Browse by Label: ALIEN TRANSISTOR (GERMANY)

Artist:	CHRONOMAD
Title:	Chronomad
Label:	ALIEN TRANSISTOR (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	N 002CD

This is the debut from Chronomad, aka Saam Schlamminger, born in Istanbul in 1966. Until the age of 12, he lived in Iran; since then, his main residence has been Munich. He's visited musicians and teachers in Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Iran, New York and Paris, studying eastern rhythmics. He specializes in the fusing middle eastern instruments such as the persic, zarb and daf with elements found in modern electronic music. He's performed worldwide with artists of different styles, including Susan Deyhim and The Notwist, who provide additional keyboards and programming on this release.

Artist:	NOTWIST, THE
Title:	Lichter
Label:	ALIEN TRANSISTOR (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	N 003EP

Two countries, two cities, one river. The Oderriver not only separates the German city of Frankfurt from Slubice in Poland, it separates two different worlds from each other. Whether rich or poor, people try to seek their fortune there -- but often only find their limits. Hans-Christian-Schmid (Nach Fünf Im Urwald, 23, Crazy), one of the most successful and exciting young German directors, made a moving film with an impressive ensemble, telling emotional, deeply human stories, subtle and moving, tough and yet full of poetry. The Notwist composed the music for this film, based on a piano loop and minimal electronics, and recorded it with the participation of Sebastian Hess (cello) and Saam Schlamminger (Chronomad) (zarb). For this 12" release, the piece was remixed by Martin Gretschmann aka Console.

Artist:	VA
Title:	Solo Swim
Label:	ALIEN TRANSISTOR (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	N 005EP

The documentary-moviemaker Jörg Adolph and his cameraman Luigi Falorni tell the story of the mystic 33 kilometres from Dover (UK) to Calais (France). The Mount Everest for long distance swimmers. For the accompanying soundtrack, Solo Swim, The Notwist worked with dissected guitars and electronics, but they also let Nick Drake and his acoustic guitar cross the channel. Because the music of Klimek played an important source of inspiration for the song, the Notwist asked him for a remix. Martin Gretschmann aka Console added one unreleased song, "Mount Everest Horizontal."

Artist:	CHRONOMAD
Title:	Sokut
Label:	ALIEN TRANSISTOR (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	N 007CD

"Saam Schlamminger's music negates the dialogue of cultures. Dialogue means one of you over here, the other over there, and now get along with each other. In that kind of scenario, being forced into subjects, cultures can only operate as caricatures. Applied to music, the result sounds as you would expect: Western blandness in Southern or Eastern gravy. Or the other way round: beats that don't bring more world into folklore. There are, of course, exceptions, great encounters. But they don't draw their life from cultures or collectives, they draw it from firmly rooted individuals who finally grow beyond themselves. They can complement each other, steal from each other, grow together to form something new, at best become a whole that was never heard before -- but in so doing, they have left dialogue behind. It might seem to be dialogue, but in fact it is a many-voicedness, many voices that become an orchestra instead of simply talking to each other. Saam Schlamminger has gone even farther. In his music, dialogue is revoked. All is one, but nothing surrenders itself. It is not possible to distinguish origins. Almost everything seems to be Western, everything exotic is deliberately avoided, but in its core the music is more oriental than belly-dance. If you abandon yourself to the pulse of the beats, you recognize the Santour, the Persian hammered dulcimer. In the shimmer of the electronics you can hear the echo of the Tombak, the oriental drum. Saam doesn't embellish himself with Eastern accessories (although he can deploy them masterfully); he doesn't take on the forms of the East, but rather its structures, thoughts, and a philosophy of playing that is specific and universal at the same time. Saam's music is Eastern by being Western. Or the other way round. I don't know. Dr. Navid Kermani Publisher and Expert in Islam (e.g. Das Buch der von Neil Young Getöteten) World music is not from this world. But prevalently from a virtual space nobody really wants to live in. Let's cling to and abide by the following: world equals world plus man. Saam Schlamminger is a human of Persian origin and the music he composed and realized on his recent album Sokut definitely stems from this world. This, that is, another. A world where directions are right, because there are none. In which the desert of the digital manifests itself analogically. Populated by the Babylonians of bass, the slide Semites and beat Bedouins, the fictitious protagonists of some kind of musical invocation, inside of which -- climaxing -- orient and occident, gently rocking in the pace of the epic mystic measure of Mesopotamia, wish each other a good night. Schlamminger's music is democratic-fantastic in the same sense Weilheim's music scene is, the place where he lives and continuously entangles eastern Western and western Eastern like a visionary magus. Chronomad's Sokut seems oddly familiar while striking the notes for a wide and hardly conquered but already misunderstood genre. Those listeners of today and the last 8000 years who always parsed history and fake oriental records for the remains of this exotic arithmetic in rhythm and tone will welcome Chronomad with open ears. This is ritual music ignoring the superfluousity of rituals."

