Browse by Label: KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)

Artist:	DONNA REGINA
Title:	A Quiet Week In The House
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 003CD

"Excellent full-length follow-up to the 'Pool' 10" from singer/songwriter Regina Janssen, backed in both production and direction by fellow Janssen Günther (and on one track, Matthew 'Wishmountain' Herbert). For some reason I can't help but think of Angelo Badalamenti/Julee Cruise's 'Industrial Symphony #1' as a possible precedent to this soft-toned electronic/double tracked female-vox hybrid, although the people to whom this will appeal the most are fans of early Too-Pure label excesses (they're literally going to wet themselves) or perhaps the contemporary equivalent: Bungalow fans. Perfect for that mid-winter anti-outing." -- Hrvatski.

Artist:	SENKING
Title:	Ping/Thaw
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 004CD

"Senking AKA Jens Massel delivers his second full length CD on DJ Strobocop's Karaoke Kalk, and it definitely expands on his aesthetic of the seeming hybridization of Klaus Schulze's Cyborg and Black Ark Studios ca. 1975. Which is to say that his records aren't necessarily defined by their bottom and so much as their bottomless end. Evolving rhythms, distant loops and enough affinity with the Sound of Cologne to encourage setting your CD player on repeat, your strobe light on catatonic and relaxing on a bed made of marshmallows." -- Billy Kiely. "Jens says that he's mostly inspired by the mu-Ziq LP Tango n Vectif, all the Sea And Cake records, early Aphex Twin stuff and the last Talk Talk LP Laughing Stock. Where 'Ping' showed him flirting with the enthusiasm of the the dancefloor, the four pieces of 'Thaw' turn their back on: the vexation, the contrary, the unexpected moves in the centre of interest. Now gloomy, now gay, now sweet and tender crackling, now harsh and pitiless banging -- each track leads any musical rule and settlement up the garden path. Jens Massel's playful keenness on experimenting is neither drifted away nor silly, his open-mindedness neither tense-up nor naive. It's fun to take part in his artistic development and fun to listen how much fun he has in developing his skills. In one breath Senking carries you away and leaves you disturbed behind."

Artist:	KANDIS
Title:	1996-1999
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 007CD

"The history of Kandis is to some extend the history of Karaoke Kalk, too. Jens Massel is Kandis. But he also gave birth to two other projects: Senking and Fumble. All three together are quite different but somehow live in the same neighbourhood. Jens Massel is a sound exploring path-finder. He is a willful guy, with an own definition of groove, a kind of stoical groove. Anyway always surprising, anyway astonishingly playful. And Jens Massel is the man behind nearly half of all Karaoke Kalk releases. No wonder that his music, his style, his skills set the tone of the company. Kandis is his most popular project. Kandis 1996 - 1999 is a survey of tracks and songs which were so far only available on vinyl. Shortly before the arrival of his new regular album we knew the time is now to release this CD compilation. Take a view back and dip in the world of Kandis. Discover a different world of music. Discover a different kind of pop. Discover the vision of Jens Massel."

Artist:	HAUSMEISTER
Title:	Unser
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 008CD

"The Hausmeister's new album is Ours (Unser). Ours means something to share or to share something. Ours is just the opposite of me myself and my -- as in selfishness, but as in loneliness, too: ours life, ours thoughts. Hours of pleasure. Our friends, our family, our house. Or simply our music. Ours describes a relationship. Coincidental also the ending of it. To come apart. To part company. Ours is something we share. Even if we beg to differ. The creation of ours is tied to a certain moment of communication. The Hausmeister's Ours doesn't dare to speak. But his music does. And so his ours is an ours for all of us: together with the Hausmeister, but also an our of you and me both."

Artist:	KUCHEN
Title:	Kids With Sticks
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 010CD

"Kuchen is Meriel Barham. She's living and working in Leeds, England, and Kids with Sticks is her first album. Subdued and friendly is her music. It consists of brief, sometimes very personal stories that do entirely without words. The seven tracks on this album are little pleasant bricolages of colourful sounds that walk up softly until they stand right in front of us with all the courage they could muster and say hello. Kids with Sticks can also be the perfect soundtrack to withdraw, together or alone, under the sofa blanket in cold winter months."

