Blank Manuskript – Tales From An Island (Impressions From Rapa Nui) (2008, CD, Austria)

Tracklist:
1 Breath Of The Island
2 Voyage
3 Society
4 The Great War
5 After The War Part I
6 After The War Part II
7 The Cult Of Birdman
8 The Waiting

Musicians:
Bass, Vocals – Alfons Wohlmuth
Drums – Elias Papaioannou
Electric Guitar, Classical Guitar – Christian Breckner
Grand Piano, Synthesizer, Organ, Vocals – Dominik Wallner
Percussion – Victor De La Rosa

Blank Manuskript – The Waiting Soldier (2015, CD, Austria)

Tracklist:
1 Induction 6:09
2 Public Enemy 5:42
3 Kites To Sky 2:53
4 Doubts 3:44
5 The Night 9:16
6 Conclusion 5:06
7 Cloud 6:35

Musicians:
Alto Saxophone – Jakob Aistleitner
Baritone Saxophone, Trombone, Flute, Electric Guitar – Manuel Schoenegger
Classical Guitar – Cecilio Perera
Drums, Percussion – Klaus Ackermann
Electric Bass, Electric Guitar, Vocals, Producer – Alfons Wohlmuth
Electric Guitar – Helmut Mühlbacker, Peter Baxrainer
French Horn, Trumpet, Vocals – David Saudek
Piano, Electric Piano, Organ, Synthesizer, Vocals, Producer – Dominik Wallner
Vocals – Georg Dörnberger, Nora Sigl

Blank Manuskript is an ArtRock project from Salzburg, Austria. Typical long songs ornamented with a high level of symphonic density and elaborate polyphonic structures as well as extended improvised sections lead their audience through an entire musical adventure. Their compositional approach seeks to combine all sorts of different styles and traditions needed to serve the initial concept of their works. Hence, the arrangements are carefully structured with complex rhythmical patterns and establish a sound-scape that can hardly be found in music nowadays. The lyrical elements are picturesque with a worked out mystic touch and though at a first glance arcane, they always address current social issues in an implicit way. As the music always follows the narrated concept, one might label it contemporary rock program music.

The band was formed in 2007 with the aim of working on fully-fledged concept albums without the pressure of having to follow a certain musical style. Blank Manuskript's first publication was the concept album Tales from an Island - Impressions from Rapa Nui (2009). The album deals with the formation of society and culture in the example of Easter Island, and culminates in a fictional love story wrapped around the famous Birdman Cult. Their second album A Profound Path (2013), which is often described as being of a much darker nature than its predecessor, is a musical journey from hell to heaven and is loosely based on Dante's Divinia Comedia. In 2015, Blank Manuskript released "The Waiting Soldier", dealing with the loss of identity in human beings. The story is set in an undetermined time and can also be applied to modern day life. (progarchives)

Blank Manuskript ‎– Krásná Hora (2019, CD, Austria)

Tracklist:
1. Overture (6:49)
2. Foetus (6:10)
3. Achluphobia (15:35)
4. Pressure Of Pride (3:38)
5. Shared Isolation (9:55)
6. Alone At The Institution (9:21)
7. Silent Departure (3:37)
8. The Last Journey (8:34)

Musicians:
Peter Baxrainer / acoustic, Classical & electric guitars, vocals
Dominik Wallner / piano, electric piano, synthesizer, organ, clavinet, celesta, Mellotron, vocals
Jakob Aistleitner / saxophone, guitar, bass, flute, glockenspiel, percussion, vocals
Alfons Wohlmuth / bass, flute, bottles, vocals
Jakob Sigl / drums, percussion, vocals
With:
Antonia Sigl / viola
Wolfgang Spannberger / samples

Founded in Salzburg, Austria in 2007
Blank Manuskript is an ArtRock project from Salzburg, Austria. Typical long songs ornamented with a high level of symphonic density and elaborate polyphonic structures as well as extended improvised sections lead their audience through an entire musical adventure. Their compositional approach seeks to combine all sorts of different styles and traditions needed to serve the initial concept of their works. Hence, the arrangements are carefully structured with complex rhythmical patterns and establish a sound-scape that can hardly be found in music nowadays. The lyrical elements are picturesque with a worked out mystic touch and though at a first glance arcane, they always address current social issues in an implicit way. As the music always follows the narrated concept, one might label it contemporary rock program music.

