Browse by Artist: TIETCHENS, ASMUS

Artist:	TIETCHENS, ASMUS
Title:	Adventures In Sound/Nachtstucke
Label:	DIE STADT (GERMANY)
Format:	2CD
Price:	$28.00
Catalog #:	DS 055CD

"First in a series of 18 CD's aiming to make available all early vinyl albums by Asmus Tietchens between 1980-1991 on CD. Each release feat. the original tracks (sometimes extended/original versions) + unreleased bonus tracks from the same recording period, original artwork + accompanying texts by Tietchens. This -- the only 2CD in the series -- feat. his very first album Nachtstücke from 1980 (incl. 4 bonus tracks) + a 2nd CD with archive material recorded with his long time friend Okko Bekker between 1965-1969. These are the first works in Tietchens long career as a sound artist and were never released before. Edition of 1000 copies in jewelcase with full color poster booklet. About the artist: Asmus Tietchens started recording music as early as 1965 (documented here on Adventures In Sound) though his first release only appeared 15 years later (Nachtstücke). Ever since then he stayed very productive and had numerous cassette, vinyl and CD releases on numerous labels (Sky, United Dairies, Dom, Staalplaat, Ritornell and Die Stadt to name just a few). He has collaborated with various other like minded artists such as Okko Bekker, Cluster, Conny Plank, Terry Burrows, Liquidski, David Lee Myers (Arcane Device) and most recently with Thomas Köner who is one half of their ongoing collaborational project Kontakt Der Jünglinge."

Artist:	TIETCHENS, ASMUS
Title:	Biotop
Label:	DIE STADT (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$21.00
Catalog #:	DS 061CD

"Second in the re-release series presenting the first of four albums that were issued by Sky Music in the early 80's. Incl. 2 unreleased bonus tracks. 1000 copies with poster booklet in jewel case. With the release of this album, a 3 year interlude began which was dominated by the use of Roland 'CompuRhythm' drum-machine. In addition, I discovered new sounds and playing possibilities on the Moog which considerably expanded my creative armoury. I also added a conceptual self-limitation: no track should be more than four minutes long. In the end, the majority of the pieces on the first two Sky albums actually clocked in at under three minutes each. In the opinion of my musical mentor Okko Bekker, their sparseness and short length evoked the impression of radio time-signals (Radio-Zeitzeichen), a form of acoustic station identification which was already obsolete by then. This reference provided me with the name for my accompanying orchestra, which consisted solely of musicians from the experimental music scene in Hamburg. Because of the total absence of bass lines the commercial potential of the pieces was virtually non-existent. The album was recorded on an 8-track Otari tape-machine. The Eventide digital harmonizer and the Ursa Major 'Space Station' reverb-machine also played a part. All of the pieces were recorded in 1980." -- Asmus Tietchens, 2003.

Artist:	TIETCHENS, ASMUS
Title:	Spat-Europa
Label:	DIE STADT (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$21.00
Catalog #:	DS 068CD

"Part Three in the ongoing re-release series of all early vinyl albums from 1980 - 1991, this is Tietchens second album for SKY Records recorded in 1981 documenting his search for his own style of 'pop music'. Edition of 1000 copies in jewel case with poster booklet feat. the original cover artwork." "Even more consistently than on Biotop I kept all of the tracks on this album deliberately short. Originally, all of them were supposed to be exactly two minutes in length but, back then, without a computer, this was not really possible and the idea could not be carried ot precisely. Nonetheless, this strict concept gave the listener a total of twenty miniatures, four more than on Biotop." -- Asmus Tietchens 2003.

Artist:	TIETCHENS, ASMUS
Title:	In die Nacht
Label:	DIE STADT (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$21.00
Catalog #:	DS 072CD

Fourth part in the re-release series of all early vinyl albums by Asmus Tietchens on CD. This is the third of the SKY albums from 1982 incl. three bonus tracks of unreleased material not included on the original LP. "I found myself trying to square the circle, wanting to have the rich detail of my short works at the same time as creating longer pieces. This experiment, an equivalent to doing the splits, was only partly successful. It is not really possible to create pieces of six minutes or more from ideas which are only adequate for tracks of three minutes, unless one is willing to risk musical redundancy or, worse, long-windedness. In retrospect, the four central tracks of In die Nacht are too long for the material from which the are built. Back in 1982 though, my opinion was different. Nonetheless, I did gain my first insight into the rules of time and proportion, even though I was not able to handle them perfectly." -- Asmus Tietchens, 2004.

