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In the Press |
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Musikzen
Mark Springer
"You Are Here Now"
"...Punk rock déjanté au début des années quatre-vingt au sein du groupe Rip Rig + Panic, aux côtés de Neneh Cherry, Gareth Sager et Bruce Smith, Mark Springer enregistre un premier album solo destiné à son instrument, le piano..."
Click here to view the full article.
June 2020
Franck Mallet
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Jazz Journal
Mark Springer
"ARMY OF LOVERS"
"...this music operates far from the usual world of jazz, but the pianism of these pieces, and their execution, makes them a fascinating listen..."
Click here to view the full article.
February 2020
Simon Adams
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Wire Music
Mark Springer - Army of Lovers
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January 2020
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Jazz Journal
Mark Springer
"You Are Here Now"
"...Evocative, once again, but more complex, with more to think about, and poignantly ended with a simple piano and double bass coda..."
Click here to view the full article.
January 2020
Simon Adams
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Click here to listen to an Italian Radio (radiocittadelcapo) interview regarding Marks Bologna Concert in April 2017.
Click here to listen to BBC Radio 3 Jazz Line Up. Circa-Sakura 1 featured at the 1 hr marker.
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Morellino Classica
Mark Springer
(concert review)
(click for larger image)
Click here for 2018 Morellino Classica Program (Springer p18)
August 2018
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Morellino Classica
Mark Springer
(concert review)
(click for larger image)
Click here for 2018 Morellino Classica Program (Springer p18)
August 2018
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Jazz Journal
Mark Springer - "DIVING"
"...His is a restrained romantic voice, classical jazz (and Weill) sensibility that turns each piece into a fascinating evocative journey..."
Click here to view the full article.
Simon Adams
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"...I can say the same thing for Springer’s album Diving. It is a warm bath of soothing piano meanderings, it registers somewhere beyond the conscious mind, you can feel some part of your inner most psyche appreciating, luxuriating and rotating its shoulders in a very satisfied manner to the music..."
Click here to view the full article.
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Apart from the numerous album reviews every month, the magazine has features such as "The Invisible Jukebox", an interview conducted by way of unknown tracks being played to an artist. Mark Springer was the first ever artist to do this feature with The Wire Magazine with his album 'MENU' in June 1991.
MAay 2018
Click here to view the archive article.
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Big Takeover #81
Mark Springer "Circa"
(album reviews)
I’ve been a fan of Rip Rig & Panic since I discovered God in the mid ’80s. Although they disbanded in 1983, they created a lasting postpunk no wave impression on my youthful skull. Now I have Springer, original piano, sax, and vocal man, back in my ears. But be warned… if you’re expecting that dissonant post-jazz noise, you’re gonna be disappointed. If you want to hear some classical and improvisational touches of delicate piano beauty and jazzed out moody soul shifting keyboard bliss, you’ve come to the right place. There are contributions from Rip Rig members SeanOliver and Flash, and enchanting vocals courtesy of the late Nico, on this collection of Springer’s compositions penned during the Rip Riggin’ days. Still worthwhile; still wonderful.
October 2017
Jack Rabid
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The Wire
Mark Springer "Circa"
(album reviews)
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September 2017
Mike Barnes
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August 2017
Paul McGuinness
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Soundblab.com
Mark Springer "Circa"
(online album review)
"...Just so you know: This doesn’t resemble pop music in any way.
But just so you should also know: Pop music should resemble this in many ways..."
(click here for full review)
July 2017
Bill Golembeski
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Mojo Magazine
Mark Springer "Circa"
(album reviews)
(click for larger image)
July 2017
Andy Cowan
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Guardian
Mark Springer "Circa"
(album reviews)
(click for guardian webpage)
Guardian
July 2017
John Lewis
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vivelerock.net
Mark Springer "Circa"
(album reviews)
(click for larger image)
July 2017
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Italian Newspaper Interview
Mark Springer,
(live concert review)
April 2017 |
The Wire
Mark Springer, Arthur Jeffes-"Aparat"
(album reviews)
April 2016
Mike Barnes
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Record Collector
Mark Springer, Arthur Jeffes-"Aparat"
(album reviews)
April 2016
Tim Peacock
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PopMatters
Mark Springer, Arthur Jeffes-"Aparat"
(album reviews)
"...these musicians precipitate the airs of a softly brewing storm and there’s a melodious depth to each of these numbers from which hypnotic grooves run soul-deep...."
