| Sometimes
I kick back in my easy chair and I really try to understand all those
differences. As I read with Satre and Derrida, it is all about
differences, but is it true? Do I constitute myself by stating all the
things that I am not? Actually, that is the basic question. In my easy
chair I take the long and winding road, leaving that basic question way
behind and thinking of all the differences I can come up with. To me that
basic question (is an entity what it is, because of what it is not?) has
to remain unanswered, especially in our times, where boundaries, which
were once fixed have become permeable. A time in which we have to come to
realise, that we are all cyborgs already, with all our mobile phones,
global networks, pace-keepers, cars and eyeglasses. I’d really like to
remain seated a lot. That’s why I love flying – you sit while
everything else moves and all you can do is to watch. And eat and sleep.
And think about the differences. Between business class and economy.
Between air and ground. Between you and the person next to you. Between
the way you perceive yourself and the way you behave and the way you think
that others perceive you. You’ll will realise that we are living in
times which tend towards conglomerisation, to the connecting of
specialised bases. They say that Erasmus from Rotterdam was the last
universal-scholar, who knew everything there is to know about everything.
After him it was all specialists and experts. Do you have the feeling that
we have gone over the highest point of the movement towards specialism and
now are facing a time in which multi-field-experts are asked again?
Economists with interest in server-technology or accountants with degrees
in law and sociology. I think so. The boundaries get blurred, the
differences diffuse. Please remind me, that I have to recheck that exact
definition of “postmodern” again, soon. |
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| I take the long and winding
road. Maybe into chaos, how would I know. Certainly into eclecticism. And
all this to start a column about electronic-music? |
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KAITO’s
new 12” on Kompakt is definitely my favourite electronica-piece at this
point of time. As I hear Kompakt is the new #1-trend-electronica-label.
The way they shoot out new records, they must have had some bigger hits to
finance all that. The two tracks on this 12”, “Everlasting” and
“Intension”, remind me of a softed-down version of early THIRD EYE
GHOST. “Everlasting” instantly builds up a laid-back but grooving
atmosphere in any room. Remarkably and in contrast to a lot of stupid
electronic music around, KAITO’s tracks offer a lot of variety, of
changes in tone and colour, with many small things added here and there,
so that you will find new things each time you listen to them. Very much
like Tortoise, and it is true: Postrock, if you can remember that label,
opened the doors a lot for much of the electronica hype, we have nowadays. |
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| My
second favourite track at this point of time in this genre is, and I am
sure you have all heard it already: “Point of view point” by CORNELIUS
(Matador/Zomba), the Japanese Otaku-gone-electronic-hero. CORNELIUS is a
prefect example of the diffusion of boundaries and the permeating of
differences I have mentioned above. The track itself is sharply cut up and
mixed with a lot of computer-trickery (countless hours I am sure) but with
its acoustic guitar, reverberant harmonies and the vocals on top, you get
an interesting, spiritually uplifting piece of music, that sits so
comfortably between all the defined places, that it will get picked up a
lot by a lot of people. The whole album “Point” is possibly way too
much for a lot of listeners, because even though the tracks themselves
look and feel very easy and soft, if you start to listen closely you’ll
step into a universe of interconnected, neuronal hints at about 65 % of
all modern music history. |
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| Another
artist I would recommend to you is TRAUMSCHIERE. The person behind the
pseudonym used to drum for a gothic-hardcore-band called ZORN (if you
remember that), I have been told. So, very much like KAWASAKI, he took an
easy road out of the dingy dark cellars of hardcore-punk into the clean
and stylish lofts of the electronica-guild. Care for some crude beats and
a big portion of daredevil spirit enclosed with a trance influenced by
machine noise, this is electronically derived industrial. So a connection
between the early eighties, were machinist sounds and spliced-tape-loops
started off a genre, right down to the 21st century fully
equipped with a PC, DAT and soundlab in every cabinette. TRAUMSCHMIERES
album was released on Shitkatapult (Strike 08) and that is essentially 30
minutes of rather harsh and steady (no trance!) drumrhythms overlayed with
either sparse clicking sounds or thick layers of synth, where the feeling
of a structured track is kept up at all times. Yeah, that is very Germanic
in its straightforwardness, marching beats and brutal harshness, but there
is nothing Teutonic about it. Thank god. You might know TRAUMSCHMIERE as
well from a 12”-compilation on Sender-records along with KONFEKT, MISC
and K.LAKIZZ, who are all rocking in that territory. (rock as in stone,
not in e-guitar.) If you like your electronica nice and easy, check out
Kompakt’s catalogue. |
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