Artist:	TIETCHENS, ASMUS
Title:	Litia
Label:	DIE STADT (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$21.00
Catalog #:	DS 080CD

"Fifth part in the ongoing re-release series of all early vinyl albums by Tietchens on CD. This one from 1983 marks the end of his Sky 'phase' and was the last to feature his very own version of 'Synthesizer Pop Music' for some time (he'd only return to this music with the release of his Hematic Sunsets albums in the late 1990's). The CD also feat. the rare 'Rattenheu' 10" only release plus one unreleased archive track and comes in a transparent jewel-case with full colour poster booklet feat. a reproduction of the original cover art and extra photos."

Artist:	TIETCHENS, ASMUS
Title:	Formen Letzter Hausmusik
Label:	DIE STADT (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$21.00
Catalog #:	DS 084CD

"Part six in the ongoing re-release series of all early Tietchens albums on CD. Formen Letzter Hausmusik was originally released on United Dairies (the label run by Steven Stapleton of Nurse With Wound) in 1984. The original album consisted of a mix of archive tracks from the late 1960s / early 1970s and new tracks specially recorded for the release. Many people see Formen Letzter Hausmusik as the first 'real' Tietchens album laying the basis of what was about to follow in his long recording career and therefore vote this album among the most important and best Tietchens works. The CD version includes three unreleased bonus tracks and comes with the usual poster booklet featuring the original cover art plus text by Tietchens about the album."

Artist:	TIETCHENS, ASMUS
Title:	Geboren, Um Zu Dienen
Label:	DIE STADT (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$21.00
Catalog #:	DS 092CD

"Eighth part in the ongoing re-release series of all early Tietchens albums between 1980 -1991. Described by Tietchens himself as his 'industrial' album, Geboren, Um Zu Dienen was originally released on the Spanish Esplendor Geometrico label in 1986. The CD version incl. three unreleased bonus tracks from the same period and comes with a full colour fold-out booklet incl. liner notes by Tietchens himself." "If I'd ever recorded an 'industrial' solo album, it must be 'Geboren, Um Zu Dienen. Although I obviously wasn't one of the inventors of 'industrial music,' I clearly felt an affinity to it. So I tried to learn my lessons well adding my own musical aspects to the general apocalyptic noises of this genre. My main concern was to dive deep into the canonical topics of fear, hysteria, claustrophobia, machine and threat. The end was imminent as hundreds of Pershings and SS20 all pointed in the direction of the march up area called West Germany, the seals of the read buttons were already broken. Even the conventional alternative -- a tank war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact -- sounded like utter apocalypse. Would we really have welcomed our brothers from the east with open arms? This particular background has to be seen as the main influence on Geboren, Um Zu Dienen. I believe that many of my colleagues also recording 'industrial' albums felt the same at that time." -- Asmus Tietchens

Artist:	TIETCHENS, ASMUS
Title:	Zwingburgen des Hedonismus/Mysterien des Hafens
Label:	DIE STADT (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$21.00
Catalog #:	DS 096CD

"Part 9 of the ongoing re-release series of all early Tietchens albums from 1980-1991 on CD. This combines two separate releases from 1987 (Zwingburgen des Hedonismus) and 1988 (Mysterien des Hafens on Face to Face, Vol. 1). Zwingburgen des Hedonismus was originally released as a one-sided LP on Swedish label Multimood and features a single 21-min. long track composed on a Fairlight CMI. Mysterien des Hafens was part of a split LP (the other side feat. Die Form) originally released on French label Odd Size and featuring recordings made by Tietchens using underwater microphones. The bonus track 'Faircomp 1K' on this CD is a different version of the first track and previously unreleased. First edition of 600 copies in jewel case with full cover artwork and poster booklet also feat. the original album covers."

