The causes

It was the time I was even more bored than usual.
There came the day... It became evening and it became morning.
Next day. And it became evening and it became morning.
Next day. Again, it became evening and it became morning.
Next day. Once more, it became evening and it became morning.
Next day. No! Just joking... Luckily, we got away being sharply warned off.
As a consequence we applied some sound insulation.
 

The consequences

In the past few years, time advanced in giant leaps and let me be part of some bands and projects:

The warmup phase
The "Winterhart" phase
The "Dogma" era
The "Toff-o-Sonic" project
The "Bis zum Hals ertrunken" project
The xovo phase
 

The warmup phase

It all started in April 1992 with the following lineup In this composition we only played one (more or less public) concert on 92-05-09 at "Sumsi's basement" under the name "The End of Silence" which was abruptly stopped by Mr Jun Ono who lamented the loudness of our performance.

The "Winterhart" phase

As Michael left our group, we got to know a new and up-coming guitar player whom i scared deeply as early as he entered the room for the first time and i adressed a few words to him.
Luckily he did not run away instantly but endured my presence for quite a while.
 
 
In summer 1993, Günther somehow disappeared from the scene and we did not know how to replace him appropriately.

The "Dogma" era

Thriving for new developments we somehow cruelly replaced Christoph with a weird guy from Linz, whom i got to know through my girlfriend of that time. Already the first sessions showed that he knew to handle his instrument. Moreover, he had a huge pile of self-written songs and lyrics waiting to be arranged and performed.
After quite a long and hard time of name-finding we settled for "Das Dogma".

Looking back and contemplating the old tapes, i have to state that this was a really glorious time of excitement and efforts, of a lot of new impressions and knowledge, and with its discouraging moments, too.

In the fall of 1994 two new members joined our group A few days after that concert i had to explain Alex that the band would like to continue its efforts without her.

The "Toff-o-Sonic" project

This was intended to be some kind of fun guerilla group for parties. The program consisted solely of Tocotronic song covering and it seems that we were the first Austrians to imitate the Tocotronic style of music. One of the most positive points was that the expenses to play a Toff-o-Sonic concert were very low: Just the instruments and amps, one microphone and a small drum set.
The line-up was We played the following concerts:

The "Bis zum Hals ertrunken" project

"Bis zum Hals ertrunken" ("Drowned to the neck") was intended to be a radio play of 3/4 hours in length, consisting of recited words and more or less improvised instrumental accompaniment. The whole project resulted from the ambition to publicly present lyrics that accumulated in that time and at the same time develop instrumental soundscapes as a background.  
The play has up to now been performed twice:  
At the Gosh City performance the audience was given the following handout:
 

 
Thomas Grill T
Stimme
Schlagzeug
 
Christoph TautscherC
Stimme
Gitarre
 
Raimund La Leeb
Produktion
Sprechtechnik
 
 
 
Prolog: Die letzte Reise T
Hyakutake über mir T
kaENtrinNEN C
Wo bin ich hier, wenn nicht bei mir? T
Campingplatzdusche in Lignano C
Nicht denken T
Fort sein T
Grün C
Sternenstaub fressen T
Unmöglich C
Gernsehen T
Schmelzwasser C
Bis ¾ T
Epilog: Die letzte Reise T
 
 
 
 
Die letzte Reise
 
 
Es war unsere letzte Reise.
Wir trieben uns voran.
Wir gelangten hierher.
Es brodelte unter uns.
Gelegentlich glaubten wir etwas zu vernehmen, aber wir waren uns unserer Sinne nicht bewußt.
Wir schwanden, wir wurden absorbiert, wir wußten es auch, wir spürten es.
Wie durch einen Strudel ohne Gestalt wurden wir eingesogen.
Glitzernde, atomisierte Trümmer umwirbelten uns — Bruchstücke unserer Lebenszeit.
 
 
Aber wir erkannten mit einem Mal,
wir waren seit jeher am Ziel gewesen,
doch wie umgestülpt war nun alles —
wie in einer Blase sitzend beobachteten wir uns selbst und hielten uns gefangen.
Ja, wir sind beschränkt, und das macht unsere Freiheit grenzenlos.
 

The xovo phase

It is not yet clear what this phase of musical activities is about to bring. For sure the collaboration with Christoph will continue.
My direction for this new project will be the enforced analysis of sound structures at the absence of patterns.
As it seems at the moment the traditional roles of the employed instruments are reversed: Christoph's electric guitar along with delay and other effects provides a strong and very symmetric rhythmic base whereas the drums produce flat sounds, most of the time negating their percussive nature.
Additionally (and for the first time) i intend to use the clarinet for some parts.
In a further step computer synthesis methods could be used to improve sound and structuring. Yet, it is a goal to preserve the possibility of credible live performance without much technical equipment.

Two early and fresh examples can be given what it is going to sound like:


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