Click here to read more
April 2016
Imrah Khan
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uncut
Mark Springer, Arthur Jeffes-"Aparat"
(album reviews)
(click for larger image)
uncut
May 2016
Nigel Williamson
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Jazz Journal
Mark Springer-
"The Watching Bird" & "The Rip Rig & Panic Piano Solos" (album reviews)
(click for larger image)
Jazz Journal
Nov 2015
Simon Adams
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Record Collector
Mark Springer-
"The Watching Bird" & "The Rip Rig & Panic Piano Solos" (album reviews)
(click for larger image)
Record Collector
Aug 2015
Tim Peacock
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Prog
Mark Springer-
"The Watching Bird" & "The Rip Rig & Panic Piano Solos" (album reviews)
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Prog Magazine
July 2015
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PopMatters
Mark Springer-
"The Watching Bird" & "The Rip Rig & Panic Piano Solos" (album reviews)
"...This year sees two new releases by Mark Springer, a musician and composer of dedicated craftsmanship who has honed his skills in everything from off-theIN MARK SPRINGER'S WORK, THERE IS A PRESENCE OF EMOTIONAL DISTORTION THAT PUSHES FORWARD A STRIKING NARRATIVE OF SIGNATURES AND CHORDS...."
Click here to read more
July 2015
Imrah Khan
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Jazzwize
Mark Springer-
"The Watching Bird" & "The Rip Rig & Panic Piano Solos" (album reviews)
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Jazzwize Magazine
July 2015
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Classic Pop
Mark Springer-
"The Watching Bird" & "The Rip Rig & Panic Piano Solos" (album reviews)
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ClassicPop Magazine
July 2015
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The WIRE
Magazine
Mark Springer-
"The Watching Bird" & "The Rip Rig & Panic Piano Solos" (album reviews)
(click for larger image)
The Wire Magazine
July 2015
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MARLBANK
Mark Springer- "The Watching Bird" (album review)
"...Springer’s style virtuosic and sometimes emotional. There’s not a great deal of jazz interest (if that’s what you’re looking for... it shouldn’t be an issue) in fact hardly any. ‘Spontaneous Composition’ at the end comes closer and there is a Jarrettian power to some of the solo piano work..."
Click here to read more
stephen@marlbank.net
June 2015
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MARLBANK
Mark Springer- "The Rip Rig & Panic Piano Solos" (album review)
"...The Rip Rig + Panic Piano Solos is more interesting and includes unreleased recordings dating back to the 80s and a few B sides of original releases..."
Click here to read more
stephen@marlbank.net
June 2015
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An Interview with Mark Springer
"Possibly the only punker during the UK’s post-punk revolution in the early ‘80s to have a serious understanding and appreciation of Chopin and Stravinsky..."
"...Springer’s command over the piano articulates a certain horror of magic and nuance; his execution is beautiful and deadly all at once..."
"...Because the music is rooted in both classical and jazz, there is a timeless quality to Piano..."
