Browse by Label: STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)

Artist:	REZNICEK
Title:	Audi & Goggo
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	10"
Price:	$12.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 004EP

A 10" picture disc release. "New work by this audio and visual artist from Hamburg known for his releases on Wachsender Prozess and Odd Size as well as for collaborating with Klangkrieg. This 10" features two inspired series of miniature musique concrete pieces. 'Audi & Goggo' -- the stereo mix of the quadrophonic soundtrack to a multivision show -- is entirely made of voice sounds taken from private family tapes of the years 1965 to 1970. On 'Armgartburg' Reznicek works with sounds recorded in the house where he lives. A very personal statement convincing both musically and visually. Music with many ipm (ideas per minute)."

Artist:	INSTITUT FÜR FEINMOTORIK
Title:	Wenig Information: Kein Titel
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	LP
Price:	$12.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 005LP

"On this mini LP the group's work is focused on the acoustic sphere beyond usual gain signals. Elements of noise containing no original sense emerge to significant structures. The setup consists of six to eight 'empty' record players which means that no gain signals but the empty or manipulated lock grooves or the paper labels of the records are played. Besides that Institut Fuer Feinmotorik have found some other ways to generate acoustic signals out of empty record players: house-rubberbands, adhesive tape and tooth brushes are just a few instruments used to produce different sounds." "Audio-path non-congestion from this unnamed grouping of Staubgold-related individuals, recorded live between April & June 1998. It may all be a ruse but I sense the same sort of post-plate Brinkmann/Betke-isms (straight-line scratches 90 degrees from the travel of the tone arm, tempos of exactly 133.333~ BPM for the perfect synchronization of downbeat ones along the side-path) in linear-growth & random click/pop aesthetic. Something for the Mego/Oval/life set." -- Hrvatski.

Artist:	SACK & BLUMM
Title:	Sylvester Orchester 2000/Maus-Garage
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	7"
Price:	$6.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 006EP

Originally released in 1999. "After last year's highly-acclaimed Die Fuenfte Dengelophonie 7", Berlin/Cologne duo Sack and Blumm's single on Staubgold featuring two charming home electronica pieces. Sack & Blumm like to produce their music mechanically/physically in the room, using more or less everything that they can get in their hands. Structures arise from their curiosity in the origin and the physicality of sounds (wood, stone, sheet metal, paper, air... ) and from experimenting and playing with the materials (plucking, beating, rubbing, blowing). Musical instruments are based on these principles of generating sound and musical instruments can be everything and they can be found everywhere. The ones that you find in the toy stores are most of the times very attractive because they carry these very beautiful overtones in their ground noise level or they tend to be totally unpredictable which makes a high potential for surprising results. And not to forget, Sack & Blumm have both followed classical training before, on their instruments horn and guitar. Harald "Sack" Ziegler can also be heard as guest musician on Mouse On Mars' Niun Niggung CD."

Artist:	GROENLAND ORCHESTER
Title:	Ballistik
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$12.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 007LP

Remixes of tracks from their smash-up Trigger Happiness, originally released in 1999. "Groenland Orchester is the working relationship of two busy German guys: Gunter Reznicek, who also works under his own name and as Nova Huta, and Jyrgen Hall (aka Gunter Adler). Some of these works under their other alter egos are experimental, but with Groenland Orchester the two have found a way to play with precise electronic pop music. This is a highly sped-up sounds of tinkling keyboards, marimbas from patches and a general happy feel to all tracks. You may compare them to Dat Politics, except Groenland Orchester are much sweeter, less distorted. Groenland Orchester appear to have a much fuller sound, with more layers of DSP available, more ram and gigas on their computer. Very German, because very funny (that sounds like a contradiction, but for the majority of their underground electronic music it's true). Great stuff." --Vital Weekly

Artist:	REUBER
Title:	Anna
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	LP
Price:	$12.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 008LP

"First solo release (vinyl-only) by this member of Cologne electronic duo Klangwart. Following the paths of Klangwart's debut album Köln-Olpe, Reuber mixes his idea of Krautrock and minimalism with elements of musique concrete and a strong sense for subtle structures. Besides the usual electronic instruments Reuber uses trombone, voice, bass -- played by Jyrgen Hall (Groenland Orchester) -- and various percussion instruments. Comes in full-color cover designed by Lichtbad. A passionate exploration of rhythm and sound."

