Manafonistas

Das vierte Album von Trees Speak aus Arizona ist eine weitere aufregende Entwicklung in ihrer schnell wachsenden Diskographie,“ schreibt Martin Simpson in „AllMusic“, „und verpackt eine Fülle von Ideen in seinen 18 Tracks. Mit jeder weiteren Veröffentlichung hat die Gruppe ihren Fokus gestrafft, ihre ausschweifenderen Impulse zurückgedrängt und abendfüllende Reisen mit einem echten Sinn für Progression geschaffen. PostHuman ist ihr bisher filmischstes Werk, bei dem jeder Track einer eigenen Filmszene gleicht, die oft nahtlos ineinander übergeht, um die Kontinuität zu wahren.

In den Klanghorizonten am 19. Juni wird Musik aus allen drei Alben des Duos zu hören sein, die zwischen 2020 und 2021 bei Soul Jazz Records erschienen sind (ihr Debut kam auf einem kleinen italienischen Label raus) –  „Ohms“. „Shadow Forms“, und nun „PostHuman“. Zudem beantworteten die Brüder Diaz ein paar meiner Fragen via Email. Hier ein kleiner Auszug. Und die Innenseite des Klappcovers der Vinyl-Version. An Jan Reetzes Buch („Times & Sounds – Germany’s Journey from Jazz and Pop to Krautrock and Beyond“) zeigten sie sich hochinteressiert, und die Leküre wird diesen (wie ich vermute) sehr jungen Klangforschern wohl noch manche Tür öffnen. 

„We accidentally stumbled onto the nexus of Kraut-Rock. We believe they (the original makers of the Kraut sound) were experimenting with minimalism as well. It was very organic and unintentional that we crossed paths with the philosophy behind that style of expression. It was the most natural thing we could do at the time. Some of the names that kept coming up for us and still do to this day are Schoenberg, Stockhausen, and John Cage. They still influence us to this day.“

As Soul Jazz Records HQ (London) announced in 2020, the duo from Tucson, Arizona, Trees Speak,  sees their project „as much a sound laboratory as a rock and roll band.“ Combining elements of experimental rock, electronic avant-garde, Krautrock and Miles Davis „Bitches‘ Brew“ era jazz. They construct abstract improvisational jams into coherent compositions in the „sound lab“ of the studio. The result is a collection of dynamic songs, as the band described them, „translucent jams for a virtual autobahn“.

Philosophically, the members of Trees Speak also draw inspiration from the philosophy and creative process of the Surrealist, Dadaism, The Avant-Garde and Vanguard movements from the 1920s. So far, so good, or even better – with the release of „PostHuman“ at the end of May, Soul Jazz Records will have published three albums of this highly creative duo of the Diaz brothers. „Trees Speak are Daniel Martin Diaz and Damian Diaz from Tucson, Arizona and their music often draws on the cosmic night-time magic of Arizona’s natural desert landscapes. ‘Trees Speak’ relates to the idea of future technologies storing information and data in trees and plants – using them as hard drives – and the idea that trees communicate collectively.“ (SJR HQ)

I discovered their music with the second album, „Shadow Forms“, and was particularly thrilled by their ways of keeping diverse spirits of „the golden era of kraut rock and beyond“ alive, alive and kicking – and pushing them into new landscapes. It was not a short affair, I went back to the albums again and again. Nostalgia is only a small part in the game of digging into the world of Trees Speak.

We exchanged some mails, and sending them some of my night hours and ideas, they obviously appreciated my ways of curating music, and are now in the mood to be virtual, real, really virtual guests on my „Moon In June“- radio night in Cologne, giving their first interview ever (which came as a surprise for me, looking at the high critical acclaim of their music). They will speak about all of their three albums and their special approach to sounds from distant eras and distant horizons. Improvisation is one of the tools of their modus operandi. Excerpts of or „trance-atalantic“ conversation will be part of the first hour, and the fourth one (the first time travel section of the June 19).  Make a mental note, don‘t miss the show for your own good. Get high without drugs – trees speak!