"...As a new release with additional contemporary bonus material, I think it should appeal to firstly the Rip Rig and Panic audience and then to anybody who loves dynamic solo piano music and virtuoso playing..."
click here to read more
Imran Khan
November 2014
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Daily Mirror
Mark Springer, "Piano"
(press coverage)
March 2017
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Jazzwise Magazine - October 2014
Mark Springer - "Piano" (3 stars album review)
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http://www.jazzwisemagazine.com/
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Classic Pop Magazine
Mark Springer - "Piano" (4 stars album review)
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We all know what happened to singer Neneh Cherry, when Rip Rip + Panic split in the early Eighties. But what of their keyboard player, Mark Springer? Well, he ditched the rig and panic (and the punk and the funk) and booked himself into Marcus Music Studios in Kensington Gardens for some prescient sole sessions. At the time, Marcus was a hotbed of new wave activity with Blancmange, Classx Nouveaux, Shriekback, Fashion and Nik Kershaw all recording there at the same time. But Springer had pure, improvised solo piano in mind for an album that was released in 1984 but now, finally, gets a CD release along with six bonus tracks. Jazzy improv aside, the ambient pieces pre-date the acclaimed tear-jerking work of Ludovico Einaudi by a good 30 years.
IP
http://www.classicpopmag.com/
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Blow Up Magazine Italy
Mark Springer - "Piano" (album review)
(click for larger image)
http://www.blowupmagazine.com/
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Record Collector Magazine
Mark Springer - "Piano" (album review)
Pianist and composer Mark Springer first gained widespread recognition with experimental Bristolians Rip Rig & Panic: an avant-pop collective also featuring a youthful Neneh Cherry and two former members of The Pop Group. They barely registered with the mainstream, but recorded three critically acclaimed (and recently reissued) LPs for Virgin before abruptly splitting during 1983. Springer has since pursued a nomadic, left-field solo career, kicking off in 1984 with Piano. A self-explanatory 15-track collection of solo improvisations, it was originally released through the Illuminated imprint, but only belatedly receives its CD debut on its 30th anniversary.
Superficially, Piano’s sonic premise is identical to Springer’s higher-profile Menu, released by Virgin in 1991. Both LPs stem from solo studio performances performed on Steinway concert grand pianos, though Piano is by some way the more accessible of the two. Never sitting comfortably with either jazz or avant-garde, it inhabits an introspective space between; its ever-changing moods countenance everything from the gentle, rippling nocturnes of Krix to the dextrous, Bill Evans-esque Catsefee.
As with the expanded 2013 reissue of Menu, this new edition of Piano is bolstered by the addition of a clutch of previously unreleased tracks. Though all are highly accomplished, the languid The More Things Change and balmy, contemplative Kleine Mann surely rank among Springer’s finest ever recordings.
Phil Smith
http://recordcollectormag.com/reviews/piano
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Strange Days Magazine-Japan
Mark Springer - "Piano" (album review)
(click for larger image)
http://www.strange-ds.com/
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Pop Matters
Mark Springer - "Menu" (album review)
Mark Springer was one of the more forward-thinking figures to lead Bristol’s post-punk scene in the early 1980s. His work as a pianist in one of the most exciting bands to come out of the era, jazz-punkers Rip, Rig and Panic, exhibited a freeform lucidity that paid respect to both jazz and classical and was undeniably punk in spirit. Check out his work on the band’s most gorgeous, supple number “Sunken Love”, and you hear Carla Bley channeling Karol Szymanowski while backing Marvin Gaye. At heart, Springer was always spiritually linked to the most important composers who laid the groundwork for modern classical music (like Stravinsky and the aforementioned Szymanowski) and his work on Menu clearly voices his love for the piano.
Menu is essentially a commitment to the instrument, a collection of songs that detail a lifelong dedication of work that has seen him through his formative years as an artist and through the freedom days of punk. Numbers such as the pensive, contemplative “The Downs” convey an almost curious circuitry of anxiety, a moment of indecision where the notes wind round and round endlessly in a quietly growing panic. Other tracks, such as “Bellissima”, flush with a romantic glow that is as pressing as it is subdued. Springer doesn’t forget his dealings with Rip, Rig and Panic. “Shook the Atmosphere” is a nervous, twitchy roundabout which has the artist pummeling the keys with the applied pressure of a madman while the multi-tonal, painterly drips of “Kroogspiel” are fraught with the memories of his wild days in a punk band.