Artist:	DONNA REGINA
Title:	Northern Classic
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 011CD

"If only it wasn't that drab and miserable outside. Yes, if, then this here text may read completely differently. But as it is, the new Donna Regina album hits right into the author's winter depression. Not knowing what to write about these new enchanting songs by this duo, he instead starts rambling about sense and nonsense, possibility and impossibility of casting into words the unique qualities of music -- until it all comes down again to music. 'Blue' is the track we're listening to. And if we didn't know better, one could think this would be the last we'd ever get to hear from these two. It cuts deep into your heart, sounding so very much like the last time, that dreadful moment of parting for ever, to be surpassed a couple of tracks onwards by 'Who's You Who's Me', until the title track 'Northern Classic' leaves us standing alone in the dark and the rain. Music is always at its best when it gets to you where it hurts most -- where you're most capable of feeling: fear, loneliness, despair, doubt, longing, dreams, beauty and, yes, love ... All of these words rush past when listening to Northern Classic. And the best thing is: You want to be part of this trip, you start losing the fear of words because you know there's someone walking right beside you who feels the same. Yes, music can still do that."

Artist:	GARLAND, WECHSEL
Title:	Liberation Von History
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 012CD

"Liberation Von History somehow reminds one of a jumbled up jigsaw puzzle. You are easily tempted into trying to fit together the obvious pieces in your mind according to your customary logic -- until those few little pieces turn up that just wouldn't fit in, and you realise that it isn't meant to be rearranged at all, that, rather, it's those stereotypes lodged in your head that are to be tidied away. On liberation von history, Wechsel Garland is playing a lot with seeming contradictions. The two very different facets of his music whose cohesion is not immediately accessible correspond to the album's two sides: while side one sounds sad and melancholic, side two appears very at ease and liberated from musical conventions. Jörg Follert has come a long way since his Wunder album. With Liberation Von History, he in a way liberates himself from the stereotypes or clichés that had then been attributed to him. you will nonetheless find everything you used to love about his music, everything that fascinated and enticed you, here again -- only different, taken much further. The album features guest performances by Jens Massel (the person behind the Karaoke Kalk projects Kandis, Fumble and Senking) at the bass, Jacques Palminger (member of the Hamburg-based band Universal Gonzales) and finally the voice of Japanese singer Hirono Nishiyama."

Artist:	MASAKATSU, TAKAGI
Title:	Eating
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 014CD

"All those many little pieces on eating -- one time bearing such seemingly abstruse names like 'Fausel' or 'Frousfre', then simply being called 'Spring' or 'Come March' -- can beautifully be subsumed under one heading: music for short films written by life itself. Short films, because all tracks have a fragmentary, unfinished air about them. The momentary, fleeting quality of the pieces stirs up an intense, acute emotion that one wishes to preserve after the song is over. Though which emotions are aroused, Takagi Masakatsu willingly -- and wilfully -- leaves up to us. Music written by life itself, because the feelings one experiences with eating are simple, natural, everyday. Without superfluous weight or sadness, celebrating the joy of the little things -- birds chirping in the morning, the sound of children playing in the street, the calm of night. Maybe it's exactly these moments, snapshots of life, that characterise Takagi Masakatsu's way of thinking. It wouldn't come as a surprise, since he's been working as a video artist for some time now and has often related his music directly to films or animated films of his that deal with everyday worlds of perception."

Artist:	KANDIS
Title:	Airflow
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 015CD

"Kandis by now has become something like a good old friend on Karaoke Kalk. This time, it's nine tracks that come across as a well-rounded, self-contained whole. Musically, Airflow alternates between gloom or even detached coolness and little conciliatory sounds and melodies that suggest and create closeness or intimacy. Following an imaginary script, the pieces evolve like a soundtrack. There is an atmospheric development and, for the first time, a glimpse of the classical album. However, there is never so much as the impression that Jens Massel is trying to draw clear lines or to set fixed limits. Too many open questions remain, too many possibilities of how to proceed. Once again, as with all the other releases by Jens Massel on Karaoke Kalk -- as Fumble, Senking or, like here, as Kandis --, this multi-layered complexity, this apparent openness in all directions does arise from the diversity of the individual projects on the one hand and the numerous parallels and points of contact between them on the other. Here, many elements we already know from neighbouring releases reappear, such as the soundtrack-like character of Senking, without copying or repeating themselves -- though with the knowledge that all these different pieces of music are at home in this one individual person. It reminds one of that contradiction lodged inside all of us, only that rarely someone gives sound to it so honestly."

