Norbert Eisbrenner

Norbert Eisbrenner (1935–2022) was a German improvising painter and musician. During the 1960s, he became involved with the West Berlin underground music scene and has played in the free-form group Human Being that evolved around the Zodiak Free Arts Lab, as well as in the trio MND (Moderne Nordeuropäische Dorfmusik), with Sven-Åke Johansson and Werner Götz, and in Schlangenfeuer, MND's later incarnation that was covered previously on Edition Telemark (cat. no. 903.07).

After having started out as a saxophone player, Eisbrenner quickly became interested in the electric guitar and, because he couldn't play it the regular way, put it on his knees instead and so became one of the very first improvisers to employ a free-form table-top guitar technique that can be heard on the MND recordings.

In the 1970s, he moved to the countryside and has lived in the village of Glentorf in Lower Saxony from 1983 onwards. There, his artistic focus shifted towards painting, but he continued making music intermittently, often employing a special technique of playing the electric guitar with his hands and simultaneously a synthesizer with his feet. Eisbrenner's later recordings have remained unreleased, a selection from the 2000s is presented for the first time on this double LP. Included are 4 solo recordings, 2 tracks with local musician Zoot Horner, and a side each of duos with his former trio partners Götz and Johansson. Full-colour sleeve and inner sleeves with reproductions from his series of paintings "Ton in Ton".