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12"
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KK 104EP
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With his third album Dear Stranger (KK 072CD/LP, 2013), Duesseldorf artist TG Mauss appeared for the first time on Berlins quality music label Karaoke Kalk. Proving once more his skills in meshing up folk pop with electronic music, he left a big mark on Hans Nieswandt (Whirlpool Productions), who now throws the track "Ghosts" into the club: a grooving funk bass played by Levent Canseven meets a rattling hi-hat and spacey sound effects. Mauss voice makes the disco ball and our dancing hearts pause for a moment, just to explode on the dancefloor. That's what you call state-of-remix-art.
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LP
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KK 072LP
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LP version with download code. Dear Stranger is the fourth full-length album by TG Mauss following his previous two albums Mechanical Eye (QS 165CD) and Gravity Will Keep Us All Together (QS 165CD) on the Belgian label Quatermass. The man from Düsseldorf also known as Torsten Mauss has been releasing records as TG Mauss since 2005, before which he put out several EPs under his early Twig moniker. This truly incomparable album opens with the unexpected combination of vocoder and what sounds like bag pipes on "OMG." "Tuesday" is a song which fuses atmospheric pop, noise drones and arpeggiated synths. "Welcome" conveys elements of post-rock, not least of all in the distinctive drumming sound. Besides his TG Mauss solo endeavors, Mauss also plays keyboards in the Sølyst project together with Thomas Klein, the drummer from Kreidler. This live drumming sound is also the driving force on "Ghosts," a downbeat ballad slightly reminiscent of Tarwater in its delicate vocal style and percussive element. The instrumental interlude "I'm a Child" is a pleasant foray into experimentalism and despite the title, proves with the use of ambient drones TG Mauss has a very high level of musical maturity. "Don't Argue" picks up the tempo again and its clear from the meticulous electronic production and driving rhythm why Mauss was selected to remix the likes of Roman and Hauschka, among others. The title-track of the album exchanges the electric guitar for an acoustic six-string, giving the song "Dear Stranger" a distinctly folk feel; this gently meandering drift even features the delightful sound of a recorder. "Sun King" is of course not a cover of the Lennon-McCartney composition from Abbey Road; rather, it bears that TG Mauss signature sound that by now everyone is familiar with. The penultimate tune "Dark" is actually light in timbre and mood -- the meditative loop purveys an anthemic majesty. Dear Stranger draws to a modest close with "Circle Lane," a delightful song rounded off with pizzicato plucked chords and some lovely lazy slide guitar. Dear Stranger is musically diverse enough to appeal to fans of electronica and post-rock as well as to singer-songwriting and folk-rock. The album revokes the old saying about not speaking to strangers; one listen to TG Mauss and you will want to get to know him better.
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CD
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KK 072CD
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Dear Stranger is the fourth full-length album by TG Mauss following his previous two albums Mechanical Eye (QS 165CD) and Gravity Will Keep Us All Together (QS 165CD) on the Belgian label Quatermass. The man from Düsseldorf also known as Torsten Mauss has been releasing records as TG Mauss since 2005, before which he put out several EPs under his early Twig moniker. This truly incomparable album opens with the unexpected combination of vocoder and what sounds like bag pipes on "OMG." "Tuesday" is a song which fuses atmospheric pop, noise drones and arpeggiated synths. "Welcome" conveys elements of post-rock, not least of all in the distinctive drumming sound. Besides his TG Mauss solo endeavors, Mauss also plays keyboards in the Sølyst project together with Thomas Klein, the drummer from Kreidler. This live drumming sound is also the driving force on "Ghosts," a downbeat ballad slightly reminiscent of Tarwater in its delicate vocal style and percussive element. The instrumental interlude "I'm a Child" is a pleasant foray into experimentalism and despite the title, proves with the use of ambient drones TG Mauss has a very high level of musical maturity. "Don't Argue" picks up the tempo again and its clear from the meticulous electronic production and driving rhythm why Mauss was selected to remix the likes of Roman and Hauschka, among others. The title-track of the album exchanges the electric guitar for an acoustic six-string, giving the song "Dear Stranger" a distinctly folk feel; this gently meandering drift even features the delightful sound of a recorder. "Sun King" is of course not a cover of the Lennon-McCartney composition from Abbey Road; rather, it bears that TG Mauss signature sound that by now everyone is familiar with. The penultimate tune "Dark" is actually light in timbre and mood -- the meditative loop purveys an anthemic majesty. Dear Stranger draws to a modest close with "Circle Lane," a delightful song rounded off with pizzicato plucked chords and some lovely lazy slide guitar. Dear Stranger is musically diverse enough to appeal to fans of electronica and post-rock as well as to singer-songwriting and folk-rock. The album revokes the old saying about not speaking to strangers; one listen to TG Mauss and you will want to get to know him better.
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CD
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QS 165CD
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Düsseldorf transplant via New York, this is TG Mauss' (Torsten Mauss) second solo record, having previously recorded as one half of the synth-pop electro duo Tonetraeger together with Volker Bertelmann (Music A.M., Hauschka). Mauss' debut, Mechanical Eye was a melodious boat trip, an acoustic calling card, and as was promised, the captain has not retired: the fantastic voyage continues. Gravity Will Keep Us All Together is not only the title of his second album, but a statement: whereas modern physicists still discuss whether gravity is all but a form of energy, Mauss acts in the spirit of visionary inventor Nikola Tesla and explores the universal force of music with his intuition as a guide. His adventurous experiments with percussion and guitar strings lead to the rediscovery of the common cultural denominator: pop. Drifting away from the constrictive worlds of minimal music towards his own multicolored cosmology, Mauss surprises with a cocktail of playful beat and Brit-pop melodies, stomping '80s disco and hippiesque country. A talented parodist, he even catches the dark mood of industrial without losing emotional warmth and joie de vivre. TG Mauss gives his music the space to develop and blossom, infecting listeners with a heartfelt happiness.
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CD
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QS 157CD
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Düsseldorf transplant via New York, this is TG Mauss' (Torsten Mauss) first solo record. Having previously recorded as one half of the synth-pop electro duo Tonetraeger together with Volker Bertelmann (Music A.M., Hauschka), Mauss has crafted his intimately-structured new release from retroactive memories of a dream-filled childhood. A soft wind, a warming breeze, each track on Mechanical Eye is a calm and thoughtful journey through minimal electronics, and soft, purring vocals. Each song is a brief story: in every departing wave a sound, a tone, in every white horse a voice, the glint of a guitar. What is created on Mechanical Eye is a fragile and delicate jewel and perhaps, ultimately, really treasure at the bottom of the ocean. Generous with shimmering samples, and with broad, catchy old-fashioned indiepop, it scarcely matters what you'd call it or what category you'd place it in, and these days that's more important than anything. Mauss is a pseudo-Vincent Gallo changing all the certainties that we no longer need into an idea to warm our world.
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