Aparis - Despite The Fire-Fighters' Efforts... (1993)

The Stockhausens and their percussive accomplice returned to ECM the summer of 1992 to record this sequel to Aparis.  Now using the debut album title as a group moniker, they gave this one (sadly their last together) an album title that appeared to be pulled from a news report - probably one from late November 1992, when Windsor Castle caught fire; I'm almost certain that's what's pictured on the cover.

Musically, the trio expanded and refined the palette of their debut, with 13-minute opener Sunrice starting out in ambient mode before picking up pace towards an increasingly free ending.  Jo Thönes' muscular acoustic drumming is particularly noteworthy.  The next epic, Welcome, follows a similar structure, and in between them the liquid atmosphere of Waveterms is punctuated with what sounds like zither swishes, and percussive sections that introduce sampled speech and singing from unspecified locations.

The album's second half travels from its most upbeat and jazzy (Fire) to its most fully-realised electronic and dark-atmospheric in Green Piece and Orange, with the anthemic Hannibal the perfect closer.  The keyboard work is still a bit of its time, but sits much better within the overall production (handled by the trio themselves, in one of a small number of ECM releases where Manfred Eicher isn't credited with overall control).  I'm not sure if I'd go as far though as to say that this album is preferable to the first; better perhaps to think of Markus, Simon & Jo's ECM output as two hours of fascinating, original music that leaves you wishing there'd been more, to see what other developments arose.

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Markus Stockhausen, Simon Stockhausen, Jo Thönes - Aparis (1990)

The rest of this week spotlights a little-known ECM grouping featuring two of Karlheinz Stockhausen's offspring: trumpeter Markus (born 1957), and his decade-younger half-brother Simon on saxes & synths, plus percussionist Jo Thönes.  This August 1989 recording was the trio's debut; I haven't been able to find any info on what the album name means (maybe just "à Paris" - of Paris?), but they seemed to like it enough to use it as a band name by the time of the 1993 follow-up.  That's for Friday, but today, here's Aparis the album.

The 16-minute title track is up first, setting an extended mood of subtle percussion, chilly synth and a gradual building of Markus' trumpet lead.  If a 20-years-younger Miles Davis had just been settling into his electric period in 1989, In A Silent Way might well have sounded like this.  The track catches fire about halfway in, only to mellow out again as a sequencer threads its way around a sibling horn duet.  Don't want to write a whole load about this one track, but the 'synth apeing a wailing lead guitar' ending was just too much fun to pass over.

Another lengthy piece, Poseidon, follows in a more energised free jazz mode with electronic effects that might sound dated but are enjoyable for sure, before a morse-code rhythm sets up the main body of the track.  Your mileage may vary on the synth bass.  After a mellow interlude in Carnaval, and an upbeat one in the most sonically 80s-anchored track High Ride, we're due another 13-minute exploration in Rejoice.  This one might be my favourite, coming across as it does like a piece of 80s Tangerine Dream progressive electronica with a fully-compatible jazz crossover, and it's followed by the sweet closing ambience of Peach.  If you can deal with the very much of their time synths, this album is a keeper.

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