Artist : Asmus Tietchens
Album : Seuchengebiete
Year : 2005
Genre : Avantgarde
Source : CD
Label : Die Stadt
Catalog : DS88
Rls.Date : 2006-12-07
Bitrate : VBRkbps
Size : 84 MB
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1. Hydrophonie 2 24:42
2. Hydrophonie 5 20:52
3. Hydrophonie 4 11:57
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57:31
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7th part in the re-release series of all early Tietchens albums between
1980ù1991. Another early Tietchens classic, the first where he only used a
single sound source as the basis for a complete album. Originally released on
A-Mission in 1985 the CD version includes one bonus track. Full colour
fold-out booklet featuring the original cover artwork plus liner notes by
Tietchens. Edition of 1000 copies.
ASMUS TIETCHENS ╗Seuchengebiete½ (A-Mission Records PRO 18:4) 1985
Immediately after the completion of ╗Hydrophonie 1½ (from ╗Formen letzter
Hausmusik½, Die Stadt/DS84) I began to work on similar pieces based on the
same working method (see sketch). There was a significant difference to the
former piece though. This time no other sound elements but those directly
derived from a jet of water were used. This jet of water was simply produced
by a tap in the studio toilet. The sounds produced were recorded on three
seperate tracks with two mono microphones and one contact microphone, in
order to get the optimum basic sound material for my succeeding work in the
studio. My main tools for the realization of these pieces were a new mixing
desk with parametric equalizing, and a digital reverb machine. As a result of
the recently upgraded studio equipment I was able to produce concrete music
with more filigree structures. Also the handling of the sounds created by the
water presented me with such a variety of possibilities, that I kept working
on the series of ╗Hydrophonien½ well into the 1990's, and after an
interruption of 10 years, I started thinking about a new approach to this
material again.
There were two reasons for offering this album to the english label A-Mission
Records. Firstly United Dairies ù who released the predecessor ╗Formen
letzter Hausmusik½ ù had a policy to only release one album by each artist
not connected to their own group project Nurse With Wound. Secondly my
decision resulted from a disappointing listening experience. In 1983
A-Mission Records released an album by the justly forgotten group
Metgumbnerbone, which produced crude ritual rumblings with human skulls in
hell. The liner notes featured the usual mumblings of devasted industrial
sites and forbidden cults, in short: An admittedly contemporary expression of
Zeitgeist, but also a fairly secondary one. After listening to this album I
was convinced that I could deliver a better description of an atmosphere of
emptiness and isolation than them, because firstly I'd be doing it without
all that childish theatre, and secondly because I'd be able to describe it
much better soundwise. To my surprise the owner of the label agreed with me
after having listened to a demo copy of ╗Seuchengebiete½. The album was
actually released after the usual waiting period of one year. I then recieved
25 copies of the album for my personal use and never heard from this label
again. I assume they just stopped sometime in the second half of the 1980s.
A-Mission Records had a policy to use quotes from the bible (english version)
as catalogue numbers. Therefore PRO 18:4 also stands for a verse. Because I
never owned a bible myself. nor did I really care to decipher it, and the
label itself also remained silent about this, I only found out what it meant
lately: THE WORDS OF A MAN'S MOUTH ARE DEEP WATERS, BUT THE FOUNTAIN OF
WISDOM IS A BUBBLING BROOK (PRO 18:4). Well...
Asmus Tietchens, 2005
Editorial notes:
Because of the big dynamics and the resulting quiet passages in the pieces I
decided to get rid of the tape hiss with the help of a recent computer
programme. Actually this was an easy decision for me as already 20 years ago
I was very unhappy with being confronted with even the slightest bid of tape
hiss.
╗Hydrophonie 4½ was supposed to be part of a follow-up release which only saw
the light of day as ╗Seuchengebiete 2½ (Syrenia) on CD in 1992.
╗Hydrophonie 4½ didn't make it onto this album as time had passed it by.