Wiegenlied für den Nachtmahr

Not that zither again! ... Oh yes. But Karlbauer thoroughly drives the sticky-alpine
cosyness out of this syrupy chirping supplier of soundtracks that hail the common
meekness. He’s been doing this for years now, using electronic distortion and
daredevillishly, radically unacademic ways of playing his instrument. Still, that massive and
heavyweight as in the opening track “My Rheingold”, this sweeter-than-sweet plucking
wood has never sounded, not even in his hands. Here Karlbauer, the zither-self taught and
self made man, has slid all controls, the emotional ones no less than the electrical ones, to
their extremes. A dark and growling thunder, that sinks into the pit of the belly, drones right
from the start. At the same time, from far off, Wagner is waving. Well, have you ever? Now
you have, right here.
But on the next track, entitled “Brighter Blue”, the storm clouds have already cleared.
Virtual birds jubilate and Karlbauer plays the zither as if it were a yearningly whining
hawaian guitar, a mischievous, consciously sought contrast with the opening track. Not
surprisingly, for Karlbauer has always been on the road between musical extremes, a deep
sea diver and an astronaut at the same time. He’s attracted by apparent opposites. That is
why in his work pure pop can be found alongside free jazz, thoroughly composed stretches
of chamber music, pulsating walls of sound and vigorous collages of original sounds, all
self-evidently alongside and intermingled with each other.
The creative roll plays of the multimedia-artist, multi-instrumentalist and multitasker Klaus
Karlbauer are rooted in his youthful membership of a mercilessly grassroots carinthian
costume chapel, just as well as in his studies on advanced sound fusions during his time
at the Institute for electro-acoustical music of the Viennese Music University he graduated
from. Added to that comes a pinch of punk, a whiff of Monk, a teaspoon of Dada and well
dosed, why not, some Weil as well.
The creativity of Karlbauer swings over many hinges and does not want to be categorized.
Whatever for? Just listen.
Back to the new album „Not that Zither again! … Oh yes“: here we’ve got everything that
makes up the Karlbauer-sound. From the third track “You Lost” onwards, Karlbauer’s
second lifelong- instrument, the bass clarinet, accompanies the zither.
There we also meet the painter of nightmares Füssli, the godfather of the the track with the
same name. Sheer joy isn’t exactly Karlbauer’s main theme, and has never been. These
new tracks are darkly shimmering pearls. One factor that is of great importance to him is a
kind of shadowy beauty that wanders through all of his previous works and suddenly
flashes through in his darkest moments, be it in the melody, the arrangements or the at
times overwhelming interplay of the acoustic forces.