denzel + huhn: brom

"Here's the thing about Denzel + Huhn. They treat sound like nobody else. Everything is precious, worthy to be recorded, archived, digitalized, processed, and eventually spit out again on a record like Brom, Denzel + Huhn's first since 2007... Bertram had been busy with music for movies and high-profile TV shows, Erik too, he says, but he wants everybody to know that he bought a new guitar and a valve-powered amp to go with it... I had always considered Denzel + Huhn's music to be extremely special, yet more or less completely overlooked by the busy mainstream, unable to cope with their very particular and peculiar approach to music... Brom is a very special record. This is why I don't have time for platitudes like 'the experimental duo from Berlin' or 'critically acclaimed Oktaf label.' That stuff just does not matter... Two things have always been extremely important for Erik and Bertram: sampling and collaborating. With each other, but also with other people. This is what happened recording Brom as well, but on a completely new scale. 'We'd normally start off by sampling tons of records, always looking for bits and pieces to work with. This time, we also started with sampling, but we recorded the stuff ourselves,' says Bertram. 'Instruments, field recordings, experimenting with microphones, looking for a new kind of ambience as a basis for our tracks. We've enjoyed this very much, so we were inviting friends to bring their instruments and ideas into the fold.' Tarwater's Ronald Lippok is among that crew, as is Brandt Brauer Frick's Florian Juncker playing the trombone. You'll also hear many self-made instruments on Brom, plus the 'hang,' a kind of Swiss-made steel drum with a confusing esoteric heritage. Bringing all this into the mix, 'the record sounds more mature and complete in a way,' says Bertram. What really matters is that Denzel + Huhn actually made another record. Maybe their best one yet. Who am I to judge? All I know is that this record matters in a big way, more than you can imagine. Just listen to 'Schlagton,' the album-closer, which condenses a million centuries of music history into a pop song four minutes and 17 seconds long. If this tune does not provoke tears in your eyes, you're dead. Sorry for being so blunt. The truth sometimes hurts. Trust me, I've learned this the hard way." --Thaddeus Herrmann, Berlin, 2015