European countries. Then, the well practiced material was taken back to the studio. The recordings were laid out to use the studio as a superordinated, additional instrument. Before recording, the particles of the compositions were atomized and each of the elements was eventually played in separate takes. This demanded incredibly concentrated and precise performances by the musicians. On some tracks even the drum set was laid down in single, separate tracks, that is, instead of recording a drum set as a whole, each percussion element was recorded successively.

In the following years Alex Buess was busy with various other projects, as a producer and sound engineer for Swiss national radio, amongst others. 16-17 appeared only very rarely as a live act, with different line-ups and including a short time incarnation as the 16-17 Sound System. Further musicians have been Daniel Buess (Mir, Ensemble Phoenix) on drums and Big Rogers Graf on electronics. The last studio  recordings, however, remained unfinished. 

16-17 in Rostock
16-17, Alex Buess, photographer Christian Lichtenberg, Big Rogers Graf, Daniel Buess, on the MS Stubnitz, Rostock, Germany

In 2019 Alex eventually decided to put his hands back on 16-17 and finish the Album: Phantom Limb. Again, 16-17 added guest musicians to the original recordings. Big Rogers Graf, this time on guitar, and for the first time two vocalists, Oxbow’s well known Eugene S. Robinson and Kasia Meow (Maneki Necro, Disco Interiors), respectively. The release was followed by a, de- and re-constructed, more electrified remix EP called The Pandemic Wargames Remixes, released in late 2020 on Berlin’s Praxis Records.

2021 Alex remastered Gyatso for a first time release on vinyl. It has been published on Alex Buess’ own label Skin and Speech Recordings in cooperation with Praxis Records. Thus, it is now again possible to enjoy the incredible power and sheer energy this project has had throughout all of its appearances.

Started mid 1980ies as a musical comment to a narrow-minded Zeitgeist and to a wide spread lack of fantasy in the music world, 16-17 is still more than relevant.

The beginning of DISCO INTERIORS

A rainy, grey day in the British Midlands. Sitting in the van on tour with Oxbow. 2 weeks into the tour you are getting used to a trance like state – sleepless, tired and excited at the same time. Keep your brain busy listening to some music of the driver’s favorites while emphasizing the next venue to come and the friendly new aqcuaintances who would bravely let you enter their worlds, and – who would care enough to put on a show.  Thoughts drifting away to potential next adventures you may be wanting to start soon.

Robinson, Meow, Liebeskind
Eugene S. Robinson, Kasia Meow, Manuel Liebeskind

One of those why-not moments. Something inherent to Oxbow touring Europe. Do the things you do because you want to do it, because it seems logical to do it. Try what there is to try, no matter if anybody else would care. I ask Eugene: “Should *we* write a song together?” Seemingly waking up from some far away world, he looks at me  and nods: “why not” and immediately falls back into his half-sleep, that would eventually only switch to total presence when the show was on at night. Eugene probably forgot about the idea right away .

While you get to hear a lot of great music, inspiring performances and meet all those nice and creative people every day, being on the road gives you hardly time and room to actually create. Even less when you’re the sound engineer and tour manager. Back at home I am really hungry to get my hands at a guitar. I write to Eugene, we should give it a try. He sends a few lines back and i have chords and a melody started already.
Twice is born, our very first song. We just naturally keep on writing the next, and another song, and pretty quickly have two hands full of songs that may be worth a whole album.

We meet Kasia on another Oxbow tour. Her own (hardcore) band is cool. And she puts so much love in having us there. Eugene stays in touch and later plays her some of our music. She returns sending us a ‘tape’ of her singing one of the tunes in the bathtub. She didn’t seem to be able to get away from the melodies anymore. Her vocals are great and add that extra twist.  Suddenly the project is alive, an actual band. And Kasia keeps being the driving force for us to go on – and to go public.

2014 we are ready to start recording in earnest. I lay down the basics in my Berlin home studio. Vocals have been recorded later in San Francisco by Monte Vallier at Ruminator audio, Ivan Katz records drums for On the Sofa in New York. And we finally start mixing with Monte Vallier as a co-producer back in San Francisco in Spring 2017.

Monte Vallier
Monte Vallier controlling Ruminator Audio for Disco Interiors

Monte has always been one of my favourite bass players since i got to know him while beeing on tour with  his band Swell in the 1990ies. He doesn’t hesitate a moment to contribute his basslines to all of our songs, too. His great personality, engineering skills and awesome musical understanding makes him the perfect producer to finalize the recordings.

 

So here we are – very proud to present: DISCO INTERIORS!