GROB 315
Steamboat Switzerland – Budapest

GROB 316
Steamboat Switzerland – ac/dB [Hayden]

Over two years after Steamboat Switzerland hit the (post-) improv and (post-) noise scene with their »Live« CD, only now do the long awaited follow up CDs appear. If the debut CD presented a patchwork of improvisation, own and foreign compositions and rock pieces, Budapest and ac/dB [Hayden] are compact, integral and equally imploring monolithic works. And yet the two CDs couldn’t be more different.

Steamboat Switzerland «Budapest»

listen to: «Budapest A»

> buy the CD «Budapest»

> buy the complet box

Budapest is the result of a purely improvised concert they gave in Danube metropolis in the Fall of 1999. The noise and prog rock roots have been compressed so much that there are no more clichés nor more citations, only tension that bursts asunder. The CD was mixed and co-produced by Stephan Wittwer, who contributed the intro, a little gem about the state of being chopped up. The grunge track that the band played following their improvisation, as an encore, is also a composition from Wittwer.
The liner notes to this CD were written by Dietmar Dath.

Steamboat Switzerland «ac/dB»

listen to: «DB 1»

> buy the CD «ac/dB»

> buy the vinyl-LP «ac/dB»

> buy the complet box

ac/dB [Hayden] is a clash of two compositions: “dB” is a work that the English composer Sam Hayden exclusively wrote for Steamboat Switzerland. On the CD, “dB” alternates with “ac,” a collective composition of the band’s members, Dominik Blum, Lucas Niggli and Marino Pliakas. Both pieces rub against, wash around and contrast each other as well as radically questioning each other. Thus, an uncommon tension-filled opus comes into being, that (as dumb as it may sound) is more than the sum of its parts. ac/dB [Hayden] demonstrates how powerful, explosive and, well yes, swinging new music can be. Or is it really the progressive music of the »now time« that simply blows away the entire postrock of the last few years and makes us forget it all?
Two CDs were necessary (they function autonomously) in order to give a halfway decent picture of the band. It was worth it. Deeper and deeper in the uncanny intimacy of abstraction!
Attention!: Budapest and ac/dB [Hayden] are also appearing together in a box limited to 200 copies. This box will exclusively contain a single with unpublished tracks (a.o.th. feat. Simone Vollenweider). ac/dB [Hayden] will also be released as an LP and is only available directly from the label or band.

Steamboat Switzerland «unknown song/zone»

listen to: «unknown song»

> buy the vinyl single «unknown song/zone»

> buy the complete box

The ultimate and world's only Avant-core Hammond trio Steamboat Switzerland creates is own way of a „chart song, written by the english composer Sam Hayden, released as a vinyl single at Moon records and GROB, and, similar to the „Melvins single editions, added by a improvisation track on page two. The members of the band (Dominik Blum, Hammond / Marino Pliakas, bass and Lucas Niggli, drums) and as a special guest, the marvellous young indie rock singer Simone Vollenweider, combine elements of hard core with avantgardist and free improvised experiences:, „Too in awe of the transdecent properties of amplification for the jazz and Improv circuits, too wired an volatile for the alt.rock communities, annexed by the classical academy from the paralell soundworlds dreamed by Yannis Xenakis and Edgard Varese, it exists in a vibrant but diminishing place, sealed off from all enquiry, ripe for discovery (Tony Herrington at „wire, 1999)

Steamboat Switzerland «live»

listen to: «Slaver»

> buy the CD «live»

Steamboat Switzerland is a new Swiss band and the latest project by keyboardist Dominik Blum This is a power trio revolving around Blum's Hammond organ and completed by the bass of Marino Pliakas and the drums of Lucas Niggli.
Their first CD (Live) showcases nothing less than an explosion of hard-core Hammond and free improv. On this record you will find elements of rock, metal, punk, hard-core, serial music, contemporary music, jazz, new music and free. Whoa! Steamboat's musics are sometimes collective, sometimes penned by Stephan Wittwer (guitarist of Sludge 2000). But the band also likes to rearrange works of obscure contemporary composers like Ruth Crawford (1930s) or serialist Hermann Meier (1950s).
The results are at time close to Palinckx with an Hammond organ in place of the guitar. On other occasions, it Sounds like Keith Emerson gone crazy, Blum hammers on the Hammond with unprecedented energy, with the Leslie revolving at high speed and distortion splashing everywhere. Frenetic rhythms alternate with minimalistic moods. The tracks pass one after the other, always managing to surprise the listener for 75 minutes.
Did I tell you this record is fantastic? For fans of very spicy Hammond and "profound" sonic spasms.

Dominik Blum: Hammond Organ, Korg MS 20

Marino Pliakas: E-Bass

Lucas Niggli: Drums, Percussion

more informations: www.marinopliakas.com/steamboatswitzerland