STEPHAN THELEN
visionary Swiss guitarist extraordinaire, fractal sonic architect
and man behind the forward-heading avant-rock band SONAR
lands on the Planet MoonJune
with his brand new studio album Fractal Guitar
featuring guitar innovators MARKUS REUTER and DAVID TORN
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Dear Friends In Music
It's my immense pleasure to welcome to the MoonJune World another guitarist extraordinaire, sound conceptualist and fractal sonic architect STEPHAN THELEN (of the Swiss band SONAR). Stephan brings to the Planet MoonJune his brand new solo projectFRACTAL GUITAR. His band SONAR is one of the most brutally adventurous, forward-heading, futuristic and innovative beyond-rock and beyond-jazz and beyond-anything bands in the modern music. FRACTAL GUITAR albums also features two among the greatest guitar innovators of our times: MARKUS REUTER (on all tracks) and the legendary DAVID TORN (on two very lengthy tracks).
Direct link for the new album:
https://stephanthelen-
This is the first MoonJune release in 2019. HD 24bit download and the CD are available now at: https://stephanthelen- Yours truly LEONARDO PAVKOVIC one-man-army-soldier at MoonJune Music & MoonJune Records
3rd placement as Record Labels Of The Year 2018 in DownBeat Magazine Reader's Poll. 1/3 of the year touring the world with artist ion the MoonJune Music Booking Roster.
Message to the press: Promo CDs will be sent to a carefully selected list of reviewers and radio stations around the globe, MoonJune encourages media to accept HD Download (24bit high definition files)..
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Guitarist and composer Stephan Thelen releases his debut album for Moonjune Records worldwide on January 18, 2019. It's an instrumental, post-progressive album co-produced by Markus Reuter (Stick Men), featuring guest appearances of many leading electric guitarists including David Torn, Markus Reuter, Henry Kaiser, Jon Durant, Bill Walker, Barry Cleveland and Matt Tate, as well as drummers/percussionists Benno Kaiser, Manuel Pasquinelli and Andi Pupato. Stephan Thelen is American born Swiss who composes, produces and performs music at the fringes of rock, jazz, experimental and classical music. His current main project as a leader, guitarist and composer is the minimal groove band Sonar, who have quickly gained international reputation for creating a unique blend of music that fuses a rigorous minimal concept with the power of a rock band and the sensitivity of a jazz combo. Former projects include playing guitar and electronics with Swiss ensembles Radio Osaka, License To Chill, Broken Symmetry and Root Down, producing albums (for example Andy Brugger’s No No Diet Bang and Peter Schärli Sextet), as well as composing music for many theater and film productions. The celebrated Kronos Quartet recently recorded and frequently performed Stephan's string quartet Circular Lines, a piece commissioned by the Kronos Arts Association and Carnegie Hall for a visionary project called "Fifty for the Future". The Mannheimer Schlagwerk, a percussion ensemble from Germany, also recently premiered his composition Parallel Motion. Fractal Guitar features the atmospherically dense, polyrhythmic tapestry for which is Sonar is well known, but focuses much more on the sonic and ambient possibilities of the electric guitar. In the liner notes, Stephan Thelen says: “After a few years of playing without effects apart from reverb in Sonar, I felt the urge to compose and record some pieces in which effects were an integral part of the music. I especially wanted to use an effect I worked with before Sonar, which I call “Fractal Guitar” — a rhythmic delay with a very high feedback level that creates cascading delay patterns in odd time signatures such as 3/8, 5/8 or 7/8. The other desire I had was to work with and to have some serious fun with a few of the many great guitarists I've met over the years to create an album that features some of the more forward-looking possibilities of the most mysterious, compelling and eclectic of all instruments, the electric guitar. ” | ||
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The five tracks on this album grew out of a mind-boggling amount of activity and crystallized out of myriad soundfiles, recorded across the Western hemisphere during the last 3 years. Thanks to all my great friends who helped me pull it off, especially to Markus Reuter, who shared his exceptional talents and endless creativity with me on every step of the way. Thanks also to Grace, Devin and Anil Prasad for their generous hospitality, to Brandy Gale and Henry Kaiser for inspiration and to Leonardo "MoonJune" Pavkovic for inviting me into the illustrious MoonJune Club.
– Stephan Thelen, Zürich, August 2018 | ||
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Tracklisting and musicians:
01 BRIEFING FOR A DESCENT INTO HELL (18:37) David Torn: electric guitar, live looping Markus Reuter: U8 touch guitar, soundscapes Jon Durant: cloud guitar Matt Tate: U8 touch guitar (bass) Manuel Pasquinelli: drums Stephan Thelen: fractal and tritone guitar 02 ROAD MOVIE (13:23) Markus Reuter: U8 touch guitar, soundscapes Bill Walker: electric guitar, live looping Henry Kaiser: electric guitar Matt Tate: U8 touch guitar (bass) Manuel Pasquinelli: drums Stephan Thelen: fractal and blue sky guitar, granular loops 03 FRACTAL GUITAR (9:21) Markus Reuter: U8 touch guitar, soundscapes Barry Cleveland: guitar atmospheres Matt Tate: U8 touch guitar (bass) Andi Pupato: percussion Benno Kaiser: drums Stephan Thelen: fractal guitar, granular loops 04 RADIANT DAY (8:42) Markus Reuter: U8 touch guitar, soundscapes Barry Cleveland: guitar atmospheres, bowhammer Matt Tate: U8 touch guitar (bass) Manuel Pasquinelli: drums Stephan Thelen: fractal and blue sky guitar 05 URBAN NIGHTSCAPE (17:38) David Torn: electric guitar, live looping Markus Reuter: U8 touch guitar, soundscapes Matt Tate: U8 touch guitar (bass) Benno Kaiser: drums Stephan Thelen: fractal guitar, organ, samples Produced by Markus Reuter & Stephan Thelen Executive Producer: Leonardo Pavkovic for Moonjune Records ℗ © Stephan Thelen/Moonjune Music, 2019 All tracks written by Stephan Thelen except "Briefing for a Descent into Hell" by Stephan Thelen and David Torn (title taken from Doris Lessing's book), “Radiant Day” by Stephan Thelen and Markus Reuter, and "Urban Nightscape" by Stephan Thelen, David Torn and Markus Reuter. Recorded at various locations across Europe and North America between August 2015 and April 2018. Recording engineer at Gadget Box, Santa Cruz, California, where Bill's and Henry's tracks were recorded on April 27, 2016: Patrick Brede. Recording engineer at Powerplay, Maur, Switzerland, where David's tracks were recorded on January 30, 2018: Alex Mularkey, assisted by Bernhard Wagner. Recording engineer in Chicago, Illinois, where Matt's tracks were recorded on March 30, 2018: Gabriel Lucas Gitin Riccio. Drums recorded by Benno Kaiser at his rehearsal room in Aarau, Switzerland. Post-production and mix by Benjamin Schäfer and Markus Reuter for Unsung Productions, Berlin, Germany, April/May 2018. Mastered by Alexander Vatagin in Vienna, Austria, August 2018. David Torn appears courtesy of ECM Records. | ||
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