Artist:	HAUSMEISTER
Title:	Weiter
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 016CD

"Here is the third Hausmeister album to be released on Karaoke Kalk. And like its predecessor unser (our) it bears a plain and modest name: weiter. This inconspicuous word -- which means 'further', 'forward', 'onwards', 'additionally', 'moreover' and also, in a different sense of the word, 'wider', 'broader' -- leaves room for every imaginable individual interpretation. At the same time, it can simply be left standing on its own, even if, or indeed because, Christian Przygodda would surely have had his very own reasons for bracketing his new tracks with this title. All sorts of things may be 'weiter': the music, life, love, sorrows, thought -- or oneself, as an individual, as a person. Most of all, whatever 'weiter' may mean for any one of us in any particular moment, it is a word full of hope, it speaks of looking forward, no matter what might be standing beside or behind. And this is a wonderful thing because it is really so simple -- though still rarely accomplished in life by most of us. To forget or just to let go and look forward can sometimes be very hard, since you do not know what awaits you and are afraid to take the step. Hausmeister had the courage to take that step. With the newly added vocals his music presents itself in a new light and moves much more than before in traditional song structures. melody and composition are still prominent, as is the passion for conventional instruments, but everything appears clearer, more self-contained and as naturally proceeding from his previous works. The title track is the last one on this release by Hausmeister. The album thus appears as a review or re-working of things past, closing with a hopeful look forward, on whatever is to come. in this sense, weiter is a beautiful declaration of love to life with all its tricks and traps..."

Artist:	FUMBLE
Title:	Melo
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$8.50
Catalog #:	KK 016EP

"Jens Massel is a true artist. He is a curious person, like every artist should be. but sadly enough we are positive that only a handful of them are. Jens Massel is never satisfied. He is longing. He is struggling. He is gain by fighting for every single note. And -- be sure -- his yields even surprises himself. After feeling at home with Senking anhd Kandis, you may rate his debut as Fumble (KK#12) as too ostensibly playful -- for all its nice and friendly melodies. Now with Melo you'll be definitely caught from the first take on: the airy chip starts with tight and dry beats. And you'll have to listen quite conscientiously to discover all the cuteness of Fumble's tonality. Melo is a light and delicate record. We're not talking about a playground at midnight. We're talking about slightness in its Taoistic sense: gentle, relaxed and awaken. with a grown self-confidence since the first release of Fumble. Melo is direct, clear and straight-ahead. And in catch you can watch both of Jens Massel's eyes focusing the dance-floor."

Artist:	ROMAN
Title:	5 Minutes To Match
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 017CD

"Sometimes it can be very difficult to say something about a work of music, even if you feel at home with it immediately. With Roman's debut 5 Minutes To Match, this is the case. Certainly, countless possible references spring to mind to describe what you hear. Vocals, arrangements, melodies and lyrics may remind one of the pop music of someone like Kid Montana or Aztec Camera. But what do you say when you find out that the person who made this music has just nothing in common anymore with the references we could possibly establish and that everyday history has placed him somewhere else completely? How do you proceed when it becomes clear that his music does not connect to those references from your own past and the seemingly detectable comparisons are nothing more than an awkward sheet anchor to put into words what you hear because we simply have forgotten how to see music as what it actually is, namely an accumulation of sounds brought to life by someone who tells a new and personal story through it? Roman's lyrics tell stories -- beautiful, short, long, strange, funny, and sometimes a little sad; and with his music he brings them to life for all of us; so much so that you sometimes even catch yourself singing along to the tracks. Rarely can this be said about music nowadays -- though at the same time it's one of the nicest qualities of pop music to obliterate for a brief moment the memory of your many, constantly repeated connections and references."

Artist:	LE ROK
Title:	Hausarbeiten
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 018CD

"Le Rok is from Hanover, is in his everyday life called Christoph Döhne, and Hausarbeiten is his musical debut. It is not easy to put a definite name to his music, as the twelve tracks on his album are all rather different. Sometimes minimal, then again pop-like, sometimes even with a trace of rock; sometimes gloomy, then again cheerful; twice with vocals and otherwise without. There is one thing all tracks have in common though: the beat is always prominent. This quality provides the album with continuity, forms a bracket to include its diverse parts and turns it into a unified whole. With this compilation of tracks created between 1997 and today, Le Rok demonstrates how playful and cheerful music can sound. And this may be the reason why he has found his home on Karaoke Kalk, which has never been about the pursuit of one particular idea of music but about presenting music in its diversity and confusion."

Artist:	TOYAMA, TAKEO
Title:	Hello 88
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 019CD

"The first impression of Takeo Toyama's music on his album Hello 88 is playful, colourful, cheerful. A bit like the illustrations by Jungo Terade on the cover showing a manikin in a kind of sailor suit and a cute little bird. But just as you start wondering, after looking at the pictures a bit longer, if they couldn't be part of a very sad story indeed, a feeling of melancholy sneaks in now and then whilst listening to the tracks. Thus, Takeo Toyama's music alternates between funny little creaking sounds and atmospheric flute and violin arrangements, making Hello 88 a very narrative piece of music with a lot of highlights. sometimes even vocals are added, as in 'Hello Birds', which reminds one of the pop of the Beach Boys."

