Ragawerk
Ragawerk‘s second album, “Niḷa,” will be released on September 26, 2025, by o-tone Music/edelkultur. On this album, the band plays with their usual brilliance, but now with an even more direct, raw sound. More “Germaness,” a little edgier. But also pure, crystalline, spacey. “Niḷa” showcases the band’s entire spectrum: from earthy directness to cosmic clarity. “Niḷa” is the Sanskrit word for blue. Like a sapphire refracting light, the music appears in different aspects of color. Deep and calm. Mysterious and cool.
Ragawerk – Where jazz meets raga, a new sound cosmos is created: Ragawerk consists of guitarist Max Clouth and drummer Martin Standke – an electrifying duo that crosses musical boundaries with playful ease. Their sound blends hypnotic loops with Indian ragas, analog warmth with electronic textures, jazzy virtuosity with a dash of Krautrock. Here, Eastern and Western soundscapes meet without remaining foreign to each other. The foundation remains jazz – free, curious, open. But what grows from it is much more: a finely chiseled fusion, sometimes wistful, sometimes melancholic, but always with haunting clarity. Ragawerk is not merely a mixture of styles – it is a musical laboratory in which Indian depth and European craftsmanship give rise to something radically unique.
Critics speak of “floating soundscapes” (Jazzpodium) and “driving, beat-heavy pieces, but also gentle incantations” (Jazzthing). They celebrate the fusion of ragas with European-influenced jazz as “a pretty hyped amalgam” (Jazz N More) and attest to Ragawerk’s “wonderful krautrock-like mixture that has everything to offer from meditation to jazz” (Musikreviews) – “a global fusion with the scent of incense sticks” (Eclipsed). “Ragawerk speaks like a kind of Buddha of jazz.” (Musikreviews).
Max Clouth
After studying jazz guitar at the Mainz University of Music and the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music in Dresden, Max Clouth went to India. He lived in Mumbai for three years, studying music and immersing himself in the country, its traditions, and its sounds. He later studied film music at the Film Academy Ludwigsburg. Max Clouth is a recipient of the Frankfurt Jazz Scholarship and was nominated for the German Film Music Award. He composes film music for arte, ARD, and ZDF. He has performed with Varijashree Venugopal, Arijit Singh, the Frankfurt Radio bigband, Ishaan Ghosh, Oli Rubow, Bernhard Schimpelsberger, and Tamar Halperin, among others.
Martin Standke
Martin Standke studied music at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts and at the Cologne University of Music, majoring in jazz percussion. With the Contrast Trio, he is a winner of the Hessian Jazz Prize. He has been awarded the Frankfurt Jazz Work Scholarship four times in collaboration with various bands. He has played with the hr-Jazzensemble, Heinz Sauer, Günther Lenz, Joki Freund, Dominique DiPiazzia, and Michael Sagmeister, among others. As a drummer, Martin Standke is musically and artistically involved in productions at the Schauspiel Frankfurt and the Münchner Kammerspiele.
Vroni Frisch
Vroni Frisch is a bassist, composer and arranger from Mainz. She studied jazz electric bass and composition at the University of Music there and works as a freelance musician. Stylistically, she is active in various genres: from pop/hip-hop live or in the studio for MINE, Fatoni, Edgar Wasser and Leopold, among others, to improvised rock with the legendary Krautrock band Space Debris and jazz in various formations. As a bassist and arranger, she has worked with Sebastian Sternal, Ramesh Shotam, Susan Weinert, Frederik Köster and others. She also writes her own music and works as a lecturer and band coach. The fact that every note that is played gives the listener the feeling that it was meant exactly that way – that is the standard she sets for herself and the music she composes and plays. She has recently become a member of Ragawerk.
Paul Janoschka
Paul Janoschka is a graduate of the Mannheim University of Music (BA). He recently returned to Germany after spending the last two years at New York City College, where he completed his Master’s degree with Fred Harsch and Kevin Hays and was a much sought-after pianist in various bands on the jazz scene there. In addition to his studies, he used his time abroad to work on new compositions, researching a sound that moves within the modern jazz context and is influenced by hip-hop, impressionism and new music. His intensive period of study in the New York music scene brought him closer to both the jazz tradition and his own style.
