Interview: Marc Jauss
images: JJ Funhouse

Hello! Well, first I’d like to express my absolute enthusiasm for your lovely work. I have rarely encountered a label with such a Individual and innovative spirit. It will be a particular pleasure to find out a bit more about the architecture of Jj Funhouse. Please introduce yourselves briefly…

Thank you :) Jj funhouse was originally the name for a karaoke bar we were trying to set up. But time went by while dreaming about this setting, and all of a sudden Milan Warmoeskerken made this great album (as C.Young) in two weeks time. We loved it and decided to release his 10”, Daily’s. So the plan for the karaoke bar evolved into a label. :-) We saw it very widely—more like a platform for everything we like and want to give some sort of form to. So the name Jj funhouse was quite soothing. These two and a half years that we’ve existed, we can say we’re more of a record label, and we definitely enjoy being one.


What is the vibe like in Antwerp at the moment (politically or musically)?

Musically: the ‘creative’ people of our government made these million-euro trash bins in the form of a jukebox. When you put your trash in them, they sing you a song: “Hit me baby one more time”; “That’s the way, aha aha, I like it, aha aha” … It’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen, and it makes me mad that money goes into this project and that less and less money goes to interesting cultural organizations. 

We have a lot of interesting and creative people living here, and because it is a small town, it’s easy to meet and get to know each other. I believe a lot of good and interesting music is coming from Antwerp. The last couple of years, a lot of people have been setting up shows again, which is very nice. There’s always something going on.

Antwerp seems to be a very interesting town. Tell us what’s going on!

Places we like: 

Stadslimiet (translated: “city limit”, located at the river De Schelde, which divides the right from the left bank) is a very small place run by Dennis Tyfus (Ultra Eczema) and Vaast Colson. They set up really nice shows. The capacity is super tiny—20 people—and you can say it’s super crowded. Apart from shows, they also have exhibitions at their gallery, Van Steensel & De Caigny. It’s the same space, open at gallery hours, but with white walls instead of their own (all very beautiful) posters as backdrops. 

Het Bos is the new location where Scheld’apen VZW is located. I must admit I truly miss the old Scheld’apen. We grew up with it in our teenage years and twenties, got to see a lot of shows, had some crazy nights there, met a lot of people. Never experienced a place like that one anywhere else, probably because we knew everyone there, shared inside jokes throughout DJ sets, and had late night dinners at their kitchen. It felt like a ‘night’ home for a lot of people, I think.

At het Bos you have The Bosbar. It’s best to go there on a Sunday when Otark is cooking you breakfast. It’s delicious and the menu is filled with recipes and ingredients you’ve never heard of before. They cook with their heart and it’s tasty. When the breakfast club is happening, David Edren, better known as DSR Lines, opens his closet shop. Go there for interesting experimental releases, tapes, printed matter, records… 

For records: crate digging at Chelsea records. Lots and lots of 7”s to go through. Tune Up for your jazz and blues, Fat Kat, Coffee & Vinyl, Wally’s Groove World for your house, techno and electro, Morbus Gravis for your experimental and ambient and a very warm welcome (check opening hours before you go).

For swimming: Noordkasteel (on the right bank) or Het Galgenweel (on the left bank), although people from Switzerland refuse to swim in the lakes because they of course know better waters (and it’s actually forbidden), but we adore it. It’s the only refreshment you can get in this town on hot days, because the bathing boat, a floating swimming pool on one of the docks, sank to the bottom last year after it was open for only one year—typical…There’s also a nice swimming pond called Boekenberg, but on hot days you have to stand in line for a refreshing splash.

Bars: Witzli Poetzli has the best terrace in town, in the shadow of the cathedral. They serve very cheap Pastis, and a glass of rosé house wine is equal to three normal glasses. 

De Kat is an old bar where old (and new) artists come together. 

The Pianobar has lovely piano name cards, and the atmosphere is…wow. 

And then we like to try some local bars. Portuguese ones, or La Boume, our new discovery on the corner of my street. So honest and on the edge, which makes it funny, but the bartender and regular customers are all so friendly and kind. 

Trampoline Gallery: a lot of people we know and appreciate are part of it.

Your label follows a strong overall concept. What were your thoughts at the beginning creating the label?

We both studied graphic design and did a few projects together. These collaborations worked out very well and encouraged us to keep working as a duo. It still feels right. We almost never disagree on anything. Jj funhouse is a label where everything we like is possible as a release or a project. Every idea/release gets a catalogue number, no matter what the medium is, and gets archived. We curate, decide on the format and ‘design’ it. Jj funhouse can be a record, a tape, a book, a picture, a cake, a DVD, a shirt, socks, a place, an event, an idea, and so on…so far, it’s been a lot of music. :)
 

Who is responsible for what? How do you share all the different tasks?

I would say we do everything together art work-wise, sometimes even with two behind one computer screen. Or in the case of the new Milan W. album, we marble together, etc.
Other times, one starts and the other one continues. It all goes very naturally. Joke does more communication, and Jozefien keeps up with administration. The more boring tasks like going to the post office, taking care of invoices, etc. are equally divided.

Recently, Milan Warmoeskerken (Milan W., C.Young and half of Mittland och Leo, basically the one that’s responsible for a lot of what we ‘stand’ for) has been hunting for music, or especially for the people behind it. There’s an interesting release coming up.

You guys are quite active: self-organized club nights, print editions, etc. How do you bring everything together? Is it a financial disaster or serious fun?

The club nights mostly come with a release. We are definitely not trying to be a party organization. 

Tell us something about your regular shows at Extra City. What else is going on there?

Joke: I’ve been working at Extra City Kunsthal for a year now. I do administration and assistance in communication and production. Extra City is a Kunsthal (art space) that finds inspiration in the city for depicting different visions of our future by encouraging new links between contemporary (inter)national art and artists, researchers, and city dwellers. 

When JJ009 series came about, Extra City had been developing a new mission and vision, and there was no artistic director, no upcoming exhibition, and no musical program, so I put the Jj series on the table and that’s how we were able to have four nights there with Brahmen Raag, Mathieu Serruys, Floris Vanhoof, and Milan W. in the charming cinema space. It’s totally different from any other release night or celebration night we ever organized. Just one show and that was it—no party or DJs after. It was only four shows and it got a catalogue number as if it had been a release. We do not do regular shows there. And it isn’t part of their artistic program, either. American English?

Here in Zurich it’s quite hard to join forces and find a crowd for experimental music. What are your experiences in your town? 

I think we grew up or started going out at Scheld’apen, which was the place for experimental music in Antwerp at the time. Dennis from Ultra Eczema set up a lot events there. Since that place is gone now, I believe a lot of people are setting up shows everywhere around town. There are a lot of experimental music events going on. Antwerp is really small, and the crowd for this sort of music definitely knows each other and follows where ‘it’ goes. But to be honest, I don’t think Jj funhouse is that experimental.



From my own experience, it’s difficult to work cost-covering in cultural projects. Is there an official conveyor system in Antwerp for events or happenings, music, etc.?

