Various

The story of DIEM (The Danish Institute of Electronic Music) is the story of 25 years of believing that the newest technology can move existing musical boundaries, create new sounds, new structures, and pioneer the development of the music of the future. This double CD presents a broad selection of works produced at DIEM from 1987 to 2012; all of them presented in their original form and many of them released for the first time

The story of DIEM is the story of 25 years of believing that the newest technology can move existing musical boundaries, create new sounds, new structures, and pioneer the development of the music of the future. The story begins at a time when people were still waiting for the computer to do calculations; a time when you thought that anything was possible through digital technology. It was just a matter of imagining it. Four thousand tone generators that move in different directions, increasing and decreasing within a micro-tonal scale, human voices transformed into running water, ultra-deep tones almost inaudible but still affecting the body in a strange way.

At the same time, the story of DIEM takes place in a time of change and restructuring on a political level but also on a more fundamental level, i.e. the technological development, which is the starting point for creating electronic music. The story of DIEM tells the story of the end of the great electronic music studios, the transition from large government-funded institutions to small home studio in the bedroom. This development took place because the technology became more available, both financially and in terms of user friendliness. When DIEM first opened its doors in 1987 there were no -prefabricated drum loops, no multi-touch screens or MP3 files. On the other hand, numerous formats and media existed that you needed to be updated on as a composer and artist. ADAT, DAT, Zip disc, SDII, SCSI, 5 1/4", and 3½" floppy discs, sysex, CD-ROM, Dolby-A, and a number of other digital standards and formats were developed and tested in those years. These formats are outdated today. It was a time of unrest and upheaval where analogue equipment was replaced with the digital counterpart of the future.

This double CD presents a broad selection of works produced at DIEM from 1987 to 2012; many of them have never been released. They have been collected to give insight into the many different types of artistic productions that have been completed over the years at this institution for electronic music. The works are seen as historical documents presented in the original form and with the original expression. They have not been optimized with the newest technological possibilities in order to bring these historical recordings into the aesthetic loudness ideal of today.

The story of DIEM is ambiguous, extremely loud but still at the edge of the audible; a story about meeting with the conception of the sublime.