“The production is epic and left me looking for concert dates in the UK.” BBC Music Magazine
“Clouth’s Guitar sets off on endless runs around the melody, halfway between comes the Mahavishnu Orchestra and full-on prog rock. Das Modul regals Nik Bartsch Ronin at their most pitiless, (…) Standke’s drums anticipating the beat, Clouth’s guitar sliding like a veena.” The Financial Times
“The music is spacey and oftentimes pretty and is ultimately something of a cross between the Mahavishnu Orchestra, the Pat Metheny Group and the Krautrock minimalism of German guitarist and ex-Ash Ra Tempel leader Manuel Göttsching in the 1980s.” All About Jazz
“ (…) seamlessly weaves Indian and jazz melodies, plus hypnotic synth lines. “
Rolling Stone India
“Standke’s Rhythm’s lurch between drum and bass (“Nature Of The Self”) funk in 7/4 (“Das Modul”) and industrial techno (“Theta Wave”), but the real focus is on guitarist Clouth, who moves between McgLaughlin-style pyrotechnics, smooth jazz, hypnotic minimalism and U2 style “hands free” solos.” Uncut UK
“Ragawerk really seduce you into their secret arcane world – they are full of enticement and their sonic palate is wide and extremely colourful. A refreshing and in parts, deeply meditative and soulful edifying to say the very least.” Blues & Soul Magazine UK
Press Germany:
” (…) it is always a great pleasure to listen to Max Clouth playing his amazing two-necked guitar and his discreet, precisely conceived and executed hand and electronic sound variations.” Frankfurter Rundschau
“With an effective furor, the quartet Ragawerk around guitarist Max Clouth as well as Georg Boeßner, keyboards, Peter Puskas, bass, and Martin Standke, drums, pursues a sparking jazz fusion with Indian infusion.” Frankfurter Rundschau
“[…] the short album is like a much needed injection of energy in a dark winter.” Jazz thing 137
” … driving, beat-heavy pieces (…) but also gentle evocations …” Jazzthing
“What Clouth and Standke serve us here […] has artistic maturity and emotional depth. Intense hypnotic grooves, improvisations you can sink into, varied guitar sounds and always surprising colors, […] a musical experience for open minds.” Jazzthetik
Ragawerk – Where jazz and raga merge
When jazz and Indian ragas meet, a fascinating soundscape emerges: Ragawerk – the duo consisting of guitarist Max Clouth and drummer Martin Standke – combines analog warmth with electronic sophistication, hypnotic loops with improvisational freedom. Their sound is cosmopolitan yet grounded: jazz, Krautrock, and Indian tradition merge into a unique musical vision. Ragawerk is not a crossover – it is a creative laboratory where Eastern depth meets Western precision. Sometimes meditative, sometimes energetic – but always clear, intense, and surprising.
New album “Niḷa” – rougher, clearer, deeper
With Niḷa (release date: September 26, 2025, o-tone music / edelkultur), Ragawerk presents its second album – and expands its sound spectrum with new, surprising facets. Rougher, more immediate, edgier than before – with more “Germanness” and at the same time crystalline clarity. Between earthy directness and spacey expansiveness, a sound unfolds that goes deep and yet remains in constant motion. Niḷa – Sanskrit for “blue” – is like a musical sapphire: multifaceted, mysterious, cool, and luminous. Ragawerk show themselves here to be as uncompromising as they are multi-layered.
The title track “Niḷa” creates precisely this atmosphere: crystalline guitars, floating keyboard pads, a gently pulsating beat. Music like a view of a calm sea, a clear lake, or the vast sky—mysterious, tranquil, cool.
Ragawerk—sound bridges between cultures
Ragawerk’s music is more than just fusion—it is the result of a deep cultural dialogue. Guitarist Max Clouth and drummer Martin Standke combine elements of jazz with the spiritual depth of classical Indian ragas, creating a sound that transcends genre boundaries. The basis of this connection is a musical principle with astonishing logic: ragas – the melodic structures of Indian music – follow specific scales and emotional moods. This is precisely where the raga tradition meets jazz: both are scale-based, open to improvisation, and emotionally charged. “It’s a different way of improvising – one that opens up new spaces,” says Martin Standke.
Some of Ragawerk’s pieces are based directly on ragas – but the band places them in their own modern context: sometimes subtle, sometimes clearly audible, but never folkloric. “We take the raga and wrap it in our sound. Sometimes hardly anything remains of the original structure – but that’s exactly our way,” explains Max Clouth. “You have to know the rules in order to break them – that’s how development happens,” adds Standke. Both musicians bring with them a wealth of knowledge and artistic depth: Max Clouth studied jazz guitar in Mainz and Dresden, lived and studied in Mumbai for three years, where he immersed himself in classical Indian music. In 2017, he was awarded the Frankfurt Jazz Scholarship. Martin Standke is a multi-award-winning jazz drummer (including the Hessian Jazz Prize with the Contrast Trio) who performs at renowned venues such as the Schauspiel Frankfurt and the Münchner Kammerspiele. Since their first musical encounter in 2012, Clouth and Standke have been connected by an inspiring bond—Ragawerk is their joint sound laboratory, in which cultural contrasts are not smoothed over, but creatively translated.