There is but we aren’t familiar with it. And it’s the bigger festivals that get the most out of it and are super expensive at the same time. We run ourselves. It’s not always easy, but we’ll get there … 

A re-release of Gust De Meyer's Casio Works is due out. I read that he co-produced a radio program alongside Wim Mertens back in the early 80s. He was also a professor of media culture and part of the Soft Verdict project.

That’s right. I believe he is still a professor at KU Leuven. We’re super happy we can put this one out on vinyl. He just sent us the original tape. And we are working on the artwork for it.

Your record releases are quite difficult to find. Will there be upcoming re-issues (I just noticed that your Mittland Och Leo LP was repressed in 2015)?

We did a repress of that one because it sold out very fast and because Boomkat and other international shops were asking for it. Milan W. is almost sold out at the Jj stock after less than a month. Maybe we’ll do a repress, but it’s hard to say. We’ll see… 

At this point, what is planned for the future?

We just released Intact by Milan W. and had the release show in Brussels. It’s always exciting to do something outside of our hometown. It was crowded. It was nice to see that people know Jj funhouse and want to hear and experience it. It was a great night.

We’re working on a small Christmas compilation tape that involves all the artists we’ve released in the past and a few new ones. Gust De Meyer is coming up, and we have a couple of other releases in the pipeline that we’d like to keep secret for the moment. :)

No More Dreams is the latest release from the Gothenburg-based artist Axel Backman better known as 1991. Backman released two lo-fi electronica albums back in 2012. High-Tech High-Life on Opal Tapes is a tasty new-age synthesizer soundscape LP with arpeggio textures and shimmering drones—the prefect soundtrack for the cold winter days. The other, 1991 (Astro:Dynamics), features IDM-inspired sounds oscillating with deep, dark ambient structures and devious melodies. We are very excited about Backman's next plans. It seems that his newly founded label NMD is just the beginning. 

image: hannes norrvide

Tired of reading reviews? Then listen up: Norin, front man and founder of Lust for Youth, responsible for two mind-blowing EPs on the Danish imprint Posh Isolation, shares with us the sources of inspiration for his new Collapsing Market release. No more questions asked!

SEINFELD

NEW CLOTHES

MOVING IN WITH MY GIRLFRIEND

FINAL FANTASY

CHABLIS

GRENDEL DRONE COMMANDER

MUSIC APPS

RENATO RINALDI - TIME MACHINE I & II

BUYING A GYM MEMBERSHIP, BUT NEVER GO.

YELLOW KINGS

BEAT FREQUENCY GENERATOR

IDEA FIRE COMPANY - MUSIC FROM THE IMPOSSIBLE SALON

KORG MS-20 

with his new solo moniker “norin”, hannes norrvide wanders far away from the lands he used to explore as the frontman of the synth trio lust for youth. in opposition to the group’s luminous synth pop, norin’s anxious avant-techno reveals a brand new side of his personnality. norin himself qualifies his music as “the sound of overdosing in the chill-out room” – an expression that could hardly sound more opposed to “chasing the light”. finally, norrvide is a talented ambassador of this music-loving youth. this millenial generation fed with so many influences and able to build bridges between all of them. an achievement even more impressive considering that norrvide has never trully listened to techno music . a truth hard to believe regarding the outstanding quality and technicity of his ep’s.

text & selection: freek kinkelaar, 2016, picture: freek's studio in the late 80s. (The synth was on ‘permanent’ loan from his school)

"this is me on a friday, pondering about a ‘best of’ mix tape for fhtn with the friendly ears. tough decisions to be made… i’m told to concentrate on drone/ambient stuff, but there is so much more to listen to and discover than what ends up in this list. ok, so i won’t mention all the pop music that i love so much on here, nor any of those rock albums, soundtracks, artist recordings, punk/wave or the bizarre stuff that hails from japan. too bad, but hopefully you’ll have a great time listening your way through this list anyways. all titles are endlessly and wholeheartedly recommended. ask me the same question on a saturday and the answer will be, of course, entirely different…"

ac marias – one of our girls, 1986
ok, one pop album. but a great ‘moody’ one and their only one. easy to find, cheap as chips.
 
ashra tempel – join inn, 1973
i’m not too keen on side one, but jenseits is one stunningly beautiful side-long ambient piece, which, incidentally, formed the inspiration for the body shop song by beequeen.
 
ai aso – umerumonoizen, 2009
a rickenbacker guitar and a small japanese girl singing songs with lots of background hiss and tape dropouts.
 
virginia astley - from gardens where we feel secure , 1983
beautiful pastoral piano music with sheep bleating and gates squeaking set in an english field.
 
angelo badalamenti – mulholland drive 2001
the soundtrack to one of my favourite movies. composer angelo badalamenti keeps the whole thing together with his trademark surreal sounding keyboards.
 
john bender -  i don't remember now / i don't want to talk about it 1980
whenever i play this i get all nostalgic. diy minimal synth album with perfect songs, vocals and mix.
 
henning christiansen - op. 50 requiem of art (aus celtic) 2016
a very strange but compelling sound collage that makes me smile every time i listen to it.
 
brainticket - celestial ocean 1973
their trippy album cottonwood hill may be better known, but i think this one is better. way better.
 
brunnen - tippoo's tiger 2009
one side features harmonium recordings and the other one sounds like an aeroplane circling the arctic. it’s me, but you had that already figured out right?
 
gavin bryars - the sinking of the titanic 2007
there are several variations of this composition - i like this one the best.
 
come - come present rampton 1980
william before whitehouse. noiseless guitar hero. never too tired to listen to this.
 
ddaa - action and japanese demonstration 1980
french trio’s hypnotizing diy-production inspired by the japanese nebula. all their music and artwork is brilliant.
 
de fabriek – neveleiland 1983
spoken word stories from the island of ambon accompanied by beautiful music.
 
gerogerigegege - moenai hai 2016
haunting, ultra-low sounding masterpieces on an album that somehow make me very sad every time i listen to it.
 
paul giovanni - the wicker man 1998
the reissue with nicolas cage acting and badalementi playing the soundtrack out of their arses is disturbingly bad. just as this original is disturbingly good.
 
randy greif - alice in wonderland 1993
funny, scary and very surreal. just like the book.
 
hafler trio - hotondo kiki torenai 1985
andrew mckenzie shows he has got a sense of humour – and the knack to create beautiful soundscapes.
 
toshi ichiyanagi - opera from the works of tadanori yokoo 1969
beautiful trippy avant-garde japanese double picture disc album.
 
derek jarman – soundtrack to blue 1991
if you listen to only one album on this list, make it blue.
 
legendary pink dots – chemical playschool 3 and 4 1983
the dots at their best mixing songs with electronics and experiment with a charming ease. purchase this in remastered format at the dots’ bandcamp.
 
andrew liles - mother goose's melodies or sonnets for the cradle 2005
great bedtime stories set to equally great bedtime music.
 