Artist:	KUCHEN MEETS MAPSTATION
Title:	Kuchen Meets Mapstation
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 020CD

"One & 1/2 years ago, Meriel Barham from Leeds released her debut album Kids With Sticks as Kuchen on Karaoke Kalk. With Kuchen Meets Mapstation now follows the second release by Meriel, former member of the British Pale Saints; though this time, as the title reveals, it's a joint project with Stefan Schneider from Dusseldorf, the person behind Mapstation and also part of To Rococo Rot. To those who are already familiar with the music of Mapstation and Kuchen, the title will also give away something about what we are about to hear: two people, two musicians, meet; each of them bringing with them their very own idea of music and together trying to merge these into a unified whole. Rather by chance, their paths crossed last year. There was a liking for each other and for each other's music. Ed Martin from Leeds had the idea, that Kuchen and Mapstation should do a record together, more a kind of remix album at the first step. And finally the result is the album at hand, which took two years to realize it. In between this time sometimes they both did work together on the realization and sometimes for themselves, until they finished it together in Berlin this year. it's ten tracks, reminds one of a long, intense and also very personal dialogue. A dialogue between two individuals who nevertheless harmonize in their ideas and who seem to like each other -- even when at variance. Kuchen's sometimes more playful music connects seamlessly with Mapstation's perhaps more serial sound; and yet each one's distinctive qualities remain in the foreground without challenging or levelling the other's. Rarely has the attempt to bring together two different projects been so successful."

Artist:	MASAKATSU, TAKAGI
Title:	Eating 2
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 021CD

"Masakatsu's second album appears on Karaoke Kalk, and its title Eating 2 is certainly more than coincidental. His new tracks pick up where Eating ended. Again, his music is very associative. It leaves room for the listener's imagination in the interpretation of the music and its potential messages. Masakatsu captures very different moods that always -- even when seeming gloomy -- resonate with a trace of cheerfulness. The sounds he uses are arranged in a similar way to the images in his installations: small scraps or longer sequences are put into new contexts. Melodies or recurring soundscapes hold all this together, making the individual tracks appear much more self-contained than those on Eating, and less fragmentary and dispersed. His music has become more compositional, in its pieces and as a whole. Eating 2 by Takagi Masakatsu conveys an intensity and at the same time an openness that are almost mesmerizing at times. And you are constantly under the impression you weren't listening to something new and unfamiliar but to something that has always been very close to you."

Artist:	DONNA REGINA
Title:	Late
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 022CD

"Late is the new Donna Regina release and the third album by the Cologne duo Regina and Günther Janssen to appear on Karaoke Kalk. Their lyrics still tell of very personal questions, fears, longings and experiences, as on the albums before, and that spark of pop-like melancholy still resonates in them. Only the angle from which these thoughts and feelings are viewed seems to be a different one. The lyrics appear more confident, self-assured, bolder. In 'Not A Girl Anymore' Regina Janssen speaks of this fact without regrets or doubts but simply describes what it means to her. Less questions remain unanswered in the air. Instead, they are being thought through to the end and then presented, together with the answers, as experiences. The arrangements of the tracks, the related sound elements, melodies and instrumentations show a similar development. More experimentation takes place; new, as yet unknown facets emerge. Sometimes the tracks are unexpectedly electronic and minimal, then again remotely reminiscent of classic singer/songwriter tunes. With Late, Donna Regina have once again moved an enormous step forward. And again they succeed in surprising even those who had long been convinced anyway."

Artist:	PLURAMON FEAT. JULEE CRUISE
Title:	Dreams Top Rock
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 023CD

Repressed. "The new album is Pluramon's most accessible work today and features the voice of 'Twin Peaks' actress Julee Cruise. The songs on Dreams Top Rock have a powerfull, yet almost melodramatic 'wall of sound' impact that at points almost drifts away to return with a darker, even more striking song. 'For A Lie' might remind you older folks of rock-bands from the early 90s with a sound of today. The work for the album was very extensive and the collaboration between Julee and Marcus was intense not to say manic, if you know what we mean. But we're happy to present this kicking result as their first release on Karaoke Kalk. The man behind the scenes, Marcus Schmickler, is well known in a lot of different contexts related to electronic music, let it be techno, improvised music or even classical music and needs no further introduction (if so, check out the additional info). As well as earlier Pluramon albums featured appearances of guest musicians by Jackie Liebeziet (Can) or Jan Werner (Mouse On Mars), Dreams Top Rock features musicians Julee Cruise, Kevin Drumm, Marcus Schmickler, Jochen Rueckert, Hayden Chisholm, Felix Kubin and Keith Rowe."

