A small selection in no particular order: Curtis Mayfield, Donny Hathaway, Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Ben Harper, Black Crowes, Lenny Kravitz (only the first three albums...), Pharoah Sanders, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Hank Mobley, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Jorge Ben, Luiz Henrique, Marcos Valle, Cal Tjader, Gabor Szabo, Grant Green, Wes Montgomery, Lalo Schifrin, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Moloko, Roisin Murphy, Portishead, D’Angelo, 4hero, Matthew Herbert,...
Sounds Like
"...does not sound like the average downtempo lounge record."
(All Music Guide)
If you like my music, please purchase a CD or MP3 files from your favourite
record shop (simply click on the buttons below).
Besides being a most enjoyable experience, realizing an album like this
one is hard and time consuming work. Listen responsibly and enjoy and have
a look at my other project LLAVA as well! Thanks and have fun!
I'm not only a musician/producer, but also a freelance mastering engineer at Calyx Mastering Berlin , and a freelance technical editor with the German "Sound&Recording" and "Keyboards" magazines...
This is the official press info for my album.
"Carry On Wise Guy" has been released on Mole Listening Pearls / Intergroove in July 2006:
"Carry on Wise Guy is bursting with soul, knowledge and studio experience - to such a degree it's hard to believe that the full-blooded musician standing behind Airmate is only 27 years old.
Hannes Bieger is undoubtedly an exceptional talent. After producing Deep-House-Hits, film music and the album for the duo Llava, he now debuts with his solo project, Airmate, in which he gives free rein to his immense passion for soul music. For 'Carry on Wise Guy' he invited top-class vocalists from London, New York and Berlin to his studio in Berlin-Kreuzberg and produced this multifarious album that interweaves soul with pop-appeal, club energy and the sensitivity of jazz.
The opening track Messing Around declares the vibe on which the versatile spectrum of Carry on Wise Guy unfolds in a soulful, rich and honest manner. Over funky Minimoog riffs and tight breaks, no less a person than British Zero 7 lead singer Mozez sings as if Curtis Mayfield was visiting Berlins Kiez neighbourhood. Likewise, Let It Go which evolved in co-operation with the fantastic Izzi Dunn has the qualities to be a true hit. The compact pop song is tailored as a perfect fit for the renowned singer and cellist (Gorillaz, 4hero, George Harrison, et al.): profound and yet light-footed, she floats over the casual down beat, which would also suit Erykah Badu.
In Doin Rounds featuring De-Phazz singer Pat Appleton, a charming brass section acknowledges the soul music of the 'Golden Seventies' performed by artists such as Al Green and Donny Hathaway. Newcomer Thief in 'Slow Down' fills the gap to Neo-Folk with a dreamy desire. 'No Chains' makes it obvious that Airmate is also a native of the club scene: Seven minutes of rhythmic elegance return broken beats to the floor. The rapid story-telling by Fat Jon of the Five Deez adds hip-hop of the Open Minded School to the remarkable bandwidth of the album. One of the climaxes of Carry On Wise Guy is the hypnotic tingling song The Love Below, which features Platnum. Here, references do not carry you very far: this is grand art, which simply knocks music lovers off their feet.
Not only by selecting international vocalists, Airmate effortlessly surpasses local and national German borders. Although his home base of Berlin is increasingly developing into an intersection for soul hybrids with protagonists such as Jazzanova, Hannes Bieger's sensibility for jazz draws more on the translation of classic ideals, comparable to the approach of 4hero. The pop moments on 'Carry on Wise Guy' bring to mind genre-bursting acts like Moloko or Portishead. The music knowledge that is turned into production is based on a wide appreciation of musicians ranging from Led Zeppelin to Pharoah Sanders and Antonio Carlos Jobim and on to Lalo Schifrin and Matthew Herbert.
Hannes Bieger uses all these influences to sharpen the contours of his musical philosophy and turn them into a consummate form: music has to be accessible and complex at the same time. Under the layers of the inviting gestures of pop and the immediate intensity of soul, complex structures and a richness of detail stretch out.
Standalone statements are Hannes Bieger's means of production. He refrains from racing for the latest software plug-in and instead prefers to rely on his exquisite collection of analogue instruments: the Minimoog, Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer and Clavinet form the source of the warm and noble sound characteristics. Needless to say, Hannes Bieger, a specialist and technical author of high-end vintage recording equipment - not only utilises old tube compressors but also digital means. And he does so without dispersing the magic of the moment: the production of the album took only half a year.
Carry on Wise Guy is the impressive freestyle of one of the biggest talents in Germanys landscape of producers. In conjunction with some of his favourite vocalists, Hannes Bieger as Airmate has created fifteen immaculate and vibrant pieces, which immediately touch, move and thrive with time. As openly as Airmate interprets quality music, he encapsulates soul as a universal vibe with coherent and straightforward production."
Features include (in order of appearance):
Mozez (Zero 7)
Izzi Dunn
Pat Appleton (De-phazz)
Pat C. (Fantastic Plastic Machine)
Marishka Phillips
Platnum
Fat Jon (Five Deez)
Thief
Urzula Amen
Thanks to everyone for supporting 33 rpm Records! Our newest 12" Here Today & Benjamin Wild - "Comrades" EP (33rpm 013) is still available via Groove Attack / Rough Trade / Good To Go and digitally on iTunes /// the following releases are also still available at the 33 rpm Store: The Sidemen - "Fooled" 7" (33rpm 012) / Vaduz - "Who Makes The Money" CD (33rpm 011) / Various Artists - "The Sound of Money" LP (33rpm 010) / Faruk Green - same 7" (Thorn01 ....) AND at last you can get "On The Way To Üsküdar" by Faruk Green digitally on iTunes! /// We're working on further Faruk Green, Federleicht & Jeff Özdemir vinyl so please surf on by our Myspace site every once in a while...
::: Hehe ich stelle mir diese wunderbaren Luxusprobleme vor, wenn zuviel Gear auf zu wenig Platz trifft... bei mir isses noch nicht so weit ::: Dafür seit dem Windelalter mit verrückten Lautsprechern - heute ADAM genannt - umgeben : ) Gruß, Freddy
Respekt für Deine Musik, vor allem aber für Deine gut recherchierten, gut geschriebenen, immer inspirierenden Artikel!
Schon Deine Studioporträts fallen auf. Trotz aller Kompaktheit und Technikfokussierung scheint immer die Aura des jeweiligen Ortes durch, man merkt, dass Du mit Leidenschaft für die Sache schreibst.
Vor allem bei "Time to Deliver" schaffst Du es aber immer wieder, nicht nur Fakten zu vermitteln, sondern auch eine gewisse Haltung. Professionelle Neugier könnte man das nennen - den Anspruch, sich selbst ein Bild zu machen und nicht jeden Quatsch zu glauben, der so erzählt wird (z.B. bei den Folgen über "digitale Lüge" vs. "analoge Lüge").
Und Du zeigst auf, wie inspirierend außermusikalische Quellen sein können, nicht nur mit dem Hinweis auf Enos schräge Strategien. Das alles lesbar geschrieben und bei aller Faktentreue auch mal journalistisch zugespitzt - die Kolumne ist ungelogen der Hauptgrund, warum ich Sound & Recording kaufe.
Respekt und viele Grüße nach Berlin Christian:)
P.S.: Nein, ich werde nicht dafür bezahlt, das hier zu posten.