muziekkamer – kamermuziek 1983
privately released cassette featuring a mesmerizing guitar arpeggio composition.
 
korla pandit - meditation volume 1 1977
korla hits all the right keys on this fantastic atmospheric album. his best.
 
boyd rice – boyd rice (the black album) 1977
boy scout boyd created this title-less album out of loops and cut-ups. this is far from the ultra-noise and uniform-fashionada silliness you might identify him with.
 
oskar schlemmer - das triadische ballet 2009
the soundtrack to a 70s restaging of schlemmer’s famous ballet from the 30s. feast your ears – and eyes.
 
swans - soundtracks for the blind 1997
a true soundtrack album, combining swans’ typical riffing energy with soundscapes, collages and found sound. i’ve been playing this for nearly 20 years and it never tires.
 
talk talk - spirit of eden 1988
another pop album you might think? wrong!
 
percy thrillington – thrillington 1977
another pop album you might think? right!
 
asmus tietchens – nachtstücke 1980
i have been told asmus himself doesn’t really like this album. i do.
 
gary wilson - you think you really know me 1977
my wife says this is music for a 70s porn movie. she might be right. she is most of the time.

Ashkan Soltani, director of “I Know You Well”

the los angeles-based film director and author ashkan soltani shot a documentary about jandek together with craig matarrese about one of the most mysterious american musicians with a large international cult following. the film provides rare access to the elusive performer and an intimate examination of jandek's creative process. we have the chance to raise a few questions to soltani himself.
 

- when did you hear for the first time about the musician jandek ?

i first heard about jandek about 4 years ago when he performed at minnesota state university, mankato where i was teaching at the time. i did not know who jandek was prior to that.
 

- who is craig mataresse and how did you meet him ?

craig is the co-producer of this documentary also a former colleague at msu where i used to teach. he is also a superb bass player and jandek’s representatives had approached him earlier about playing bass at mankato show.
 

- what was your main inspiration to make the film ?

i would say it all happened very organic. craig and i discussed the possibility of filming the concert but we were not sure whether jandek would agree with that, knowing his history and the fact that he never appeared in any films or tv interviews before. however, to our surprise, he graciously gave us permission to document the rehearsal and his interaction with other musicians as well as the entire mankato concert. i think it was a mutually pleasant experience for all of us and as a result of that we pitched the idea of producing a documentary to jandek and the rest is history.
 

- jandek was interviewed the first time back in 2013 by david keenen for the wire.
  you were there to film everything. how did that happen ?
 

yes! we were in minneapolis documenting the rehearsal and the concert. that was a year after our first filming session with jandek in mankato. we were working with him between those concerts including several days of extensive filming in houston, texas.
 

- what have been your personal highlight during the shooting ?

we had a wonderful time working with jandek. we had the opportunity to spend many hours discussing music, philosophy, etc with him. some of those moments are documented in i know you well. in general, the whole experience was very unique and pleasant as you may imagine.
 

- after chad freidrichs „jandek on corwood“ you are not the only filmmaker which set the focus on the musician. what is your personal opinion about that movie ?

it is a very interesting film but rather irrelevant to post-2007 jandek. in 2001, when that film came out, jandek did not perform live. jandek started to perform live since 2007. one other obvious difference is also the fact that jandek himself is in the film instead of people talking about him. in other words, "i know you well" focuses mainly on jandek as an extraordinary performer instead of commenting on his music.
 

- who is jandek? can you say that you know him well after finishing the movie ?

he is an unique american musician and performer. we hope more people learn about him and his distinct approach towards the music. we tried our best to capture that and make our film appealing to general audience as well as to his fans.
 

- is jandek we know completely demystified ?

not at all! jandek as a musician/performer is constantly evolving and i believe that  this is what makes his projects refreshing and demanding. we did not want to demystify anything nor did we care about trivial information. that is not the point in i know you well.
 

- what are your future plans ?

i am currently producing two feature-length music documentaries that are in different stages of production. one is a documentary about the counterculture music scene in bulgaria in the past 50 years and the other project deals with the native american heavy metal and hip hop scene on the reservations.
 

- links: where to buy, watch etc ?

we have received many inquiries about releasing the film. we have finalized the distribution through two video on demand streaming providers and everything is ready to go. at this point we are waiting to hear back from the very last batch of film festivals in the short coming weeks. we can not release the film prior to the festivals otherwise the film will be disqualified. meanwhile please follow us on our facebook and twitter page for update. we are very confidents about releasing film in early summer.

There is this wonderful blind electronic music composer named Pauline Anna Strom about whom I was preparing a piece for my blog recently. Doing a little research online I stumbled across a photo of my friend Hannes Grassegger, a noted swiss business journalist and net theorist – a serious cat really, but also a music lover – holding up Strom’s extremely rare record Trans-Millenia Consort. I was stunned and wondering about the story behind that image. So I reached out for Hannes and it turned out to be one of these really intimate emotional stories which oftentimes stand behind those records we love the most. Enjoy!
 

Trans-Millenia Consort

I usually keep the story of this LP, how I came across it, and what it means to me to myself, although people usually ask me about that record, how I found it etc. when I play it, just because it’s such an amazing album. I think a genuinely good record is somehow always the story of a relationship; "me and my beloved record." In the case of Pauline Anna Strom, though, I usually try to distract inquirers with stories of much rarer records or irritate them with fascinating facts about this unique synth fanatic who was blind but clairvoyant. So clearly could she see the coming of the New Age. Through her music Strom really makes me experience that first wave of Silicon Valley euphoria, the technological optimism and strange longing for the creation of a “spiritual machine” during the early 1980s in the Californian desert. Her small, opaline melodies feel as good as blowing on dandelion seed heads does to a two-year-old and they are accompanied by New Age textures reminiscent of beautiful sprawling landscapes over which those dandelions florets float, underlaid with gingerly flickering beats that wouldn’t be officially "invented" until fifteen years later, when they were called "breakbeats" or "drum&bass."

My decision not to talk about Pauline Anna Strom's Trans-Millenia Consort is a result of the fact that the album has become for me exactly that which a vinyl record can but a file cannot be: a carrier of personal memories. Files save data; records save feelings. I have no idea why that is—in essence, both media were developed to save data. I’m also not esoteric; the word ‘analog’ doesn’t hold a particularly special place in my heart. I'll put it like this: just as the pops and crackling noises of a record actually do bother me, so are the stored memories that attach themselves to my records not always only positive—the potential there for emotional storage shouldn’t be glorified. Some albums represent bad times, and sometimes you don’t want any of those memories to be saved and associated with your records. But selective forgetting doesn’t work. This particular album is steeped with the memories of both a hard blow and of one of the biggest highlights of my life. I love the record because of this, but also abhor it and can’t always listen to it.

The story is about love, about two women: my current wife and the woman before her. The latter I'd already met when she was 15. I was 25. She was the best friend of the little sister of a girl I’d had a fling with as a teenager. That's how I eventually met her. The little sister, who I’d still remembered as a screeching, clumsy, baby-toothed kid, called me one day out of the blue on Skype and asked if we could get together for drinks.

