WELTRAUM dances (4/2021)

This series of 4 Pookestra quarantine recordings was each composed in one day and individually and collectively live recorded from home the next day.
Disconnected from the internet, connected only through imagination and a stopwatch.

Every track in one first take, on 4 sundays in 2020, 11am.

released March 4, 2021

Carolin Pook - violin/composition
Adriana Molello - violin
Tomoko Omura - violin (track 3&4)
Leonor Falcon - viola
Brian Sanders - cello
Christof Knoche - bass clarinet/harmonica
Dorothea Tachler - autoharp
Paul Orbell - electric guitar
Ari Folman-Cohen - bass
Joe Hertenstein - drums/percussion/objects

Caio Carvalho - mixing

GESPENSTER dances (10/2018)

recorded Aug 30th 2018 at Virtue and Vice Studios Brooklyn

recorded and mixed by Chris McLaughlin/ mastered by Markus Brown

artwork front by Shawna Mills / artwork back by Carolin Pook (duct tape on table)

all music by Carolin Pook
release date Oct 31 2018

Carolin Pook - composition/violin/found studio objects
Tomoko Omura - violin
Allyson Clare - viola
Brian Sanders - cello

The music is a soundtrack to four ghosts performing a dancesuite in 8 parts.

Individually, as a duo a trio or all together.

The titles describe the inner journey of their dance.

HERZKOPF dances (12/2012)

the POOKESTRA - HERZKOPF dances

recorded Dec 7/8 2011 at Thump Studios Brooklyn

recorded and mixed by Stephen Schappler / mastered by Markus Brown

artwork front by Shawna Mills / artwork back by Carolin Pook (duct tape on wall)

all music by Carolin Pook and the Pookestra / poem by Mike Doughty
release date Dec 12 2012

Carolin Pook (violin_snare drum (3)_toypiano_electronic bass drum) ++ Werner Dickel (viola) ++ Brian Sanders (cello) ++ Christof Knoche (bassclarinet_harmonica_flute) ++ Pascal Niggenkemper (double bass) ++ Craig Akin (double bass) ++ David Mason (drums_eletronics) ++ Caitlin Jemison (vocals tracks 2+4) ++ Alastair Ottesen (vocals track 4) ++ Mike Doughty (voice track 5)

The suite in four movements is a dance suite. It describes a fictitious biography and it is advisable to listen to all 4 movements in a row, since they belong together. The words to describe the movements would be (1) birth, (2) life, (3) waiting and (4) peace. The fifth piece is separate from the suite. It’s a poem written by Mike Doughty especially for this recording. The music around it is a free improvisation conducted by Carolin Pook.
This album was recorded live without overdubs in one and a half days, in an intimate room just big enough to fit the 9 piece group.
The violin (protagonist) part in movement 1 and the snare part in movement 3 are fully improvised, while all the other musicians play written parts. Movement 2 is based on the idea of chaos/collage and the experience of unforseeable impacts and events. In movement 4, the protagonist makes several live changing encounters before standing alone and finding peace.

Video directed and edited by Nick Clark

Dark Horse (05/2010)

Queen of Sybils - Dark Horse

Thistle Jemison (band leader/vocals/electric guitar/compositions) ++ Carolin Pook (drums) ++ Terrence Murren (electric bass)

band leader and song writer Thistle Jemison writes:

"These songs are very personal. They come from a dark place inside myself; they are the voice of my past, of many of the things that happened that I sometimes feel I will never get over. I stopped playing this music in part because I felt the stories in this album are too unpleasant to tell repeatedly. While writing and performing these songs was a cathartic experience for me, I will be more proud when I can create work that inspires beauty and healing. Thanks to all those who caused me to struggle enough to want to turn this clay into a diamond."

Oceans (04/2008)

Hannes & Pook – Oceans

recorded April 2008 by aaron nevezie at the bunker studio, Brooklyn/New York artwork and screenprint by Maki Shimizu

release date 26 April 2008

Carolin Pook met Hannes Buder on the internet music platform myspace in 2006, while she was searching for a new and different guitar sound. She was inspired by his one of a kind way of playing and contacted him. Shortly after, Buder booked a duo tour in Germany. They met for the first time in person at their first show in Leipzig/Germany, which was such a success that the band ‘Hannes & Pook’ was born. In 2008, after a US East coast tour, they recorded this album ‘Oceans’, a mix of Buders’ compositions and free improvisations.