Artist:	HAUSCHKA
Title:	Substantial
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 025CD

"The Scene: The Welsh mountains, remote and harsh, a special place. A good place to produce a special album. The characters: Volker Bertelmann in his friend Adam Fuests' studio, equipped with only a piano and a laptop. The Project: To record a album of piano music. Title: Hauschka. Substantial is a snapshot of a life spent with the black and white keys, and is simultaneously both moment and history, thought and feeling, yet without turning into a unduly meaningful concept album. Rather, Substantial is based upon the least conceptual of all concepts: Improvisation. Each track is based upon an opening sequence, the theme of which is extended, modulated and varied with, as far as form or length is concerned, no specific objective in mind. What has come out is music of a differing, well, substance: Eleven atmospheric pieces in which a variety of different techniques overlap and rhythmical images with narrative depth unfold; in which further instruments, such as double bass or vibraphone make a fleeting appearance, at once lending a hint of pop, but at no time detracting from the piano as central instrument; in which experimental and electronic music is accessed without compromising the directness and ease of the improvisational approach."

Artist:	SCHÄFER, PASCAL
Title:	Dawn
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 026CD

"After his EP Melodyexpress had already gained much attention, instrumentalist and DJ Pascal Schäfer has now released his first longplayer on Karaoke Kalk. And again Schäfer is surprising the listener with his fine sense for atmosphere/moods, composition and arrangement and his individual, unusual and associative use of a great variety of musical references including electronic, exotica, techno , ambient, jazz and minimal. Fine spun melancholy, emotional deepness, playful curiosity, contemplative introspection and bewitching still lives ... Dawn is a declaration of love to the suggestive power of music, to its open limits and its subtle magic. This is what dreams are made of."

Artist:	POTO & CABENGO
Title:	Poto & Cabengo
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 027CD

"Here it is, Jens Massel's new project together with Michael Cramm, who has already accompanied him occasionally on his Kandis releases. Listening to Poto & Cabengo for the first time will probably be a surprise -- contrary to expectation, you have to search for the familiar creaky crackly sounds of Jens Massel . . . they are still there, still fundamental to the cohesion of the music, but at large, the two of them follow very different tracks. Poto & Cabengo's music is influenced by country and folk, not without humour and not without the corresponding seriousness and a thorough knowledge of the typical characteristics of these styles. They have dug up the instruments again and combined them with their electronic gear to create an album so unique, so bare of reminiscences and so far from anything labelled 'zeitgeist' today that it can hardly be described. This is an album that is musically more than surprising, offers incredibly much to listen to and expresses something rarely found -- the fun in making music."

Artist:	TOOG
Title:	Lou Etendue
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 028CD

Feat. Asia Argento on vocals! "September 1914: the french poet Guillaume Apollinaire meets a fascinating young woman, Lou, in Nice. Seduced but quickly disappointed, he joins the troops in Nimes and starts to write the wonderful poems that will be collected and named 'Poems to Lou', after his death. September 2001: a few days before his flight to New York, Toog meets Asia Argento. The twin towers collapse. Having to stay in Paris, Toog imagines 'Lou Etendue', a musical piece in a threatening world, with Asia as the new Lou. He asks Digiki to produce the project. Toog is a french musician, born in Mulhouse in 1966. His first album, 6633, released in 1999, is a collection of electronic vignettes, often surrealistic. Easy Toog for Beginners, his second album, released in 2001, develops more sounds and structures. Both albums were released in the USA, Europe and Japan. Toog is an explorer, searching for new territories for contemporary chanson. Toog is also a poet, co-editor of TO, a bilingual poetry magazine.

Born in 1980, Digiki is a french sound artist, with a unique sense for re-contextualising sounds. After a series of remixes and collaborations in Europe and Japan, including a tour of Japan in 2003 with Momus, he's currently working on his own album. With influences ranging from hip hop, electronics, to guitar pop and classical, Digiki blurs the line between pop and experimentation, and delivers with Lou Etendue, a subtle mix of melodies and sound glitching. Asia Argento, daughter of 'giallo' movie director Dario Argento, is an actress, a model, a photographer, a writer, a painter, a mother and a critically acclaimed film director. Her second movie, The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things (2004), is based on JT Leroy's autobiographical memories. The film packs an all-stars cast (Winona Ryder, Peter Fonda, Marylin Manson, and Asia herself). Argento recently lent her inimitable voice for the Trash Palace project and Hector Zazou's last album."