Artist:	ADLER, GUNTER
Title:	15 Electronic Pieces
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 009CD

"Jyrgen Hall, member of the Groenland Orchester, now releases on Staubgold his first solo CD using his alter ego Gunter Adler. Having a background in sound research and psychoacoustics, Hall appeared on the scene for the first time in the mid '90s, being a member of Hamburg's Stora Community and releasing music under the name Anubis. The 15 Electronic Pieces prove of Hall's long experience in working with electronic music. Being both a piece of very diligent work and a labor of love, his vivid electro-pop miniatures tell of adventurous travels to far away countries. His best trump card: simple and charming melodies."

Artist:	GROENLAND ORCHESTER
Title:	Trigger Happiness
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 010CD

"Founded in 1998, the Groenland Orchester produces electronic pop music of a special quality, cleverly avoiding the aesthetic traps of common dance music. The duo's background in sound experimentation is obvious, but there's always room enough for simple and sweet melodies. The orchestra's conductors are Reznicek (a.k.a. Nova Huta) and Jyrgen Hall. Reznicek (programming, orchestration, electric guitar) is already well known for his experimental solo releases, for his collaborations with Klangkrieg and Felix Kubin, and for his Las Vegas Show with artist and painter Mariola Brillowska. Jyrgen Hall (programming, transfer, bass guitar) is a specialist in psychoacoustics and psychophysics. He also releases solo works under the pseudonym of Gunter Adler."

Artist:	MAPSTATION
Title:	Sleep, Engine Sleep
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 011CD

"Second release (with 26+ minutes running time) by To Roccoco Rot member Stefan Schneider after his highly acclaimed solo debut on London's Soul Static Sound label in 1999. With Sleep, Engine Sleep, his second solo release, Stefan Schneider provides a beautiful collection of minimal pulsing rhythms, fragile melodies, and delicate sounds. The seven tracks on this mini album show a very intimate musical language simultaneously recalling Chain Reaction, Cluster, and the new school of 'clicks and cuts'."

Artist:	GROENLAND ORCHESTER
Title:	Nurobic
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 013CD

"Founded in 1998, the Groenland Orchester produces multi-dimensional electronic music of a special quality, cleverly avoiding the aesthetic traps of common dance music. Its background in experimental music is obvious and leads to an unique adventure in sound and structure created by as many as 40 orchestra members. Surreal pop for today's Hieronymous Bosch crowd. The orchestra's conductors are Günter Reznicek (aka Reznicek, Nova Huta) and Jyrgen Hall (aka Gunter Adler)."

Artist:	SACK AND BLUMM
Title:	2x5inch
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	10"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	STAUB 014EP

"After their highly acclaimed CD releases on Tom and Gefriem labels Sack (Cologne) and Blumm (Berlin) are back on vinyl and present themselves as solo musicians, each having recorded one side of this 10" mini album. Blumm's side is an adventurous collage of loops, rhythms and melodies, arranged in the style of a radio play and echoing the sound world of Sack & Blumm's previous duo work. Sack's five tracks are classic examples of his unique toy techno goes Dada pop style."

Artist:	AMBARCHI & MARTIN NG, OREN
Title:	Reconnaissance
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 015CD

"The first duo release by Australian composers Oren Ambarchi and Martin Ng from Sydney -- a trilogy of pieces based upon the fluid architectural modulation of harmonics and resonances. Recalling the landmark experiments of the Sonic Arts Union (Robert Ashley, David Behrman, Alvin Lucier and Gordon Mumma), Ambarchi and Ng create an enigmatic tapestry of pulsing, shimmering and shifting sound which represents a subtle and compelling realignment of Eastern and Western minimalist traditions. Oren Ambarchi's work to date has been rooted in the exploration and extension of the guitar's outer limits with solo releases Insulation on Touch and Stacte 3 on Plate Lunch as well as collaborations with Robbie Avenaim on Tzadik and AMM's Keith Rowe, Fennesz, Peter Rehberg and Pimmon on Ritornell. Electronic musician Martin Ng currently works with such diverse artists as Farmers Manual's Hiaz Gmachl and woodwinds player Jim Denley. The unique full-color art work accompanying this release was created by Viennese graphic designer Tina Frank (Mego)."

