View source for 16-17

{{Short description|Swiss music band}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name            = 16-17
| image           = 16-17 AMSTERDAM.jpg
| image_upright   = 1.2
| caption         =
| alias           =
| origin          = [[Basel]], Switzerland
| genre           = [[Punk jazz]], [[industrial music|industrial]], [[jazzcore]]<!-- these 3 genres are sourced in the musical style section below -->
| years_active    = 1983–2000
| label           = Pathological, [[Big Cat Records|Big Cat]], [[Virgin Ambient series|Virgin]], Savageland, [[Digital Hardcore Recordings|Digital Hardcore]]
| website         =
| current_members = [[Alex Buess]]<br/>Michael Wertmüller<br/>Damian Bennet
| past_members    = Knut Remond<br/>Markus Kneubühler<br/>[[Daniel Buess]] (died 2016)<br/>[[Kevin Martin (British musician)|Kevin Martin]]<br/> [[G. C. Green]]
}}
'''16-17''' is a band from [[Basel]], Switzerland. Their music combines [[punk rock]], [[hardcore punk]], [[jazz]] and [[Industrial music|industrial]] music.
== Biography ==
16-17 was founded in 1983 by  [[Alex Buess]], Knut Remond <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cosmicsonline.com/|title=Knut Remond, composer musician performer artist - Knut Remond|work=cosmicsonline.com|accessdate=22 June 2016|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304092542/http://www.cosmicsonline.com/|url-status=live}}</ref> and Markus Kneubühler.  When the group played its first concerts in 1983 it was received with controversial reactions: there were hardly any groups that played in an approximately similar style. Only some years later around 1986 groups like [[Painkiller (band)|Painkiller]], [[Last Exit (free jazz band)|Last Exit]] or [[The Flying Luttenbachers]] appeared . They played a similar mix of rough noise, heavily amplified instruments and free jazz inspired improvisation. 1983 to 1994 the group did a lot of tours and played many gigs all over Europe, Japan and USA. From this period there are three official releases: the cassette  ''Buffbunker and Hardkore'', the LP ''16-17'' (Label Rec Rec) as well as the LP ''[[When All Else Fails... (1989 16-17 album)|When All Else Fails...]]'' (Label Vision/Praxis). These first three productions of the group are exclusively live recordings.
1994 Alex Buess met [[Kevin Martin (British musician)|Kevin Martin]] during the recording sessions  of the group Alboth!  for their CD ''Liebefeld'' <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.discogs.com/Alboth-Liebefeld/release/1046529|title=Alboth! - Liebefeld|work=discogs.com|accessdate=22 June 2016|archive-date=27 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160127194759/http://www.discogs.com/Alboth-Liebefeld/release/1046529|url-status=live}}</ref> Alex Buess played saxophones on this album as a guest musician and Kevin Martin produced it. This first meeting of Buess and Martin was very important: they both got along very well: they both went similar paths, Kevin with his group GOD and Alex with 16–17. Consequently, 16-17 worked on the production of their first studio album ''[[Gyatso (album)|Gyatso]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/de/16-17-Gyatso/release/1274376|title=16-17 - Gyatso|work=discogs.com|accessdate=22 June 2016|archive-date=9 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409072832/https://www.discogs.com/de/16-17-Gyatso/release/1274376|url-status=live}}</ref> The album was produced by [[Kevin Martin (British musician)|Kevin Martin]] and [[G.&nbsp;C. Green]] (Godflesh) appeared as a guest musician. Kevin Martin  said in an interview by Jason Pettigrew (''[[Alternative Press (magazine)|Alternative Press]]''): "I liked the sheer  intensity of 16-17's  ''Early Recordings''  very much and I intended to increase this intensity by the additional use of studio technology." He was indeed very successful. The CD found a lot of attention in the international press, the media and the audience.
After the production of ''Gyatso'' the line up of the band changed. The bass player Damian Bennett (Deathless, khost, [[Techno Animal]]) replaced Markus Kneubühler and the drummer Michael Wertmüller (Full Blast) replaced Knut Remond. 16-17 toured all over Europe with  this new line up. The idea was to reproduce the sound of the ''Gyatso'' album live.  The concert appearance at the  Taktlos Festival 1995 was one of the highlights of 16-17's new sound. 1999 the EP  ''[[Human Distortion (16-17 EP)|Human Distortion]]'' was released on [[Alec Empire]]'s [[Digital Hardcore Recordings|Digital Hardcore]] Label (DHR) and in the same year the ''Mechanophobia'' EP appeared on Praxis<ref>{{cite web|url=https://praxis-records.net/|title=Praxis - Nothing essential happens in the absence of noise|work=praxis-records.net|accessdate=22 June 2016|archive-date=30 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630230814/https://praxis-records.net/|url-status=live}}</ref> the Berlin-based label. In autumn 1999 16-17 toured again extensively as ''16-17 Soundsystem'' with [[Daniel Buess]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.danielbuess.com/|title=Home - Daniel Buess|work=danielbuess.com|accessdate=22 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160702224611/http://www.danielbuess.com/|archive-date=2 July 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> (MIR, My Daily Noise, Noise Zone) on drums. In 2000 the group disbanded.
