Asmus Tietchens
Asmus Tietchens has called his work "absolute music": sound with no story attached, built from tape loops, synthesizers and, later, minute transformations of recorded objects and water. Born in Hamburg in 1947, he began experimenting with tape in 1965, and his first albums for Sky Records around 1980, produced by Peter Baumann of Tangerine Dream, were still oddly tuneful electronic miniatures. From Formen letzter Hausmusik (1984), released on Nurse With Wound's United Dairies label, he moved into abstract sound collage and never came back.
Air
**300 copies**In just a couple years Dirk Serries' A New Wave Of Jazz imprint has amassed quite a collection of diverse works that may impart some new variant of jazz and electronic music. Here alongside the venerable experimental electronic composer Asmus Tietchens, who Serries has collaborated with before (under the Vidna Obmana moniker) they are fit, dynamic, and deliver something quite different from anything they’ve released prior. Over six tracks that run about forty-seven minutes the two …
Neu Konservatiw
**100 copies 2018 repress** Originally released to celebrate the 33rd anniversary of Walter Ulbricht Schallfolien back in 2015, Neu Konservatiw comes in a beautifully designed slevve with insert and postcards. The album features two unreleased Asmus Tietchens tracks plus other exclusive contributions by Werkbund, Column One, Evapori, Hyph, Pierce Warnecke, Ditterich von Euler-Donnersperg and Margitt Holzt.
Linea +
Asmus Tietchens is a sound artist and composer from Hamburg, Germany. He
got interested in musique concrete by listening to a German radio
programme when he was 10 years old. In 1965, at the age of 18, Asmus
started experimenting with tape loops and turned them into musical
collages. Soon, the use of synthesizers was added. In 1980 his debut
album Nachtstücke was released, produced by Peter Baumann of
Tangerine Dream. This was soon followed by a series of albums of
electronic pop music fo…
Stenogramme, zweite Folge
28 ideas in 28 tracks. Pure electronic music. Limited edition of 150 copies.
Fahl
2014 release, edition of 300. “The three pieces of ‘Fahl’ are the results of a never ending recycling
(not remixing!) of one and the same structure recorded deep in the past.
That means recycling of recyclings of recyclings… With ‘Fahl’ the
series comes to a temporary end to be continued sometime. The idea
behind this esthetic strategy is the question: why further on creating
genuine music? Our recent digital and analog tools enable us to derive
nearly every sonic event from nearly every o…
Eisgang
Eisgang was originally released on Dutch Korm Plastics label in 1995 as a limited edition vinyl LP only. It was later reissued as a double CD with Dämmerattacke. For this latest edition, we have added another bonus track making the CD 20 minutes longer than the LP. Asmus Tietchens is a sound artist and composer from Hamburg, Germany. He got interested in musique concrete by listening to a German radio programme when he was 10 years old. In 1965, at the age of 18, Asmus started experimentin…
Dammerattacke
Asmus Tietchens is a sound artist and composer from Hamburg, Germany. He got interested in musique concrete by listening to a German radio programme when he was 10 years old. In 1965, at the age of 18, Asmus started experimenting with tape loops and turned them into musical collages. Soon, the use of synthesizers was added. In 1980 his debut album Nachtstücke was released, produced by Peter Baumann of Tangerine Dream. This was soon followed by a series of albums of electronic pop music fo…
Watching The Burning Bride
Long-awaited double cd reissue of the two Asmus Tietchens/Burrows collaborations which sound still remarkably fresh today. Watching The Burning Bride was originally released on Terry Burrows' label Hamster in 1986, while the second collaboration came out on Disaster Area in 1998. As usual the booklet reproduces the original lp sleeves and a lengthy text by Terry Burrows on how the collaboration between the two artists came about is also included. The release includes two short bonus tracks.
Eine Menge Papier
“Eine Menge Papier” assembles 20 minutes of sounds derived from using paper as the sound souce. Two tracks originally came out as a limited 7” record on the austrian Syntactic label in the 1990ies and appear here for the first time on CD. The other two tracks were planned for a follow up 7” on the same label that never materialized. The fifth track is a study of sonic material in the same series. There are two further tracks from the P.I.G. series that are considered by the artists as failed att…
Sold Out
Deflections
Fabio Perletta and Asmus Tietchens’ hermetic micro-cosmos of Deflections unfolds by exploring instability and physical decay of sound. Built upon liminal forms and atonal passages, the six near-silent pieces of the work traverse empty space by means of elementary sonic emissions and drifting nano-structures. Among sound collisions and evanescent masses, the almost immaterial yet corporeal nature of Deflections, embodies sound in its most subliminal and contradictory form.