Artist:	BALANESCU, ETC., ALEXANDER
Title:	Lume Lume
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 016CD

"Co-released with Ars Electronica Center, Linz. During the Austrian Ars Electronica festival in September 2000 eight musicians led by well-known Romanian composer Alexander Balanescu came together to build a session group creating a 57-hour live soundtrack that was accompanied by daily performances. The recordings of these sessions made by Austrian national radio ORF show a fascinating confrontation of differing musical methods and styles through the collaboration of internationally renowned artists representing different generations. Balanescu himself edited the recordings to 17 pieces of various lengths, picking only the finest moments of this extraordinary four-day jam." Alexander Balanescu about Lume Lume: "I have experienced and come away with so much from Linz this year, working together with Sergio, members of To Rococo Rot, Siegfried, Rupert and Isabella. I was able to bring aspects of my music-making into sharp focus that would otherwise remain peripheral. These artists, with their own very particular areas of creativity, through an almost miraculous chemistry, managed to bring out the best of themselves and each other. I also learned how to play for and with the river, rain, wind, the changing sky, the back-drop of Linz's buildings, the passing ships, the people, dogs, the darkness and ourselves."

Artist:	TORAL, RAFAEL
Title:	Violence Of Discovery And Calm Of Acceptance
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	LP
Price:	$12.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 017LP

"The long awaited new album by this outstanding artist after his Aeriola Frequency CD from 1998 feat. 10 tracks recorded between 1993 and 2000 and comes in wonderful full-color sleeve designed by Jon Wozencroft. The CD version of this album is released by Touch (UK). Rafael Toral is a musician, producer and sound engineer. His work focuses mainly on the possibilities of ambient music (variable attention listening process), the electric guitar as a sound generator and improvisation with higher levels of risk (using instruments or systems that behave in unpredictable ways) in real time sonic exploration."

Artist:	REUBER
Title:	Ruhig Blut
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 018CD

"Ruhig Blut (meaning 'keep cool') is the second solo release by Timo Reuber, member of Cologne electronic duo Klangwart, after his amazing debut album Anna from last year (Staubgold 8). The album is about swinging between poles -- between A and B, city and countryside, living and working, ambient and beat. Reuber takes the artistic freedom and psychedelic spirit of the '70s, electronic equipment of the 80s and a 90s sound aesthetic to create his very own music for the new decade."

Artist:	VA
Title:	Staubgold
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$8.00
Catalog #:	STAUB 020CD

Lo-priced label introductory sampler CD. "14 tracks + video. Feat. Alexander Balanescu, To Rococo Rot, Mapstation, Ekkehard Ehlers, Groenland Orchester, Institut Für Feinmotorik, Reuber, Rafael Toral etc. Gorgeous string sounds besides vivid electro miniatures -- fragile clicks and cuts side by side with anarchic rhythm structures -- in between: psychedelic freakout, beautiful feedback drones, burlesque Dada pop. Wide space at the end. What sounds heterogeneous in description, proves on this compilation to be an as homogeneous as adventurous sound journey through the catalogue of Cologne's Staubgold label. Its international artists share an enthusiasm for fresh sounds and structures which leads to very individual musical statements off the beaten track. Founded in 1998 by musician and journalist Markus Detmer, Staubgold provides a platform for the most different musical styles which still have one thing in common -- they all want to inspire, touch and seduce."

Artist:	TO ROCOCO ROT
Title:	Kölner Brett
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 022CD

"12 exclusive new tracks recorded by the trio of Lippok/Lippok/Schneider. Kölner Brett is the name of a building, designed by Cologne architects b&k+ in 2000, that blends living and working in each of its single units. On the occasion of Archilab, an architectural exhibition held at Orleans in May 2001, b&k+ and Staubgold present a musical translation of the Kölner Brett, composed by To Rococo Rot. The music of To Rococo Rot reflects the architectural grid (twelve equally sized modules giving structure and shape to the building as a whole) as well as the possible individual living and working conditions of the dweller, respectively."

Artist:	DELAY, VLADISLAV
Title:	Naima
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 023CD

"Exclusive live recordings from the Ars Electronica Klangpark 2001. For this exclusive release Vladislav Delay compiled the best moments of his live recordings during the Klangpark sessions at Ars Electronica festival 2001. On the basis of the sound material used on his current studio album Anima (Mille Plateaux) Delay transformed the park near the river Danube into an impressive acoustic environment. Music for a river and for passers-by. Out of his home in Helsinki, Finland, Delay has brought forward a new directive into the sounds of dub and minimal electronics, placing him as one of the premier artists involved in the recent wave of electronic dub hybrids. His music, released on labels like Mille Plateaux, Chain Reaction and Sigma, is a continuous mix that reveals itself beyond audio design. Delay succeeds in developing his new methods of production and altering music as it is typically translated. Rather than familiar electronic traits of looping sounds, the music continually develops in an organic flow, thus giving the interpretation that perhaps the music is less a digital excursion and more an instrumental development."

