Frank Rothkamm [ Opus Spongebobicum ]	CD	from $ 2.49
	MP3	from $ 0.49

[Opus Spongebobicum] Specifications
[Opus Spongebobicum] 3D Image
[Opus Spongebobicum] Art Work

OPUS SPONGEBOBICUM (2005-2008) is an Enhanced Compact Disc issued on July 2nd, 2008.

This is but the starting point for "Opus Spongebobicum", 40 variations on the secret formula from Spongebob Squarepants, our beloved yellow friend. These are not new Diabelli variations; they are instead the phonographic record of changes, or "Veraenderungen", of an absorbent sponge, an homage to the square "für Kenner und Liebhaber" which is C.P.E. Bach's idealized (and later Glenn Gould's utopian) audience of "knowers and lovers." Opus Spongbobicum continues the noble tradition of piano music as a form of sitting contemplation, or Zazen, full of emotional ritardando, aimless wanderings, unpredictable dynamics, and is squarely aimed against the praxis of pianism as a form of technical spectator sport, as well as the history of piano composition as a formal, faceless activity of synthetic unification.

The enhanced portion of the Compact Disc contains:

1. Film -- 80 Seconds Film Loop in MPEG-2 DVD Format.
2. Midi -- 1 MIDI File.
3. Music -- 40 MP3 Files Encoded with 320Mbps.
4. Score -- 104 Pages in PDF Format.

"Opus Spongebobicum" was composed and produced by Frank Rothkamm in New York and Los Angeles from 2005-2008. Sponge provided by: 99¢ Only Store. Co-Producer: Nina Schneider. This Opus is published by: Rothkammusic (ASCAP). Spongebob Squarepants is a registered trademark of Nickelodeon.

Tracklisting:	play album:
[01] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 1	1:01
[02] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 2	1:00
[03] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 3	1:00
[04] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 4	1:01
[05] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 5	0:58
[06] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 6	1:09
[07] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 7	0:14
[08] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 8	0:39
[09] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 9	1:14
[10] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 10	0:59
[11] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 11	0:42
[12] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 12	0:18
[13] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 13	1:00
[14] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 14	0:52
[15] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 15	0:25
[16] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 16	0:38
[17] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 17	0:19
[18] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 18	1:41
[19] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 19	0:38
[20] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 20	1:09
[21] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 21	1:05
[22] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 22	0:55
[23] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 23	0:59
[24] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 24	0:28
[25] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 25	0:57
[26] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 26	0:58
[27] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 27	1:02
[28] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 28	0:36
[29] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 29	1:14
[30] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 30	0:46
[31] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 31	1:59
[32] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 32	1:04
[33] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 33	0:54
[34] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 34	0:06
[35] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 35	1:08
[36] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 36	0:58
[37] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 37	1:09
[38] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 38	1:36
[39] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 39	0:56
[40] Frank Rothkamm Veraenderung 40	0:42