To my surprise that little sister had turned sixteen, had found me online, and had gotten the idea to call me out of nowhere. At the time, I didn’t have anything better to do than to hang out with a 16-year-old. I was intrigued and curious, so I met her in a bar. She’d turned into a delectable, babbling, giggling blonde girl who reacted to everything I said with “cool” or “super cool." Then, her best friend (BF) entered the room. We’ll call her Bifi. She was, more or less, the most irresistible girl I’d ever seen in my life.

She was a former ballerina with gorgeous dark brown hair, milk-white skin, a high, round forehead, and eyes like—hmm—Teletubbies. She came in and swore, in a bell-like voice, about something that had just happened to her. I was totally disoriented. I was standing there in a bar, in my mid-twenties and with nebulous self-awareness at best, a crisis on two legs, between two enchanting, much-too-young ladies who both idolized me—and who knows for what.

At the end of the evening, Bifi lay next to me in the bed of her best friend's mother and wanted to have sex. I wasn’t, however, YOLO enough. In any case, I’d given Bifi, who lived several hours away from me, my contact, and for years she reached out for me occasionally. We indulged in longe phone calls and mails going back and forth. In one of those conversations, she mentioned she liked MGMT. “A horrible band,” I said. I started dreaming what a perfect woman she might be with some good taste in music, and the idea of this dream woman excited me. I began to send her mixes and she reacted enthusiastically. I tried to convince myself that I was something like an older brother to her. Soon she began to send mixes back, and they got better and better. She also visited me once or twice. I controlled myself. Very much. 

Bifi became interested in photography and she tested out her tease pics on me. Her taste in music got better and better. Shortly before graduating from high school, she wrote me a love letter in which she said she’d soon be free and no longer a minor. I began to think how it might be to be with her. When Bifi was almost twenty, she moved to a bigger city for an internship or something (I forgot to mention earlier that she’d lived in the countryside). Her tapes and YouTube links were increasingly impressive. I found out she’d gotten together with an experimental DJ about 10 years older than me. She had tried to keep that information from me, but when I learned I was actually somewhat relieved. She collected affairs with older men, I thought, and forgot about her—until I began to think about her again. One time I sent her Woo.

Then, two years later, in December 2011, she was suddenly standing in front of my door. Long story short, I had the feeling that my secret dream had suddenly become a reality—that the past years suddenly all made sense and that I should say yes, goddamn it, to the happiness, the sparkling Bambi eyes, the dancers body that was throwing itself at me. She was gorgeous, had extraordinary taste in music, and was devoting herself passionately to what she studied now. I couldn’t really believe it all—it was as if I had cultivated my own dream. Sometimes it felt creepy. I had to wipe away those Frankenstein thoughts.

She showed me amazing minimal wave stuff I’d never heard of. I learned that there was this amazing 1980s electro fusion scene in Japan. This group named Mariah. We got together. I’d never had a girlfriend who’d brought so much good music into my life. Here’s one of her playlists, copied from an email:

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!
THE FOLLOWING TRACKS ARE ON MY ALPINE/SKI LIFT/PANORAMA
PLAYLIST

Xingu - Zenamon
Shirt No.7 - Durutti Column
Yodel 1, 2, Pauls Dance, Air Dancer - Penguin Cafe Orchestra
Charotte - Ernest Hembersin
Managua - Finis Africae
Are you Awake- Kevin Shields
Brass Pocket- Pretenders

WINTAUGE (do you think this is for real?)
http://cdreissuewishlist.blogspot.com/2012/02/wintauge-germany.html

THESE SAMPLES ARE ALL GOOD:
http://musk31as.blogspot.com/

I bought an old Thorens record player and carried it to her room as a sign that I was serious with her. At the same time, things began to click in my career.
I was in my early thirties and had a record-collecting perfect girlfriend and a dream job. One day she showed me Pauline Anna Strom. I think she'd had it as an untitled file from somewhere or other. Give it a listen
— it’s called Emerald Pool. That’s how my life felt then. 

I absolutely needed to have it on vinyl. I wanted to preserve those feelings. A hard disk felt far too impermanent for my love. 

I don’t think at the time the album had even been entered on Discogs yet. I employed absolutely everything I had in the way of research powers, and found both the artist name and the album. Like Google entry #217. Someone with the pseudonym Jagat Rainbow had left an email address on an obscure esoteric forum and written that he had just found a pile of old records. The name of the artist was Pauline Anna Strom and the price was $15. I wrote to him/her:

> From: hgrassegger (()) xxxxx.de
> Subject: Record: Anna Pauline Strom - Trans Millenia
> Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2012 21:10:45 +0100
> To: magicvisions {{}} yyyyyy.com
>
> Dear Sir or Madam,
>
> I would like to know if I can order
> Anna Pauline Strom - Trans Millenia
>
> with you?
>
> I read on the internetblog about you offering the record
>
> Kind regards from Zürich,
> Hannes
>
Am 19.02.2012 um 22:18 schrieb jagat rainbow:
Dear Hannes,
Yes, I will create a paypal link for you to place an order. You are aware that it is a LP record.
Will send link in next day or so. Thank you for touching in.
Best regards from California
Jagat
Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2012 22:26:51 +0100

Dear Jagat, no worries! thank you, it is a vinyl record?If so, thats good!
Hannes

Hi Hannes,
Yes it is a vinyl record and is shrink wrapped new condition..never opened.

The shipping from USA to Switzerland is $15.00 I accept payment via paypal

my address is

magicvisions@yyyyyy.com
or I have created a link for you.
https://www.xxxxx.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=PUFOSG6UBK6E5Y
I will ship as soon as I receive your payment. Please make sure your address below is correct.
Thank you!
Jagat

PS. I was listening to a documentary on youtube last night about Billy Meier.
Are you aware of this man?
Here's the link to part 1 of 12
http://youtu.be/jsp6lF4SCKI

Am 27.2. dann:
Hi Hannes,
I sent it last Wednesday via post. Should arrive this week. Marked it as gift.
Please let me know when it arrives.
Thank you
Jagat

While I waited for the record, something happened. There was a kind of riddle that had been left unsolved. Bifi had never really been able to explain to me how she'd found the songs that had helped get me so riled up about her. In a way, she was lacking the basic knowledge for an appreciation like the one she had. Something wasn’t quite right.

One morning, early, her cheap Migros phone went off. She had left the alarm on and I pressed buttons half-blind trying to make it stop. In the very process, I opened a text message. And read it. 

If I understand it all correctly today, Bifi had had numerous men in numerous cities. Almost all were music collectors, and some of quite high caliber. Her system seems to have been to impress her various men with each other’s music, probably in order to get her hands on even better music. That’s only a hypothesis—I never asked. In any case, one of the men was being used purely for sex, and it was his text that I opened.