Artist:	TIETCHENS, ASMUS
Title:	Notturno
Label:	DIE STADT (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$22.00
Catalog #:	DS 102CD

"Tenth part in the ongoing re-release series of all early Tietchens albums between 1980-1991. Notturno was originally released by Spanish label Discos Esplendor Geometrico in 1987 and also by Barooni on CD in 1992. Remastered version in a first edition of 600 copies in jewel case with full color artwork and poster booklet also featuring the original front and back cover. By the time Studie für Klavier (Formen Letzter Hausmusik, DS84) was released, it actually wasn't my first attempt to use the piano as a sound source. Various pre-studies came before this, but all which either were not characterized as such in their title or simply didn't make it onto record. I was intrigued by the great range of sounds it offers in general, but also by the multiple possibilities to produce sounds inside of the piano. Of course I was fully aware that these techniques had already been used by other composers like Henry Cowell and John Cage in the past. Not only could I make use of a grand piano in 1986, I also had the technical equipment at hand which didn't leave nothing to be desired. I wasn't quite precise calling these pieces Studien für Klavier (Piano) by the way, as I was actually using a flügel (grand piano). I began preparing the strings in an almost old fashioned way, also producing sounds with unusual aids (electric gastr beater, wire brush, coins and others). Then in another step, with the help of the studio, I carefully started working on the recorded sounds. While doing this, I wasn't even afraid of using some good old avant-garde tricks, by the way. But I won't tell. The fact that Notturno was released by an industrial label, shows how much the interest in unusual electro-acoustic music had grown at the time. In fact, Notturno is nothing less than an industrial album. To my own delight and to the delight of the listeners as well, I used techniques which were introduced in the field of new music since several years already. As a result, Notturno can be seen as a cross between musical styles. On one hand it sounds academic, but in fact it isn't. But the question whether this was U (popular) or E (serious) was obsolete anyway, as electro-acoustic experiments didn't exclusively belong to the circle of serious composers anymore. Of course I wasn't the first or only non-academic composer who produced music, which couldn't be categorized easily then, and maybe even still not until today. As a result, the exchange of these new aesthetic strategies with other musicians and listeners in the mid-'80s, further encouraged the musicians to produce such music, and as a result, labels such as Discos Esplendor Geometrico could be sure to sell a small edition of 500 copies in a fairly short time. The ears had opened up for this genre-crossing music and the heads were ready to accept. We had succeeded breaking new ground."

Artist:	TIETCHENS, ASMUS
Title:	Aus Freude Am Elend
Label:	DIE STADT (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$26.00
Catalog #:	DS 105CD

Eleventh part in the ongoing re-release series of all early Tietchens albums between 1980-1991. Aus Freude Am Elend is based on the human voice as a primary sound source and was originally released in an edition of 500 copies on Dom America in 1988. The CD includes two previously-unreleased tracks and comes in a jewel case with full color artwork and poster booklet also featuring the original front and back cover. First edition of 600 copies. "Following my research of piano and water sounds, it didn't come as a surprise that my next project was about the human voice as a sound source. The great masters of Plunderphonics already showed the way in the early '80s, when they plundered the gigantic junk-shops packed full of already recorded material, which was stolen by them to use it for their own aesthetic targets. This album only consists of such stolen goods. Each track (with the exception of 'In Memoriam P.F.') was based on voices of people who I naturally didn't ask their permission to use these recordings in the first place. So you can hear the voices of ecstatic religious people as well as other people making love. You'll also hear someone singing to Annette and Peggy out of the trash bin of a publishing company. Even the screams of furious teachers came in handy while I made loops from them. Especially loops: rarely before this album and only once after it did I made use of the structural means of loops to such an extent. I was fascinated by the rhythmical and harmonic permanence, in the same way as many of my musical colleagues at the time. The aspect of the 'ritual' was a self-evident common formulation in difficult music during the '80s, so loops and tape voices, monotonous rhythms and LoFi became obvious means to shape the music. Aus Freude Am Elend too was strongly spiced with these ingredients and therefore can be seen as a prototype album of this specific view of music during the time. This tendency was supported -- even partly inspired -- by a new generation of sound machines, which also made it possible for new aesthetic goals to appear at the horizon. The '90s were near at hand and sound art music would develop drastically in many ways in the years to follow. Samplers, digital editing, hard-disc recording and the first PCs opened new doorways. Half of the material on Aus Freude Am Elend was already created with these digital tools. I never quite understood how the labels Dom America (run by Jon Carlson) and Dom here in Germany were connected. Was Carlson a fan of Dom which was founded by Christoph Heemann and Achim Flaam? Did he simply like the release politics of this label? And what became of Dom America? Actually I don't know. I guess it was one of the small enthusiastic independent labels which released a handful of titles and which disappeared after being active for a couple of years during the '80s. However ,Aus Freude Am Elend had vanished shortly after its release. I only used 'stolen' voices twice again after this album, by the way."

