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'Flussdichte' is the third Tietchens / Myers collaboration. In this case, Myers sent Tietchens some material, and Tietchens went in the studio and built the pieces from this material. The result definitely has Tietchens' stamp on it — you could play it for any Tietchens fan and we'd guess it was his. (That's especially apparent to me when I hear sound that makes me think I'm in a submarine. No, I haven't been in one, but you may know this sound from movies, where the submarine is deep below the surface, and has its own ambient sounds coming from outside.) There are also some lovely melodic bits on the CD, including cut 6 ("T31:M5/10"), which sounds like amusement-park organ music, possibly emanating from an ancient merry-go-round. I won't try to describe any more — you will enjoy your own sound pictures when your allow you mind to drift with this CD playing.
Highly recommended.
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According to Asmus Tietchens' web site, "Kontakt Der Jünglinge 1" was recorded in the '"Lagerhaus" in Bremen, Germany in 1999. I've witnessed a number of live improvisations with sound and noise in which some unexpected event outside the performance space occurred, such as an ambulance passing by with a loud siren. The performers would typically accept the additional source material and work it into their piece.
In this case it's not a siren, but rather a distant throbbing beat of what must be a band performing or a disco upstairs or next door. I can only guess that the "Lagerhaus" is a nightclub, or adjacent to one, although it's also possible that this sound is a sample brought to the performance by one of the artists. That's part of the charm of listening to a quality recording of a live performance: you don't quite know whether the whole thing was done on a laptop with digitally-stored sounds, or whether the artists were collecting ambient sounds from the performance space, treating them, then releasing them back into the space as part of the performance. This recording definitely sounds like the latter. The deep throb of a distant disco drifts into the piece several times, and sounds so natural. But the beat appears only in small sections, while the overall 45-minute piece is mostly dense with wind and whooshing sounds. If you like your sound a bit more sparse, listen first to Kontakt der Jünglinge 0 (see below).
 
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I don't know about you, but my first thought when listening to the new Trans Am opus "TA" was not "Hey, this song really could use the remix treatment!" Sadly, that is what has transpired on this, a brief EP of reconstructions of three tracks from that album. The personnel involved are interestingly enough: John Herndon, here as A Grape Dope; Dan the Automator, he of Gorillaz, Deltron 3030 and Lovage fame; underground hip-hop flavorists Prefuse 73 and Dabrye; and Trans Am's own recording engineer Jonathan Kreinik contributing a remix of his own. Really, though, there is no improvement for these songs.Thrill Jockey
The source material is somewhat doomed from the start, so the remix of it can only improve upon the original or add something to it on a marginal level, which these remixes do (kind of). An added problem is also that the tracks that were chosen for remix are a few of the most static on the disc. "Cold War," "Infinite Wavelength," and "Different Kind of Love" are perhaps conducive to this process, but that doesn't make for interesting remixes, just variations. This is certainly the case with the "Cold War" mixes. Herndon does his best to add interesting textures, but we're still left with the lame keyboards and a similar beat, both of which were the main detractors from the original. Jonathan K's remix, coincidentally, focuses more on the other main detractor: the lyrics. It's a valiant effort to ghettoize the track with bizarre keyboards and higher-pitched "It's automatic" jabs, plus a funky beat to underline it. It ultimately goes nowhere, and we're left with those awful words. Dabrye succeeds in altering their material enough to elevate it, but it's still missing something. Maybe a rap from a talented underground MC? Dan the Automator and Prefuse 73 don't so much remix 'Different' - they 'resex' it, bringing the booty-shaking back in full effect. All in all, though, this is not the "perfect companion" to 'TA,' but it's the best you could expect.
 
samples:
- A Grape Dope - Cold War (Bombs and More Mix)
- Jonathan K - Cold War (War is Stupid Mix)
- Dan the Automator - Different Kind of Love Remix
 
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![](/brain/images/tietchensmeyersfluss.jpg)
'Flussdichte' is the third Tietchens / Myers collaboration. In this case, Myers sent Tietchens some material, and Tietchens went in the studio and built the pieces from this material. The result definitely has Tietchens' stamp on it — you could play it for any Tietchens fan and we'd guess it was his. (That's especially apparent to me when I hear sound that makes me think I'm in a submarine. No, I haven't been in one, but you may know this sound from movies, where the submarine is deep below the surface, and has its own ambient sounds coming from outside.) There are also some lovely melodic bits on the CD, including cut 6 ("T31:M5/10"), which sounds like amusement-park organ music, possibly emanating from an ancient merry-go-round. I won't try to describe any more — you will enjoy your own sound pictures when your allow you mind to drift with this CD playing.
Highly recommended.
Read More
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![](/brain/images/tietchenskoenerkontakt0.jpg)
samples:
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![](/brain/images/kelleylescalleetforlorn.jpg)
samples:
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