Reviews:
Absolutely spontaneous and intense momentum which is impossible escape DARKROOM ITALY   Only last April there we talked of "Just 3 Organs" last effort of the German investigator Frank Rothkamm, active musically since boyhood and now a resident in America for some time, and today we find the 42 year old artist come to grips with a new work titled at least bizarre, and newly published through its own label Flux Records. With this disc there is also a limited version (40 numbered copies) comprising a sponge (!), whole The character Spongebob has nothing to do with practically nothing, and references will certainly look into areas other than those known from the film... The work has an additional 'title' slightly more exhaustive, namely "40 Variations On The Secret Formula From Spongebob Squarepants", play on words that combines the vein ironic and bizarre by Frank to a half-idea of what we will find little in the 37 minutes disc, or - precisely - 40 variations ... Piano variations to be precise, on several occasions put together like the "Diabelli Variations" by Beethoven, as narrated in two interesting pages of the internal booklet. Maybe someone you are already asking what is particularly 'dark' in a disc in less than 37 minutes condenses many as 40 variations of sometimes isolated piano tones (in the sense that certain ideas seem too 'intimate' to meet the tastes of pure listening), and while we must say that the work exudes not sure solarità*, perhaps one point that most deserves to be stressed is that "Opus Spongebobicum" sounds inevitably 'private', as a liberating act made solely with the plan. I could not help but to think of a pianist closed in his room and totally devoted to his passion for the ivory keys as to isolate itself from the rest of the world, as if the inspiration sopraggiungesse in a short but absolutely spontaneous and intense momentum which is impossible escape ... That analysis remains a work with certain interpretative difficulties and outside the box (at least ours), certainly made with very good taste, large capacity and lots of passion, but indicated mainly to lovers of the piano in its most classical. *Eros Ramazzotti - Solarita [ translated from the Italian ]
Roberto Alessandro Filippozzi DARKROOM
One of the great talents of our time WDBX USA   I am grateful and fortunate to be able to present Rothkamm’s work to you, as I sincerely believe he is one of the great talents of our time. I’m amazed at not only his prolific nature, but the high quality of his musical output– perhaps a Rothkamm-centric broadcast is in order for next month? Satanicpornocultshop — Anorexias Gas Balloon (Candy Says) Satanicpornocultshop — Detachable P Chris Cichocki — Lanimilbus Radiation Chris Cichocki — Transmission New Haven Improvisers Collective — Quantum Decoherence Eddie the Rat — Food the the Moon Too Soon, pt. 1 Eddie the Rat — Cannibal Eddie the Rat — I Ovulate in Mode Frank Rothkamm — Opus Spongebobicum, Variations 1-32 Bearly Queen — Hairy Palm Adventures (about 30 minutes worth) Husht — The Flight of Plankton Husht — Morphogenesis Husht — Threads . . . Right now, I’m doing the “Rothkamm-centric” portion of the show I promised a couple weeks back. Taking my queue from Rothkamm’s studio multitudes, I too will be harnessing the power of technology to thicken the mix– at present, I am mixing from three Rothkamm albums– I wonder how many instances of the man this has yielded? I think the Rothkamm mix went very well. I may have mis-labeled a couple of the track names in the playlist, however. It gets a little hard juggling that many discs at once! For the record; I used FB01, FB02, FB03, LAX, Just 3 Organs, and Opus Spongebobicum to create the mix. Rothkamm — B and B Plus 33 Rothkamm — Independent Bernoulli Trials Rothkamm — Half Man, Half Amazing Rothkamm — Outdoor Heritage of New Jersey Rothkamm — Reality OR Room in Hollywood Rothkamm — Opusspongebobicum, Variation 23 Rothkamm — Opusspongebobicum, Variation 10 Rothkamm — Incident Outside Mesquite Rothkamm — Ancient Meats
Dave X WDBX
19th century piece of classical music with some 'strange' elements thrown in - nice to hear! VITAL WEEKLY NETHERLANDS   Work by Frank Rothkamm has always a conceptual edge. In 1978, at the age of 12, he started to compose music, on the piano. Later on he devised his own notation for music and kept on playing the piano until now. I might be wrong but one of the first times his work was reviewed in Vital Weekly was his 'Tuning' 12" as DJ Flux, which consisted of the sound of tuning a piano. Here he offers '40 Variations on the secret formula from Spongebob Squarepants' - which comes with lengthy liner notes on 'variations' but how it connects to my favorite cartoon hero of the new millennium - I am even being waked up when he's on by the other, much younger fan when she's around. Much like I know next to nothing about classical music, it's not easy to value this work. Forty pieces of piano music, which go in one flow and which are certainly nice to hear. It's not the piano playing of say Satie or Debussy - that much I know - but more like 19th century piece of classical music with some 'strange'elements thrown in that make this is quite a strange piece too. Even when the overall concept left me with questions, the work as such was nice to hear. That's about all I can say about it. (FdW)
Frans de Waard VITAL WEEKLY
domo arigoto Mr. Sponge PUFFIN PRESS USA   bravo! bravo! bravo! bravo! bravo! bravo! BRAVO! I am playing it second time for today. Did you compose them? I guess.  amazing.  any concert plan? one of   the pieces is  nostalgia, made me feel of Japanese like tone? I do like them, Frank the chef.
Yukari Hayashida PUFFIN PRESS

Radio:

Variations 14 - 18 - CAN PLAYLIST of the 579th radio show « Le Vestibule » August 16, 2008 from 9:00 P.M. to 11:00 P.M. Hosted by JEAN-FRANCOIS FECTEAU on CFOU 89.1 FM 1)      Violet Vision: “Heaven Underground” (BNE/YO YO RECORDS) 2)      Foretaste: “Black Box” + “21” (BOREDOM PRODUCT) 3)      Marc Houle: “Jouster” (MINUS) 4)      Marlena Shaw: “California Soul (Diplo / Mad Decent Remix)” (VERVE RECORDS) 5)      The Dielectric: “Mechanisms” (URBCOM) 6)      Santogold: “L.E.S. Artistes” (LIZARD KING RECORDS) 7)      Wolf Parade: “California Dreamer” (SUB POP) 8)      Louie Austen: “Wipeout” (KLEIN RECORDS) 9)      Rothkamm: “Opus Spongebobicum (Variations 14 to 18)” (FLUX RECORDS) 10)     Warren Suicide: “Sometimes” (SHITKATAPULT) 11)     Straftanz: “Blood In Blood Out” (SCANNER) 12)     Val-Inc.: “Faces” (INNOVA RECORDINGS) 13)     Information Society: “Empty 3.0” (DANCING FERRET DISCS) 14)     Konrad: “These Nights” (RADICAL TURF) 15)     Union-Taste: “3-Times” (SYNGATE RECORDS) 16)     Think Of One: “Wereld Ni” (CRAMMED DISCS) 17)     ** Impact Pulse: “Impact Nation” (ADVOXYA RECORDS) ** 18)     Protassov: “Steam And Oil” (SWITCHSTANCE RECORDINGS) 19)     Redzone: “Fish Eye View” (PHASECHANGE RECORDINGS) 20)     Brazilian Girls: “Ricardo” (VERVE FORECAST)

