tracklist

01 holy o

02 marivin

03 bum bugaboo

04 lona

05 bum bugaboo reprise

06 ginger

07 jacqui

08 bar nun

09 ava

10 barbie

11 brande

all tracks written and produced by ju bartholomäus and me raabenstein,
all vocals by ju except ‘ava’ performed by achim treu,
lyrics written by ju and me except ‘ava’ written by achim treu,
sax on ‘bum bugaboo reprise’ by helmut neugebauer.

mixed and mastered by ju bartholomäus, berlin

artwork by simonraabenstein.com

distributed by nonine recordings

pepper and bones is the backwash of bartholomäus & raabenstein’s long time hidden devotion and secret love affair with folk music. merged with soulful electronica and the pure joy in experimental assignment ‚one’ is a rightly successful and decadent offense against the world of humdrum popular music… it celebrates the wondrous renaissance of musical crossroads we are now approaching in the 21st century smothered in an evocative anomaly of true poesy other than our usual au courant ponies overdosing on valarium root, masturbating deserted into moss piles.

out of the midst of pepper and bone’s brilliant collaboration rises the scandalous nocturnal shadows of sexy murder and bittersweet candy. the shattering styles of ‚one’ squeeze the most succulant juices from music history, to become a bastard child of simon and garfunkel, frank zappa and raymond scott – ranging anywhere from the sheer madness of the macabre vaudeville mew to the unwritten poetry of jim morrison in his slightly more ironic days… ‚one’ offers us the keys to an altered future in word and sound, illuminating unknown cadences of electro-folk-soul and forging new musical myth‘s and dramaturgy with eminent craftmanship – a dictionary of ceaseless musical theories, distilled from noumerous beloved primogenitors into a single aced work of pure art. you may say this is anything but new… if you go sleeping with dogs you wake up with flees… well, have a listen here first… things only become alluring and sophisticated when compounded with abiding passion and boundless acumen… to form a fountain of musical youth re-juvinating the great well of music with sweet taste, you will agree.

enjoy the melody !!!

feedback

better late than never, here i am reviewing more material from nonine, and i can only suggest once again that you take a look at the label and check out the bands, especially if classy electronica and very melodic stuff doesn’t leave you indifferent. this is once again a project involving me raabenstein, the label’s owner and the driving force behind almost all the groups in the roster. apparently, i’m not the only one who hasn’t noticed raabenstein, in fact, a modern classical compilation has just been released, featuring murcof, alva noto, philip glass, gavin bryars, and other heavyweights, alongside him with his slowcream project, which we’ve reviewed on these very pages.

raabenstein’s vaguely nocturnal style remains, but pepper and bones are by no means immune to a strong black taste, almost soul-funk in terms of the setup, so much so that even our bobby soul would like it. when the groove needs to come out, it does, and without much shame. however, in other tracks, the atmosphere remains refined and very black. it’s hard to make comparisons, as certain things might remind you of the latest telephone tel aviv if they were less r&b and more jazz, lounge, or some tracks from the future sound of jazz compilations from compost, for those who remember. as expected, there is the voice, but it’s not an intrusive voice. like much electronic music, it rides the track but doesn’t dominate it like a dictator; it’s one of the elements that make up the picture. if club electronica has represented one of the best alternatives for the evolution of certain melodic jazz-funk, if dj shadow and many of the ones we’ve mentioned didn’t leave you indifferent, the nonine catalog has some remarkable gems. it’s surprising to think that such a soul-lunge filled taste comes from a german in berlin, as if to say that the earth might not be as round and big as it seems.
andrea ferraris, sodapop.it, italy 10/09

slow and serene electronica, we have gotten used to the silky elegance of me raabenstein’s productions, under his various aliases, alone or in collaboration(s). a fan of unexpected connections, the berlin-based artist has already staged hip-hop facing his laptop (sqaramouche), classical music in the digital era (slowcream), or jazz vs electronics (langer & raabenstein). for their first outing as pepper and bones, raabenstein and his partner ju bartholomäus reveal a clear taste for folk music, which they cleverly hide under soulful melodies with – as you might have guessed – electronic undertones. always very clean, we sometimes wish for more sturm und drang and less coldness, but the compositions of the nonine boss and his collaborator ju display an absolutely convincing know-how. when it marries bartholomäus‘ spoken word – with his tom waits-like voice – we are even outright delighted, with big bass hits to boot.
fabrice vanoverberg, rifraf, belgium 06/09

really like ‚one‘
roger mills, furthernoise.org, australia 06/09

on „one,“ ju bartholomaus and me raabenstein, as pepper and bones, have created a very catchy electro-jazzy-folk-soul feel. it’s the blending of multiple music styles that results in a particularly engaging listening experience in the case of „one.“ both gentlemen have a rich history in the club scene. notable, for example, were the recent 2008 digital ep releases from me, „sniper’s delight“ and „the whip.“ much of the material produced by ju and me in the past has directly found its way to the hotspots or dance floors. but with „one,“ other talents begin to surface. first, it must be said, the gentlemen have delivered a little masterpiece that will delight many serious music lovers. „one“ has very little to do with dance music. there’s a fascinating interplay with music genres like jazz, soul, folk, and ambient techno. the atmosphere is laidback. the character of the pieces is open, leaving many notes unplayed. the tracks seamlessly flow into each other, creating an erotic flow throughout the album. most tracks are carried by sultry piano melodies. briefly, on the fifth track, „bum bugaboo reprise,“ ju and me move towards the dance floor, but that’s the only trace of dance heritage you’ll find on „one.“ certain tonalities and vocal lines evoke memories of the better beatless work by a guy called gerald on one hand, and, at the other end of the musical spectrum, frank zappa. certainly no small references, but here you’re dealing with a richly orchestrated album. ripe for many listens.
hv, gonzo (circus) #92, belgium 05/09

