Strom Martin Kohlstedt

• 1NAO06:21
• 2KSY06:12
• 3DOM05:51
• 4HEA04:29
• 5TAR05:27
• 6EJA04:59
• 7AMS06:09
• 8CHA05:59
• 9JIN03:52
• Total Runtime49:19

Info for Strom

Martin Kohlstedt's third studio album is a synopsis of development as well as a glimpse into the future. Martin Kohlstedt's opus Strom is a stream of ruthless moments exposing the piano to the elements. Amid the flow of the nine pieces, the composer slowly dissipates and enables the experience of music in it's most primal dynamic. One witnesses the transformation of closeness and intimacy into vastness and force and that there is beauty to be found in everything, especially in the ephemeral. Consequently, Strom brings forth manifold forms of itself, appearing hazy and perilous, in the next instant direct, almost playful to ultimately appear awestruck in the face of it's own gravity. No distinct answers have been thought of, no measures taken, no interpretation preconceived for Strom. Instead you get the feeling that with Strom, Martin Kohlstedt erected a monument in honor of intuition itself - even though immutable monuments are not his specialty, quite the contrary. The native Thuringian is known above all for the energy and the unpredictability of his concerts. After two albums featuring just him and the piano, he dropped the deeply ingrained patterns and connections to the instrument alone and developed a new naturalness of playing electronic instruments and effects, as if they were another couple of keys on the keyboard. Strom is Martin Kohlstedt's third studio album and in this a synopsis of this development as well as a glimpse into the future: Before he comes in contact with the audience he comes in close contact with himself - without any acting or pretending. Sound and structure thereof stand back behind the wish to reach faraway places through the music. By listening closely you follow him - and his hands that do all the work, meticulously and maniacally at once but still solely with himself after all, just like at his concerts.

Martin Kohlstedt, piano, keyboards, synthesizers, electronics

Martin Kohlstedt
Intuitively Martin Kohlstedt feels his way through this body of wood, felt hammers and steel strings. The young composer, who grew up in the forests of Thuringia, doesn’t just put on an anonymous fingerplay - he perpetually opens himself up with each and every moment, with every stroke of the keys. An attempt to create something close and personal - beyond sophisticated classics or artificial pathos. Kohlstedt isn’t reenacting a play, he’s holding a musical conversation with his instruments. At times he might even lose his self-control and get carried away. Particularly in a concert setting, one might take note of this kind of aggressive straightforwardness, perhaps making him seem vulnerable. If you were standing off to the side, you could even find it cheesy. Nevertheless, the argumentation between character and piece is so fierce, that you just can’t get around it. Consider yourself lucky under these circumstances - because that’s exactly what Martin Kohlstedt needs, this soundbox, his audience.

This exchange was captured within his two albums “Nacht“ (2014) and “Tag“ (2012) (Night and Day respectively), published by himself. Besides solo performances, he is part of the electronica bands Marbert Rocel and Karocel and also melodizes motion pictures.

This album contains no booklet.