Album Notes

It should have been the band's debut album; "Creatures" was the working title. But
Fate - in the guise of a nonfunctioning ORF (Austrian radio broadcast) studio - made this
impossible, with several results: instead of the intended CD released, the only usable track
from the session, "Nu Song #2", was released as a single. One year later, "Creatures" had
become the double CD "Creatures and other stuff" - too much great material, too little
room on one album. Besides - doubled holds better!
What you hear are the things that make the ensemble unique: a passionate mixture of
acoustic and electronic instruments, of "serious" and "popular" music, of improvisation and
composition, jazz and New Music, rock and Dada. The actors here are not only members
of the young, innovative jazz scene centered around the highly acclaimed JazzWerkstatt
Wien, but are also representative(s) of a new, prejudice-free generation of composers and
instrumentalists.
"Creature I", the first and title track of the first CD (consisting entirely of works by the
ensemble's leader, Daniel Riegler), actually prepares, broaches, introduces everything to
come after - and is paradoxically also a summary of the entire "plot". Dubious grooves,
sudden orchestral bursts, new and complex instrumentation, electronic interruptions . . .
and a generous portion of humour.
"Other Stuff" documents the works commissioned over time, works coming from inside the
group itself or close collaboraters and spanning a wide spectrum from intimate ballads to
wild concept pieces.
This recording is the chronicle of Studio Dan's exciting early years in all their glory:
seventeen tracks, twenty musicians, nine composers, a twelve-page booklet and a good
100 minutes of music present the "friendly, but by no means harmless, monster creature
called Studio Dan" (Tom Gsteiger). Just waiting to be heard, read, marvelled at and
replayed over and over again.