Jean-Francois Fecteau CFOU

Veraenderung 1-10 - CAN DÉLIRE ACTUEL, 20 H / 8 PM Le piano : Je l’admets: comme thème, c’est pas très recherché. Et pourtant, ces deux heures sont truffées d’excellentes et étonnantes musiques pour piano solo. Du classique contemporain au jazz, en passant par l’impro libre et des trucs très conceptuels. Pour pianos acoustiques, mécaniques et en ruines. The Piano: Yeah, I know, pretty basic for a theme, right? And yet, these were two hours filled to the rim with excellent and surprising music for solo piano. From contemporary classical to jazz, free improvisation, and highly conceptual music. For acoustic, mechanical, and ruined pianos. GUUS JANSSEN / Toe-Tapping Tune (11:28) - Out of Frame (GeestGronden) PHILIP THOMAS [comp.: Michael Finissy] / Jazz (4:36) - Comprovisation (Bruce’s Fingers) HOWARD RILEY / Geocentric One (3:42) - Short Stories (Volume Two) (Slam Productions) GENEVIÈVE FOCCROULLE [comp.: Anthony Braxton] / Composition No. 5 (8:01) - Piano Music (1988-2000) (Leo Records) PAUL BLEY / Solo 8 (3:07) - 12 (+6) in a Row (hatOLOGY) BRIGITTE POULIN [comp.: James Harley] / Édifices (naturels) (10:37) - Édifices naturels (Collection QB) ROSS BOLLETER / Dead Marine (6:10) - Secret Sandhills and Satellites (Emanem) FRANK ROTHKAMM / [Variations 1-10] (9:20) - Opus Spongebobicum (Flux) MARLA HLADY / Playing Piano (8:01) - Musicworks 101 (Musicworks) THECLA SCHIPHORST / Portraits: Pierre-André (9:26) - Piano à numéros (Ohm Éditions) CHARLEMAGNE PALESTINE / Cataclisma 5 (10:47) - From Etudes to Cataclysms (Sub Rosa) GUUS JANSSEN / In the End (6:58) - Out of Frame (GeestGronden)

Francois Couture CFLX

Veraenderung 1-25 - BE                                                                                                                            Title; Played; Label; Time; Total Time; Vermont Rules; Joan Jeanrenaud; Talking House Records; 9'44"; 9'44"; Rex Minus; Near The Border; Blackstone Audiobooks; 5'54"; 15'38"; Untitled #193; Francisco Lopez; Quasi Pop; 6'59"; 22'37"; Steady Flux; Random Touch; Token Boy Records; 6'57"; 29'34"; High - Culture - Motherfucker; Thomas Christoph; HCMF Records; 10'41"; 40'15"; 3 Arms And A Dead Cert; Attrition; A Two Gods Recordings; 5'40"; 45'55"; Opus Spongebobicum N° 1 - 25 Frank Rothkamm; Fluxrecords; 21'33"; 67'28"; No Repeats; Caetitu; Emanem Disc; 22'46"; 90'14";

Nico Bogaerts EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC FOR EXPERIMENTAL PEOPLE

Veraenderung 21-40 - CAN New Can Con Artist Title Album Label Time Length Y Carrier Band Video Voice Voice coil Deep Listening www.deeplistening.org 23:32 8:04 Y Fine Arts Quartet / B. Herrmann Echoes for String Quartet Four American Quartets Naxos www.naxos.com 23:46 20:17 Y Rothkamm parts 21 - 40 Opus Spongebobicum Flux www.fluxrecords.com 00:15 20:50 Y Y Colin Fisher & Jean Martin Allo Caveman Little Man on the Boat Barnyard Records www.barnyardrecords.com 00:45 6:15 Y Paul Dutton Inex Soundworks 1990 - 2000 Intermedia 00:51 4:05 Michel Deneuve Source Cristalline Soundworks 1990 - 2000 Intermedia 00:56 5:30 Y Nils Bultmann The Madness Terminally unique Mutable Music www.mutablemusic.com 01:13 7:20 Y Y Ryan Clark tracks 31 - 33 the CD with the black shapes Bad Wolf Records www.badwolfrecords.com 01:21 3:26 Y "Blue" Gene Tyranny The Somewhere Songs The Somewhere Songs / The Invention of Memory Mutable Music 01:24 10:04 Y Carrier Band Frozen Speaker Voice coil Deep Listening 01:43 23:20

James Bailey & Ron McFarlan CKLN