- micke keysendal
- Dieb13
I won’t make any argument that the Austrian turntable artist Dieb13 is a jazz musician—even though he plays in the great Swedish Azz with reedist Mats Gustafsson, tuba player Per-Åke Holmlander, and vibist Kjell Nordeson—but he’s one of the most arresting and original improvisers I’ve heard in the last decade, easily transcending the limitations one would have with just a pair of turntables and a crate of records. I had heard some of his recordings before I saw him live for the first time in 2009 at Gustafsson’s Perspectives Festival in Vasteras, Sweden. He was playing a duo set with the fascinating Korean improviser Ryu Hankil, who makes sounds from old clock mechanisms. I just didn’t see how Dieb13 (nee Dieter Kovačič) was going to be able to work with him. I was wrong. The set blew me away. Dieb13 was able to keep his stream of sound utterly unpredictable, constantly changing, and empathically plugged into Hankil’s idiosyncratic creaks and stutters, all the while proceeding with a clear flow and logic.
Dona Onete, Feitiça Caboclo (Na Music)Diego Schissi Quinteto, Tongos (Sunnyside)Woodpecker Wooliams, The Bird School of Being Human (Robot Elephant)Broadcast, Berberian Sound Studio (Warp)Albert King, Born Under a Bad Sign (Stax)