Artist:	MAPSTATION
Title:	New Direction
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	12"
Price:	$8.00
Catalog #:	STAUB 024EP

"New vinyl-only EP by Stefan Schneider (To Rococo Rot). The title track of this new Mapstation release is a soulful dub meets electronica anthem featuring Ras Donovan from Tikiman's Berlin posse on vocals. Still being a 'new direction' for Schneider who before has only worked with vocals on his 12" in Domino's Model 500 series, the combination with Donovan's rich narrative voice appears like the logical extension of his intimate electronics which simultaneously recall Chain Reaction, Cluster and the school of clicks and cuts. The instrumental version of 'New Direction' and 'Stop', another new track on this EP, reveal the full beauty of Schneider's minimal pulsing rhythms, fragile melodies and delicate sounds. The fourth track finally is an a cappella version of 'New Direction' with Donovan's pure vocals being a perfect DJ tool."

Artist:	INSTITUT FÜR FEINMOTORIK
Title:	Penetrans
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 025CD

"Long expected new album by Southern German turntable rockers and clicks'n'cuts veterans Institut Fuer Feinmotorik; 8 killer tracks created on up to 8 'empty' record players prepared with household materials... Name of the project: Institut Fuer Feinmotorik (= institute for precision motoricity). Purpose: different occupations in different formats; among a.o. organization of events (Entertainment/Music/Fine Arts), marginal reflections on the subject of the term of precision motoricity in different contexts, experiment setups for the production of sound and light works, concentration on reduction of the instruments, among others interest in acoustic phenomena around the record player, indeed along with abandonment of records; accompanying motto: 'To produce from almost nothing almost nothing'. Since 1997 different presentations with the concept of 'empty' record players, thereby 2-4 persons play approx. 8 record players under the application of different handicraft-materials in a music performance."

Artist:	ZIEGLER, HARALD SACK
Title:	Kopf Zahl Bauch
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 028CD

"Over a period of more than one and a half year, Cologne based artist Harald 'Sack' Ziegler, partner in Sack & Blumm as well as collaborator with Mouse On Mars, worked on these 11 tracks of his new album. Guest musicians Mouse On Mars, Joseph Suchy, Marcus Schmickler, FX Randomiz, Reuber, Blumm, Guido Möbius and Ron Martin contributed to the recording process, not by remixing tracks, but by adding to and finishing the material that Harald gave them. Kopf Zahl Bauch is Harald 'Sack' Zieglers strongest and most complete solo release to date, going new ways in sound, but keeping the humorous Dada pop style which is a trademark of him. The shimmering mix of cheap electronica, German vocals, weird rhythms, samples and guitars almost always manages to stick to a more or less loose song format which will heavily appeal not only to fans of early New German Wave."

Artist:	MAPSTATION
Title:	A Way To Find The Day
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 029CD

"Names on maps are often more than mere geographical terms. They are sound and color, dream and memory, mystery and magic, and it is a moment of wonderful gracefulness when one day you look at them with your own eyes and they are taking shape. A way to find the day is the first album of Mapstation at full-length and it comes along as a flamboyant soulful piece of music. While the pre-released 12" 'New direction' managed to raise high expectations, A Way to Find the Day picks up the tension and gives way to 43 minutes of attentive and curious dynamics, rhythmic irrealities and gently warm disorder. Since a bit more than two years Mapstation has been the imprint of Stefan Schneider who is also playing bass and electronics with the Düsseldorf/Berlin trio To Rococo Rot. Mapstation's music is closer to minimalist techno but brings the euphoria of the genre together with charming slow-downs of pace and bpm. Did the tracks on the preceding mini-album Sleep, Engine Sleep predominantly explore the shifts from daylight to dream, A Way to Find the Day is effortlessly able to impress with even more subtle shapes of resonance plus slightly unexpected and chliché-free branchings to reggae music. This dimension to Mapstation comes from the influence of recent Jamaican dancehall reggae, with Schneider citing its corporation of electronic sounds, and his own practice of mixing reggae a cappellas into his DJ sets. On A Way to Find the Day Schneider takes the idea further into a stunning collaboration with reggae singer Ras Donovan."

