Narrative structures trigger expectations. Without fixed patterns, thoughts can flow more freely and associations can be carried forward in a more unbound way.

Similar to lying on the divan on a Thursday afternoon and looking diagonally past the backrest into the sky, or in the morning Similar to lying on the divan on a Thursday afternoon and looking at the sky diagonally past the backrest, or pressing lightly on your closed eyes with your thumb in the morning and indulging in the images that arise in this way, musical sketches can also develop a pull thanks to unfamiliar timbres – they gently penetrate into your own state of being and open up spaces.
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Imago (lat. ‘image’, ‘likeness’) is on the one hand a term “the last stage an insect attains during its metamorphosis” on the other hand “the unconsciously emerging first image of relationship persons, usually of father or mother” (Wikipedia). Both may apply here, because a certain programmatic aspect is definitely present in the music in connection with the speaking titles. Perhaps not necessarily planned from the beginning, as much seems to have arisen spontaneously and intuitively. But in the further course of the tracks they quite stringently follow the first inspiration and develop in itself coherently. At the end then maximum irritation, alienation, guesswork: If only you knew „was der macht in Nacht“.
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This EP by Dominik Vogel comes along in the usual easygoing manner, An offer to go on a journey with him in this time, when all the world seems to be obsessed with opening doors every day. Maybe with a flying carpet over the Atlantic? Or perhaps by caravan through a snow globe? Then the one door that opens only after the well-known magic formula. And behind it? The fulfillment of all wishes. Or the liberation of a soul tormented for centuries. Or both. Decide for yourself and choose wisely.
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Slapstick, spectacle, riot, downhill, electro-bruzze, party, always firmly on. That’s how we imagine the Johnnyverse, to which For Example John invites us here. A classic second album, more of everything we love, one step further, everything a bit bigger and wilder, the next level. That’s the way we want it. All our expectations are satisfied. Hell Yeah.
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A new album, then. Seemingly casually screwed together from the wrist. Dominik doesn’t make many words about it:

“The tracks are (as usual) one-take recordings of the modular system, partly also with generative elements.
Often carried by 2 modular CS-80 voices and almost beatless, the tracks on this album are rather minimalistic, emotional and intimate.”
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“Dark inner aspects of toddy drinking” contains a collection of dark pieces that develop a suction effect due to their great density, at least if you listen to them appropriately loud or with headphones. They come from a phase of Svanns life that he only remembers darkly.

This is the second collection of older tracks, the successor to “Meine liebsten Lieder und Gesänge” and what was said there about the sound generators used probably applies here as well.

On Youtube we have released a video to Kubeben.

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Retrospective Self Criticism

“My Favorite Songs and Chants” is a compilation from 2001. The tracks are a selection of analog recordings (pre-laptop) with a trusty Fostex 4-track cassette recorder produced in the bedroom and kitchen.
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In the middle of the lockdown, in the everyday monotony, Erich Schall comes along and makes us happy quite casually, as if nothing were wrong, with a new album, the Mechanical Fable.

Quasi out of nothing – or, to introduce into the musical theme, quasi out of a misty, enchanted old magic forest. The forest that parents always warn their children about, but that only makes it more attractive.
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Even though there was nothing really worth looking back on this year (2020), we didn’t miss the opportunity to publish a small musical review of the year.

Have fun and keep up the good work.
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The title of the album refers of course to the novel “Hard to be a God” by the Strugatzki brothers. But it is also the expression of the desperate realisation that the world is probably unsavable. The problems are obvious, everybody knows everything, but nobody is willing to do anything.

We oscillate faster and faster between hysteria and agony, blind actionism and panic. And again and again we get fast and easy answers to complex questions with the certainty of a placebo.
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The subtitle “Fugale Schemen” shows us the way into this acoustically unknown terrain. Like Shadows in the fog, sound events immediately appear and pass us by as we listen and continue to feel our way forward and dive deeper and deeper into this strange world of sound.
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Here now, as promised, the second EP by Dominik Vogel. It is a bit more cryptic than Oasis, but that fits well to the self chosen theme and also in our strange times. As with Oasis, everything was recorded live in one go. This time with the special challenge that many of the elements were created generatively and an intervention of the “player” changes something, but the result is not predictable.
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This is the first of two EPs that we’re happy to publish from Dominik Vogel. Like so many great artists, Dominik makes little fuss about the creation of his tracks: “It was recorded in one night in one go with my modular system and is therefore not reproducible.”
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“When the weight drops to the floor, after the lifting,
the moment of relaxation is achieved.
But if you’re standing on ice,
the problems are just about to begin.”

Erich Schall in December 2018, gone fishing after dictating.
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Time flies. Has it really been six years since Marco Trovatello enchanted us with his wonderful solo debut? And now – completely out of the blue – his second album is released. Again, it captivates us with timeless instrumental pieces.
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Frustration, aggression, depression, resignation. In that order. But what next? Cynicism, nihilism, radicalism? Or the realisation that life sometimes just sucks, and that’s part of it? And then what?
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The mob is pondering, the bigoted wearily sways his indifference from his soul and actually everything is completely different. For Example John (Mainz / Köln) tramp through different styles at will, without ever loosing the cynical gestures about this construct called life. So it fits in, that the both main protagonist every now and then recruit their own family members for their collective (sic!).

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This is the third album Erich Schall recorded for our small label and he is not becoming repetitive at all – instead he reinvents himself or, respectively, his music once again. Erich speaks several musical languages fluently: Minimal, Electro and lately also IDM, Experimental and Downtempo!
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Seriously, we have no idea what Svann Langguth has been up to regarding his latest project. Here’s what we know: Tinkering around for months, he soldered numerous electronic tone and noise generators and finally packed them in lunch boxes. Therein, boards with the following chips are used:

40106 Schmitttrigger / 4093 Quad NAND / 4006 18-stage Shift Register / 555 Timer IC [more]

For Freedom in these days, you not only have to fight and defend it. You also have to withstand freedom when things get tricky. As with tolerance, which is only interesting when it is permanently challenged and which inevitable has to leed to acceptance and not ignorance, as with this, freedom is only interesting, when it comes to claim its price and wants to sacrifice itself on the altar of a diffuse desire for more perceived security.
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