Fabio Perletta cr…
Soirée Fantastique
5” CD in full colour digipak carton sleeve and printed inner sleeve. CD is off-set printed in half-metallized format, all designed by Asmus Tietchens. Production: Okko Bekker. On “Soirée fantastique”, two pieces – unfocussed in every aspect – featuring blurring conmtours, spooled out harmonies and barely recognizable melodies frame an extreme minimal, almost static piece in the centre. A piece of harsh, sharp-edges transparency. If this were not the music of a phantastic nightlyx gathering…
Spat-Europa
"German experimental electronic composer Asmus Tietchens isn't exactly the first person most people think of when they discuss synth pop. In fact, even among hardcore electronic music fans, he's more known for his longstanding dedication to academic electronic music in the spirit of Stockhausen and Pierre Henry, and in fact holds a position at the University of Hamburg. However, having also worked with Tangerine Dream's Peter Baumann, Conny Plank, Cluster, and Thomas Köner, he's had more than a …
E
Continuing with the ongoing re-release series of all early Asmus Tietchens vinyl albums between 1980 and 1991, "E" was originally released on LP by Dom in 1988. This CD reissue includes both tracks from the bonus 7", "U", that came with the first pressing of the LP, plus two unreleased tracks from that period. As always the original cover artwork is reproduced as a fold out poster. The booklet includes editorial remarks on the release. Ltd x 600 copies.
Ornamente (Zwischen Null und Eins)
"The latest release from Asmus Tietchens continues the ambiguity that has been prevalent through his recent works. Far from the early experiments with sampling and erratic, mechanical rhythms that characterized much of his early work; Ornamente (zwischen Null und Eins) is an opaque disc of hushed electronics and tiny bits of glistening noise. Moments of near silence are followed by digital glitches and massive, intense vibrations to result in another piece of conceptually challenging, y…
Harvestehude
After more than 10 years of enthusiastic experiences and encounters with so-called „Difficult Music“ throughout the 1980ies Martin Peinemann and Asmus Tietchens deemed their somewhat differing approaches to making music compatible and agreed upon a loose collaboration in the year 1992. For various reasons (organizational and others) the work was not to take place at Audiplex studios but at Peinemann’s home studio. This modest lab featured all the necessary technical equipment needed to realize n…
4K7+
Last copy, tiny wear on cover Milestone! Asmus Tietchens, a German electronic synthesist and musician whose interest in experimental music and musique concrète already started during his childhood. He began recording sound experiments in 1965 with electronic musical instruments, synthesizers and tape loops. In the 1970s he met producer Okko Bekker, and the two formed a decades-long partnership. In 1980 Peter Baumann (of Tangerine Dream) heard a recording of Tietchens' music and offered to produ…
Humoresken und Vektoren
Humoresken und Vekotren takes up a work that was started upon the invitation of Francisco Lopez for the spanish Störung label. The task was to deliver thirteen 2-minute original compositions for a compilation release. "Humoresken und Vektoren" recycles these miniatures from 2010 and undfolds it into eight new works having no resemblance with the original sourcings whatsoever. These eight tracks are bound together by eight short pieces entitled "Tristia" that function as bridges between the longe…
Biotop
Originally released in 1981 on Günter Körber’s Sky Records, Biotop marked a radical and irreverent turn in the early discography of Asmus Tietchens, offering a body of work that neither conformed to the pop idioms it mimicked nor fully abandoned the experimental rigor of the German electronic underground. Now rightly recognized as one of the most bizarre and subversive releases of the Neue Deutsche Welle era, Biotop channels ironic play, dissonant structures, and noisy artifice into a sonic worl…
Nachtstucke
LP version. Pressed on 180 gram vinyl. Nachtstücke owed its publication to former Tangerine Dream member Peter Baumann, who was asked by the French label Barclay/EGG to produce three albums focusing specifically on German electronic music. He was working with Hans-Joachim Roedelius at the time, who had been given a few Tietchens tracks on cassette. When Baumann heard Roedelius play them in the studio during a break in proceedings, they sparked his interest and he met up with Tietchens some time …
Der Funfte Himmel
