Discography
Mathon – Via Mala
(er_cd_031/May 30, 2009/Everestrecords)
Via Mala is an infamous trail along the Hinterrhein in Graubünden. A canyon with cliffs carved by its torrents, falling threehundred meters into the depth. It seems as if the mountain is broken in two. Enormous floads of meltingwater, the consistent gnawing of the river created during centuries a natural spectacle of unique beauty. With the electronic project Mathon, the musicians Thomas Augustiny, Pete Leuenberger and Roger Stucki, composed there during two recording-sessions the sounds inspired by this impressive landscape. The journey begins with packing up the Tschifera, a basket carried on the back, used in pre-digital times to transport material through the difficult passage of the Via Mala canyon. Passing the castle Hohen Rätien, where the saga Nihil Habeo Nihil Gibeo about the praepositus of the dome, Gero has taken place. Visiting the hight Carschenna, along the mule track with its pre-roman petroglyphs. By this sanctuary the travelers took rest and asked the higher forces for their protection and help. The musical journey continues over the two bridges Veia Traversina and Punt da Suransun, ending at the church Ecclesia Plebeia with its unique roman ceiling painitings. The guest-musicians Matu Hügli (Electronics) and Ronny Spiegel (Violin) accompany these musical impressions of the Via Mala spectacle. Reviews
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Mathon – Muntsulej
(er_cd_016/April 14, 2007/Everestrecords)
Mathon is a village in the swiss mountains on 1500 metres above the sea level, with an incomparable panorama view of the swiss alps. Since 2003 Pete Leuenberger visits the silent place with various musicians in changing order. The resulting soundscape returns the size of the unique mountain landscape, which is omnipresent during the admissions. „Muntsulej“ has been recorded in march 2006 with Thomas Augustiny, Markus Koller and Roger Stucki, the release reflects the cold winter landscape.
Reviews: “Mathon is a slightly unstable coalition of Swiss musicians marshalled by erstwhile free jazz drummer Pete Leuenberger who also produces spectral electronica in his Aurel guise. This project is named after the small Alpine village just north of the border with Italy where it was recorded in the winter of 2006. The music blends fields recordings made in the area with greyscale electronics, and in so doing creates a chilly evocation of an inhospitable, high-altitude landscape. The five lenghty tracks that make up Muntsulej loom like forbidding scree slopes, evoking a kind of hidden menace. “Olmas Paralelas” blends the doomy echoes of some isolated cavern with the arrhythmic spatter of melting ice, while the title track’s drawn-out exhalations have the stealthy dispiriting inevitability of mind-afternoon dusk. Muntsulej is not exactly a cheery experience, then, but it is a haunting one. It will also have a certain amount of appeal for linguistic trainspotters, as the sleevenotes and track titels are in Romansch, the fourth (and least widespread) official language of Switzerland.” - Chris Sharp (Wire) more Reviews
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Mathon – Alpine:Safari
(ms002n/March 14, 2004/Maetrixsolution.com)
Alpine:Safari brings us a whole bag of noise-scapes and minimal harsh sounds with rough feedbacks and freaky sweeps. This live project remains a experimental structure with insane pads and alpine rhythems. “Cobra” – a maximal brain clouder for the stay above. “Mosquito” – the atmospheric and kind of meditating soundscapes in a floating atmosphere of rough and cold intense. The third take called “Zebra” takes the advantage of the musical-playground of this trio. A creepy walk through the deep snow. Sounds melting to water and dropping on alpine-rocks. Performed live in Mathon (Switzerland) December 20th, 2003 (Pete Leuenberger, Niels Hesse, Thomas Augustiny).
Reviews: “The second release on Maetrixsolution; Mathon, the new formation hailing from Bern, Switzerland and Munich, Germany. A live jam-session of three ambitioned musicians. 40 minutes with the acoustic prescription of the alpine safari – a noisy cinematic collage. Fine crispy sound particals melting in harsh noisy and feedbacked soundscapes. Just right for a cold winther night” – G-Zillion (Archive.org)