MM-XX Vol. 1 & 2

Comes packaged in 6-panel fold-out cardboard sleeve. Here’s the second of three (forthcoming) albums on Cellule 75 by Marc Richter (aka Black To Comm) following the (very different sounding) Diode, Triode LP (recordings made at INA GRM and ZKM) that came out this month
MM-XX is a virtual orchestra Richter initiated during the Covid-19 lockdowns. Isolated at his Hamburg studio he started to reach out to former collaborators and old friends, picking up on previous conversations as well as asking people to post short previously unused sound recordings for a collaborative piece of music. He then assembled, transformed and mixed these generous offerings (by 33 artists) into perpetually evolving compositions to be published and performed in different constellations, formats, versions and mixes over the course of 2021. Not only did he get these lovely sonic gifts from his many collaborators – he received messages about childbirth and death, marriage and divorce, building houses, buying houses, happiness and depression, everyday life
The resulting pieces were premiered at the lockdown editions of Rewire and Papiripar Festival in 2021 and are now compiled into this lavishly produced Double-CD set with mastering by Rashad Becker and Bora Baskan’s beautiful paintings on the cardboard sleeve. The music is as unpredictable as the guest list yet it all gels in unexpected ways. Some of the pieces are surprisingly beautiful while others are deliberately comic and ridiculous