Artist:	BOY IN STATIC
Title:	Newborn
Label:	ALIEN TRANSISTOR (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	N 009CD

"Alexander Chen, aka Boy in Static -- 23 years old, residing in Boston, grew up in New Jersey and downtown Philadelphia, musical socialisation via classical piano and viola in the school string orchestra, later guitar and discovery of the wonderful world of CPU-clocked sounds and music. No (notable) band memberships, just going it alone. This can be difficult, when the heliocentric part takes the upper hand, but can also lead to revelation and fulfillment, when your own demo somehow finds its way to the label of your favourite band and is well received, leading to the release of the first album. Enter Newborn: ten times DIY-homerecording using contemporary methods, ten songs made up of acoustic guitar, crazy fingerboard playing, rumbling bass, muted singing, distorted drums, expressive string sequences galore, cheap E-Bay organ and carefully orchestrated laptop manouvres. So it is something that has not yet been heard in this world of reference-modellers and catagorisers. Not rock, not electronic, not folk. Not 'post-', not 'pre-', simply there. Present. At first glance perhaps a little bit of each, but on the second glance not the usual sum of its parts. Rather, more. Much more. A completely unique universe with delicate miniature mood portraits without over the top sentimentality, but with maximum effect. Accompanied by song titles that are like rays of sunshine on autumn days: 'Warm Blooded', 'Kissed Under The Sun', 'Truly Yours' or 'Slept Fine'. Melodious sound and beauty. Warmth and atmosphere. Stillness and drama in hectic times. Layer by layer, colour spot by colour spot, mosaic tile by mosaic tile, pieced together according to an invisible personal master plan that will never be understood by outsiders, but will simply be enjoyed -- with a happy heart and the knowledge that something very special has been discovered."

Artist:	ANDROMEDA MEGA EXPRESS ORCHESTRA
Title:	Take Off!
Label:	ALIEN TRANSISTOR (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	N 018CD

This is the debut full-length release by Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra. Whoever claims to have heard anything like this before must be lying. This 20-piece orchestra, led by 25-year-old Berlin-based composer Daniel Glatzel, sets off a firework of energy, musicality and fresh ideas and juggles genres, styles and musical references in a way that can make you dizzy. Jazz doesn't begin to describe it. We're talking about everything from minimalism to film scores, Romanticism, modern classical music, and Bartók, right through to Frank Zappa. Glatzel also cites computer games, cartoons, shabby infomercials and elevators in expensive hotels as influences. Take Off! is true to its name -- the album is wild, headstrong, haunting, atmospheric, funny, disturbing -- all at once. Pulling out all the stops, Glatzel uses musical registers from varied cultural references and alarmingly crazy time signatures, all with a nonchalance which borders on the outrageous. Big-band swing is interrupted by free-jazz cacophonies, and excerpts from crime movie soundtracks are mixed with fanfares from imaginary film production companies. All of a sudden, the blissfully elated mood will shift to its opposite and we find ourselves in the middle of oppressive, sprawling soundscapes where all is boundless and wonderful. The AMEO are 20 young musicians all from differing musical and cultural backgrounds -- from Germany, France, Switzerland, Canada, Norway, Japan, Thailand, the Czech Republic and South Korea. As leader, composer, arranger and woodwind player, Glatzel is responsible for the record's concept as well as for composition and arrangement. AMEO have already left Korean concert halls and Bavarian provincial backwaters astonished, and occasionally frightened, with their harmonic adventures and rhythmic madness. Each individual member of the orchestra brings with them a stylistic openness and the highest possible joy of playing. It's a debut that leaves you asking what can possibly follow it.