The band was formed in 2007 with the aim of working on fully-fledged concept albums without the pressure of having to follow a certain musical style. Blank Manuskript's first publication was the concept album Tales from an Island - Impressions from Rapa Nui (2009). The album deals with the formation of society and culture in the example of Easter Island, and culminates in a fictional love story wrapped around the famous Birdman Cult. Their second album A Profound Path (2013), which is often described as being of a much darker nature than its predecessor, is a musical journey from hell to heaven and is loosely based on Dante's Divinia Comedia. In 2015, Blank Manuskript released "The Waiting Soldier", dealing with the loss of identity in human beings. The story is set in an undetermined time and can also be applied to modern day life. (progarchives)

Graziano Mandozzi ‎– Masada (1977, LP, Austria)

This musical masterpiece has been written for the soundtrack of the Hans Kresnik Ballet with the same name in 1977. Expect experimental sounds, weird synths jams, twisted electronic jazz and banging psych funk throughout the album, creating a seamlessly segued side of ghostly, decaying acoustic sounds captured within the stone-clad building's numerous corridors, lifts, studios and stairwells. As you'd imagine, the effect is immensely evocative, at once recalling Daphne Oram's experiments, while acknowledging the structural aesthetics of sound sculptors like Egisto Macchi or Bruno Spoerri. The LP sounds superb as it has been mastered and cut by Miles Showell at the Abbey Road Studio in London. (Soundohm)

Scrooge ‎– Happy What Else (1995, CD, Austria)

Scrooge, baby, yes! What we have here is some rather obscure band from Vienna that made two albums in the mid 90s. Sadly, I had never heard of this band until now, despite the blindingly obvious fact that they are exactly what I love. In any case, they instantly entered my avant-rock canon.

It's a basic fact about the human brain that we perceive things in terms of our expectations and previous knowledge. Here's a case where I feel like I'm hearing a huge number of references to a variety of my favorite music. This is your basic rock-as-high-art music and every piece is a very distinctive compositional entity, not a variation on a consistent style, so there's a ton of information and references to consider.

First and foremost, there are Dog Faced Hermans vibes ALL OVER THE PLACE, and the jaunty, caustic smart punk flavor of the Dutch legends, particularly in the vocal style, is the first thing that made me hop on my pogo stick when this album burst forth from my speakers. There's something really special about this female vocal sound that really intoxicates me, and I don't have too many examples of it to cite, so I tend to get very excited when I hear it. I recently found an excellent example in the Italian duo Amavo, which is more on the straightforward punk side of things and not at the level of musical intrigue of Scrooge or DFH. "caustic" is the word I fall back on, but I wish had a better way of expressing it. Actually, Comus is a key example too. It's something about a slight acidity in the vocal timbres. There are plenty of differences between Scrooge and DFH though. There are lots of reasons why DFH is one of my all-time favorite bands, but the amazing lyrics and sizzling melodies have an incredible emotional resonance for me, and that's something I'm not getting from Scrooge in any significant way. Actually, I have no idea what they're singing about here. DFH wrote addictive pop nuggets with all the delicious edginess as icing on the cake, while Scrooge's songwriting is much more eccentric and varied. Someday I'd like to learn what kind of cross-pollination existed between these bands, since they are from the same region and era. Instead of trumpet, the lead instrumental voice here is violin, which is even better for my tastes. I melt into putty when I hear rock with bowed strings, especially the whole European avant-folk-rock post-RIO aesthetic that Scrooge is a stunning and prototypical example of.