Imran Khan
http://www.popmatters.com/review/179324-mark-springer-menu/
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The List
Rip Rig & Panic - "God" (album review)
"...It's not every day a free-jazz-punk-skronk-funk combo get to strut their stuff on a prime time BBC TV sitcom..."
http://www.list.co.uk/article/52813-rip-rig-and-panic-god-i-am-cold-attitude/
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Record Collector
Mark Springer - "Menu" (album review)
Marky's Magic Piano
Though his otherworldly virtuosity was one of the key elements of hip early 80s avant-jazz collective Rip Rig + Panic, pianist Mark Springer has kept a relatively low profile since.
He certainly hasn’t been idle, though in recent years his reputation as a painter (Edinburgh Fringe collaborations with Damien Hirst; an exhibition of landscape and figure paintings currently in situ at London’s Jonathan Clark Gallery) has rivalled the musical achievements on his CV.
Of the 10 solo LPs bearing Springer’s name, 1991’s Menu is arguably his most widely celebrated. Housed in a suitably pensive sleeve shot by Juergen Teller, it was originally released by Virgin and features 20 solo compositions performed by Springer on a Steinway concert grand piano. It’s a cerebral enough premise on paper, yet while a number of tracks (Commotion In The Ocean, Stringbreaker) favour expression over plot, even casual fans can derive pleasure from the relatively linear likes of the delicate Ticklish Locusts or the playful, Dave Brubeck-ish Blue Dust Fast.
The sleevenotes stress Springer performed the bonus 14-track CD on a Bösendorfer rather than a Steinway, but only the highly attuned will notice the join. In fact, while Mark Springer’s dextrous commitment to his piano is beyond reproach, his Menu is rather lacking in variety.
Tim Peacock
http://recordcollectormag.com/reviews/menu
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The Independent
Rip Rig & Panic - "God" (album review)
"...Press "Play" and stand well back: RR+P's 1981 debut is still strong stuff, with a level of energy and experiment that shames today's boho fringe...."
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-rip-rig--panic-god-cherry-red-8722875.html
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Mojo Magazine Review
Rip Rig & Panic - "God" (album review)
"Bristol's agit-punk outfit's 1981 debut album thrills with a heavy blend of lithe grooves, anarchic sprit, free jazz inspiration and skronk, and Neneh Cherry's wild vocals. Artful, righteous, fresh and utterly compelling. PA"
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Pop Matters
Rip Rig & Panic - "Sunken Love" (song review)
"...The fun-loving, anarchic jazz-punkers projected their sumptiously cool slice of post-punk pop into the future with 1983's "Sunken Love", a number that was jaw-droppingly far ahead of its time..."
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/173173-rip-rig-panic-sunken-love/
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The Guardian
Pax Trio, Triptych
The Pax Trio's Triptych showcases Springer alongside saxophonist David Wright and tabla master Pandit Dinesh. The result is a kind of pastoral chamber music that occasionally recalls the "Jazz Britannia" of Indo-Jazz Fusions and Michael Garrick.
John L Walters The Guardian, Friday 4 November 2005
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2005/nov/04/jazz.shopping4
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The Independant
Forty years of Virgin: How Richard Branson’s eccentric record label changed the charts
Branson's best: Rip Rig & Panic A virgin top ten
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metonic
The Independant
Stretch your ears by Phil Johnson
Double CD: CD1 (Solo Piano); CD2 (Music for 4 Pianios)
Composed and Performed by Mark Springer
...METONIC reveals a remarkable talent for intense, often positively
rhapsodic, melodies. Mostly they don't sound like anyone else at
all, although occasionally one thinks of a kind of cross between Chopin and Philip Glass.
...on the first disc Springer is at his most virtuosic and playful,
with a wonderful lightness of touch. Over all, the effect is compelling
and magical.
...The second CD consists of 12 piano quartets with Springer
overdubbing each part . . .here the quartet form allows for a
constant pulse and a lot of textural layering within the repeating
patterns, which shimmer with the audio equivalent of a moiré
effect.
