Detail 2018

German engineering has always been appreciated worldwide. It is innovative, technically sophisticated down to the smallest detail and makes life more beautiful. Attributes that also fully apply to the band De-Phazz founded in 1997 in Heidelberg. Created by the diligent sound collector and sample architect Pit Baumgartner, the „Godfathers of Lounge“ are the most reliable and pleasant German export commodity since the VW Beetle, and the most musically charming invention since the Fraunhofer Institute in Erlangen invented Mp3. A pronounced sense of style, bone-dry grooves, tons of soul and purring irony – these are, quite frankly, un-German qualities that have made De-Phazz the most famous, unknown music export “Made in Germany”. In 2018, the band celebrates its 21st anniversary with a new album (Release Date: May 2018) and offers the prospect of thrilling concerts for head, belly and soul. It’s a blessing that De-Phazz still exists. Because in this age, more than ever, there is a genuine need for poise, humour and good music.

Ambient goes country and David Bowie and Brian Eno share a tune with John Coltrane in slide guitar maestro Geir Sundstol’s astonishing cinematic travelogue.

The Mozart sonatas for fortepiano and violin, as they are accurately called, represented a genre that was beginning to become old-fashioned in Mozart's own time, with the piano the dominant instrument and the violin, during Mozart's youth at least, an almost optional accompaniment. They aren't played as often as Mozart's other chamber music, but there are many ways to play them. It is good to have a spate of new recordings oriented toward historical performance; these put the listener closer to Mozart's experimental frame of mind in this genre.

This release may be a surprise to some who associate Auger, quite correctly, with the rock music and performing pyrotechnics seated at the Hammond organ…