Speaking of which, the next major evocation on hand is Tom Cora's cello in Skeleton Crew and Nimal, all those jagged rhythms and warm bittersweet melodies. These profoundly special favorites are fully evoked at times, which brings many layers of meaning and pleasure to me. Oh dear, how sad to think of this world without Mr. Cora, a man I never had the pleasure of knowing, but I feel I know him in some way through mutual friends. He has a beloved abstract presence in my life that will never fade and it's rare that much time passes without his musical legacy entering my thoughts. This album definitely gives me some misty-eyed thoughts of that whole post-RIO Step Across the Border universe that was so vital to my formative years as a music lover.

But of course there was the later period of Nimal without Cora, with accordion and electric guitar carrying the full weight of the magic, a combination that occurs here as well to similar effect! In fact, the spiky, playful electric guitar style by itself pops up too. There's also a lot of Frith in the guitar playing on this album.

With all this talk about violin, it bears noting that this group has a standard rock lineup, but the vocalist Regina Ausserwöger not only played violin, but so far as I can tell, the violin is multi-tracked in some parts, so it's quite a dominant part of the sound.

Some of the pungent rock moments with accordion and violin evoke P.E.S.T., the very obscure group that was also from Austria during the same period, so I'd also like to know what relationship might've existed between these groups. I absolutely adore this sound they share, well represented by "Milena Jesenka" or the accelerating passage in "Earthfake" on this album. Scrooge has some truly ferocious rock passages amidst their postmodern quirkyness, but they rarely kick ass in the customary manner of Dog Faced Hermans or The Ex.

Then there's the whole wacky ditty sound of Miriodor, Begnagrad, Debile Menthol, Cartoon, Samla, Stormy Six, etc in ample supply. They blow the roof off with "Polka". I could probably say a bit about Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and other Carla Kihlstedt matters, but I lack adequate familiarity with that topic. People into her stuff should take that as a recommendation. Likewise, I'm not sure what to say regarding some similarities with Charming Hostess, as I'm not a fan of that band in general or the vocals of Jewlia Eisenberg in particular, but the Scrooge singing sometimes seems closer to that sound than the Dog Faced Hermans sound I zeroed in on above. Instrumentally, vocally, compositionally and conceptually, Scrooge was a versatile and varied unit.

Moving on to the odd singularities in my Spot That Reference experience with Scrooge, I was amused to notice that "Earthfake" includes a clear blend of Dog Faced Hermans and Thrak-era King Crimson, but there's a lot of other things happening in this song I'm not able to put my finger on. Incredible vocals on that piece, among the moments where Iva Bittova comes to mind, but this song also has bits that sound like Bjork, whose music has never appealed to me other than the interesting voice. The whole Czech axis of Bittova, Tara Fuki, Rale, etc is definitely among my pleasurable associations while navigating the nooks and crannies of this fantastic album. The wild vocals in "Sad and Sick Waltz" sound like Bittova at her freakiest, the sort of thing that never fails to make me giddy. Back to the Crimsonian thoughts, I find the the delicious creamy liquid guitar part on the last track (the title track) to be strikingly similar to the classic early Anekdoten sound, or maybe it's Anglagard because my memory is lacking here. Wonders never cease. This album is truly loaded to the gills with creative, eccentric and compelling music.

And finally, to honor the insight of John Waters that "life without obsession is meaningless", not only is the opening cut "Hit the Pig" a real nugget worth some heavy replay, the high vocal line totally sounds to me like a song that I'm quite obsessed with, the opening cut "Men" from the very obscure sole release by Mad Curry from Belgium in 1970. What's especially fascinating about that song is how it sounds like it's from some late 70s post-punk art wave band, something that really can't be said for many things made in 1970.

I was so flipped out by this album I immediately listened to their second album, which is equally great, a whole nother pile of goodies! (review by herkyjerky)

Hermann Szobel - Complete Works: Szobel s/t (1976) + Inedit and unreleased songs (19??, Austria/ Usa)

Side A

A1. Mr. Softee (6:45)

A2. The Szuite (12:30)

Side B

B1. Between 7 & 11 (5:08)

B2. Transcendental Floss (6:08)

B3. New York City, 6 AM (6:45)

Musicians

Hermann Szobel / piano

Michael Visceglia / bass

Bob Goldman / drums

Dave Samuels / percussion, marimba, vibraphone

Vadim Vyadro / tenor saxophone, clarinet, flute 

Recorded and remixed at Record Plant Studios, New York City, October 1975

Released information:

LP Arista Records AL4058 (1976)

CD The Laser's Edge LE1064 (2012)

Plus:

Hermann Szobel Unreleased Album
3 inedit songs composed by Bob Goldman
(Total time 44:28)

♫

Sensible Nonsense: The Vanishing of Hermann Szobel

In 1975, at New York’s Hit Factory recording studio, Roberta Flack is in the midst of recording her fifth album, Feel Like Makin’ Love, when a young man bursts into the room. He announces to all within earshot that he is the greatest pianist ever and that they should listen to him play right then and there. Amused by the kid’s chutzpah, they agree and let him loose on a piano.
Much to their surprise, this young player has the goods to back up his chatter. He boasts an esoteric technique that combines the minimalist intensity of Keith Jarrett with Frank Zappa’s flights of melodic fancy. He might not be the greatest, but he’s as good as they come. They, amazingly, offer to help get his career underway.
Three years later, with one record under his belt, and another in the works, that same young man – in a fit of pique or mental instability – walks away from it all and is never heard from again.
It’s a story that sounds almost too good and way too dramatic to be true, the product of some arch Charlie Kaufman-esque screenwriter looking to make a movie about the temperamental and potentially unhinged qualities of the creative mind. Yet, this is what actually happened to Hermann Szobel, a uniquely talented jazz-fusion pianist and composer from Austria who released his sole LP Szobel on Arista in 1976 before falling off the radar almost entirely.
“In retrospect, I feel like it was kind of amazing,” says Michael Visceglia, a bassist who performed with Szobel after his arrival in New York, and is featured on Szobel. “This 17-year-old coming over from Austria on his own with this immense amount of brazenness and self-confidence. Then he became part of musical mythology.”
That last thought overstates it a bit because it’s not as if the world is clamoring for details about the whereabouts of Szobel, and by that same token, his album isn’t necessarily in high demand, despite it being remastered and released on CD in 2012 by erstwhile prog rock label Laser’s Edge.

“It’s not selling great,” says Ken Golden, the man behind Laser’s Edge. “It’s not an unmitigated disaster, but it’s not doing great. I really thought people would pick up on the story of this young virtuoso who made this incredible album and just imploded.”
It’s a wonder that more people aren’t chattering about this album, especially among the folks that crave a taste of the obscure and unheralded. Granted, that is how I found out about it initially: I snagged a download of the LP from the blog associated with experimental label Root Strata and was instantly smitten.
The five songs on the album felt like Szobel had been absorbing the histories of classical and jazz into his central nervous system and every genre and style was fighting to be heard via his fleet fingers.
The punnily titled “The Szuite” is a prime example of this. A 12-and-a-half minute track that sounds like it was stitched together from a variety of different takes; it has the logic of a dream. The first two minutes alone start off with a furious run of notes that gives way to quick “News of the World” theme song-like intrusions before landing softly on a stately four-note bass run by Visceglia colored with David Samuels’ watery vibraphone work and Szobel’s fluttering melodics. By the time the track fades out 10 minutes later, the band has veered into twitchy post-bop, Steve Reich/Philip Glass-style overtures, and the fury of a Hot Rats outtake.
Like that track, nothing on Szobel sounds like the product of an orderly mind. I say that fully aware that I am likely reading into the music after having heard what happened to its creator. But how else to make sense of a song like “Mr. Softee”, which begins like the soundtrack to an exhausted soldier trudging off the battlefield before some crazed editor cuts in a small chunk of a Merrie Melodies cartoon.
Apparently, though, no one could put a finger on Szobel’s potential mental instability. Or if they did, they were unwilling to talk about it. Because the small detail that looms large in this story is that this young virtuoso was the nephew of powerful concert promoter Bill Graham.
Graham’s influence was surely the reason Szobel was able to simply walk into the Hit Factory in ’75 and announce his greatness to the world. And it’s certainly how he was able to find his way to a label like Arista, which at the time was carrying superstars like Barry Manilow and Tony Orlando and Dawn on its roster.
“I was present at a couple of meetings at Arista where Bill introduced Hermann,” remembers Visceglia. “He opened to door to people like Clive Davis. Hermann insisted that he wanted to get a real push, to get the muscle of the label behind him. He was so willful about all of this.”
That stubbornness was likely seen at the time to be the product of Szobel’s youth (keep in mind, he was only 17 or 18 when all of this was going on), but the histrionics that he would apparently fly into at the slightest provocation – “like a little kid, ‘hold my breath until I turn blue’ screaming rage,” according to Visceglia – likely belied a deeper mental unrest.
Unfortunately, all we can do is speculate at this point because, again, Szobel is nowhere to be found. Or at least he doesn’t want to be found. The only details available were a comment to a MySpace fan page (scrubbed in the wake of the site’s redesign) from a woman who claimed to have spent time with Szobel in San Francisco, and a missing persons report filed by Hermann’s mother in 2002.