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nature, music, food & the stars
MOJO
Chris Ingham
Double CD Composed by Mark Springer
Performed by:
Mark Springer- Piano & Sax
Clive Deamer - Percussion
The Zoom Quartet - Electronica
...this CD has high-register tinkling, mid-register droning, low-register
rumbling and obsessive tinkling on a single motif or scale, that
is quite spellbinding
CD2 features a stately 55-minute improvisation that largely explores
sonorous possibilities of sustained chords on a Steinway Grand in
the acoustics of the Union Chapel, London where it was recorded.
The Wire
Louise Gray
A reiterated piano note, slowly marking time against a developing
undercurrent of stealthy depths down in the base clef, offers an
introduction of poise to Mark Springer's album.
...his CD perpetuates the links between no holds barred performance
and an inquisitive approach to form and function.
...the piano seems to function as an exploratory probe . . .and
Springer's saxophone layers on a wild, unpredictable improv that
is reiterated by Clive (Portishead) Deamer's tight drum patterns
and the Zoom Quartet's electronic atmospheres.
The Guardian
On the Edge CD Releases
By John L. Walters
Springer is a pianist with prodigious amounts of stamina and invention
...there's a strong natural form and line to his playing that makes
him surprisingly accessible.
The Independent
On this CD Springer shows he's still ahead of the game ...throughout,
he creates a beguilingly strange sound-world ...the saxophone parts
are strikingly expressive, like late Coltrane produced by Tricky.
The second CD's extended improv coaxes an astonishing range of sounds
from the Steinway ....with the notes leading to some beautiful effects.
The Alternative Press
USA Music Magazine
NATURE, MUSIC... Springer creates a delicate balance of jazz-noir
and engaging experimentalism. Unlike many of his post-punk colleagues
he opts to explore his future rather than trade on his past.
Daily Express
Jeremy Novick
If the sound of a bloke playing a piano makes your heart sing,
you've come to the right place... Springer hits the spot here with
this double CD
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capture
MOJO
Rob Chapman
Composed and Performed by:
Mark Springer - Piano and Vocals
S. Stella - Additional Vocals
The Zoom Quartet, Powder and Kyobe - Percussion and Electronica
This is a very different beast to EYE (Exit 001), which foregrounded Springer's considerable dexterity on the piano. In CAPTURE... his virtuosity is tempered with programmed beats, to good effect... with deft splashes of eerie and unsettling electronica and stuttering acid pulses in tracks like Your Body Temptation and Whisper, their composer's ever-present and effortlessly executed, conservatoire tendencies dominate.
...when Springer unleashes some of those furious Cecil Taylor-like ripples over the beats they hint at sublime fusions as yet undeveloped in modern music.
The Wire
Will Montgomery
Springer sings songs of desire bravely . . .and at the keyboards
he juxtaposes Harpsichord, Fender Rhodes and conventional piano.
. . Springer's methodology might be unique, integrating cracked
ditties of love with pianistic skills that draw on Jaki Byard,
McCoy Tyner and Keith Jarrett along with doses of Debussy.
The Big Issue
Will Simpson
CAPTURE is the sound of arthouse meeting dancefloor... overall
effect is unlike most things you have heard before. Its closest
relative is probably the baroque pop of Bjork's Homogenic album.
Bristol Evening Post
Victoria Meakin
There's no doubt that Springer's an excellent pianist. When it comes
to his CD CAPTURE the Bristol's musicians keyboard skills are just
the tip of the iceberg... tracks like the title song Capture and Don't Move Me demonstrate an effective vocal collaboration
between Springer and female singer S.Stella. If you are a fan of
the best Yoko Ono solo stuff Don't Move Me alone makes
the album worthwhile.
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eye
MOJO
Rob Chapman
Composed and Performed by Mark Springer
On EYE, Springer plays contemplative pieces, with a touch of Bill
Evans, a sprinkling of Grieg and Chopin... a meditative,
beguiling and assured record from a mature talent who has found
his inner voice. |
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