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Sonar

Besides being passionate musicians, SONAR’s four members Stephan Thelen (guitar), Bernhard Wagner (guitar), Christian Kuntner (electric bass) and Manuel Pasquinelli (drums) have backgrounds as diverse as performance art, software engineering, and mathematics, all adding to the eclectic mix of influences that make up this truly unique band. The group SONAR was born in 2010. The two Zürich-based guitarists Stephan and Bernhard met one evening when Stephan was playing and Bernhard was in the audience. They immediately found that they shared many common interests, so it wasn’t long before they started playing together. They key idea for the musical concept came, when Stephan remembered that he once tuned his guitar in tritones in order to perform a piece that otherwise would have been technically impossible to play. They found that the natural harmonics of this tuning had a very unique, mystic sound quality. The next step was also rather bold, at least for these two individuals, who had played extensively with effects and loops all their life: they decided to put away all their electronic gadgets and concentrate on the clean sound of an electric guitar. Further decisions were to radically concentrate on polyrhythms and isorhythms and to avoid intentional virtuosity in favor of group interplay. Knowing that Sonar needed a very deep bass sound to counterbalance the high-pitched guitar harmonics, Stephan invited his friend Christian Kuntner from Radio Osaka, a band they had both played in. Bernhard had met a young drummer, Manuel Pasquinelli, at one of Nik Bärtsch’s workshops, thinking that he would be the perfect drummer to play the polymetric beats that they were imagining. At the end of their first rehearsal, it was perfectly clear that this project would be very exciting and that exactly the right people had found each other. After about half a year of rehearsals, Sonar played a few concerts in Switzerland and went straight to the studio to record « A Flaw of Nature », an album that was released in 2012 on Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin Rhythm Records label. Thanks to Nik’s connections around the globe, Steve Feigenbaum, head of Cuneiform Records (USA) became aware of Sonar and eventually signed them to his label. Thanks to the wide distributional net of Cuneiform, Sonar’s 2014 album « Static Motion » and their 2015 follow-up « Black Light » (produced by David Bottrill) led to international acclaim, dozens of excellent reviews and concerts in the USA, UK, Germany, France, Austria, Rumania and (in 2017) Japan.


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Radio & Podcasts

New Music from Sonar, plus Terje Rypdal, Andre Nieri and Yo Miles

Read "New Music from Sonar, plus Terje Rypdal, Andre Nieri and Yo Miles" reviewed by Len Davis


Norwegian guitarist Terje Rypdal, the new one from Sonar Three Movements, Brazilian guitarist Andre Nieri, and Bill Connors from Assembler Alex Machacek and Marco Minnemann from 24 Tales, 3 Crows with Chris Buck and Brett Garsed, Yo Miles from Upriver and Tribal Tech with X.. Playlist Terje Rypdal “Ornen" from Selected Recordings (ECM) 00:00 Sonar “Second Movement" from Three Movements (Self Produced) 07:21 Andre Nieri “Lake Elsinore" from Two Tone Sessions-Live (Self Produced) 14:39 Bill Connors “Sea Coy" ...

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Album Review

Sonar with David Torn: Tranceportation (Volume 2)

Read "Tranceportation (Volume 2)" reviewed by Claudio Bonomi


L'avvolgente e ipnotica spirale della ritmica di “Triskaidekaphilia" cattura subito l'orecchio più distratto e trasporta l'ascoltatore nel mondo sotterraneo e potente dei Sonar, quartetto svizzero capitanato da Stephan Thelen che qui, per la terza volta, unisce le proprie forze insieme a quelle di David Torn, improvvisatore e chitarrista sperimentale di fama internazionale il cui sodalizio con il combo elvetico risale al 2018 con l'album Vortex per proseguire con Tranceportation Vol. 1, pubblicato nel 2019 (entrambi sempre sotto l'ombrello della RareNoise ...

Album Review

Sonar: Tranceportation (Volume 1)

Read "Tranceportation (Volume 1)" reviewed by Vic Albani


Della serie: “Caro signor Torn, siamo una band svizzera molto ispirata dalle opere di quel grande genio dell'immagine che risponde al nome di Maurits Cornelis Escher e più ci pensiamo, più realizziamo che se a lei interessassero le nostre geometrie sonore saremmo davvero contenti di realizzare i nostri sogni sonori con lei." Torn non se lo fa ripetere due volte e risponde che non solo sarebbe disposto a produrre il lavoro della band elvetica ma che—visto che i loro suoni ...