Artist:	MARZ
Title:	Wir Sind Hier
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 029CD

"März's follow-up to their 2002 début Love Streams on Karaoke Kalk. Eleven new songs by Albrecht Kunze and Ekkehard Ehlers. It's all about positioning, i.e. the question of where you / I / we are standing now and here and in this particular moment; and März's songs describe the Here from their own personal perspective. It would seem to be the aspect of someone looking out from a park, if the titles 'März Im Park' ('Park in March') and 'Oktober Im Park' ('Park in October') are anything to go by; and yet it remains uncertain as to whether the fenced-off area of a park, with its circumscribed freedom -- simultaneously including and excluding -- is a place of relaxed tranquility, (deceptive) security or indeed a place of pacification. Places both conceivable and inconceivable superimpose themselves upon one another, and what remains is a feeling of uncertainty as to whether one should like to stay here or not. März seem to value the tension, which such unclear positions generate; or, put another way, they seem to want to endure it, for in the manner of a counter-design to this uncertainty, Wir Sind Hier evinces them continuing to fashion their inviting and seductive landscapes out of folk, pop and club influences: explicit, prodigal, subtly differentiated, but also displaying a greater desire to take risks than on Love Streams, so much so that only an idiot would chose not to tarry here a while. Tarry in the interstices of their world, between song and track, guitars and glockenspiel, banjos and bass drums, hounds and Hawaiian guitars, plug-ins and trombones . . . A musical world however, which does not try to emulate the park itself -- a separate, enclosed area; and yet is aware of the danger of being fenced-off and occupied, which is why März keeps the borders open, both musically and lyrically and provides enough space for typically hymnal offerings, such as 'Biber & Enten' ('Beavers & Ducks') (which moreover considerably augment their arsenal of strange and self-generated sounds) as well as space enough for improvisation and songs, which proclaim: was uns verändert / holt uns am Ende ein / was uns verändert / könnte ein Anfang sein. (the things that change us / will catch up with us in the end / the things that change us / could be just a beginning). Songs, which, for all the self-evident guise of High Pop, perpetually pose the question about positions, about themselves, itself, and thereby about me as well; songs, which circle around the question of position, of place and the quality of that place and thereby circle and encircle me until at some point or other (and almost automatically so), their question is my question: where am I -- here?"

Artist:	VA
Title:	Kalk Seeds: A Karaoke Kalk Compilation
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 030CD

From the Cologne school of minimal techno and electro-acoustical elements comes a compilation of the Kalk label's most inspired and quintessential artists. Kalk Seeds documents the spreading of the Kalk herb, particularly in Japan and in Germany. Sixteen tracks, (most of which have never been released) and one video-clip display the open and yet so specific profile of the (now Berlin) label that has been continuously releasing for eight years and running. Karaoke Kalk assembles music that is not happening anywhere else -- always docked on the here and now, exposing the most diverse sound-worlds, recently even those far from the electronic realms. Kalk Seeds starts off with Roman's elegantly formulated pop -- a fascinating preview of his second album. Listen to Hauschka's lyrical miniature on a manipulated piano, followed by Le Rok's odd beats and gentle harmonies, as well as Takagi Masakatsu's amazing song-excursions in Japanese melancholy, full of dramatic and beguiling fragility. In addition, you'll find Kalk classics like Donna Regina and März, whose music is as characteristic of the label as is that of the old heroes in new sounds like Sora/Garland and Kandis. From techno-structures, Beach Boys-harmonies, abstract electronics, minimal music or pop-experiments, Kalk Seeds lives in a special kind of energetic space in between artists like Pascal Schäfer and his rhythm constructions just as well as in Takeo Toyama's moving composition "Der Meteor." Other artists included feature Hausmeister, Toog, Pascal Schäfer, Kuchen, Mapstation, Leichtmetall, Kan Daisuke, and Poto&Cabengo. Some call it avant-pop, others ''Les Disques Du Crépuscule," Karaoke Kalk is the antithesis of Gemütlichkeit and genre-boredom -- it's growing and thriving.

Artist:	HAUSCHKA
Title:	The Prepared Piano
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 031CD

Pianist and composer Volker Bertelmann releases his second album with Karaoke Kalk, The Prepared Piano. With his debut release, Substantial, Bertelmann proved himself a master of deconstructed piano sounds, experimenting with form and the interplay of single, sustained piano notes against the backdrop of a few selected instruments. In the same way, The Prepared Piano is focused on just one piano, and a smattering of synthesizer, bass and drum, though it sounds as if there is an entire orchestra accompanying him. Tracing back his roots, and continuing a new tradition expressed by current composerArvo Pärt, Steffan Schleiermacher, Frangis Ali-Sade, Edison Denissow, and Philip Corner, Bertelmann rediscovers the masters of the prepared piano such as Bartok's contemporary Henry Cowell, John Cage, and Otto Schrager, with echoes of Satie and Ravel. Hauschka finds the possibilities in nontraditional technique, clamping wedges of leather, felt or rubber between the piano-strings, preparing hammers with aluminum paper or rough films, placing crown corks on the strings, or weaving in guitar strings. The result is small rhythmic sound-vignettes and quiet ballads which all have their roots in East Asian harmonies and minimalism. These are vivid, unconventional pieces of music that are made of playful research and child-like enthusiasm -- academically illuminated.

