Between sharpness and tension

Kaos Protokoll's second album with the tongue-twisting title Questclamationmarks was just three years ago, but a lot has changed in the band since then: Mark Stucki has been replaced on saxophone by Simon Spiess and keyboardist Luzius Schuler is also new. As a result, the trio has grown into a quartet. According to press material, the new album, Everyone Nowhere, between "post-future beats" and "modern spiritual jazz". The line-up changes have not completely overturned the sound of Kaos Protokoll, but have left an audible mark: The music seems more meditative and spherical. The first track is already a sign of this, Flash Frame, which combines muscular rhythms with drawn-out sounds of the bass clarinet and frenetic keyboard playing - and seems as cool as it is bold.

Kaos Protokoll repeatedly show their preference for electronic music. This lends the songs penned by bassist Benedikt Wieland a certain aloofness. However, melancholy moments constantly break through it. The formation particularly appreciates dealing with contrasts: While Waiting room oscillates between quiet melancholy and noise elements, works its way The Cosmos In My Backyard sometimes free jazz, sometimes elegiac art rock. As the four musicians are able to contrast abstract soundscapes almost incessantly with gentle melodies, the record gains both sharpness and tension. On the eight new songs, Kaos Protokoll constantly give free rein to their ideas. This is wild and curious, but not entirely coherent. The experiment of ending the album with a kind of rap called SunRaColtraneSolar is a daring decision, but the only non-instrumental number turns out to be a charming foreign body.