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Multiple Reviews

Sonar With David Torn: Tranceportation (Volume 1 - 2)

Read "Sonar With David Torn: Tranceportation (Volume 1 - 2)" reviewed by Mark Sullivan


Swiss art rock/minimalist band Sonar have been collaborating with American guitarist/live looper David Torn since their album Vortex (RareNoiseRecords, 2018). After that they documented live performance together with Live At Moods (7d Media, 2018), and Torn also played a prominent role in Sonar leader Stephan Thelen's Fractal Guitar (MoonJune Records, 2019). Torn had come to the Vortex sessions primarily as producer. But his guest playing slots were so exciting for both him and the band that he was ...

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Album Review

Sonar With David Torn: Tranceportation (Volume 2)

Read "Tranceportation (Volume 2)" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


In 2018 avant-garde guitarist David Torn fell in with some good company, the Swiss group Sonar, founded by guitarist Stephan Thelen. The result was Vortex (RareNoiseRecords), featuring Torn, who, in his words, contributed: “Textural events that can sometimes go on for minutes...and then the solo voice becomes almost like the cherry on top." Sonar is a two tritone guitar, tritone bass and drums quartet. Torn makes it three guitars. Their music, like that of Thelen and company's Swiss ...

13
Album Review

Sonar With David Torn: Tranceportation (Volume 1)

Read "Tranceportation (Volume 1)" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


The Swiss band Sonar released Vortex (RareNoiseRecords) in 2018, bringing American avant-garde guitarist David Torn along for the ride. The addition of a third guitar to Sonar's two guitar / bass / drums lineup was a crunchy, hypnotic, funk-grooving, hard-driving multi-layered success. A follow-up of sorts, Tranceportation (Volume 1) brings more of the same, and then some. While Torn was originally employed as the producer of Vortex, he apparently found Sonar's music for the planned recording compelling. It ...

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Album Review

Sonar: Live At Moods

Read "Live At Moods" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


Recorded Live at Moods jazz club in Zürich (Switzerland) in May 2018, this set reconnects guitar electronics visionary David Torn with the band Sonar. Torn played with Sonar on their previous album Vortex, and this live set picks up three tunes ("Waves and Particles," “Red Shift" and “Lookface!") from that earlier collaboration. How does Sonar make their music sound so different? For starters, founding guitarist Stephan Thelen and Bernhard Wagner play guitars, and Christian Kuntner plays bass, in ...

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Recording

Sonar's The Bill Laswell Mix Translations To Be Released On Limited Edition 12-inch Vinyl Ep On 7d Media

Sonar's The Bill Laswell Mix Translations To Be Released On Limited Edition 12-inch Vinyl Ep On 7d Media

Source: Glass Onyon PR - William James

The Swiss quartet Sonar has quickly gained international reputation for creating a unique blend of forward-thinking instrumental music imbued with power, tension and emotional identity. With their slow-build approach to dramaturgy and avoidance of conventional forms, they focus on collective group efforts and a deeper kind of interaction amongst their members Stephan Thelen (guitar), Bernhard Wagner (guitar), Christian Kuntner (electric bass) and Manuel Pasquinelli (drums). For their internationally acclaimed fourth album Vortex (RareNoiseRecords), The made an unexpected move by adding ...

1

Recording

Swiss Music Ensemble Sonar To Release New Live Album With Legendary Guest Guitarist

Swiss Music Ensemble Sonar To Release New Live Album With Legendary Guest Guitarist

Source: Glass Onyon PR - William James

Swiss music ensemble Sonar will be releasing their new live album Live At Moods with guest soloist/texturalist David Torn on November 16, 2018 on 7d Media. It was recorded live at Moods Jazz Club in Zürich, Switzerland, on May 24th 2018. Fusing a rigorous minimal concept with the power of a rock band and the sensitivity of a jazz combo, Sonar have quickly gained international reputation for creating a unique blend of music. With their slow-build approach to dramaturgy and ...

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Technology

Psonar to Offer 'Pay as You Go' Music Service

Psonar to Offer 'Pay as You Go' Music Service

Source: HypeBot

Early on, the single introduced music to kids. It was a cheap way to decide which albums to buy. Many argue that the single helped establish a record buying habit in youth that would carry on for the rest of their lives. Today, kids use YouTube and file sharing as a cheap why to decide which singles to buy, and well, “not" buy. A new music service called Psonar is hoping to achieve a similar feat, to offer fans a ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Three Movements

7D Media
2023

buy

Tranceportation...

RareNoiseRecords
2020

buy

Tranceportation...

RareNoiseRecords
2019

buy

Vortex

RareNoiseRecords
2018

buy

Live At Moods

7D Media
2018

buy

Black Light

Cuneiform Records
2016

buy

Videos

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