Artist:	DONNA REGINA
Title:	Slow Killer
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 032CD

Slow Killer is the new Donna Regina release by the Cologne-based melancholic electro pop duo Regina (vocals) and Günther Janssen (guitar). Slow Killer is a melodic tribute to their travels to foreign lands and unusual places, and the album fairly breathes with the excitement of meeting new people amidst the rush of getting from place to place. Since their last release late in September 2003, Regina and Günther Janssen together with their DJ and samples-trustee Steffen Irlinger have had more live appearances than in the preceding eleven years together. Thus, more new friends and old acquaintances have participated in Slow Killer than on any other previous release. The French musician and producer Bertrand Burgalat -- who set to music an album by and with Michel Houellebecq -- produced parts of "Lazy Heart." Sebastian Carreras, the musician and composer of the successful Argentinian trio Entre Rios wrote the lyrics to "Mirame, Miraba," which is Donna Regina's first track in Spanish and the first and only one which Regina Janssen didn't write herself. Thomas Fehlmann, a very early fan of the band himself, always wanted to remix one of their songs, but Donna Regina have taken it one step further and asked him to produce "Enemy - No Enemy." Labelmate Pascal Schäfer plays saxophone on two tracks and "Mirame, Miraba," and Theo Roos plays the mouth organ. With their sampled rhythms and analogue sounds, their swift and light changes from track to song and back, Donna Regina occupy their very own spot within the great world of beautifully-arranged pop music.

Artist:	ROMAN
Title:	So Ghost?
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 033CD

This is Cologne-based musician Roman's second album on Karaoke Kalk. Created out of pure, genuine pathos, So Ghost? is great pop meeting great gesture, with enthusiastically-raised arms waving from every corner. This is a highly demanding Janus-head-like album that changes its face with every track. Concerning his sounds and arrangements, Roman turns out to be a true daredevil: female choirs, over-amplified basses, staked-out keyboards and fan's noises from the background contrast with professional a cappella interludes. And overlaying everything is this voice somewhere between Aztec Camera, Style Council and Jacques Brel. An acoustic guitar (slightly out of tune) meets plastic synthies and a bolting drum computer. Skillfully-arranged beautiful string themes butt heads with a Gameboy's buzzing noises. Genuine club-stompers shake hands with samba-esque romances. And despite all its pomp and glory, So Ghost? still preserves the DIY charm of the bedroom production. Designed to elicit lighter-waving, teddy bear-throwing and misty eyes.

Artist:	SCHÄFER, PASCAL
Title:	Melody Express
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$8.50
Catalog #:	KK 033EP

"Melody Express is the name of Pascal Schäfer's debut EP on Karaoke Kalk. Holding it in your hands for the first time, it might come across as a little old-fashioned. The sleeve design, colouring and the title itself all bring to mind the aesthetics of early jazz singles. But don't be misled by this first impression, as these are only playful and maybe also a little faddist details. In fact, Melody Express turns out to be largely what the name already tells us: a series of melodies, harmonies, combined with curious beats and sounds. a musical train journey -- sometimes slow, then again faster, passing through six stations. The train never stops too long, nor does it carry any overload. On the contrary, the arrangements as well as the chords gain in charm by their simplicity while taking us through the most different moods on this short ride -- from the much cited melancholy to simply feeling like going to a café with old friends, sharing a huge piece of cake and talking about past experiences. And when you've finally reached the end of 'szczescie', it makes you want to start all over again because it's been so much fun. Even if this is all quite everyday stuff."

Artist:	GARLAND, WECHSEL
Title:	Easy
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 034CD

This is the third full-length release on Karaoke Kalk from Cologne-based Jörg Follert, aka Wechsel Garland. Easy finds Follert lending his voice in song to his dreamy electroacoustic instrumentations. There have been elements of both singing and song in his work before but not as distinctly arranged and not as forcefully set in scene. Approaches to more song-oriented tracks have been inherent from his Wunder project and Follert has been following his idea to travel in sound with various sketches that become more and more concrete. Creating delicate interplays between songs and instrumentals, these songs take their cue from minimal music and cool jazz, letting their elements communicate in a non-dogmatic manner. Various guests support the eclectic range of rhythms and sound details, including guest singers Yvonne Cornelius (aka Niobe) and Tusia Beridze, while Argentinan artist Gustavo Cerati extends the musical arc with his guitar, basslines and some additional sounds. Jörg Follert's second step is to take care that between the multitude of ideas, both songwriting- and sound-wise there still remains some gentle air to breathe. Touches of bossa nova, reggae, jazz pop and hints of Caetano Veloso make various lightweight appearances. Easy is the aural expression of a long, lazy afternoon.

