Concert / Electro To rococo rot

TO ROCOCO ROT first performed together in 1995, in Berlin, when Robert invited then Kreidler member, Stefan Schneider to join him and his brother, Ronald, in soundtracking an exhibition of the latter’s lithographs. Even now, nine years later, the members sometimes refer to the music they make together as ​‘a project’, as if rooting it all down in something more permanent could affect their forward motion. If that sounds a little too relentless, then a pleasant contradiction is to hear the members talking about each other ; of Robert’s pleasure in seeing familiar things from Stefan’s perspective, and of Stefan talking about visiting the places where Robert and Ronald grew up — Stefan grew up in the west, in Dusseldorf, and the Lippoks in the east, in Berlin. It is clear that if any of the members left, then the group would no longer exist. But each is currently dedicated to the group moving forward with a complete sense of possiblity, tempered only by the crushing awareness that comes from a sense of music history. To Rococo Rot have in the past kept things interesting through collaborations with artists like D (Darryl Moore), I‑Sound (a New York DJ), Alexander Balanescu, The Pastels and St. Etienne, and from the music each of them makes outside the group, in Tarwater, and in Mapstation and other solo projects and collaborations. But their strength is really their own relationship, in the way that their unique group plays together ; in its physicality and the intuitive ways the members adapt to each others playing. CHIHEI HATAKEYAMA is a sound artist and musician living on the outskirts of Tokyo. He has performed for years under his given name and also as one half of the electroacoustic duo Opitope, along with Tomoyoshi Date. Hatakeyama polychromes memory-evoking soundscapes with various recorded materials of electric and acoustic instruments such as electric guitars, vibraphone and piano. Withreleases on Kranky, Room 40, Under the Spire, Hibernate Records, Magic Book Records and Spekk (as Opitope), he has quickly established a solid and unique footing in the emotive ambient music genre.