Artist:	EHLERS, EKKEHARD
Title:	Plays
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 030CD

"This amazing 76min CD contains Ehlers' complete Plays vinyl, originally released on Staubgold and the Dutch Bottrop-Boy label. Staubgold released the mini LPs Plays Albert Ayler, Plays John Cassavetes and Plays Hubert Fichte while the 7" singles Plays Robert Johnson and Plays Cornelius Cardew came out on Bottrop-Boy. 'The 'Plays' series deals with 'reference'', explains Ehlers. 'Everyone is sampling; sampling is the figure of historic devices in digital music. My idea is not to sample, but to refer to historic places and figures.' For the series Ehlers has assembled an intriguing constellation of figures, from actor/film maker John Cassavetes to German author Hubert Fichte, and only the Cardew pieces contain actual samples. 'Reference is a basic structure in digital music', Ehlers continues. 'I'm trying to deal with that more abstractly.' That abstraction is as much macroscopic as microscopic: the back cover of each vinyl record features a photograph of the region the artist of the title came from, filmed by a NASA satellite. An artist and educator based in Frankfurt, Ehlers recorded his first works for Mille Plateaux and its offshoot Ritornell in 1998, as part of the Autopoieses duo with Sebastien Meissner. Since then he has used the aliases Auch and Betrieb (for Force Inc and Klang Elektronik respectively), and teamed up with Albrecht Kunze in the group März."

Artist:	KLANGKRIEG/GUNTER ADLER
Title:
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	LP
Price:	$12.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 031LP

"...exciting split album by Hamburg's finest noise makers... Klangkrieg have been founded in 1987 by Felix Knoth and Tim Buhre from Hamburg, Germany. In futuristic tradition the group processes the big city noise and the whispering of power lines into electroacoustic compositions which are documented on digital and analog records. Artificial and natural sounds are edited in harsh cut-ups or fine transitions, violence and sensibility stay close to each other. Gunter Adler is the alter ego of Jyrgen Hall, together with Reznicek member of Hamburg's Dada pop super group Groenland Orchester. Adler's pieces on this split album show his experimental and scientific side in full effect."

Artist:	AMBARCHI & KEITH ROWE, OREN
Title:	Flypaper
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 032CD

"Oren Ambarchi (guitar & electronics), Keith Rowe (tabletop guitar & electronics). These recordings depart wildly from anything that either Rowe or Ambarchi have produced before. This speaks volumes when you consider the combined weight of their explorations to this point. Amazingly, neither player falls back on past gestures or comfortable proven techniques. The result is four startling electro-acoustic environments. Only David Tudor's Rainforest has gone so far to create a world that is at once highly electronic, yet totally organic, without resorting to base mimicry of natural sounds. It evokes the sea, an immovable mass of fluidity, in a way that Roland Kayn would admire. But having said that, there is little to compare this to. The four pieces on this disc could be field recordings from lost civilizations. Comes in digipak with artwork by Keith Rowe."

Artist:	THILGES 3
Title:	Die Offene Gesellschaft
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 033CD

"Viennese trio Thilges 3 now presents its first full-length album release Die offene Gesellschaft which translates as 'the open society'. As well as with their previous releases, the basis of this project is a series of live performances, this time held in the small Austrian city of Feldkirch in the summer of 2001. Thilges 3 performed with children in a nursery home, played in front of Buddhist monks, criminals and old people. Field recordings captured at the various locations, live material and studio work were combined and condensed to 8 diverse pieces that found their way on this album. Thilges 3: Armin Steiner, Gammon, Nik Hummer, a formation founded in 1996 out of a spontaneous live performance, are working and experimenting with 'live performance electroacoustic installations' utilizing only analog synthesizers for sound generation and engineering. The flexible use of this technology enables a dynamism far beyond usual MIDI logic. Through permanent work on the configuration of the various modules new ideas form all the time which surpass concepts of mere sound creation. Since live performances reflect the ultimate goal for Thilges 3 the confrontation with the sound potential / architecture of the venue are an integral part of their music. The rapid motion of sound patterns combined with the free movement of the listener provides a completely new access to rhythmic electronic music."

Artist:	HUBER, RUPERT
Title:	Open Air Radiotopia
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 034CD

"The release of the Radiotopia album, compiled and edited by Rupert Huber (Tosca), is the third collaboration between the Austrian Ars Electronic Center and Cologne's Staubgold label, after Alexander Balanescu's Lume Lume, and Vladislav Delay's Naima. Participating artists include Alexander Balanescu, Rupert Huber, Andres Bosshard, Lukas Ligeti, Sam Auinger, Bruce Odland, Isabella Bordoni, Lorenzo Brusci and many more. Strictly limited to 1000 copies worldwide, this CD documents the fascinating 'Radiotopia' sound/network project as presented during the open air Klangpark at last year's Ars Electronica festival. Radiotopia, the largest and most extensive of projects ever launched by the Ars Electronica festival, was simultaneously a demonstration and an attempt. On the one hand it was a demonstration of the evolvement in the Internet and other transmission and data manipulation technology over the course of the years, on the other hand -- perhaps more significantly -- it was an attempt to illustrate the points and areas where the Internet and other technologies still have difficulties and weaknesses, and to indicate pathways for future improvements and developments. The center of Radiotopia was the global sound network database designed by August Black and Norbert Math. It was a simultaneous storage bank of freely accessible sound material that transcended time, location, cultural and geographical borders. Anyone with access to the Internet was able to join in. This sound network database (with a total of over 500 submissions) was the basis of the material that the international artists invited to the festival worked with."

