Browse by Artist: EHLERS/PAUL WIRKUS, EKKEHARD

Artist:	EHLERS/PAUL WIRKUS, EKKEHARD
Title:	Ballads
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$12.50
Catalog #:	STAUBDIG 001CD

This is the debut collaborative release by electronic composer Ekkehard Ehlers and percussionist Paul Wirkus. A mish-mash of improvisational electronic and organic textures that hiss, hum, and drone into exploratory, avant-garde outerspace. Ekkehard Ehlers explains, "Well, maybe it is a jazz record. Most parts are improvised by Paul and me by playing on the keyboards of our laptops (using strange Reaktor patches) and were recorded directly to a third computer. Sometimes we used a double-bass backing (played by Werner Dafeldecker and Achim Tang) to play on, and sometimes Kai Fagaschinski added clarinet. And, of course, we used drums played by Paul. We tried to avoid loop-structures while playing together, which is always the most difficult thing. As samples, we used string instruments like oud, guitar and so on, and transformed them to more organ-like sounds. And we used two Alice Coltrane samples for some tracks and a Henry Flynt sample flying around during the tracks. When we started working together, we had the idea of making a sound installation in Poland. For that we wanted to travel the German-Polish border and play somewhere on the countryside and record it on a mobile unit. But the weather was too bad and we had no money. So finally we got stuck in my studio exchanging experiences and experimenting with patches. We had five sessions in four days for recording. The post-production and mixing took another two months. Every time Paul and I met, we did heavy jazz listening sessions."

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