Germany's genre-defying, Daniel Glatzel-helmed 18-piece ensemble, Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra are set to release their third slice of eccentric orchestral absurdity worldwide on April 11 care of Alien Transistor. Lucky you can hear the whole thing a little early, premiered courtesy of Exclaim.ca.
This six-track, 53-minute-long album has a bit of everything classical and modern, from eccentric big band jazz and could-be Danny Elfman film scores to an electro-acoustic, auto-generated Mozart deconstruction narrated by a boxing videogame from the '80s.
Glatzel explains the creation of "W.A. Mozart vs. Random Generator" in depth in the press release, saying:
Johannes Schleiermacher, who plays baritone saxophone in the Orchestra, approached me one day and said that he'd written this software that can digitally alter musical scores. It allows him to control the level of random material and chance elements added to the original material. Using this software, we contaminated one of Mozart's compositions, and yet our string quintet performs the mutation with the same attitude and sincerity you'd expect from a Mozart performance. It's a staggering new version. Some passages sound exceptionally wild, others more like Schönberg's later works. The chance elements seem to have definite outlines, because our brains are constantly coming up with new sets of associations — or, our minds surrender and give in to this beautiful, meaningless void. We staged this track like a proper boxing match, hosted by one of those old gaming consoles from the '80s.
Live on Planet Earth was, indeed, recorded live in May 2012 at Berlin-Neukölln's Heimathafen, which heavily contrasts the fragmented approach to their last album. Under the direction of Glatzel, AMEO's sophomore album, 2012's Bum Bum, was made through cheeky studio experimentation with live sampling, recording each instrument separately and then mixing them together, while their 2009 debut Take Off! was a sterling, briskly performed live-off-the-floor recording.
With Live on Planet Earth, Glatzel has brought them full circle to fluid, live presentation, ever explosively cinematic and thoughtfully experimental. They'll be taking this experience on tour across Germany starting in May. Check out the tour dates and album stream below.
Tour dates:
05/07 Dresden, DE - Scheune
05/08 Regensburg, DE - Jazzclub
05/09 Leipzig, DE - Horns Erben
05/15-18 Berlin, DE - HAU 1 (Drohnenmärchen)
05/21 Bremen, DE - Sendesaal
05/22 Offenbach, DE - Hafen 2
05/23 Hamburg, DE, Elbjazz Festival
05/24 Bonn, DE - Jazzfest
09/09-13 Munich, DE - Jazzclub Unterfahrt
09/21 Magdeburg, DE - Festung Mark
This six-track, 53-minute-long album has a bit of everything classical and modern, from eccentric big band jazz and could-be Danny Elfman film scores to an electro-acoustic, auto-generated Mozart deconstruction narrated by a boxing videogame from the '80s.
Glatzel explains the creation of "W.A. Mozart vs. Random Generator" in depth in the press release, saying:
Johannes Schleiermacher, who plays baritone saxophone in the Orchestra, approached me one day and said that he'd written this software that can digitally alter musical scores. It allows him to control the level of random material and chance elements added to the original material. Using this software, we contaminated one of Mozart's compositions, and yet our string quintet performs the mutation with the same attitude and sincerity you'd expect from a Mozart performance. It's a staggering new version. Some passages sound exceptionally wild, others more like Schönberg's later works. The chance elements seem to have definite outlines, because our brains are constantly coming up with new sets of associations — or, our minds surrender and give in to this beautiful, meaningless void. We staged this track like a proper boxing match, hosted by one of those old gaming consoles from the '80s.
Live on Planet Earth was, indeed, recorded live in May 2012 at Berlin-Neukölln's Heimathafen, which heavily contrasts the fragmented approach to their last album. Under the direction of Glatzel, AMEO's sophomore album, 2012's Bum Bum, was made through cheeky studio experimentation with live sampling, recording each instrument separately and then mixing them together, while their 2009 debut Take Off! was a sterling, briskly performed live-off-the-floor recording.
With Live on Planet Earth, Glatzel has brought them full circle to fluid, live presentation, ever explosively cinematic and thoughtfully experimental. They'll be taking this experience on tour across Germany starting in May. Check out the tour dates and album stream below.
Tour dates:
05/07 Dresden, DE - Scheune
05/08 Regensburg, DE - Jazzclub
05/09 Leipzig, DE - Horns Erben
05/15-18 Berlin, DE - HAU 1 (Drohnenmärchen)
05/21 Bremen, DE - Sendesaal
05/22 Offenbach, DE - Hafen 2
05/23 Hamburg, DE, Elbjazz Festival
05/24 Bonn, DE - Jazzfest
09/09-13 Munich, DE - Jazzclub Unterfahrt
09/21 Magdeburg, DE - Festung Mark