LP version. Pressed on 180 gram vinyl. Between 1981 and 1983 Asmus Tietchens released four albums on the Sky Records label, fusing rhythmic set pieces and off-kilter sounds into gaudy escapades of saccharine artificiality. The "pseudo-pop" epithet reflected their frequently ironic air. All four records have been reissued by Bureau B in their original form. What remained may be found on this collection. Der fünfte Himmel ("The Fifth Sky") retrieves those pieces which were denied a place on the or…
In die Nacht
Bureau B reissues Asmus Tietchens' third solo album on Sky Records, originally released in 1982. It stands to reason that any musical journey undertaken by a skeptic like Asmus Tietchens is destined to head into the night (In die Nacht) rather than into the day. In die Nacht, the third album in the so-called time signal ("Zeitzeichen") phase, continuing in the same vein as Biotop (BB 141CD/LP) and Spät-Europa (BB 142CD/LP), while laying down its own stylistic markers, no doubt attributable to th…
Litia
LP version, on 180 gram vinyl. Released in 1983, the Litia album concluded Asmus Tietchens' études phase and bid a farewell to rhythmic synths -- well, almost. All the signs of "pseudo pop" as heard on Biotop, Spät-Europa, and In die Nacht resurfaced: squeaky sounds and protracted, rattling rhythms grouped into abstract forms through their accentuated artificiality. Sporadic noisiness is as much a part of it as is a winking gesture, which should not detract from the basic sobriety of the work, h…
Fast ohne Titel, Korrosion
Black Rose Recordings are proud to present the exceptional new album by Asmus Tietchens. Corrosion is a degradation mechanism. It is an insidious process often difficult to recognise until deterioration is well advanced. Are these new pieces a comment on the current state of noise music, serious music or both? As a pioneer of electronic composition his work spans over three decades and doesn't fit easily into any one category. Early recordings ranged from experiments with tape machines and elect…
Stupor Mundi
Part 14th in the ongoing re-release series of all early Asmus Tietchens Vinyl albums between 1980-1991. 'Stupor Mundi' (Discos Esplendor Geometrico EGD 018) was originally released in 1990. This re-release comes with another poster booklet and feat. 4 Bonus tracks of unreleased material from the same period. Joint release with Auf Abwegen. 600 copies. Asmus Tietchens about the album: 'The opener of the album cites: 'Gitarren spielen kann ich leider noch nicht...' ('Unfortunately I can't play any…
Marches funèbres
Tracks 1 & 2 originally released on Marches Funebres LP (Multimood, 1989). Track 3 is a bonus track. Released as a joint release by German labels Die Stadt and Aufabwegen. Limited to 600 copies.
Aus Freude am Elend
11th part in the ongoing re-release series of all early Tietchens albums between 1980-1991. Aus Freude Am Elend is based on the human voice as a primary sound source and was originally released in edition of 500 copies on Dom America in 1988. The CD includes two previously unreleased tracks and comes in a jewel case with full color artwork and poster booklet also feat. The original front and back cover. First edition of 600 copies'. 'Following my research of piano and water sounds (DS102, DS88) …
Moebius + Tietchens
With Asmus Tietchens and Dieter Moebius, two artists counting among the greats of German avant-garde electronic music have come together. Both have been active for well over 30 years: Moebius (since 1970) as a member of Kluster/Cluster and Harmonia, as well as solo and in numerous collaborations (Brian Eno, Mani Neumeier, Conny Plank, Mayo Thompson and many more), and Tietchens (since 1979) almost exclusively as a solo artist, beginning in the fields of electronic music and musique concrète…
Split LP
Limited edition split album from two of Earth’s avant-garde super powers: Asmus Tietchens and Kouhei Matsunaga. Last summer Important released some highly praised records with Kouhei Matsunaga including a collaborative CD with Sean Booth (Autechre) and Mika Vainio (Pan Sonic), a split LP with Mika Vainio and a full length CD of his own solo work. The breath and quality of Kouhei's work was apparent across these three releases and his compositions for this split LP serve to create connections be…
Soiree
Line is proud to present a new full length solo recording by German electronic music pioneer Asmus Tietchens. Soirée is the result of extended recycling. Beginning from the investigation of: what will happen if I recycle (not remix) some of my older compositions and then recycle the recyclings and then recycle the recycled recyclings… ad infinitum? Quite quickly the initial pieces vanished totally. New structures and sounds emerged depending on the methods and tools I used.Each of the pieces on …
Abraum
