
Caspar Brötzmann was born in Germany and is a self-taught electric guitarist bassist, singer/songwriter, and composer based in Berlin. He has played and toured since the age of fourteen with musicians and groups from Europe, the United States, Japan, and Africa. He created a wide range of music but is especially considered an influential figure in the alternative rock and improv music scenes. Brötzmann has composed music for theatre and radio.
Often pigeonholed as stalwart in blending rock, noise, and avant-garde aesthetics, he himself claims to draw major inspirations from his love for classical composers such as Charles Ives, Hans Eisler, and Jean Prodromidés. His approach uses the guitar as a brush and the sounds as a canvas to “paint with music.”
His albums have been released by Rough Trade, Zomba, Blast First, Southern Lord Recordings, Trost Records, Karl Records, Shitkatapult, Zensor, and FMP. The list of collaborators Caspar worked with is long and ranges from classical to jazz to rock musicians, including FM Einheit, Blixa Bargeld, Diamanda Galas, Page Hamilton, Stephen O’Malley, Keiji Haino, Thurston Moore, Martin Atkins, Danny Carey, Massimo Pupillo, and others.
BASS TOTEM is Caspar Brötzmann playing bass, sometimes in collaborations, sometimes solo. The name has been taken from the track Bass Totem on the record “Der Abend der schwarzen Folklore” of CASPAR BRÖTZMANN MASSAKER
With Bass Totem, Caspar Brötzmann has dedicated himself to the raw, physical exploration of his long scale electric bass. Bass Totem follows a different approach than Massaker and shows Caspar Brötzmann experimenting with different approaches, styles and techniques. Bass Totem does not know any boundaries or limitations. It can be fully improvised or highly composed and everything in between. It can be very melodic but also researching tonality of the instrument itself – it will impress where both ends meet. Bass Totem can be free or form. It can be collaborative or reclusive. Bass Totem tries to deny outdated structures of making, creating and releasing music – as shown in the first release for Exile On Mainstream: Played and recorded in one live session at Tomatenplatten Studio in June 2024, to honor the legacy of the groundbreaking A’larme Festival and its last installment. The record was made available in a strictly limited first edition of 50 units at the Bass Totem performance on 10 August 2024 at 20h. As much as the musical piece and the recording is a labour of love the packaging is as well: Each record is hand-lettered and manually ennobled by the artist himself containing liner notes, infos, and details. Each record is hand-numbered and is a unique piece of art visualizing the dedication and passion that went into the composition and recording.
CASPAR BRÖTZMANN BASS TOTEM released the following record on Exile On Mainstream (click for purchase):