Džukljev, Greiner, Weber - INDUSTRIESALON (Trouble in the East, 2025)

 

By Paul Acquaro

 

INDUSTRIESALON is a true Berlin record. Though of the trio, only drummer Michael Griener calls the city home, everything that led to its creation happened there.

 

The initial connection occurred during the Serbian pianist Marina Džukljev's residency in 2022 at the near mythical Au Topsi Pohl in the city's central Schoenenberg district, while the later recording occurred in the Weissensee and Oberschöneweide neighborhoods, out towards the edges of the city. The latter is home to what lent its name to the album, the Industriesalon, located in a former East German industrial center and now a museum and cafe, which incidentally hosts an always intriguing series of concerts. Wandering through the exhibits is a fascinating trip through a mechanical wonderland of switches, tubes and the stuff of inventors' dreams. 

 

The music, based on the classic piano trio line up, has Džukljev, Griener and Swiss bassist Christian Weber operating with geared precision, interlocking rhythmic inventions and exciting dramatic intentions. The music begins quietly with scattered percussion and pensive notes from the piano, and while it picks up in tempo, it remains pensive through its eight-minute lifespan. 

 

The next track, 'Resistor,' is where the real action happens. Within the opening phrases, the trio is rumbling with pent-up purpose, tones and beats pour out of Džukljev and Griener, while Weber's bowing adds dramatic flair. Then, shifting to the inside of the piano, Džukljev makes a move in a textural direction. Following a musical break down, the piece slowly regains its intensity and 10-minutes in, it is even denser and fiercer than before, Džukljev leading the way with powerful, swirling melodic ideas and strong fragmented chords. The piece lies defiantly between modern classical and free jazz, with some of the most intense moments of the 31-minute piece essentially free from melody or harmony, going deep into atonal rhythmic territory. 

 

The final piece, 'Empty Gloves,' which must be a reference to the album's cover photo, closes the album on a more hopeful note. After a dramatic intro, the piano delivers a sequence of open, brighter chords that are given an extra push from the drums and bass work. Slowly overtaking the melody, the three instruments meld as one, driving the piece with ever growing purpose.

 

INDUSTRIESALON offers an engrossing sonic trip replete with compelling contrasts, dramatic passages and exploratory breakdowns, and while pan-European in its personnel, it is also uniquely imprinted by its city of origin.