Brian Eno, Holger Czukay, and J. Peter Schwalm
Sushi. Roti. Reibekuchen.
GRÖNLAND
After the earliest of tours with Roxy Music, Brian Eno didn’t perform often, but when he did he usually found himself being recorded by a team of pros. While that includes his 1974 concert with Nico, Kevin Ayers, and John Cale as his partners, so, too, is 1998’s one-off, three-hour improvised performance from the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn a worthy addition to the Eno live album list. Were Can’s multi-instrumentalist/tape-recorder manipulator Holger Czukay and Slop Shop’s J. Peter Schwalm invited to the opening party for Eno’s Future Light – Lounge Proposal multimedia installation in Bonn, or did Czukay and Schwaim crash the party, get drunk with Eno, and decide to jam en masse?
The truth is somewhere in-between, as Eno had collaborated with the former, and only recently became acquainted with the latter’s patented brand of minimalist, spacey electronica touched by the rhythm and heft of swing. Named for the menu selection from that evening at the Bonn venue, the bubbling, ambient soundscape that they created on the spot sounds like a jungle-meets-musique-concrète take on what Eno did nearly two decades prior with David Byrne on the collaborative My Life in the Bush of Ghosts.
There are taut, dub-ish, bass-heavy pulses and crisp, funky drumming patterns to be found within the undulating structures of Sushi. Roti. Reibekuchen., only to be interrupted by languid washes of synthesizer melody and taped voices—cheers and choirs that seemingly come out of nowhere. And while there are actual song titles applied to the unsteadying, melancholic moments of the Bonn party soundtrack, one would be hard-pressed to find any meaningful segmentation of the night’s long jam other than its finale when the police arrived to turn off the power late into the evening.
With that, the truth can be told: Eno, Czukay, and Schawlm’s Sushi. Roti. Reibekuchen. is a peace-disturbing masterpiece.
