Besides Paul Frick’s involvement in the groups Brandt Brauer Frick and - since 2020 - Tangerine Dream, he has been cultivating his own eclectic projects, very often so in exchange and collaboration with other artists around his workspace in Berlin. Frick’s new album ‚Hofknicks‘ is a kaleidoscopic dedication to the courtyard of that studio collective and to its fluid microcosm of people, animals, plants, stones and concrete. Everyday poetry in shifting states: the oasis is just a few footsteps away from the sirens of the main street. What started out as a remix album - it is one - of its predecessor ‚Second Yard Botanicals‘ from 2018, took a few more turns. 18 trusted artists contributed to the 14 reinterpretations, as close or far from the originals as they wished. Without exception they all went for ‚far‘. From Gudrun Gut crafting a dubbed-out vocal remix reminiscing about West Berlin’s ‚Schöneberg‘ district, to Tom Rojo Poller composing a new contemporary classical piece - using no sample of the original ‚Karamasow‘ but merely a structural nucleus -, to the Kraut Jazz trio KUF recording a jumping keys-bass-drums cover version of ‚Great Song Title 9‘. Frick co-/re-worked on eight of the reinterpretations, from tiny edits up to ‚remixing the remix‘ and recording new instruments on top. ‚Hofknicks‘ was starting to tell a more cohesive story than initially expected. While the listener can detect threads of Dub, Bass, Techno, Ambient, Contemporary Classical etc. throughout ‚Hofknicks‘, there is a relating air of contemplation floating throughout the pieces. Soaked with Frick’s broad instrumentation and frequent use of field recordings, multiple perspectives are knitted together on this sonic trip full of mirrors and echoes. Made possible by a small courtyard in Neukölln.