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Asmus Tietchens, "Fast ohne Titel, Korrosion"
Much of legendary composer Asmus Tietchens' recent work has been in the form of collaborations, with other like minded artists such as Richard Chartier and Dieter Moebius, with a few solo works coming out amidst the sprawling reissue campaign on Die Stadt. Fast ohne Titel, Korrosion is one of those few new and solo works, and it just reinforces that even so far into his career, Tietchens’ is no less important, and his sly sense of humor is never far behind.
Black Rose Recordings
The most obvious manifestation of humor on here is in the titles of each piece, all of which feature the phrase "Ernste Musik" ("Serious Music"), a nice shot at the overly serious world of electro-acoustic sound art.This levity is extended to the music, too:the bent, wobbly pitches of "Besonders Ernste Musik" ("Particularly Serious Music") have a distinctly light hearted feel to them, and "Keine Ernste Musik" ("No Serious Music") also heavily utilizes a motif that sounds like a carnival organ early on.
Additionally, "Eingeschränkt Ernste Musik" ("Limited Serious Music") has a slightly jaunty feel to it, but the dissonant, crackly electronics are shaped into a pseudo-rhythm that almost seems like his old Sky Records releases updated for the glitch scene."Kaum Noch Ernste Musik" ("Hardly Yet Serious Music") features prominent rhythmic passages that sometimes resemble heavily mutated drum and bass loops.Rhythmic Tietchens is usually my favorite Tietchens, and this is no different, but it does go on for a bit too long.
It is not all levity and rhythms here, however, and he contributes just as much minimalist and austere work that a serious composer in this field should."Ernste Musik" is based heavily on what could be vibrating air duct heavily amplified, with shrill, sharp stabs of noise that results in a piece that does sound quite serious."Sehr Ernste Musik" ("Very Serious Music") follows suit as far as the mood goes, with low end sweeps of noise like a fragmented radar beacon in frigid arctic air, and even the slightly lighter tones that appear near the end are suppressed by dark growls of noise.
It is Asmus Tietchens' sense of humor that solidifies the brilliance of Fast ohne Titel, Korrosion.The closing piece, "Im Ernst (Für H.K.)" ("Seriously?") lets everything go, with silly processing of recorded strings, stuck vinyl loops, captured conversations and laughter that is entirely jovial, in a field where such things are usually forbidden.I am always glad to hear Tietchens working in something more rhythmic, as his synth pop sounds on Sky and his industrial works on Discos Esplendor Geometrico are personal favorites, so hearing that side of him was refreshing.For the times he chooses to be serious, he constructs bleak and dark electronic sounds with the best of them, yet it is hard to listen to the academic sounding works without picturing him holding back a grin the whole time.
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