It was very difficult to get hold of the 16-17 productions for quite a long time. But in 2005 Savageland Records a Lyon-based French record label re-released a CD box called  ''[[When All Else Fails... (2005 16-17 album)|When All Else Fails... a.k.a. Early Recordings]]''  and later in 2008 ''[[Gyatso (album)|Gyatso]]''. [[Weasel Walter]] has remastered both productions and [[Alternative Press (music magazine)|Jason Pettigrew]] wrote extensive new liner notes for ''Gyatso''. In 2020, an album of previously unreleased material recorded in 1995, titled ''Phantom Limb'' with guest musicians singer Eugene S.Robinson of [[Oxbow (band)|Oxbow]], vocalist Kasia Meow and guitarist Bigrogers Graf, was issued through Austrian label [[Trost Records]]. In 2021 the remastered ''vinyl version of Gyatso'' was
released by the German label Praxis.
[[File:16-17 Taktlos 1995.jpg|thumb|Live at Taktlos Festival 1995]]
== Discography ==
* 1984: ''Buffbunker & Hardkore'' (cassette, Calypso Now)
* 1986: ''16-17''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/de/16-17-16-17/release/385667|title=16-17 - 16-17|website=[[Discogs]]|publisher=|access-date=17 July 2016|archive-date=10 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161010040514/https://www.discogs.com/de/16-17-16-17/release/385667|url-status=live}}</ref> (LP, Rec Rec)
* 1989: ''[[When All Else Fails... (1989 16-17 album)|When All Else Fails...]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/de/16-17-When-All-Else-Fails/release/372787?ev=rr|title=16-17 - When All Else Fails...|website=[[Discogs]]|publisher=|access-date=17 July 2016|archive-date=10 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161010040528/https://www.discogs.com/de/16-17-When-All-Else-Fails/release/372787?ev=rr|url-status=live}}</ref> (LP, Vision)
* 1993: ''[[Gyatso (album)|Gyatso]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/de/16-17-Gyatso/release/71192|title=16-17 - Gyatso|website=[[Discogs]]|publisher=|access-date=17 July 2016|archive-date=10 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161010040521/https://www.discogs.com/de/16-17-Gyatso/release/71192|url-status=live}}</ref> (CD, Pathological / Big Cat GB)
* 1993: 16–17 on Virgin Ambient compilation ''Jazz Satellites Vol 1''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/de/Various-Jazz-Satellites-Volume-1-Electrification/release/506295|title=Various - Jazz Satellites Volume 1: Electrification|website=[[Discogs]]|publisher=|access-date=25 June 2016|archive-date=11 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011214448/https://www.discogs.com/de/Various-Jazz-Satellites-Volume-1-Electrification/release/506295|url-status=live}}</ref>
* 1998: ''[[Human Distortion]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/de/16-17-Human-Distortion/release/69338|title=16-17 - Human Distortion|website=[[Discogs]]|publisher=|access-date=17 July 2016|archive-date=10 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161010040524/https://www.discogs.com/de/16-17-Human-Distortion/release/69338|url-status=live}}</ref> (CD & EP, DHR)
* 1999: ''Mechanophobia''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/de/16-17-Mechanophobia/master/368157|title=16-17 - Mechanophobia|website=[[Discogs]]|publisher=|access-date=17 July 2016|archive-date=10 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161010040526/https://www.discogs.com/de/16-17-Mechanophobia/master/368157|url-status=live}}</ref> (EP, Praxis)
* 2005: ''[[When All Else Fails... (2005 16-17 album)|When All Else Fails...]]'' a.k.a. ''16-17 Early Recordings''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/de/16-17-16-17-Hardkore-Buffbunker-When-All-Else-Fails/release/1300728|title=16-17 - 16-17 / Hardkore & Buffbunker / When All Else Fails...|website=[[Discogs]]|publisher=|access-date=17 July 2016|archive-date=10 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161010040512/https://www.discogs.com/de/16-17-16-17-Hardkore-Buffbunker-When-All-Else-Fails/release/1300728|url-status=live}}</ref> (CD Box, new, remastered version of the first three LP productions on CD, Savageland Records)
* 2008: ''[[Gyatso (album)|Gyatso]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/de/16-17-Gyatso/release/1274376|title=16-17 - Gyatso|website=[[Discogs]]|publisher=|access-date=22 June 2016|archive-date=9 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160409072832/https://www.discogs.com/de/16-17-Gyatso/release/1274376|url-status=live}}</ref> (CD, new, remastered version with modified artwork and liner notes)
* 2020: ''Phantom Limb''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.trost.at/16-17-phantom-limb.html|title=Trost Records listing for ''Phantom Limb''|publisher=|access-date=6 June 2020|archive-date=6 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606052217/https://www.trost.at/16-17-phantom-limb.html|url-status=live}}</ref> (LP, Trost)
* 2021: ''Gyatso (vinyl version)''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/de/release/17534788|title=16-17 - Gyatso|website=[[Discogs]]|publisher=}}</ref> remastered 12" LP, Praxis, Berlin
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
* {{AllMusic |class=artist |id=mn0001021201/biography}}
* {{Discogs artist|28376-16-17}}
* [https://www.discogs.com/de/label/9007-Pathological-Records discogs.com]
* [http://www.savagelandrecords.com/ savagelandrecords.com]
{{16-17 (band)}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Grindcore musical groups]]
[[Category:Avant-garde metal musical groups]]
[[Category:Free improvisation ensembles]]
[[Category:Musical groups established in 1983]]
[[Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2000]]
[[Category:Swiss musical trios]]
[[Category:Avant-garde jazz ensembles]]
[[Category:Digital hardcore music groups|Category:Digital Hardcore Music Group]]