Artist Biography by Sean Cooper
To Rococo Rot
were a mostly Berlin-based post-rock trio whose combination of
electronic and acoustic elements placed them in close proximity to
American groups such as Tortoise, Trans Am, and Rome, as well as European artists Circle, Stereolab, and Fridge. Composed of bassist Stefan Schneider (also of similar-sounding Dusseldorf group Kreidler) and brothers Robert (guitar, electronics) and Ronald Lippok (drums, effects), To Rococo Rot
were originally among a new breed of German electronic experimentalists
working more often within the context of hauptkunst digital art and
multimedia installation (prior to meeting Schneider, the Lippoks were behind a project of this sort called Ornament und Verbrechen). With TRR,
however, the group described its work as an overt attempt to reconnect
the art-school proclivities of musical experimentalism with the
accessibility and "use-value" of pop, a goal clearly evident both in
their name and their recorded output. The group's debut arrived in 1996
in the form of an untitled picture disc (subsequently reissued on CD by
Kitty-Yo), with the more widely distributed Veiculo
(released by U.K. indie City Slang) appearing the following year.
Embraced by indie rock and electronica audiences alike, the group (like Tortoise,
et al.) had already begun to play an important, transitional role in
eroding some of the barriers that typically separated the two
(particularly in the U.S.). Working long, hypnotic grooves augmented by
bizarre, often subtly interwoven electronics and sample sequences, TRR also owed a clear debt to Krautrock groups such as Neu!, Can, and Amon Düül,
among others, and in some respects reoriented the abstract
deconstructions of man/machine those groups first sketched. In 1997, the
group recorded an album's worth of material with producer David Moufang (Deep Space Network, Source Records). Following a move to Mute, the band released The Amateur View in 1999 and Music Is a Hungry Ghost, a collaboration with I-Sound, in 2001. Hotel Morgen (2004), and Speculation
(2010), two of the group's most refined and creative releases, were
issued on Domino. For their ninth album, the trio returned to City
Slang. Instrument, featuring their first tracks with vocals courtesy of admirer Arto Lindsay, was released in 2014.
Tracklist
1 | Im Lilienthal | 1:13 |
2 | Kritische Masse 1 | 3:46 |
3 | Veramon | 3:58 |
4 | Dekothek | 3:28 |
5 | Polo Star | 1:08 |
6 | Süsse Küche | 2:38 |
7 | National Velvet | 1:31 |
8 | Tour De Repéchage | 3:45 |
9 | Testfeld | 4:23 |
10 | Parabola | 6:11 |
11 | Weiter | 3:25 |
12 | Schon Sehr Viel Telefoniert | 3:45 |
13 | Kabine | 2:59 |
14 | Autonachmittag | 6:04 |
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