The air was clear and cool and the faintest of breezes was blowing as I cracked open the red doors of St. Mary's for the first time in 2007. There was the church sanctuary again, well worn floors, merrily creaking pews, dappled stained glass, and the web of buttresses overhead. In the midst of it all, Wolfram Der Spyra sat amidst a couple racks of keyboards, engrossing himself in the pre-show warm-up. He was here to begin the new season with this, his first-ever solo show in the States. With the list of set-up personnel a little bit thin before showtime, I assisted river pirate Warren in unpacking the lighting gear while he regaled me with tales of his latest camping trip. ("So the Coast Guard people said, 'We heard you've been shooting off guns and fireworks, guys," and we said, 'No, no! No guns! Just fireworks!'") Ilya, my fellow music enthusiast from Baltimore, helped untangle electrical cords and hoisted the fog machine out of its soggy cardboard box while gazing at the architecture of the space. It was good to be back.

Chuck van Zyl opened the show by thanking everyone in attendance for supporting The Gatherings in its fifteenth year, receiving a round of wild applause and shouts. Spyra, with only his glasses and hair visible behind his racks of gear, rose briefly to be acknowledged before beginning his set. While his catalogue is largely unknown to me, I nonetheless listened enthralled as he offered up a well-prepared medley of flavors, from latter-day dance sounds to more smooth, jazzy, reflective material. The opening half of the show featured four long, extended tracks with a Berlin-school influence, the best of which was the propulsive and danceable "Duplex". The classic sequencer milieu got everyone into the mood quickly - several people leapt to their feet in applause after hearing only the first piece. There was an expert touch to the way he brought melodies in and out of the foreground, breaking things down with a quiet medley of strange samples before ramping things back up and adding a dubby or IDM-flavored drum loop. At times there were clear references to ambient trance of the mid-90's like The Orb and Future Sound of London, and other times the music seemed to careen off into its own jazzy territory, when Spyra brought in soft saxophone melodies by blowing into a mouthpiece controller. Each time the audience applauded Spyra popped up from behind his keyboard, smiling ever more widely and bowing. At the intermission, Vic Rek's CD table, which had only been picked at before the show, was mobbed. Spyra's newest full-length album, Orphan Waves, on Pete Namlook's FAX label, was the hot purchase of the night.

The second half of the show was my personal favorite, as Spyra left behind the long-form retro flavors and brought out a series of tighter and more novel arrangements. "Kingoldrum" was the standout for me, named after a tiny village in Scotland - a medley of guitar pluckings, mechanical exhalations, and feather-light melodies that made me think of Scandanavian talents like Xela or Arovane. The clear audience favorite was the last tune, "Last Train To Philadelphia", an original piece that was written for and debuted at The Gatherings. It featured a bubbling assortment of highly melodic lines, intertwined tightly around a locomotive-like beat. Near the end, recorded samples of train platform announcements echoed off the walls of the church while the euphoric melodies gently faded back in for a final flourish. The riotous applause and whistling made the artist stand up again and stretch out his arms as if to embrace the crowd - clearly the warm reception was a thrill for him.

Post-church, as usual, I found myself with a throng of people gathered in the brightly lit studio at WXPN [for STAR'S END], all eating pizza and sipping on beer or Hawaiian Punch, sitting in a semicircle around Wolfram and his gear. When the clock ticked over to 2:00 AM, we heard an hour's worth of original music that was a little darker and more tripped-out than the church show. Perhaps it was because I was tired, but the lulling drones and trickling melodic vamps seemed to beg for a warm bed and a very dark room in which to fully enjoy them. At times rhythms which came leaping out of nowhere, and these were a little weirder and a little faster, inducing toe-tapping before melting down into super-quiet interludes of water, wind and far-off voices. The man behind all this music remained amazingly quiet and polite the whole night, accepting my thanks with a handshake and a bob of his head, and the words, "Great to be here." The music stopped soon enough but the camaraderie continued until I walked out the back alleyway at 4:00 AM with a handful of others, jumping into my chilly car and letting the memory of those quirky rhythms speed me off to bed, with another five shows to look forward to in the coming months.