When the album arrived a couple of days later, I took a picture of myself holding it. I don't look so happy in the photo, but in those March days after receiving the record, I grew up. For one thing, I decided never to date anyone under the age of 25. That was the last lesson in my farewell to youthful dreams. I thought those under 25 should just keep doing what they want to do. I’m out. That very morning, I'd demanded that Bifi get immediately out of my life once and for all. It hadn’t been pretty. Like screaming in doorways and throwing clothes out of the window. 

The record itself marked the beginning of a new era, or, to be more exact, acted as the soundtrack that separated one stage of my live from another, as a kind of bridge or borderline. In this sense, the title Trans-Milennia fits well—it was more a transitional moment than the soundtrack of a new era. 

The next year, when I met the love of my life, it became that, though. She's not only the same age as me and the owner of incredible almond eyes, red hair, a real job and a stunningly charming French accent, but she’s also more interested in art than in music. When I met her she liked Bloc Party—such horrible music that it's almost naïve to be able to tolerate it or anything like it (I can't even think of the right descriptive word). But startingly, I found that taste in music wild and refreshing, somehow savage and also incredibly likeable. I never even started to try to refine or interfere with her taste as I had with the girls before and especially Bifi. I found Miss Almond Eyes exactly right as she was—even in her liking things that I don't consider exactly right, like Bloc Party. Life isn't a design object. The Weird Science phase was definitely over for me. We were so in love that I moved in with her almost immediately, which meant schlepping my ten meters of records and filling her living room. She was the first woman whose heart I wasn’t trying to win over by constantly showing off my music. That had proved a dead end before. With Almond it was about something else. 

Still, apparently, she found it a little sad that I wouldn’t share music so much with her, and became curious enough to start dipping into my record collection on her own when I was away.

On one of the first evenings in my new home, just after finally setting up my record player, I arrived to find wonderful, delicate sounds filling our living room. My girlfriend sat there happily in the middle of the room and asked, "Where did you get this strange album? This Pauline Anne Strom? It's so beautiful, it made me cry." Then I cried a little bit too, inside. "Jagat Rainbow sent it to me," I said. 

Hannes Grassegger is a business reporter and net theorist from Switzerland. He is secretly in love with music which most recently led to him collaborating with San Franciscan composer and eventual web-pop starlet Holly Herndon for DIS Magazine. 

Translation: Annie Garlid

toru takemitsu was a japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. largely self-taught, takemitsu possessed consummate skill in the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre. he is famed for combining elements of oriental and occident philosophy to create a sound uniquely his own, and for fusing opposites together such as sound with silence and tradition with innovation.

he composed several hundred independent works of music, scored more than ninety films and published twenty books. he was also a founding member of the jikken kobo (experimental workshop) in japan, a group of avant-garde artists who distanced themselves from academia and whose collaborative work is often regarded among the most influential of the 20th century.

his 1957 requiem for strings orchestra attracted international attention, led to several commissions from across the world and established his reputation as one of the leading 20th-century japanese composers. he was the recipient of numerous awards and honours and the toru takemitsu composition award is named after him.

source: ambient music guide
text by: mike g

Texan musician J.D. Emmanuel's career story is, in a way, a story about how the passion of fans can make a difference; about a gifted artist whose music may have been lost to the ages had it not been for the efforts of a new generation of vintage electronic and new age music enthusiasts and collectors.

The tale begins in 2005 when young music journalist, collector and record label owner Douglas McGowan stumbled on several dusty boxes of two J.D. Emmanuel vinyl albums - several hundred of them, all still sealed - at a discount book and record store in North Dallas, Texas. (The composer explains: "When we moved back to Houston in 1988, I left several cartons of them in my attic because I could not even give them away. The new house owner apparently found them and sold them to the bookstore.") The vintage of both albums - early 1980's - immediately caught McGowan's attention as he was a big fan of early private issue new age music. He purchased 50 copies and took them back to the West Coast where they found eager buyers via a local collector's email newsletter. This discovery set in motion a chain of events that led to a series of critically acclaimed album re-issues and, in 2010, J.D. Emmanuel's return to recording and performing again.The majority of J.D. Emmanuel's studio recordings date from the 1980's, when new age music in America was still an indie scene and corporate interests were yet to hijack the genre.

Whether you call his albums new age or not, the meditative vibe, spiritual underpinnings and self-releasing are all hallmarks of the genre in its original form. Yet his cyclic, organ-based music is so very different from most of his contemporaries of that era. Back in 1970 he was was deeply impressed by his first taste of classical minimalism when he heard American minimalist composers Terry Riley and Steve Reich. As he recently told e-zine Ricochet: "Terry Riley's 'A Rainbow in Curved Air' and Steve Reich's 'Violin Phase' totally defined where I wanted to go in music. But it took me another ten years to discover how to develop my own style." Prior to creating his own work he was also immersed in modern jazz and long-form rock jams, attracted to their improvisational basis and ability to lull the listener into deeper states of consciousness.Minimalism and improvisation, then, became the foundations of his art, and the evocation of trance-like states his goal. In 1980, with his newly acquired Crumar Traveler-1 organ, analog synths, guitar and various effects, he began building a body of warm, melodic, usually stripped-back ambient trance with a certain mystical vibe that's difficult to put into words.

text: paul condon

over the course of several months, áine o'dwyer was given access to the pipe organ in st mark’s church, islington while the cleaners were at work. primarily a harpist, this was a rare opportunity to grapple with the "king of instruments" and apply her sense of melodic, structured improvisation in a very different context.

since it's impossible to exert complete control over such a recording environment, she entered into the sessions with a cagean mindset, embracing the extra-musical sounds. this gave the recordings a unique character and concept. with the door left open to serendipity, it can seem that the sonic environment coalesces in sympathetic harmony. here, the synth-like whoosh of the vacuum cleaner, a child's laughter, various echoed clatters and chatter become part of the music.

improvised music is inevitably influenced by the presence and expectations of an audience. in this case the "audience" consists of people subjected to music that they may find coincidentally pleasant or irritatingly intrusive as they go about their work. they exert an influence via the musician's awareness of them, but also through their audible and sometimes disruptive presence as coincidental performers and unwitting collaborators. áine capitulates to the "request from the ladies" by not staying "on one note for a long time", but already did "bring music" - that is, the graphic score reproduced in the gatefold. at the end, we can hear that even the recording device itself is subjected to the relentless advance of church cleaning.

the album is multifaceted and conceptually satisfying in many ways. it's simultaneously a series of solo improvisations, a site-specific piece of performance art, rich in chance elements, and even qualifies as a field recording, where the transcendent and menial meet. despite the absence of cheers and applause, it's also a live album. in this new extended incarnation, it becomes almost a kind of minimalist opera, with a subtle plot of polite contention softening amid curiosity about the trumpet that takes us out of this most concrete of recordings with a single psychedelicised blast.

metaphysical themes are hard to avoid using an imposing instrument traditionally intended to inspire them. the titles hint at áine's meditative concerns while playing. here is an irish lapsed catholic mind (as cranley told dedalus) "supersaturated" with the religion it rejects: the double meaning implicit in "church cleaning", the forbidden "deep sounds", the pensive, often brooding hue of the music itself, heavy in every sense. throughout i hear the dark depths of thoughtfulness, warmth, and mischievous wit that is quintessentially áine.

