To Rococo Rot

To Rococo Rot formed as a Berlin-centered post-rock trio that merged electronic textures with acoustic instrumentation, aligning them closely with American acts like Tortoise, Trans Am, and Rome alongside European counterparts Circle, Stereolab, and Fridge. The lineup consisted of bassist Stefan Schneider, previously active in the similarly oriented Dusseldorf outfit Kreidler, together with brothers Robert on guitar and electronics and Ronald Lippok on drums and effects. Before linking with Schneider, the Lippoks had already explored multimedia installation and hauptkunst digital art through their earlier project Ornament und Verbrechen, placing the band among an emerging wave of German electronic experimentalists. Once TRR began recording, however, the members framed their efforts as a deliberate bridge between art-school experimentalism and the immediate appeal plus everyday utility of pop music, an intention reflected both in the group’s name and across their catalog. Their first release appeared in 1996 as an untitled picture disc that Kitty-Yo later reissued on CD, followed in 1997 by the wider-reaching Veiculo on the U.K. label City Slang. Audiences from both indie rock and electronica embraced the trio, which, like Tortoise and comparable acts, helped erode longstanding divisions between those scenes, especially within the United States. TRR constructed extended hypnotic grooves enriched by unusual, intricately layered electronics and sampled passages, drawing evident inspiration from Krautrock forebears such as Neu!, Can, and Amon Düül while reshaping the abstract man/machine deconstructions those earlier groups had outlined. In 1997 the band tracked a full album’s worth of material alongside producer David Moufang of Deep Space Network and Source Records. After signing with Mute, they issued The Amateur View in 1999 and, in 2001, the I-Sound collaboration Music Is a Hungry Ghost. Two of their most polished and inventive efforts, Hotel Morgen and Speculation, surfaced on Domino in 2004 and 2010 respectively. For their ninth album the members returned to City Slang, resulting in Instrument, their first collection to incorporate vocals supplied by longtime admirer Arto Lindsay and released in 2014.