Tarwater

Tarwater consists of the German pair Bernd Jestram and Ronald Lippok, who have issued multiple albums blending live playing with loops and samples to produce music that ranges from sparse indie-rock structures to restrained textural explorations. Their output often receives post-rock or indie-electronic classifications, a perception reinforced by Lippok’s membership in To Rococo Rot, the trio that released material on experimental labels including Soul Static Sound and City Slang. The duo first surfaced in 1996 with 11|6 12|10, then gained wider notice via the 1998 album Silur, which shifted closer to trip-hop. Subsequent releases such as Animals, Suns & Atoms (2000) and The Needle Was Travelling (2005) sustained the balance between abstract indie rock and cinematic electronics, after which Tarwater supplied their initial film score, Donne-moi la main, in 2009. In 2016 they joined Iggy Pop and Alva Noto for the EP Leaves of Grass; a decade later the pair returned with Nuts of Ay, their first full-length since then.

Jestram, who handles guitar, bass, and programming, and Lippok, responsible for drums, vocals, and programming, first connected inside an East German punk group and began working as a duo while Lippok continued with To Rococo Rot and Jestram operated his Bleibeil studio. Compared with To Rococo Rot, Tarwater’s sound is somewhat more organic and oriented toward pop; the partnership debuted on Kitty-Yo with 1996’s 11|6 12|10, issued simultaneously with the first recordings by Lippok’s other band. Rabbit Moon Revisited and Rabbit Moon Remixed both reworked tracks from that debut, and the second proper album, Silur, arrived in 1998. The acclaim that greeted Silur secured Tarwater a U.S. deal through Mute, resulting in Animals, Suns & Atoms in 2000 and Dwellers on the Threshold two years afterward. Gusstaff Records put out the limited 2001 collection Not the Wheel, comprising pieces originally created for soundtracks and compilations.

Tarwater signed with Morr Music for 2005’s The Needle Was Travelling and 2007’s Spider Smile. Gusstaff issued Musique Originale du Film Donne-moi la main in 2009 and also handled the limited five-CD box set 1996–2002. Bureau B released Inside the Ships in 2011, its 2014 successor Adrift, and Record Store Day split EPs shared with Kreidler and Sølyst. Returning to Morr, Tarwater worked with Iggy Pop—who recited Walt Whitman poems—and Alva Noto on the 2016 EP Leaves of Grass. The duo also collaborated with Immersion (Colin Newman and Malka Spigel), contributing to the opening three tracks of Nanocluster Vol. 1 in 2021. In 2024 Morr Music brought out Nuts of Ay, Tarwater’s first album in ten years, which incorporated lyrics drawn from Derek Jarman, Shane MacGowan, John Lennon, and additional writers.