originally released as a cassette on fort evil fruit, this expanded vinyl edition features new artwork and doubles the album's length, making for a truly immersive experience.

croatian amor is a solo project from loke rahbek, who has—at least for the last couple of years—been a familiar face around the sacred bones community of artists through his work in the now quite widely celebrated bands vår and lust for youth.  even if you’ve never heard the music of these two projects, however, and no matter where your interests in the post-industrial genre may lead you, it’s likely that you’ve already come across rahbek’s work through his boutique imprint posh isolation, where he has released not only more than a dozen of his own projects, but also some of the quickest rising new artists in the genre including the seemingly infallible puce mary, as well as an impressive new project in forza albino who released their sophomore album, black dog, on mikko aspa‘s freak animal records imprint earlier this year.  for those who have already heard his work in lust for youthand have found it to be too pop-oriented for their tastes, croatian amor offers something a bit more in the experimental vein and certainly closer to the artist’s industrial/minimal synth interests.

text source: heathen harvest
 

image: drawing by ryan martin

From Here Till Now—Hot Releases

The Label Hot Releases from Carrboro, North Carolina has been active since 2008. It’s run by Ryan Martin, alias Secret Boyfriend, who’s just as convincing as a musician, performer and event organizer. Below is a quick look into the world of Hot Releases.

Text: Marc Jauss

When listening to music by the likes of American label Hot Releases, one repeatedly encounters a performance-like aesthetics which seems influenced by Sonic Youth or Maurizio Bianchi. As Secret Boyfriend, Ryan Martin’s music is distinguished by neurotic noises and reduced synths combined with a lo-fi songwriter voice—see, for example, the recent Grovl release They’re Playing Themselves or the 2013 Blackest Ever Black release This Is Always Where You’ve Lived. Martin’s performances (available online) are designed accordingly: at one point he lifts a found piece of metal and transforms it into a snare drum that he then uses as head gear that simultaneously generates reverb from his voice.

This aesthetic can also be applied to other artists in the label’s milieu: take Russian Tsarlag from Tampa, Florida, to whom the words strange and grotesque can be ascribed. His album Open Casket impresses with woozy and synthetic downer folk, making repeated forays into uncompromising noise.

For those looking for more, an additional recommendation to Hot Releases is the Savage Weekend festival in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; it too is shaped by Martin’s hand—for the past five years he’s invited more than eighty musicians and performers to the multi-day event, representing the impressive variety of the local noise scene.

Fascinating, savvy and contrast-rich: so much of the activity around Hot Releases falls outside the norm; American outsider music with a lot of devotion and a large pinch of idealism.


This text was published in the latest zweikommasieben magazine.

Text: marc jauss
originally printed in zweikommasieben magazine #8

The secretive collective Tasty Morsels has come to be known for its output of mystical, enigmatic sounds. Listeners will find themselves gliding ecstatically through the violent topography of a sonic landscape dominated by soft drones and oscillating textures. Here we introduce two LPs that have recently appeared on the label. 

The newest release by the Morsel family member Dialect integrates itself seamlessly into the label’s aesthetic terrain. Partly through an attention to detail, it overcomes the hurdles of complacency and other musical clichés on its own terms. Cosmic horns hover alongside gorgeous voices and cryptic textures. The album’s title fits: Advanced Myth invites the discovery of lost worlds. 

The journey into the Morsels landscape continues with epic lo-fi pop. A Year in Your Garden is the Irish duo Column’s first LP on the label. From time to time it recalls CANT’s album Dreams Come True: hallucinatory synth melodies snuggle up to well-tempered bass lines. Column succeeds in tickling the ears and encouraging endless dreaming. 

Trans-Millenia Consort

Die Story dieser Platte, wie ich zu ihr kam, was sie bedeutet und so, verschweige ich normalerweise. Obwohl ich jedes Mal danach gefragt werde, was das da eigentlich sei wenn ich sie laufen lasse, weil sie so auffällig gut ist. Eine richtig gute Platte ist immer eine Story. Eine Beziehungsgeschichte. Ich und meine geliebte Platte. Aber in dem Fall versuche ich immer die Fragenden abzulenken indem ich von noch viel selteneren Platten erzähle, oder mit hochspannenden Fakten irritiere, von dieser einzigartigen blinden Synthiefanatikerin mit dem Esotouch, die Anfang der 1980er in der ersten Welle der Silicon Valley Euphorie diese Klänge erzaubert hat, diese kleinen perlenden Melodien, die sich so gut anfühlen wie Pusteblumen fliegen lassen für Zweijährige, dazu diese New Age Flächen, wie schöne weite Landschaften über die das Zeug dann fliegt, unterlegt mit sacht flackernden Beats die eigentlich erst 15 Jahre später erfunden und dann Breakbeats oder Drum&Base genannt werden sollten. 

Dass ich nichts über die Platte erzähle liegt daran, dass Trans Millenia Consort von Pauline Anna Strom genau das geworden ist, was eine Platte viel eher sein kann als ein File: ein Träger von persönlichen Erinnerungen. Files können Daten speichern. Platten speichern Gefühle. Keine Ahnung warum das so ist. Eigentlich sind ja beides Medien gemacht zum Speichern von Daten. Und esoterisch bin ich nicht. Analog ist für mich kein Zauberwort. Das Ding ist: so wie mich das Knacken und Knistern bei Platten ehrlich gesagt stört, genauso sind die gespeicherten Erinnerungen, die sich an meine Platten heften ja nicht immer nur positiv. Das sollte man nicht verherrlichen. Manche Platten stehen für schlechte Zeiten. Manchmal will man keine solchen Erinnerungen an seinen Platten kleben haben. Selektiv löschen geht aber auch nicht. Nun, auf dieser Platte ist ein echter Schlag vereint mit dem wohl grössten Highlight. Ich liebe die Platte daher, ich hasse sie auch inbrünstig und kann sie daher nicht immer hören. 

Es geht um Liebe. Um zwei Frauen. Meine jetzige Frau, und die davor. Ich hatte sie schon kennengelernt als sie 15 war. Und ich 25. Sie war die beste Freundin der kleinen Schwester einer verflossenen Teenagerliebe von mir. So hatte ich sie irgendwann kennengelernt. Und zwar als besagte kleine Schwester, die ich noch als kreischendes, im falschen Moment türenaufstossendes Milchzahn-Schwesterchen kennengelernt hatte, plötzlich bei mir auf Skype auftauchte und anfragte ob wir einen Drink nehmen sollten. 