Artist:	WELLS & MAHER SHALAL HASH BAZ, BILL
Title:	Osaka Bridge
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 035CD

This is the first collaboration between Scottish pianist/composer Bill Wells and willfully amateur Japanese ensemble Maher Shalal Hash Baz. The union of these two entities is an easy, natural one -- a union particularly apt and complementary. But this is not to say the recordings which make up Osaka Bridge are in any way seamless. Maher's horns strain and struggle with Wells' luscious arrangements, each note given all the stiff emphasis that you'd expect of a high school brass band at its first rehearsal, while songs fall in and out of rhythm. A track like "Poxy" smilingly misses its intended swing feel by a country mile. Of course, this is all part of the magic. Maher Shalal Hash Baz take Wells' rich, wistful and complex melodies and strip them back to their emotional core, disallowing all artifice and revealing a stark, serene beauty. Particularly affecting are "On The Beach Boys Bus" and "Time Takes Me So Back," the two tracks sung by Reiko Kudo (wife of Maher leader Tori Kudo). Both melodies came to Wells in dreams, the former sung by a group of tanned Californians on the way to a Beach Boys convention, the latter by his grandmother shortly before she passed away. Reiko's pure, artless voice gives each song a haunting fragility that enhances their dreamlike nature. "Cowtail Calypso," on the other hand, was born when Wells asked Tori Kudo to sing Roger Miller's "King Of The Road" over a syncopated, propulsive melody. Of the instrumental tracks, "Liquorice Tics" stands out for its rolling rhythms and circular melody, like a song played on a ferry traveling between two Japanese islands. "Family Sighs" has a resigned, brooding atmosphere. For the most part, the instrumentals are concise -- a melody stated once and then dispensed with -- but this brevity only heightens their impact. Taken as a whole, Osaka Bridge is an impressionistic document which captures fleeting moments and personal revelations at their most spontaneous and unaffected. Across a broad cultural and lingual divide, Bill Wells and Maher Shalal Hash Baz have come together in a psychic harmony that is both awkward and glorious.

Artist:	LEICHTMETALL
Title:	Wir Sind Blumen
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 036CD

This is the second full-length release on Karaoke Kalk for Munich-based Marion Dimbath and Nicola Schüpferling. Wir Sind Blumen is evocative of carefree springtime, easy weather, and stepping outside for a breath of fresh air on a slightly rainy day after a particularly cruel winter. The title translates to "we are flowers," and the title track was a perfect inclusion on the Kalk Seeds compilation -- a German pop song resplendent with a samba beat, tuba and French horn. And yet, if you dip a little deeper into the record there's more to it than just a sunshiney association. For one there's this remarkable openness that Leichtmetall demonstrate with their music and their way of dealing with everyday occurrences. Although filled to the brim with olde style, charming female vocals, chimes and music boxes, this record avoids coyness or naivete. Leichtmetall achieve a precious wholeness with few words and very basic imagery. Their musical appliances are reduced, almost sparse, but very classic. And above all they are unpretentious. Maybe even "dilettantish."

Artist:	LEICHTMANN, HANNO
Title:	Nuit du Plomb
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 037CD

This is Berlin-based Hanno Leichtmann's (Pole, Static, Vulva String Quartett, Kosmischer Pitch) first release under his own name. Nuit du Plomb conjures memories of days when every party, besides the obligatory dancefloor, had an ambient floor, too. Days when ambient served as a niche for creating music that just wouldn't have been possible in a band's collective and when musicians together with their entire electronic gear crouched on the floor and started jamming. Yet Hanno Leichtmann's new album has nothing to do with a glorification of the past. This is not least due to the fact that the music on Nuit du Plomb was originally made for a scenic lecture of Hans Henny Jahnn's novel The Night of Lead. It is rather a soundtrack recorded to illustrate the various scenes of the relatively unknown novel, the music supporting the sensation of images and spatiality. So although it wasn't his aim to make an ambient album, Hanno Leichtmann pushes this very diversified musical genre a little more to the fore again, proving that it hasn't been exhausted in all its possibilities. Hanno Leichtmann is best known through his current solo projects Static (City Centre Offices, Earsugar) and Vulva String Quartett (Combination), and here is another tantalizing aspect of his persona.

Artist:	WUNDER
Title:
Label:	KARAOKE KALK (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	KK 002CD