Artist:	ANDROMEDA MEGA EXPRESS ORCHESTRA
Title:	Take Off!
Label:	ALIEN TRANSISTOR (GERMANY)
Format:	LP
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	N 018LP

Previously released on CD by Alien Transistor, now available in a vinyl version that comes with a big DINA1 poster. This is the debut full-length release by Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra. This multi-national 20-piece orchestra, led by 25-year-old Berlin-based composer Daniel Glatzel, sets off a firework of energy, musicality and fresh ideas and juggles genres, styles and musical references in a way that can make you dizzy. Jazz doesn't begin to describe it. We're talking about everything from minimalism to film scores, Romanticism, modern classical music, and Bartók, right through to Frank Zappa. Glatzel also cites computer games, cartoons, shabby infomercials and elevators in expensive hotels as influences. Take Off! is true to its name -- the album is wild, headstrong, haunting, atmospheric, funny, disturbing -- all at once.

Artist:	3 SHADES
Title:	Thank God For Beatniks
Label:	ALIEN TRANSISTOR (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	N 019CD

This is the debut full-length release by 3 Shades -- a collective of musicians (and guests) that one could call a "supergroup." Based in and around Munich, Germany, members include Ivica Vucelic (Dis*ka, Die Regierung, Lightnin' Ivi) on guitar, pedals and vocals; Carl Oesterheld (Carlo Fashion, F.S.K., Ms. John Soda, Tied & Tickled Trio) on organ, harmonium, glockenspiel, and metallophone; Markus Acher (The Notwist, Tied & Tickled Trio, Village Of Savoonga, Lali Puna, 13 & God) on drums, organ, percussion and vocals; and Micha Acher (The Notwist, Tied & Tickled Trio, Ms. John Soda) on bass, organ, trombone and trumpet. On Thank God For Beatniks the band explores soundscapes, rhythm-patterns and moods in multi-colored shades. Some of them filled with whirling sunbeams, others covered with smoke and dust. "Bombay Can" sets the key -- a throbbing and bittersweet harmonium lures you into a hypnotic groove-monster, filled with echoes from the past and future. More spinning melodies are offered on "Subsequently" with hip-hop activist Fat Jon on guest vocals. "El Topo" is named after Alejandro Jodorowsky's 1970 film, and is itself a surrealistic trip into a psychedelic desert, filled with audio hallucinations, a jazz mirage and some obscure encounters at the Mexican border. More psychedelic moods in darker colors abound on "Tiny Bits Of Terrible," featuring guest vocalist and spoken-word poet Mike Ladd. The beats are dented, there are eerie whizzing sounds, and nearly everything is filled with smoke. "Thank God For Beatniks" is based on lyrics by Afro-American beatnik pioneer Bob Kaufman. "Sometimes Up" features an abstract ambient soundscape surrounding a melancholic love song. "Counting The Days" features guest vocalist Jihae Jean Meek (The Royal We, The Champagne Socialists) and an acoustic guitar suitable for night ballads. Thank God For Beatniks remembers when music was about freedom of speech and revolutionary thought unbound.

Artist:	NOTWIST, THE
Title:	Sturm
Label:	ALIEN TRANSISTOR (GERMANY)
Format:	LP+CD
Price:	$22.00
Catalog #:	N 020LP

Germany's The Notwist compose the soundtrack to Sturm (2009), the motion-picture by Hans-Christian Schmid. The plot: Hannah Maynard, a prosecutor at the Tribunal in The Hague, manages to convince a young Bosnian woman to testify against an alleged war criminal. Amidst the inconsistency of political interests and threats coming from Bosnian Serb nationalists, she realizes that her opponents not only sit on the dock across from her, but are also found in her own ranks. For Sturm, The Notwist composed a soundtrack that creates a hypnotic, unreal ambiance with bowed xylophone, alienated glockenspiel, orchestra accordion and minimal electronics. All music composed and played by The Notwist, except "Vilina Kosa Version," composed by Daniel Glatzel and The Notwist, played by Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra and The Notwist. Silkscreen print cover, with a 24-page 21x21 cm photo booklet.

