NIK BÄRTSCH'S RONIN — OHSOTRUE artists

With the zen-funk quartet RONIN founded in 2001, Nik Baertsch proceeds with the work on his RITUAL GROOVE MUSIC together with Kaspar Rast (drums), Jeremias Keller (he replaced Thomy Jordi in 2020, who replaced Björn Meyer on the bass in 2011) and Sha (bass/contrabass clarinet. Percussionist Andi Pupato joined the band 2002-2012). Their music consistently follows the same aesthetic vision under various instrumental guises: creating the maximum effect by minimal means.

Despite the multiplicity of the band’s influences, Ronin’s music always possesses a strong individuality. They incorporate elements of disparate musical worlds, be they funk, new classical music or sounds from Japanese ritual music.

However, these forms are never merely juxtaposed in a post-modernist fashion but instead amalgamated into a coherent new style. Ultimately, these sounds and rhythms are highly idiosyncratic. The music consists of very few phrases and motives, continually combined and layered in new ways. Ronin thus creates a consistent aesthetic across all levels of musical expression. Composition, phrasing, sound structure, performance, and musical form all combine to form a system of interrelated elements. (Michel Mettler)

The members of Ronin meet every week, as they have done for many years now, to puzzle out the implications of Bärtsch’s pieces in workshops and performances at the Zürich club, Exil.

The group is, says Nik, still coming to terms with the demanding final piece here, “Modul 59”. It is one which, he says, points the way to the future. “It begins from basic ideas, in this case to do with triplets, and builds until it becomes a sort of polyrhythmic, polyphonic carpet of sound. We’ve rehearsed and developed it extensively, and it still keeps surprising us.”

What the media says:

New York Times
Mr Bärtsch, a Swiss pianist, makes accrual-based music of clean power and firm insistence.

Downbeat
Bärtsch’s music of delicious dread is layered, contrapuntal, hypnotic and psychologically fascinating.

Stereogum
Bärtsch’s piano shimmers, one perfectly struck note at a time; drummer Kaspar Rast sets a slow, precisely ticking beat; Haslebacher lets his notes escape slowly and cautiously; and bassist Thomy Jordi is trying his best to disguise himself as Bärtsch’s left hand.

Drownded in Sound
AWASE is the new album by Swiss pianist, composer and record producer Nik Bärtsch. And it’s an apt one. Written and recorded by Bärtsch’s ensemble Ronin, it’s a breathless, carefully-crafted release that blurs the lines between jazz, minimalism, funk and ambient electronica, and one defined by the dynamic, ever-evolving interplay between pianist Bärtsch, bassist Thomy Jordi, drummer Kaspar Rast, and Sha on bass clarinet and alto saxophone.

Guardian
Swiss pianist-composer Nik Bärtsch has been injecting electronica and minimalism with soul, jazzy hipness and danceable bounce with his Ronin Ensemble since 2001, and Awase deepens the group’s expressiveness of tone and texture.

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