Artist:	VA
Title:	Music Out Of Place
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$8.00
Catalog #:	STAUB 035CD

"... 50min of finest Staubgold sounds ... feat. Faust, F.S. Blumm, Ekkehard Ehlers, Mapstation, Oren Ambarchi, Sun, Joseph Suchy, Reuber, Harald 'Sack' Ziegler feat. Marcus Schmickler, Institut Fuer Feinmotorik, Thilges 3, Scott Horscroft + Klangwart . Music out of place, Staubgold's second label compilation, gives a beautiful and inspiring overview of the label's strong and diverse roster. Available in shops at the price of a 12", the compilation presents the core of Staubgold including already known acts like Ekkehard Ehlers, Mapstation and Institut Fuer Feinmotorik as well as it introduces quite some artists that are new to the label -- first of all Faust (CD/LP in November), but also F.S. Blumm (new album in October) and especially Sun, Oren Ambarchi's singer/songwriter pop project (dbl album in spring 2003)."

Artist:	BLUMM, F.S.
Title:	Ankern
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 036CD

"On his second solo album after last year's Mondkuchen multi-instrumentalist Frank Schültge aka F.S. Blumm from Berlin presents again a multitude of lovely instrumental pop songs, with his guitar, horn and trumpet (Harald 'Sack' Ziegler), vibes (Patrick Leuschner), mbira, kalimba and toy piano being the favorite ingredients of his sound kitchen. The musical result is in a way original that the popular namedropping doesn´t help that much to describe F.S.Blumm´s music. Nevertheless bands and projects like Gastr Del Sol or others who work on the combination of improvised elements with pop-approved structures come to mind, as well as American folk pioneer John Fahey or minimal music representatives Pauline Oliveros and David Behrman for their similar sense of poise and release."

Artist:	FAUST
Title:	Patchwork 1971-2002
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 037CD

"'Yes. Faust will forever be heralded as a pioneer in the electronic/rock avant garde, emerging in the early seventies branching off from Brit/American commercial rock bands, employing the use of alterior sonic landscapes to create a new musical tangent.' (Alternative Press). For this very special release Staubgold label manager Markus Detmer and Faust member Hans Joachim Irmler compiled unreleased Faust recordings from 1971 to 2002, covering the legendary Wümme Years (1971 - 1973) and the time at Virgin's Manor studios (1974- 1975) as well as their new start in the early 80s and recent years. Compiled as a collage, as the title suggests, Patchwork unfolds the core qualities of Faust and gives a deep impression of their working method."

Artist:	MAPSTATION FEAT. RAS DONOVAN
Title:	Version Train
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	STAUB 038CD

"Version Train is the latest excursion from the consistently engaging Mapstation, featuring some beautiful new pieces and a couple of abstractions/developments from the previous set, A Way To Find The Day. These cuts, 'Wake Up' and 'Gravity', are wryly cited as 'versions' (in the Jamaican tradition), and in particular show off the understanding that the main collaborators, Stefan Schneider and Ras Donovan, now have for the drift of this music: creating pretty patterns, then breaking them up, moving forward as one, and then contradicting each other. On 'Be True' we hear Donovan sounding at his sweetest, tossing off his lines like it's a super-warm Jamaican production with a gorgeous melodic base, instead of Schneider's rather colder North European design. Other times the roles reverse, and we remember Schneider's role in To Rococo Rot is usually to bring the melody. Version Train also introduces two new elements to the Mapstation equation: DJ singer, Scallo, from Donovan's group (both also perform live with Tikiman), and Martin Brandlmayr from Vienna-based unit, Radian. While these interventions suggest that, like their name, Mapstation is always in some flux, always restless, somehow Version Train also seems very much like an encapsulation of all the Mapstation styles, and really it's a perfect introduction to the group."

