Otomo Yoshihide is undoubtedly one of the most important and versatile artists of our time: originally a rock and free jazz guitarist, leader of the legendary "Ground Zero" formation and also active in the "meta" jazz field, he is a master of the most subtle art of sound on turntables and electronics. Otomo Yoshihide first appeared with this quartet project in 2005 as part of the NOWJazz Session at the Donaueschinger Musiktage (released on Neos in 2010) and then on his first tour at "open music" in 2007. In 2019, the high-calibre formation gave another of its rare concerts at the Klangspuren festival in Schwaz, and is now returning to Graz once again on its second European tour. Hear for yourself how the quartet's music, which Reinhard Kager once described as "The Strength of Quietness", has developed over the years.

Otomo Yoshihide's style has changed radically, above all through the integration of electronics. After the dissolution of his band "Ground Zero" at the end of the 1990s and especially in his duos with the insistent sine wave tamer Sachiko M, he discovered a sound world focussed entirely on intimate sounds and minimally changing sound textures that venture into regions of extreme reductionism and whose sonic rigour extends into the new music.

These are worlds that his equally versatile fellow musicians share with him in this quartet project: Sachiko M, originally involved as a sampler player in "cut-up" and "plunderphonic" sampling movements, increasingly reduced her instrumental palette to test tones and subsequently to the sine tone as the lowest common denominator. Her release "Sine Wave solo" (2000) is still regarded as an absolute reference work today. Since then, she has also performed in projects such as the experimental electronic duo Filament, the electronic trio I.S.O., a duo with Toshimaru Nakamura and the duo Cosmos with Ami Yoshida, and created the installation "I'm Here - Short Stay".

Axel Dörner, winner of the coveted SWR Jazz Prize among others, in turn impresses with his enormous versatility, which does not stand in the way of decidedly exposed musical statements. He is just as present in the jazz tradition (for example with the much-praised recording of Thelonious Monk's complete works) as he is in free jazz, in demand as a creative exponent of the free, experimental improvisation scene as well as new electronics or in formations committed to the aesthetics of composed music.

The Austrian percussionist Martin Brandlmayr has also secured himself a permanent place among the top players in various musical contexts, be it in formations such as Radian, Trapist, Kapital Band 1, Polwechsel and Autistic Daughters or through collaborations with Tony Buck, John Butcher, dieb 13, Christian Fennesz, Franz Hautzinger, Chad Taylor, Klaus Lang and John Tilbury, among others, and not least with his solo performances.