a new subway tunnel is being built in the harbor area of hamburg's inner city. the tunneling produces waste and the waste needs to be disposed of. in this case sand and shredded rubble are mixed with groundwater in order to be pumped out through steel tubes with a diameter of approximately 80cm. the sounds that are produced in the tubes are object of field recordings that i made at different times and places on site. it was immediately apparent that the continuum of the basic sounds that i used …
Fabrication 2
'The first collaboration by these two renowned sound artists. Fabrication saw its beginning during the production of Re-Post-Refabricated, a project in which artists were selected by Richard Chartier to rework-create new works from his 1998 CD Postfabricated for its reissue in 2003. As it was intended as an open project, Asmus Tietchens continued to explore the source materials and suggested further formal collaboration. This evolved into the collaborative work Fabrication. The CD comes in a ful…
Teils teils
The first track of this is the side-long "Teilmenge 20," which begins as a set of indecipherable static electricity clicks that are quite warm and engaging, which quickly builds to a rhythmic cycle, continuing to mutate and diverge throughout the entire track. Most interestingly, as the rhythm sets in it truly begins to resemble a traditional 4/4 techno beat. The tempo and percussive elements are there, but the sounds in no way resemble the stale drum machines and overwrought synths. As the pi…
Verstreutes 2
Second revised and expanded edition of our book about the work of Asmus Tietchens. The book is in GERMAN. It includes essays about Tietchens, a fully commentated discography up to December 2005, short prose by Tietchens and a 70 minute CD collecting compilation tracks from CD and tape compilations from 1984-1995, plus one unreleased track.
Geboren, um zu dienen
Released in 1986, Geboren stuns in the same way early Esplendor tracks do, with blasts of chugging, caterwauling noise sounding straight from the factory floor. Tietchens’ most monotonously rhythmic work to date, it lacks the esoteric primitivism of earlier records or just severely limits the spaces in between, emphasizing speed in a defiant and less calculating way. Here is the artist realizing that his own devotion to excavated and mechanized sound, nourished by insular years of homespun syn…
Flächen Mit Figuren
Beautifully minimal new work by Asmus Tietchens using layers and stretch out sound fields as a compositional basis and placing miniatures inside them. 54 minutes, 8 tracks, handnumbered edition in nice paper sleeve 300 copies.
Abfleischung
2th part in the ongoing re-release series of all early Tietchens albums between 1980—1991. Abfleischung is based on material recorded by Tietchens as early as 1967—1970. These recyclings made in 1989 became the 20 short tracks on this album which was originally released in edition of 500 copies on Hamster Records in 1989. The CD includes two previously unreleased tracks and comes in a jewel case with full color artwork and poster booklet also feat. the original front and back cover. First editio…
h-Menge
The latest in Asmus Tietchens ongoing Mengen series, this album maintains the bold adventurousness and strict minimalism of previous recordings whilst suggesting some sense of evolution along the way. The series was initiated as an exercise in composition based exclusively around spatial manipulations of white noise and sine tones, but this instalment seems to hint at a heightened level of sonic richness and diversity than that policy could ever reasonably hope to accommodate. Some of the pieces…
Five Manifestoes
Meanwhile hard to find collaboration release. Swirling und grinding sounds in spooky layers. A rather dark and moving release.
DBL_FDBK
Asmus Tietchens and Arcane Device’s debut, ‘DBL.FDBK’, does not fit easily into one genre. If you want to hear real Ambient, get this record now! This is the most melodic ambitious and satisfying track in DBL.FDBK. It’s also one of those rare songs that touchingly comfort the listener. T4-M1-4 is a pleasing, and full of overall coherence that goes beyond other creations. I was truly moved when I heard T5-M2-1. T6-M2-2 - My least favorite song on this album. T13-M3-4 is possibly the best song Asm…
Adventures In Sound / Nachtstücke
First in a series of 18 CD's aiming to make available all early vinyl albums by Asmus Tietchens between 1980—1991 on CD. Each release features the original tracks (sometimes extended / original versions) + unreleased bonus tracks from the same recording period, original artwork + accompanying texts by Tietchens. This — the only 2CD in the series — feat. his very first album Nachtstücke from 1980 (incl. 4 bonus tracks) + a 2nd CD with archive material recorded with his long time friend Okko Bekke…