MEUTE.
Wozniak
MEUTE is an 11-piece techno marching band that performs techno, house and deep house hits by acclaimed producers. In addition to original works, the hit’s compositions are arranged for the instruments of a marching band. Friday, November 18, MEUTE released TAUMEL.
The 12-track body of work boasts pulsing techno, deep house sounds, high-energy beats, stunning instrumentation and more. Indeed, the Hamburg, Germany-based band proves to bring a distinct sound to dance music.
According to trumpeter Thomas Burhorn, who founded the band in 2015, TAUMEL means tumbling in German. In addition, the word in German can either mean a feeling of dizziness or a feeling of ecstasy. There is also the word freudentaumel which means to go into raptures, so TAUMEL has an ambiguity.
“It’s about the many feelings you can have when you tumble and when you lose control of everything,” he says. “Sometimes it can be nice…you [can] tumble because of joy and also maybe you can tumble because you are insecure. That describes our situation of the last two years when [Covid-19] was stopping all the cultural life over the world.”
Burhorn says that the LP’s track “Peace” is about finding a sound for inner peace, peace with one’s surroundings and peace between countries—especially in current times. “We wish there was peace on earth, and I think so many people in the world don’t understand why humanity can’t figure out a solution to create peace all over the world,” he says. “Even if it sounds a little bit romantic or naive, that’s what we are fighting for: peace in the world. This is why we travel around the world and we want to show that there is no reason for borders between nations.”
“[Music is] a universal thing,” he adds. “It’s for all people. We never had an experience where there was no resonance between our music and the people. So every country, no matter if we are in the United States, Poland, Thailand, France or wherever, we always feel the same vibes of resonance and we are sure that this is what we need—resonance between the people.”
The band, Burhorn says, was founded because he is a trumpet player and a lover of brass and techno music. The instrumentalist would go to raves, loving “the feeling when there’s a deejay on stage and it gets more hypnotic and more ecstatic over the evening and, and the crowd… there are intense emotions.” He adds that even when there is nothing happening onstage, there’s just a deejay, he finds the atmosphere becomes all about the music. He started the band because he thought it would be “interesting and spectacular” to have a live band perform the same music as a deejay, particularly minimalist techno.
“You see that there is a whole universe in this field of techno marching band music, where we are the first people to figure out what is happening in this universe,” Burhorn says. “This is the idea…it’s part of our philosophy.”