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CD
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BB 132CD
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"Not long after Hans-Joachim Roedelius (Cluster, Harmonia) and Stefan Schneider (To Rococo Rot, Kreidler, Mapstation) had released their first album Stunden, accompanied by a few live shows in 2011, Eric Satie and Brian Eno were quoted as the great inspiration for their musical collaboration. Fine references no doubt, one having invented musique d'ameublement, and the other having refined it into ambient music 80 years later. Yet Tiden does not sit easily in either camp. This is neither tasteful decor (à la Satie), nor is it electronic-auditory space-filler (à la Eno), gazing towards infinity. The short duration of the 13 pieces is enough to discount either genre. Better to consider these as concentrated, inspired études, carefully thought through and in no way random or sketchy. With cheerful gravitas, the two artists create absolute music -- music which desires only to be itself, without ulterior effects and with the declared intent of involving the listener in his emotional, inventive game. Perhaps Franz Schubert's moments musicaux would be a more suitable citation. The lightness and atmospheric intimacy of this music reveal Roedelius (grand piano, synthesizer) and the decades younger Schneider (Elektronik) as musicians who understand how to listen to one another and improvise on each other's ideas immediately. The result is a lively, relentless interplay of great composure, more surprising than any tide could be, as precise calendars exist for tidal flows. Roedelius can already look back on an adventuresome career in music. Schneider has also prospered through exciting decades in contemporary pop. This is the second time their paths have crossed. Tiden keeps the promise which their first album made -- genial contemporary music from two artists who are as one in heart and soul. And when Roedelius steps on the pedal of his grand piano, well, it squeaks a little." --Asmus Tietchens
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LP+CD
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BB 132LP
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LP version on 180 gram vinyl. Comes with a CD of the album. "Not long after Hans-Joachim Roedelius (Cluster, Harmonia) and Stefan Schneider (To Rococo Rot, Kreidler, Mapstation) had released their first album Stunden, accompanied by a few live shows in 2011, Eric Satie and Brian Eno were quoted as the great inspiration for their musical collaboration. Fine references no doubt, one having invented musique d'ameublement, and the other having refined it into ambient music 80 years later. Yet Tiden does not sit easily in either camp. This is neither tasteful decor (à la Satie), nor is it electronic-auditory space-filler (à la Eno), gazing towards infinity. The short duration of the 13 pieces is enough to discount either genre. Better to consider these as concentrated, inspired études, carefully thought through and in no way random or sketchy. With cheerful gravitas, the two artists create absolute music -- music which desires only to be itself, without ulterior effects and with the declared intent of involving the listener in his emotional, inventive game. Perhaps Franz Schubert's moments musicaux would be a more suitable citation. The lightness and atmospheric intimacy of this music reveal Roedelius (grand piano, synthesizer) and the decades younger Schneider (Elektronik) as musicians who understand how to listen to one another and improvise on each other's ideas immediately. The result is a lively, relentless interplay of great composure, more surprising than any tide could be, as precise calendars exist for tidal flows. Roedelius can already look back on an adventuresome career in music. Schneider has also prospered through exciting decades in contemporary pop. This is the second time their paths have crossed. Tiden keeps the promise which their first album made -- genial contemporary music from two artists who are as one in heart and soul. And when Roedelius steps on the pedal of his grand piano, well, it squeaks a little." --Asmus Tietchens
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CD
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BB 089CD
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Stunden is the unique and unprecedented new record of instrumental music by electronic pioneer Hans-Joachim Roedelius (Cluster, Harmonia) and Stefan Schneider (To Rococo Rot, Kreidler , Mapstation). In twelve miniatures, with titles such as "Liebe", "Das Eine" and "Country," Stunden unfolds images that come across with a poetic, glorifying tranquility. Despite the use of synthesizers and amplifiers, these songs are closer to the texts of Adalbert Stifter than to the machine music of Kraftwerk. By all accounts, Roedelius' work with the likes Dieter Moebius and Michael Rother (in Cluster and Harmonia) as well as Brian Eno (on 1977's Cluster & Eno and 1978's After The Heat) are considered blueprints for today's electronica. He began releasing solo albums in 1978 and on his second album, 1979's Jardin au Fou, was already exploring the interplay between piano and electronics, a synthesis which is also the core of Stunden. Roedelius and Schneider first decided to work together at a Cluster concert in Berlin in 2007 and the idea for the album came after their first joint appearance in the Berger Kirche, a 17th Century church in Düsseldorf. The music was intended to match the location of the concert: Sounds for a vestry, to which Roedelius spoke his own texts. Stunden was created in the early months of 2010. While the initial reference for the collaboration was their concert experience, the concept gradually opened up and the lyrics fell away, until there was only one proviso: The music should be quiet -- otherwise anything goes. Stunden is a bold and inspired record, with a focus on Roedelius' piano playing while Schneider lays synthesizer sounds around it. Other pieces feature guitar, zither, digital and analog synths. Together, the pieces create an impression of pleasant vagueness. This is music for the room which opens upwards.
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LP
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BB 089LP
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LP version on 180 gram vinyl. Includes download code.
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