Blink 6 | CD

Tracklist:

1 Tamouré (Five Eight) / 5:25
2 Blissed Out /  4:46
3 Second Way /  5:23
4 Every. Single. Day. /  7:40
5 Reason 27 /  7:46
6 Tough Town /  4:08
7 Let It Go /  5:51
8 Think About Beginning /  7:13

Nikolaus Neuser – trumpet
Ignaz Dinné – tenor sax
Anke Lucks – trombone
Marcus Klossek – electric guitar
Carsten Hein – electric bass
Derek Scherzer – drums

Produced by Marcus Klossek and Volker Dueck

Released by Double Moon / Challenge Records International

All compositions by Marcus Klossek

Recorded by Tito Knapp at Zentri.Fuge Studio, Berlin in December 2022

Mixed by Tito Knapp and Marcus Klossek in January 2023

Mastered by Johannes Kellig at Bauer Studios Ludwigsburg in February 2023

Product coordination by Boudewijn Hagemans

Design by Juan Carlos Villarroel

Special thanks to:
Nikolaus Neuser, Ignaz Dinné, Anke Lucks, Carsten Hein, Derek Scherzer, Tito Knapp, Johannes Kellig, Volker Dueck, Tina Lindemann, Boudewijn Hagemans, David Beecroft and Renate Klossek

Extra special thanks to YOU, for supporting the arts and for helping us keep making music

Additional thanks to everyone at Neustart Kultur for making this album possible

Guitarist Marcus Klossek – a master on the Fender Telecaster, which Bill Frisell and Jakob Bro also enjoy playing – has caused a stir over the last ten years, especially with his Electric Trio, which includes Carsten Hein on bass and Derek Scherzer on drums. 

For his new band Blink 6, Klossek reinforced this trio with three wind players from the Berlin scene, namely trombonist Anke Lucks (Insomnia Brass Band), trumpeter Nikolaus Neuser (Potsa Lotsa) and tenor saxophonist Ignaz Dinné. 

“I started to compose for a sextet line-up without knowing who was going to play in it,” the guitarist said. “After I had composed eight pieces during six months, I needed musicians who could read notes well, who could improvise over changes and who could improvise freely. He quickly found the right tenor saxophonist in Ignaz Dinné. “Ignaz plays a great free solo in ‘Reason 27’,” Klossek stated happily. He noticed trumpeter Nikolaus Neuser in the band Potsa Lotsa. Klossek knew Anke Lucks from the Insomnia Brass Band, but he was mostly attracted by a YouTube video that he had discovered on the Internet. “She can also play well over changes,” the guitarist said. 

After a short rehearsal phase and a few concerts with the sextet, they went to the Berlin Zentrifuge Studio where Tito Knapp recorded the music . Klossek then mixed the music together with Knapp; the mastering was done by Johannes Kellig in the renowned Bauer Studios in Ludwigsburg. “Blink 6” was produced by Klossek and Volker Dueck. 

“When I was composing, I just let it go without constantly judging what was produced,” Klossek recalled. “That helped a lot to shape the material. Afterward, of course, I went over it again and was then very happy with the result.” 

The eight songs live from many influences and move between contemporary jazz, experimental rock and new music. The multidimensional unity, to which Blink 6 developed quite quickly as a band, filters Klossek’s music through the different perspectives of the musicians involved. The songs not only sound different every time at concerts, but Blink 6 has additionally succeeded in making their exploration of melody, harmony and rhythm sound exciting and fresh at all times.

As a guitarist, Marcus Klossek deliberately restrained himself on “Blink 6”, his tenth album as a band leader, because of course he knew that he was no longer the focus of the music on this project. The focus is on the music itself, and the interplay of the three wind instruments with Klossek’s Electric Trio has not only grown beyond the originally composed material, but it also provides the listener with a sound experience between innovative power and an energetic vibe.