Artist:	OESTERHELT/JOHANNES ENDERS, CARL
Title:	Divertimento Für Tenorsaxophon Und Kleines Ensemble
Label:	ALIEN TRANSISTOR (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	N 021CD

Carl Oesterhelt (Tied & Tickled Trio, FSK, Carlofashion) and saxophonist Johannes Enders (Tied & Tickled Trio, Scalesenders, Triotope) belong to the first generation of the so-called Weilheim scene. This duo's project, in its entirety, defies any classification. For that would be like trying to describe intuition, telekinesis or necromancy empirically. But even a musically scientific analysis or inclusive historical contextualization would shed no light on this album. An exorcism would be of no use, either, for Oesterhelt and Enders have created a hybrid out of the spirit of the new Vienna school of composed music and a kind of sultry jungle jazz. Imagine the Alban Berg Quartet playing exotica with their faces painted black and their eyes rolling. The two guys from Weilheim have taken lazy voodoo percussion played on maracas and calabash as the driving pulse of their music. Their suggestive energy runs through the sublime string arrangements and their wickedness is ever-present in the dark saxophone licks. We hear feverish breathing and lurking energy in the first piece. A cacophony of chattering saxophones, atonal violin glissandos and stoic maraca shaking greets the listener on No. 2. There are kalimba figures on No. 4 -- a mere skeleton of a piece. A sad gypsy waltz takes form on No. 5 -- a waltz that seamlessly transcends into a kind of harmonically-free fugue, only to flow into a dramatic, slow-mo rumba. It's simply great how Oesterhelt and Enders invite you to delve deeper into this wonderfully multi-faceted and compelling music. Despite all the harmonic adventures and great stylistic diversity, Divertimento Für Tenorsaxophon Und Kleines Ensemble retains its moderate, even lazy tempo. This music walks a fine line between sleepy lounge music and neo-classical, unfolding its narcotically-bewitching effect. Line-up includes: Johannes Enders (tenor saxophone); Gertrud Schilde (violin); Markus Muench (violin); Tobias Weber (viola); Mathis Mayr (violoncello); Jost H. Hecker (violoncello); Juan S. Ruiz (double bass); Zoro Babel (percussion); Salewski (percussion, kalimba); Carl Oesterhelt (djembe, rattling, kalimba).

Artist:	NOTWIST, THE
Title:	Blank Air
Label:	ALIEN TRANSISTOR (GERMANY)
Format:	7"
Price:	$8.00
Catalog #:	N 022EP

The Notwist releases a song on their own imprint Alien Transistor. "Blank Air" is a smooth song, reflective and haunting, featuring one of those typical, memorable Notwist hooklines. This track was composed for a movie by Jörg Adolph. The B-side features a cover version by Console of Brian Eno & Cluster's "By This River." Console has already released a vocal version of this, so here you'll find an alternate instrumental that has an even more ambient feel than the original.

Artist:	SAROOS
Title:	Yukoma
Label:	ALIEN TRANSISTOR (GERMANY)
Format:	7"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	N 028EP

Morr Music artist Populous refits the "Yukoma" track and gives the original tune's bubbling electronics, airy field recordings, and poignant synth melodies an electro-house backbone. While Saroos' ambient bell sounds and tribal percussion loops percolate in the distance, Populous toys with synthesizers, vocal samples, and compressed dance beats, all of which give his remix a fresh edge. Anticon's Jel throws in his beats on "Outrigger," giving the track a fresh new vibe. Produced and rearranged by Odd Nosdam.

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Artist:	RAYON
Title:	Libanon
Label:	ALIEN TRANSISTOR (GERMANY)
Format:	10"
Price:	$12.50
Catalog #:	N 015EP

Artist:	13 & GOD
Title:	Old Age
Label:	ALIEN TRANSISTOR (GERMANY)
Format:	7"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	N 027EP