Während ich mich um andere Sachen gekümmert hatte, war sie nämlich sechzehn geworden, hatte mich im Netz gefunden und war auf die Idee gekommen mich einfach mal anzurufen. Ich hatte damals grade nix besseres zu tun als mit einer 16-jährigen rumzuhängen, und das ist ja auch spannend mal zu sehen was sich so entwickelt und so traf ich mich mit ihr. In einer Bar. Sie war ein zuckersüsses blondes Girl geworden die nur Quatsch erzählte, kicherte und alles was ich ihr erzählte ausdrücklich „cool“ bzw. „supercool“ fand. Dann trat ihre beste Freundin (BF) in den Raum. Nennen wir sie Bifi. Das war ungefähr das süsseste Mädchen, dass ich in meinem Leben gesehen hatte. 

Eine ehemalige Ballerina mit wunderschönen schwarzbraunen Haaren, milchweisser Haut, einer hohen runden Stirn und Augen wie, hm, Teletubbys. Sie trat ein und sagte mit einer glockenhellen Stimme irgendwelche Schimpfwörter über irgendwas das sie grade erlebt hatte. Ich war komplett verwirrt. Da stand ich nun in einer Bar, Mittzwanziger mit ungeklärtem Selbstbewusstsein, Krise auf zwei Beinen, zwischen zwei zauberhaften, viel zu jungen Damen die mich beide anhimmelten. Keine Ahnung wofür. 

Am Ende des Abends lag Bifi vor mir im Bett der Mutter ihrer besten Freundin – sturmfrei! - und wollte Sex. Allerdings war ich zu un-YOLO dafür.  

Bifi auf jeden Fall hatte fortan meine Nummer und meldete sich gelegentlich. Wir sprachen dann ein bisschen und ich glaube sie sagte mir dabei damals, dass sie MGMT möge. Eine schreckliche Band, sagte ich. Ich träumte davon, was für eine wunderbare Frau sie wohl einst sein könnte, wenn sie einen wirklich guten Musikgeschmack hätte. Die Idee begeisterte mich. Eine Traumfrau. Ich begann ihr Mixes zu schicken um sie auszubilden. Sie reagierte extrem positiv. Ich versuchte mir einzureden ich sei so was wie ein grosser Bruder. Bald begann sie mir mit Mixes zu antworten, und die wurden immer besser. Sie besuchte mich auch ein, zwei Mal, aber ich biss die Zähne zusammen.

Bifi lernte fotografieren. Ihre Teasepics testete sie an mir aus. Ihr Musikgeschmack wurde immer besser. Kurz vor ihrem Abi schrieb mir einen Liebesbriefe in denen sie davon sprach, dass sie jetzt ganz bald frei und volljährig sei. Manchmal begann ich mir auszumalen wie es wohl wäre. Als Bifi Zwanzig war, zog sie für eine Weile in eine grössere Stadt (ich habe vergessen zu sagen, dass sie davor am Land lebte). Ihre Tapes und YouTube-Links wurden exzellent. Wie sich rausstellte, war sie mit einem Experimental-DJ zusammengekommen, der etwa 10 Jahre älter als ich ist. Sie hatte versucht, mir das zu verheimlichen aber mich erleichterte es irgendwie als ich es erfuhr. Sie sammelte Affären mit alten Typen dachte ich und vergass sie. Bis auf die Momente, in denen ich an sie denken musste. Einmal schickte ich ihr Woo. 

Dann, zwei Jahre später, Dezember 2011 stand sie plötzlich vor meiner Tür. Machen wir es noch mal kurz: ich hatte das Gefühl mein heimlicher Traum wäre plötzlich Wahrheit geworden, die letzten Jahre, alles würde plötzlich Sinn machen und ich sollte jetzt verdammt noch mal ja sagen zum Glück, das sich da mit strahlenden Bambiaugen an mich warf. Sie sah blendend aus, hatte einen überirdisch guten Musikgeschmack und machte dazu noch ein interessantes Studium, das sie passioniert verfolgte. Ein bisschen konnte ich das alles nicht glauben. Als hätte ich mir meinen Traum irgendwie selber herangezogen. 

Sie zeigte mir fantastische Minimal Wave Sachen von denen ich noch nie gehört hatte. Ich lernte über sie die japanische 80er Jahre Elektro-Fusion Szene kennen. Mariah. Wir kamen zusammen. Ich hatte noch nie eine Freundin gehabt, die dermassen gute Musik in mein Leben gebracht hatte. Hier eine ihrer Playlists. Kopiert aus einer Mail. 

PASS AUF DICH AUF! 
FOLGENDE LIEDER SIND AUF  MEINER "ALPIN / SKILIFT/ PANORAMA"
WIEDERGABENLISTE

Xingu - Zenamon
Shirt No.7 - Durutti Column
Yodel 1, 2, Pauls Dance, Air Dancer - Penguin Cafe Orchestra
Charotte - Ernest Hembersin
Managua - Finis Africae
Are you Awake- Kevin Shields
Brass Pocket- Pretenders

WINTAUGE (meinst du die meinen das ernst?)
http://cdreissuewishlist.blogspot.com/2012/02/wintauge-germany.html

DA SIND ALLE SAMPLES GANZ GUT:
http://musk31as.blogspot.com/

Ich kaufte einen alten Thorens Plattenspieler und trug ihn in ihr Zimmer als Zeichen dass ich angekommen war. Gleichzeitig fing es bei mir an beruflich zu laufen. Ich war Anfang Dreissig, Plattensammler-Paradies-Freundin plus Traumberuf. Und dann zeigte sie mir Pauline Anna Strom. Ich glaube sie hatte es als namenlosen file. Irgendwoher. Hört Euch das an. Emerald Pool heisst das. So war mein Leben. Genau in diesem Moment. 

Das wollte ich auf Platte. Unbedingt. Diese Gefühl aufheben. 

Auf Discogs war die Scheibe noch nicht mal eingetragen, glaube ich. Ich setzte meine ganze Recherche-Power ein, alles, wirklich, und tatsächlich. Ich fand nicht nur den Namen, sondern auch die Platte. Einen Google Eintrag Nr. 217. Auf einem obskuren Eso-Forum hatte eine Person mit dem Pseudonym Jagat Rainbow eine Mailadresse gelassen und geschrieben er hätte grade einen Stapel alter Platten gefunden. Name des Interpreten Pauline Anna Strom. Preis 15 Dollar. Ich schrieb ihn/sie an: 

> From: hgrassegger (()) xxxxx.de
> Subject: Record: Anna Pauline Strom - Trans Millenia
> Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2012 21:10:45 +0100
> To: magicvision (()) yyyyyy.com
> 
> Dear Sir or Madam,
> 
> I would like to know if I can order
> Anna Pauline Strom - Trans Millenia
> 
> with you?
> 
> I read on the internetblog about you offering the record
> 
> Kind regards from Zürich,
> Hannes
>

Am 19.02.2012 um 22:18 schrieb jagat rainbow:
Dear Hannes,
Yes, I will create a paypal link for you to place an order. You are aware that it is a LP record.
Will send link in next day or so. Thank you for touching in.
Best regards from California
Jagat
Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2012 22:26:51 +0100

Dear Jagat, no worries! thank you, it is a vinyl record?If so, thats good!
Hannes

Hi Hannes,
Yes it is a vinyl record and is shrink wrapped new condition..never opened.
The shipping from USA to Switzerland is $15.00 I accept payment via paypal

my address is

magicvisions@yyyyy.com
or I have created a link for you.
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=PUFYG6UBK6E5Y
I will ship as soon as I receive your payment. Please make sure your address below is correct. Thank you!
Jagat

PS. I was listening to a documentry on youtube last night about Billy Meier.
Are you aware of this man?
Here's the link to part 1 of 12
http://youtu.be/jsp6lF4SCKI

Am 27.2. dann:
Hi Hannes,
I sent it last Wednesday via post. Should arrive this week. Marked it as gift.
Please let me know when it arrives.
Thank you
Jagat


Während ich auf die Platte wartete, passierte etwas. Es gab da ein kleines Rätsel. Bifi hatte mir nie so richtig erklären können, wie sie jeweils zu diesen Liedern, kam die mich so für sie begeisterten. Auf eine Art fehlte ihr ja die Grundausbildung für so ein Verständnis. Irgendwas stimmte nicht so richtig. 

