Menschenstoff is a Swiss ensemble inspired by a wide range of music styles for which the influential cultural theorist Mark Fisher coined the term hauntology – music which appears like coming through the thick fog of the past: Elements of classical Avantgarde, analog and digital sound experiments, glitch, alienation effects and AI, soundscapes and electroacoustic music, Ambient to Vaporwave are woven into eerie and atmospheric slowcore sound collages. Menschenstoff is a collaborative project based on improvisational explorations but also questions traditional composer-performer relationships as in past collaborations with several composers.
The band is conceived as a trio with expanded cello (Hyazintha Andrej), drums (Florian Kolb) and live electronics (Joan Jordi Oliver). In their last projects, the use of real time electronics through computers, effect pedals, microphones and synthesizers has taken a major role in their sonic explorations. This hybrid approach to instrumentality and the wide range of musical and aesthetic influences result in a very characteristic, challenging and always exciting conceptual setting in which the trio presents their pieces and improvisations.
Menschenstoff are active in the Swiss scene and have toured around Europe, playing concerts in Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway, from underground venues to established festivals like Ultima Festival in Oslo.
Joan Jordi Oliver | Musician 