The report can still be found online and it offers not only a picture of the adult Szobel (looking intense, shaggy, and a little unhealthy) but a small window into his world. She lost contact with him in 2001 when he was in Los Angeles where he had been surviving on a monthly allowance from his mom. But my favorite details lie under “Other Information”: “A loner. Likes dogs. Uses drugs (hashish).”
Viscgelia last saw Szobel in 1976, when the bassist stormed out of initial sessions for what was to be Szobel‘s follow up. But after he heard of Hermann’s disappearing act, he attempted to track his former musical partner down whenever he made his way to Europe.
“I could never do it, though,” Visceglia says. “It’s receded with time. The only thing I’ve seen is the picture that his mother sent into INTERPOL. He really looked kind of mad and lost. One hopes that he might get wind of all this, if he’s still alive. And it would be miraculous if he had together enough to perform again. But to this day, it remains this cult story that people have found sporadically and helped him remain influential. That’s as much as I know right now.”(Robert Ham)

Christian Kolonovits - Life is Just a Carnival (1976, LP, Austria)

The Austrian-born composer/arranger Christian Kolonovits is a German music industry stalwart, having worked with weird Euro pop groups like Boney M. and Supermax, as well as conducting the Eurovision Song Contest orchestra a few times, among other accomplishments.

His first solo album, “Life Is Just A Carnival”, is one of those ’70s treasures in which the listener has absolutely no idea what’s coming next. Criss-crossing a number of genres and feels across its scant 35 minutes, the album contains a kalidescopic range of sounds, ranging from radio-friendly ballads to heavy technical prog, onto tight fusion-y skronk and beyond. Also, in a nod to “White Album”-era studio trickery, Kolonovits isn’t afraid to build up musical ideas only to have them ebb back out to sea after only a minute’s time. This slab’s a memorable one, and in its special way, it’s more captivating than many other Kraut entries of its day

Hermann Szobel - Hermann Szobel (1976, CD, Usa / Austria)

Hermann Szobel is/was a pianist and composer. He produced and recorded one album, titled "Szobel," at the age of 18, demonstrating, in the words of a "Down Beat" reviewer (9 September 1976), "a conception and technique far in advance of most musicians twice his age." According to the artist biography included with promotional copies of the album, Szobel was born in Vienna in 1958 and was "a child prodigy who began his classical training at the age of six" who "spent the majority of his practicing hours on pieces by Chopin." The bio states that pianists Martial Solal and Keith Jarrett were two major influences on his work. Szobel is a nephew of the late rock-concert promoter Bill Graham. "Szobel" features extremely complicated compositions comparable to those of Frank Zappa. The music is jazz-based but contains elements of rock and Western classical music. Szobel's impressive piano virtuosity is noticeable throughout the album. The other musicians on "Szobel" are Michael Visceglia on bass, Bob Goldman on drums, Dave Samuels on percussion including marimba and vibraphone, and Vadim Vyadro on tenor sax, clarinet, and flute. Obscure even when it was released (on Arista Records) in 1976, "Szobel" does not exist on CD. Hermann Szobel disappeared from the music world after this album and has never been heard from again.