a perfect album to listen to at this time of night, this „one“ by pepper and bones, who in this work showcase a whole range of ingredients that are quite unusual in electronic music on one hand, and on the other, they possess so much experience in other musical genres that many might think this work isn’t strictly an electronic album. although most of the sounds in this „one“ are created on a computer, we can clearly hear acoustic guitar strings, arpeggios, and sounds that somehow remind us of avant-garde folk. an album that holds pleasant surprises for the listener, like those vocal samples, or that solitary saxophone that suddenly appears. some have categorized pepper & bones‘ style as „electro-folk-soul,“ although i prefer to place it within a mixture of ideas that come to mind during the late hours when the city sleeps and the other side of consciousness awakens.

radio nacional de espana, atmosfera 05/09

a bad idea to put this cd on early in the morning, because it has definitely been made for late at night. what is more remarkable, though, is the fact that it marks a clear departure from the old “electronic label” or even “ambient label” moniker nonine had put on itself. also by me, i admit. pepper and bones peruse a range of ingredients that are on the one hand so uncommon in electronic music and on the other hand have such a long history rooted in other musical genres that there is but one thing to say: this is not an electronic album per se. and i guess it was never meant to be one. i am currently under the effect of a typical symptom that people writing about music have a lot: stupidity. meaning, taking my own expectations of something as more important than the thing itself. so what is it?

next to being still based a lot on music made on the computer, it is mostly clear guitar picking on acoustic strings, including appreggios and bended notes and the whole array of other folk techniques worked out by a string of folk guitar avantgardists, that is new to the universe of nonine. (or rather, not new, but undiscovered as of yet.) but as soon as the ringing keboard notes and layers of electronic atmospheres overlay the guitar and a deep singing / speaking voice sets in, that is somewhere between the narrator of a fifties horror movie and barry white in “marivin”, the second song on “one”, you feel to be pushed into the late night, dark city, rainy street, dinghy bar world of barry adamson. as soon as that happens, the singer starts to sing for real and the whole thing turns into something different again. after some more electronic music that changes into a modern piece of classical composition for horns the next track (“lona”) will surprise you with a damn heavy funk beat and a whining electric guitar, and the singer changing between a frank zappa style of imitating voices and the nasal tone of the guy who sang one of the most energetic and probably cheesiest funk songs ever recorded, ie. “play that funky music (white boy”). or was it “word up?”. damn, if i can remember?

anyway, up ahead there are more and more suprises waiting for the listener. like speeded vocal samples, a lonely sax left over from the eighties and more. and i guess after all this is what pepper & bones is about: crashing expectations, questioning the status quo and giving relief to a troubled musicians mind searching for new channels and means of expression. though, it has to be mentioned, that “one” does not sound like something on the move or as the result of an artist not exactly sure about what he does. i think, what they are doing is completely clear to the (former) electronic artists ju bartholomäus and me raabenstein (the latter also running nonine recordings), still nothing is fixed and there are no definite rules to anything. in other words: anything is possible. they call it “electro-folk-soul” and they just as well do so, though i would call it an intriguing mix of whatever ideas come up to you late at night, when the city has gone to sleep. (and praise cities that do go to sleep, because they have a lot of advantages to cities that don’t, one of them is offering moments of silence, self-reflexion and self-assertion when everybody else is asleep and the mind is able to wander.)

on a final note: i do hope that the title of the album “one” hints to the plan for more of this. it is always more interesting to watch people on the move than those sitting down without a plan to go anywhere.
georg gartlgruber, monochrom.at, austria 03/09

checking it out now and enjoying it on the whole, especially liking marivin and brande…
james barrie, global souljah & bbe records radioshow, barcelona, spain

nice stuff…
roger mills, furthernoise.com, australia

good stuff. will support it on my radioshow…
toshio matsuura, 711 radio show, tokyo, japan

pepper and bones is great. you just churn those lovely tunes out!
how do you do it??? …and they are all great.
dov waterman, london, uk

simply wonderful stuff! think it’s my favourite of the nonine productions so far. all the usual sonic brilliance plus some really warm instrument sounds and interesting yet unexpected compositions. best wishes for its success!
chris bestwick, helsinki, finland

klasse musik… kommt zum einsatz!
olaf gutbrod, ibiza, spain

pepper and bones gefällt mir sehr gut! total schöne indie mucke!
freue mich schon den release im radio vorzustellen!
ephraim wegner, radio dreyeckland, germany

really lovely stuff! congratz!
emanuele errante, naples, italy

WOWWW!!!…….. f****n hell dudes ‚bum bugaboo‘ is phat shizz…
subsequent, rotterdam, the netherlands

astrein – gefällt mir wirklich sehr gut !!!
helmut neugebauer, vienna, austria