Scott Kelly (DJ Kel) - 30 March 2007

More Reviews:

See Below for Chuck Nixon's Review of Der Spyra at The Gatherings

Read Darren Bergstein's Review on the Hypnos Forum (off-site)

It had been three months since my last Gatherings fix. Chuck van Zyl added to the tension by posting the season's lineup a little later than in years past (more on that in a minute). So once it was finally revealed that Der Spyra was first on the docket in 2007, I furiously scribbled March 24th on the calendar so as to avoid any chance of scheduling conflict. CIMA always finds a way to top the previous season but this Gatherings coup almost didn't happen. There was another artist originally slotted for the opener. A late development caused the booking to fall through. Enter Ricochet Dream record label proprietor Vic Rek. With a dash of the Kevin Bacon six degrees game, Vic was able to connect CIMA and Der Spyra and within short order, Gatherings 66 was back on-track. Mind you, this was no fallback option. Indeed The Gatherings had Der Spyra on the want-list for sometime. In a way you could thank the act that canceled for the wonderful evening of music. Sometimes things just work out eh?

Many Gatherings acts go the multi-media route; complete with visuals and video to go with the music. Der Spyra chose a minimal setup, just synths and associated electronics. He even donned simple black attire as if to say the focus should be on the music. The two most memorable things about the evening's music, for this listener, were sound design and musicianship. The Der Spyra sound is clear and defined. You could tell that each tone was created with much care. The volume level of the concert was somewhat lower than the average Gatherings. This allowed for the impact of the more delicate passages of the performance to be better experienced. It was enjoyable to watch him play. Der Spyra's compositional style and playing references jazz as much as it does traditional ambient and electronic styles. Along with deft use of a wind controller, the end result was quite evocative and had a more expressive feel to it than one might expect.

Of the eight pieces performed that evening, four were new or previously unreleased material. Of the four selections in the first set only "Subsequent Spaces", off of his debut album Home Listening is Killing Clubs, was familiar. The piece "Duplex" was particularly bouncy and bright. In fact, most songs had a strong rhythmic presence but the beat never overwhelmed. A good hour and change later, Chuck van Zyl appeared to announce the intermission. Had that much time passed? After the short interval, an eager looking Der Spyra re-appeared behind his keyboards and dug in to set two. The tracks "Aerial" and "Kingoldrum" from Der Spyra's latest offering Orphan Waves opened the set. Der Spyra brought Vic Rek onstage to introduce the third piece. Titled "Last Train to Philadelphia". Rek explained how the song had only been put together two nights prior during a rehearsal. You would not have known it if you weren't told. Complete with samples of trains and station PA chatter, it sounded like he's had it in his repertoire for years. A good night began wrapping up, but not before a great encore of a re-worked "Future of the Past, Part II", originally included on the 2005 release Meditationen. Taking a bow whilst balancing on the top of his chair, Der Spyra bounded off into the wings of the church sanctuary. A chilly March night and a busted CD case of my newly-bought copy of Homelistening... could not diminish the experience one iota. Good night and see you at Gatherings 67!

Chuck Nixon - 7 April 2007

Nepenthe - 21st Century Neo-Expressionism

Spyra live at The Gatherings Concert Series on 24 March 2007 is funded in part by Nepenthe Music. An independent record label based in Toledo, OH, Nepenthe Music is dedicated to the music releases of Dwight Ashley and selected projects by Tim Story and Hans-Joachim Roedelius.

• Official Website: http://www.derspyra.de
• STAR'S END Profile: http://www.starsend.org/spyra.html
• FAX Label Website: http://music.hyperreal.org/labels/fax
• Ricochet Dream: http://www.ricochetdream.com
• Manikin Records Website: http://www.manikin.de
• Photos and Reviews of Spyra live at The Gatherings Concert Series in Philadelphia: 15 May 2010