Artist:	SUN
Title:	Sun
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	2CD
Price:	$16.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 039CD

"Staubgold proudly presents the self-titled debut album from the Sydney duo Sun, licensed from Australia's Preservation Records for exclusive worldwide release, and accompanied by a complete bonus remix album feat. mixes of all original tracks by Hrvatski, Mapstation, Pluramon, Christoph Heemann, Tom Recchion, Rafael Toral, Pimmon and Voice Crack. Sun is the unusual pairing of world renowned experimental guitarist Oren Ambarchi and Australian music figurehead Chris Townend. Sun confirms its authors as two truly original music minds, a languid and sweet pop creation, brimming with sly invention in its classicist frame. These songs simply float into the consciousness with a grand air and sublimely delicate touch. There's an easy warmth to Sun as well as some darker surprises for added depth and nuance."

Artist:	EHLERS, EKKEHARD
Title:	Politik Braucht Keinen Feind
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 041CD

"With his new album after the highly acclaimed Plays series in 2002, pop musician and sound artist Ekkehard Ehlers presents his first fully composed works. 'Mäander' and 'Blind' are based on manipulated bass clarinet and cello recordings which Ehlers arranges like an orchestra in his laptop. Opposed to the pop music he produces with Albrecht Kunze in März, this is avant garde music put into dreamlike states and finally looping in endless circles of magic fragile sound. coming in a foldout digipak with accompanying poster, Politik Braucht Keinen Feind is Ehlers' both musically and visually most advanced artistic statement to date. Ekkehard Ehlers lives in Frankfurt/Germany. His large discography includes releases with autopoieses (La vie á noir, Mille Plateaux, 1999) and März (März, Karaoke Kalk, 2002) as well as his debut CD Betrieb (Mille Plateaux, 2001) on which he put samples of Arnold Schönberg and Charles Ives into new perspective. Last year's CD Ekkehard Ehlers Plays was a musical homage to free jazz legend Albert Ayler, blues singer Robert Johnson, filmmaker John Cassavetes, composer Cornelius Cardew and writer Hubert Fichte. His project März successfully realized his idea of new electronic folk pop. Ekkehard Ehlers also teaches time based media at Stuttgart's Merz Academy for Design."

Artist:	SACK & BLUMM
Title:	Kind Kind
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 042CD

"Three years after their phenomenal Shy Noon album on the seminal Gefriem label Harald 'Sack' Ziegler and Frank Schültge Blumm continue a home recording series that travels between their postboxes since 1999. Sack & Blumm are not a band or a studio project, but may be described rather as a home recording project that was conceived independently in their bedroom studios in Berlin and Cologne. Instead of being sequenced on computers, the music lives from the experience of two true musicians. Folk themes are set against digital fragmentations. Sounds are taken from everywhere. Instruments include horn, kalimba, tabla, bass, knitting needles, toy drums and toy piano, melodica, mbira and more. Even Rod Stewart is hidden somewhere on this album."

Artist:	SUCHY, JOSEPH
Title:	calabi.yau
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 043CD

"'Not a rocker. Not an electronic artist. A sensual, a feeling person. No copy-art. In these times of senseless struggles for sovereignty at the musicians' regular table, Suchy is the cowboy with the Indian's face.' This is what one of Germany's biggest daily newspapers recently wrote about Joseph Suchy, 'Cologne's very own professor of guitar research'. They got it spot on. In the global improv & avant garde community, the born Franconian is no unknown person. He collaborated with artists like David Grubbs, Ekkehard Ehlers, Niobe and FX Randomiz; he is a permanent member of Burnt Friedmann's Nub Dub Players; and he was one of the founders of Cologne-based cult-improv-label Grob. The musical sensitivity of this slightly odd artist in his mid-forties is hard to match. calabi.yau is Suchy's new solo-outing. It's a music of delicate sounds, in which acoustic guitars and electro-acoustic signals are woven into non-linear, fragile sound sculptures. At times, this music borders on sensory deception (what is this sound? Electric or acoustic?); it is an illustrated broadsheet of a strange, yet familiar reality. Suchy cunningly and imperturbably evades the categorizations of contemporary modern music: What he does is giving his listeners a carte blanche to dream. Or, as the artist himself puts it: 'Music in search of the freakwave'."