Artist:	TIETCHENS, ASMUS
Title:	Z-Menge
Label:	LINE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	LINE 025CD

"The new installment of the continuing Mengen series from influential German electronic music pioneer Asmus Tietchens. Line will be releasing the subsequent works in this series. Zeta-Menge means Zeta quantity. 'Another approach to ultimate situations, nearly stillness before becoming silent as Samuel Beckett taught us. End Game. Microtones and structures are only the tools. The Night Of Lead revisited...' Asmus Tietchens first released his unique electronic music in 1980, but created works since the late 1960s. Since then he has produced over 37 full length solo works and more cutting edge recordings on numerous international labels dealing with electronic sound and concrete music. Some of his over 20 full length collaborative projects include the ongoing Kontakt der Junglinge with Thomas Koner. Tietchens' focus is the manipulation of found sound in ways suggested by the material itself. German label Die Stadt has begun to reissue his groundbreaking early works on CD in limited edition. His latest critically acclaimed project, a series based strictly on sine tones and white noise is the Mengen series released by Ritornell/Mille Plateaux (Alpha-, Beta- and Gamma-Menge)."

Artist:	TIETCHENS, ASMUS
Title:	η-Menge
Label:	LINE
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	LINE 033CD

"Line is proud to present η-Menge (Eta-Menge), the final installment of the critically acclaimed Mengen series from influential German electronic music pioneer Asmus Tietchens. Eta-Menge means eta quantity. Based strictly on sine tones and white noise, the Mengen series was released by Ritornell/Mille Plateaux as the CDs Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Gamma-Menge and then continued on LINE as the CDs Epsilon, Zeta, and Eta-Menge. Asmus Tietchens' first released his unique electronic music in 1980, but created works since the late 1960s. Since then, he has produced over 37 full length solo works and more cutting edge recordings on numerous international labels dealing with electronic sound and concrete music. Some of his over 20 full length collaborative projects include works with Merzbow, Achim Wollscheid, Vidna Obmana, Richard Chartier, and Kontakt der Junglinge with Thomas Koner. Tietchens' focus is the manipulation of found sound in ways suggested by the material itself. German label Die Stadt has begun to reissue his ground-breaking early works on CD in limited edition. In both 2003 and 2006, Tietchens was awarded the Karl-Sczuka-Preis für Akustische Kunst by Südwestrundfunk (SWR)." Last copies, now deleted edtion.

Artist:	TIETCHENS, ASMUS
Title:	Teils Teils
Label:	SWILL RADIO
Format:	LP
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	SWILL 027LP

"I've been a fan of Asmus Tietchens' music since Formen Letzter Hausmusik came out in 1984. That LP fascinated me and I soon began acquiring anything I could by this strange musical force. I've learned a lot from his music over the years and we became acquainted via the post in the late '90s. As it turns out, we both have an extreme fondness for cigarette smoking and an interest in Max Nordau, so what better place for his first LP release in years than Swill Radio? The side-long 'Teilmenge 20' starts off the LP with an odd manic ticking that never lets up. Other sounds ebb and flow throughout and the whole piece has the rare quality of sounding totally artificial and yet organic at the same time. The second side slows things down with three tracks of dripping industrial ambience. The whole LP brings to my mind an atmosphere of waiting. To quote my good friend Matt Krefting, 'No one's music sounds both as cold and as emotional in quite the same way as the music of Asmus Tietchens.'" -- Swill Radio.

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Artist:	TIETCHENS, ASMUS
Title:	4K7: Early Recordings
Label:	VINYL ON DEMAND (GERMANY)
Format:	4LP BOX
Price:	$90.00
Catalog #:	VOD 040LP