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Album Description
* Eagerly-anticipated second ECM album from Swiss pianist-composer Nik Bärtsch and his committed young `Zen-funk' or `ritual groove" band Ronin, whose label debut Stoa received rave reviews all around the world. * Bärtsch's Ronin is recognized as one of the most exciting discoveries of recent years. * Holon follows up directions set in motion by Stoa and takes them further, thanks both to the band's growing confidence and also to ECM's glowing sound-mix. * Nik Bärtsch's music occupies a niche all its own, equidistant from contemporary composition, funk/soul grooves and scattered world musics. In some ways further removed from jazz than the other idioms it has nonetheless been warmly embraced by the jazz community, its grooves and interlocking rhythms now frequently heard also at the jazz festivals - as well as in new music spaces and rock clubs. * CD booklet includes artist photos and a liner note by Nik Bärtsch in German and English
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Holon
- Audio CD: 0 pages (2008-02-05)
- Publisher: Ecm Records
- Label: Ecm Records
- Studio: Ecm Records
- Average Customer Review:
 based on 8 reviews
- Sales Rank in Music: #8733
Avg. Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: spacial, powerful, really good 2008-10-13
Comment: Great atmospherics, some songs are a little "spooky". Really deserves to be listened to with headphones. The depth of the recording is wonderful.
Not really a party soundtrack.... more a personal journey in movement through sound.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: Something of new using great old concepts . 2008-09-19
Comment: This Swiss people really catch me deep and fully with a neo Minimal /Zen/Funk thing that is so fascinating , hypnotic , engaging and in someway also Black tanned . Europe in last years is givin' to music world a lot of big new artists and this are of the team . A cicular thing , based on micro variations , slight rhythm variations , wonderful ostinatos , modern sound and great use of the Milesque tension and release thing , wonderful bass use and great recording technique . Let me tell u that I 've buyed from Nick site all his works too and no one is less than GREAT ! Ryley , Soft Machine , Glass , Minimalism , Funk and Euro mindly way of playing for a catching listening experience! This musician are destinated to have a big goal . Go ahead Nick !
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: ecm,does it again. 2008-08-26
Comment: wow, this was a killer album, classical spacious music,with serious groove, yes groove. that bass is bone rattling, and the icey cold piano ,cuts like a knife, mix in a bass clarinet with that creepy sound ,you have a winner. i mean they are really cookin. plenty of ear pearcing alto too ,like john surman style. the music is meditative and stirring. so i guess jazz isnt dead .this album fools me into thinking its electric ,but it isnt. only the bass is .i get an est vibe here, but more upbeat, but yet plenty of meloncholy. i just love it.gorgeous.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: FULL OF ENERGY QUALITY AND WARMTH 2008-06-16
Comment: Minimalistic modern jazz approach blended with funk, avan-garde and fusion elements in a very completed versatile and harmonic way.Great interplay,excellent bass lines ,wonderful and spacious piano playing from Nick Bartch and his quintet with energy rythm and warmth.EXCELLENT.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: The shape of jazz to come? 2008-05-03
Comment: *THE CONTEXT...*
In the world of jazz 'avant-garde' there are two main currents: on one hand, you have the musicians who are simply content with re-enacting the canon (Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra, sometimes to amazing results it must be said) while on the other there are those who prefer to push the envelope by going, if ever slightly, beyond the boundaries of the genre.
Mostly this is done by combining jazz with 'other things', i.e., influences coming from different musical fields. Hence, a lot of experimentation mixing jazz with electronics, hip-hop, minimalism, indie rock, etc.
While this 'mixing' concept is in no way new (didn't bossa nova stem from the jazz+latin music formula?), it can often produce exciting results.
Matthew Shipp work with Thirsty Ear, ups and downs notwithstanding, is a good example (or at least a widely publicized one)
*...AND THE ACTUAL REVIEW*
Nik Baertsch's Ronin Quintet does the same, fashioning a record that borrows from minimalism, funk (especially in the use of bass), IDM and, just like some other reviewer noted, middle-eastern motifs.
He (Nik) calls this concoction 'Zen Funk', I call it 'good enough to deserve 5 stars'.
Each composition is based on hypnotic piano modules (think of minimalist repetition) played by Baertsch himself. This is the foundation on which the other instruments play, either by building the groove or by showing amazing interplay and exciting solos.
This album is truly amazing and has been on heavy-rotation in my player since the day it reached my mailbox. Kudos to NB for pushing the genre to new directions and, most importantly, for delivering such an exciting record.
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