Released
1998
Label
Artware
Reviewed by
Michael C. Lund
Contact
Artware
Taunusstrasse 63b
65183 Wiesbaden
Germany
Tel: 49(0)611-52 41 33
Fax: 49(0)611-5 96 54
Last Edit/Update
01 august, 1998
Asmus Tietchens
SEUCHENGEBIETE 3
Track Listing
1. Hydrophonie 16
2. Hydrophonie 15
3. Hydrophonie 17
4. Hydrophonie 14
5. Hydrophonie 18A
Having been musically active since the mid-60s, and with more than 20 releases to his
credit, the German experimental composer Asmus Tietchens is not only one of the
originators of the scene, he also continues to create music that is both highly individual
and pioneering. In an interview with ND Magazine in 1991, he commented
that despite his reputation as an influential composer, he has no intention or interest in
creating a "style." Each of his works is an exploration of an idea, the studio,
or a collaborative situation at a given time. Tietchens further explained that
while his compositions have meaning to him personally, he is not attempting to express any
fixed meaning; his compositions usually originate in a noise that he finds interesting,
and which he then proceeds to research and explore musically.
Given this account of his work
methods, it is perhaps not surprising that Tietchens' latest release comes across
as a series of "variations on a theme." The five extended compositions on Seuchengebiete
3 are really quite minimal, utilizing very few aural elements -- the sound of dripping
water, electronic presence, and some sort of metallic manipulations. However, Tietchens
manages to continually manipulate and rearrange the patterns of these sounds, arriving at
a deeply compelling and unified work of symphonic proportions.
The title Seuchengebiete
combines the German words for epidemics and districts or areas,
and perhaps each of the five compositions comprising Seuchengebiete 3 can be seen
as separate areas or districts of musical possibility that are gradually infected by the
sonic elements depicted in the opening track -- "Hydrophonie 16." In any event,
three sounds seem especially pronounced at the outset: the unmistakable sound of water
dripping; an amplified sense of room presence that has a windy or wheezing quality, not
unlike the sound escaping a leaking furnace; and, a smooth, scraping, metallic after
effect, as of something recorded inside a lead pipe. While these three elements are
present in all five tracks, each seems to come to the fore in a separate segment. On
"Hydrophonie 15" the room presence thus attains howling proportions at times,
whereas the sustained ringing as of vibrating metal is very strong on "Hydrophonie
19," and the sound of water dripping grows to a regular downpour on "Hydrophonie
14." The final selection "Hydrophonie 18A" is -- like the opening track --
a more balanced affair, with a sense of things moving and ruminating inside the boiler
room of this CD.
Other than that, this release is
the sort that is unique and iconoclastic enough that further description will only detract
and confuse. My impression is that Tietchens' sound on this CD is closer to the
original definition of what Brian Eno termed ambient. In these compositions there
is no rhythm, there is no melody, and there is no structure in any classical or
traditional sense. Instead, there is the exploration and mutation of a few sounds in
patterns of a kaleidoscopic quality.
As indicated by the title, Seuchengebiete
3 is the third in a series. The first one was released in 1985 by A-Mission
Records, the second by Musica Maxima Magnetica in 1991, and now
this year, the third has been made available by Artware. The CD is
obtainable directly from the label, whose mail order catalogue is one of the most
impressive in the world, and should be in the possession of anyone with a serious interest
in extreme and unconventional music.