Artist:	IRMLER, HANS JOACHIM
Title:	Lifelike
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 044CD

"The first official solo album of any of the original fAUST-members ever to be released. Lifelike was conceived by Irmler as 'a biography in sound' (sounds like the title of a 'Best of James Last'-Album, doesn't it? But even that may be part of a plan...). And it's strictly sounds, there are no words in here (at least none discernible). He wanted to describe a person's life through sound. And this is what fAUST have always been good at: to find strange and unusual sounds to trigger their listeners' imagination. This record mirrors the growth of a human being in its microstructure and evolution of life in general in its macrostructure. At the beginning, the listener can hear the sounds of a bubbling primordial soup. Out of this, a simple, innocent theme takes a shy peek. A life is born; melody evolves out of sound. This peaceful growth soon becomes interrupted by industrial noises (is there a war going on?) -- and so we're already into the story after track 2. What Irmler does is the antithesis of so many productions in the field of 'modern electronic music'. Irmler cunningly disturbs simple patterns and shifts them so slightly that at first, it only registers in your subconscious. Thus you are disturbed but you don't know by what. Another point in favor is that this music is nowhere as hectic as many other productions are nowadays with their clicks and beats. This music gives the listener time & space to step inside and if he or she wishes to inhabit this music. From the view of form, Lifelike even resembles classical music with its recurring and interwoven themes."

Artist:	RAND AND HOLLAND
Title:	Tomorrow Will Be Like Today
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	STAUB 045CD

"Rand And Holland is the golden pop vehicle of a longstanding member of Sydney's experimental music scene, Brett Thompson. Not unlike label-mates and fellow travellers Sun (Thompson works with Chris Townend and Scott Horscroft at Bigjesusburger Studios), Rand and Holland manage to produce maximum emotional impact by the simplest and most direct means. Here every sound has integral purpose and meaning, drawing the listener into an intimate and uniquely personal world. Emotions are laid bare with an honesty and clarity rarely seen in pop music today. A stunning debut and one for the ages. Built around the voice of Brett Thompson, Rand And Holland love the spaces as much as they love the sounds. This sparse album recalls the moods of Mercury Rev, Yo La Tengo and Smog. Its songs manage to find the balance between epic and intimate, carried by a deeply resonant vocal and direct, unaffected lyricism. Tomorrow Will Be Like Today was produced by both Brett Thompson and Sun's Chris Townend. Guest musicians include Townend, Oren Ambarchi and Scott Horscroft."

Artist:	KAT COSM
Title:	Knightboat
Label:	STAUBGOLD (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$12.00
Catalog #:	STAUB 047CD

"Features remixes by Leafcutter John (Planet µ), TenEcke (Calla) and Mondomarc (Mondo Fumatore). It's the small things in life which make sure that though being chained to all kinds of dreary everyday routines you do not forget that life is essentially beautiful. When the sun is shining, when somebody unexpectedly turns and smiles at you or when you discover some beautiful new music -- that's life. This new record by Kat Cosm is like all these things at once. When listening to it, you'll probably feel a pale winter sun shine on your face or it will simply make you smile. And of course it's a great record.

       And here are the facts: Jana Plewa and Sebastian Skalei are the two Berlin-based singer-songwriters at the core of Kat Cosm (I say core, because everybody who is in any way involved in this project can be regarded as being 'in the band' -- for example, when Sebastian talks about the guy who designed the cover, he talks about him like a member of the band). For this mini-album, they present two new songs which they composed and recorded at their respective homes. The songs are located almost exactly in the middle between electro-acoustic music and classic songwriting. Jana and Sebastian made sketches of these songs on guitar or piano, but recording them with the computer -- an instrument which they use very playfully -- is what gave them their final shape. Another trademark of this record is its richness in variety. Not only can one hear echoes from all genres and periods of popular music of the last 35 years, but Jana and Sebastian also take it in turns to sing. On top of that, we get a nice instrumental ('Hotgirl') and a demo by the title of 'Circe' which could have been one of Syd Barret's more beautiful songs -- if Syd had cared to write it, that is. Compared to their last album, this record also has a much better sound. Think as you may about the advantages of analogue recording; what Jana and Sebastian are demonstrating here is that it is very well possible to create a warm and rich sound at your PC. And if the term hadn't already been invented by Nicolas Currie a.k.a. Momus, I'd say that with this mini-album, Jana and Sebastian created a genre of their own: 'Folktronic'. So they may not be its inventors, but they're at least one of its protagonists.

       More of less as a bonus, we are presented with three remixes of the first track. Leafcutter John (Planet µ) in his mix emphasises both the songwriting-side and the electronic aspect of Kat Cosm's music. Thus it sounds like an update of the Beach Boys before mutating into almost grotesque digital noise. The second remix is supplied by TenEcke (Calla). He deconstructs the original piece without robbing it of its original charm. The final remix is by Mondomarc (Mondo Fumatore; Marc and Gwen have also contributed additional vocals to the original track). He puts beats at the track's centre and creates something completely new from the source material. And now the record is over and the only thing left to do is to invite you to join (ladies and gentlemen): The Kat Cosm."