kainkwatett

(…) The group step carefully, with well-tempered improvisation that focuses on the understated and unrefined. Though it sounds as though every musical gesture made by the trio is the product of planning and intent, Kainkwatett are able to leave their music sounding rough, almost industrial. (…) Some significant shifts in momentum might, to the listener, seem rather minute, but, in the terms of Kainkwatett's rather suppressed style, they're as blatantly eventful as things are going to get, and that's not a bad thing. More blustery improv can be full of missteps and unintentional expulsions, and though these aren't necessarily negatives, Kainkwatett's music and its deliberate nature make musical economy quite attractive. Whether these three will find the success and distribution some of their city-mates have has yet to be seen, though, this disc is a more than adequate start
Adam Strohm in Fakejazz (USA)

(…) Kainkwatett the band, doesn't have a percussionist but the clangs and flanges from Papenheim's guitar and the concentrated echo from Haller's bass - that resemble some of Ellen Fullman's long string instrument inventions - make up for that. Probably through the properties of Papenheim's amp, sinuous loops and ringing electro-acoustic interface animate the seven tracks here. Additionally (…) Chessex's closest parallel is to the fluttering distortions, colored air expelling and circular breathing of the Evan Parker school. (…) That's the macro part of the sound. (…) Drawing equally on microtonalism, the trio builds themes out of claw-hammer string clicks, steady bass drones, burbling single notes and protracted silences. Other time an entire improvisation takes place as a spinning top-like mechanized pulse quivers below. Often operating in double or triple broken chords, output slows down for mechanized cross feeds, some of which take on protracted windshield wiper sounds or those of bubbling loops. All this reaches a climax with the almost-10-minute sixth track, where gong-like clangs, concentrated drones and oscillating arpeggios share aural space with reed exhortations, harsh, laconic plectrum plinks and a final sul tasto expansion from Haller. Having reached minimalism's nadir, teeny metallic plinks appear then fade to silence. (…)
Ken Waxman in Jazzweekly & Jazzword (USA)

(...) In langjähriger intensiver Zusammenarbeit haben sich Antoine Chessex (Saxophon), Axel Haller (Bass) und Torsten Papenheim (Gitarre) einen eigenständigen Klang erarbeitet. Kainkwatett setzt auf leise Töne; subtile Geräusche dominieren den Klang. Bedächtig und reflektiert begeben sich die drei Künstler in eine intellektuell anmutende Kommunikation - um rauschhaftes Sich-Selbst-Verlieren geht es ihnen nicht.
Antje Rößler in Jazz-Zeitung (Germany)

Departing from free improvisation, this trio takes interplay towards abstract noise, leaving behind instrumental roles, blurring the edges of material sources from diverse perspectives. The tracks alternate between brittle, fast-moving passages, denser, textural spaces or close-up observation often woven from reflections on interactive possibilities
Modisti (Spain)

(…) The seven cuts on this CD were recorded in september 2003 during a session in a studio. Although noted as seven different cuts, the music comes to the listener as an endless stream of sound. The saxophone playing is that of the modern kind, the way Axel Dorner plays his trumpet or Alessandro Bosetti his clarinet: producing wind sound through the mouth. More soundpoetry than actual saxophone playing. Objects of all kind are placed on the bass and the guitar and one realises this is really free music. (…) I must say I quite like this CD. (…)
Frans de Waard in Vital Weekly (Netherlands)

Das kainkwatett bleibt der puren Improvisation treu. Mit extrem nahe aufgenommenem, akustischen Instrumentarium entstehen hier blockhafte, in sich sehr agile Stücke, die wie Aphorismen wirken, auch wenn eines knapp zehn, einige andere über sechs Minuten dauern
Dietrich Eichmann in Positionen (Germany)

(…) Much like the nofrills packaging which offers only bare minimums as to background on the music the program unfolds as a continuous carpet of creaks, scrapes, crumples and clatters. (…) The seven tracks appear to be discrete entities but they all hinge together the overarching suite. (…)
Derek Taylor in Cadence Magazine (USA)

(...) schraum ist ein neues Berliner Label, das sich auf zeitgenössische Musik - improvisiert und notiert - spezialisiert hat. Ins Leben gerufen wurde es durch die drei Musiker Merle Ehlers, Axel Haller und Torsten Papenheim. Zwei neue CDs sind in diesen Tagen erschienen. Die erste ist von der Gruppe Kainkwatett (Axel Haller, Torsten Papenheim und der Schweizer Saxophonist Antoine Chessex) und stellt eine freie Improvisations-Session in sieben Teilen dar; die zweite CD des Duos rant (Merle Ehlers und Torsten Papenheim) vermischt Improvisation mit notierter Musik und orientiert sich offen am Geist der Popmusik. Zwei besondere Alben, die es zu entdecken lohnt
Sébastien Moig in Jazzosphere (France)
(Translation: Wiebke Taler)