Eines Frühmorgens klingelte ihr Migros Billig Phone. Sie hatte den Wecker angelassen und ich drückte halbblind dran rum um das irgendwie auszukriegen. Dabei öffnete sich eine SMS. 

Wenn ich es heute richtig verstanden habe, dann hatte Bifi mehrere Männer. In mehreren Städten. Fast alles Musiksammler, zum Teil ziemlich hochkarätige Kaliber. Ihr System scheint gewesen zu sein, die Jungs gegenseitig mit ihrer Musik anzufeuern. Wahrscheinlich um an noch bessere Musik ranzukommen. Das ist nur eine Hypothese. Ich hab nie nachgefragt. Aber einer jedenfalls war nur für Sex gedacht. Dessen SMS hatte sich vor mir geöffnet.   

Als die Platte ein paar Tage darauf bei mir ankam, machte ich ein Bild von mir mit der Scheibe in der Hand. Auf dem Foto sehe ich nicht so glücklich aus. Aber in diesen Märztagen als ich die Platte bei mir hatte, bin ich glaube ich erwachsen geworden. Für meinen Teil entschloss ich mich fortan keine U25er mehr zu daten. Das war die letzte Lektion in Sachen Jugendträume. Sollen die doch machen was sie wollen. Bifi hatte ich noch am Morgen komplett aus meinem Leben verabschiedet. Und zwar ziemlich zackig. 

Die Platte selber stand irgendwie direkt am Beginn einer neuen Epoche. Oder genauer: sie war der Soundtrack, der den einen Teil vom anderen trennte. So eine Brücke oder Grenzlinie. Mir passt das Trans-Millenia gut im Titel. Nicht wirklich der Soundtrack einer neuen Zeit. 

Bis ich im kommenden Jahr die Frau meines Lebens traf. Die ist nicht nur so alt wie ich, hat wahnsinnige Mandelaugen, rote Haare, einen echten Beruf und einen umwerfenden süssen französischen Akzent – sondern sie interessiert sich auch eher für Kunst als für Musik. Bei Musik mochte sie Bloc Party. Das ist so wahnsinnig schlecht, das ist quasi naiv so was dermassen (mir fällt gar kein Wort dafür ein) überhaupt hören zu können. Das fand ich irgendwie wild und frisch. Mir war das auch wahnsinnig sympathisch. Ich versuchte erst gar nicht dran rumzudoktoren. Ich fand Mandelauge genauso richtig wie sie ist. Inklusive Sachen die ich nicht richtig finde, sondern Bloc Party. Das Leben ist kein Design-Objekt. Die Weird Science Phase war definitiv vorbei. Wir waren so verliebt, ich zog gleich bei ihr ein, das heisst, ich schleppte meine zehn Meter Platten an und stellte ihr Wohnzimmer voll damit. Sie war die erste Frau, der ich nicht die ganze Zeit Musik vorspielen wollte, um ihr Herz für mich zu gewinnen. Das hatte sich ja als Sackgasse erwiesen. Bei uns ging es um was anderes. Was sie scheinbar ein bisschen traurig fand. Und veranlasste heimlich an meine Plattensammlung zu gehen. 

So kam es auch, dass an einem der ersten Abende als ich in meines neues Zuhause kam, grade als ich endlich den Plattenspieler installiert hatte, wunderbare zarte Klänge unseren Salon erfüllten. In der Mitte sass meine Freundin, ganz glücklich, und frage: «Woher hast Du denn diese komische Platte? Diese Pauline Anna Strom? Das ist so schön, ich musste heulen als ich es gehört habe.» Da habe ich auch ein bisschen geheult, also nach innen. Dann hab ich gesagt, die hat mir Jagat Rainbow geschickt. 

Hannes Grassegger ist Ökonom und Reporter für Das Magazin und REPORTAGEN. Kürzlich hat er mit Holly Herndon einen Mix auf dismagazine veröffentlicht.

---

source: ellen fullman hompage
picture: john fago

In 1981, Ellen Fullman began developing the "long string instrument," an installation of dozens of wires fifty feet or more in length, tuned in just intonation and "bowed" with rosin-coated fingers. Fullman has developed a unique notation system to choreograph the performer's movements, exploring sonic events that occur at specific nodal point locations along the string-length of the instrument. She has recorded extensively with this unusual instrument and has collaborated with luminary figures such as composer Pauline Oliveros, choreographer Deborah Hay, the Kronos Quartet, and Keiji Haino. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, commissions, and residencies, including the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program residency, Japan/U.S. Friendship Commission/NEA fellowship for Japan, Meet the Composer, Reader's Digest Consortium Commission, Artist Trust/Washington State Arts Commission Fellowship, and Artist-in-Residence at Headlands Center for the Arts. Her music was represented in "The American Century; Art and Culture, 1950-2000" at the Whitney Museum, and she has performed in venues and festivals in Europe, Japan, and the Americas, including Instal, Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, Other Minds, the Walker Art Center, and Donaueschinger Musiktage. Her release "Ort," with Berlin-based collaborator Jörg Hiller, was selected in the top 50 recordings of 2004 by The Wire (London), and "Fluctuations," with trombonist Monique Buzzarté on Deep Listening, was included in The Wire's top 50 of 2008.

Ela Orleans is a Polish musician now based in Glasgow, UK. She was a member of the pop collagists Hassle Hound, has played with various luminaries of the New York experimental and noise scenes, and is a composer for film and theatre. Over the course of Orleans' musical career, her catchphrase and short description of her music has always been "movies for ears." In her work, Orleans pushes her pastoral pop roots into more cinematic terrain, experimenting with carefully considered sound art segments, complex electronic textures, and orchestral flourishes. She has a number of solo recordings and numerous collaborative releases on labels such as All Saints Records, Warp, Parental Guidance, La Station Radar, Night People, Clan Destine Records, Twisted Nerve, and Staubgold. She is currently working on her upcoming LP with musician and producer Howie B. The record will be released on HB Recordings in spring 2015.