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ASMUS TIETCHENS

Parallelen

LINE is proud to present Parallelen, a new full length solo recording by German electronic music pioneer Asmus Tietchens, his first ever digital-only release. Seven years have passed since his album Ornamente (zwischen Null und Eins) (LINE_073) and Tietchens continues to create otherworldly artificial spaces with his precise minimalist compositions and unique sonic pallete/language.

With this collection of works, Tietchens poses the question:
“Parallels meet at infinity. Isn’t this mathematical axiom a paradoxical allegation? Recycling sound material again and again, recycling the recycling the recycling ad infinitum—can that end at eternity?”

Parallelen is Asmus Tietchen’s 7th album on LINE.

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Catalog:
LINE_130
Format:
digital
Edition:
open edition
Release:
September 2022
Tracklist:

1.  Parallele Ebene 1 (04:26)
2.  Parallele 1 (06:07)
3.  Parallele Ebene 2 (06:05)
4.  Parallele 2 (07:28)
5.  Parallele 3 (06:55)
6.  Parallele 4 (05:43)
7. Am Fluchtpunkt (03:42)

Aufgenommen und von Okko Bekker produziert im Audiplex Studio E, Hamburg Druckvorlage: Karajew.

Asmus Tietchens (b. 1947, Hamburg, Germany)

1965: First experiments with tape recorders and electronic sound devices (sine wave generator, rhythm machines) and concrete sound material.

1971: Minimoog and 8-track tape recorders

1980: First LP release Nachtstück in France, produced by Peter Baumann of Tangerine Dream

1982: begins Industrial music stage

1984: LP Formen letzter Hausmusik released by the Nurse with Wound’s label United Dairies.

1984-1989: several LPs on international industrial music labels including Esplendor Geometrico, Hamster Records, A-Mission, Multimood and others.

1985: Experiments with computerized keyboard Fairlight CMI

1986: First journey commissioned by the Goethe-Institut with concerts in Brazil

1989 – 2010: Teaching Sound Design and Sound Research at the University for Applied Sciences in Hamburg

1991: Second journey commissioned by the Goethe-Institut with concerts in the Argentine, Chile and Uruguay

Since 1991: numerous releases on international labels (Auf Abwegen, Barooni, Die Stadt, LINE, Mille Plateaux, RRRecords, Staalplaat, Soleilmoon, Silent, Selektion, and more)

2003: Karl Sczuka Award for Acoustic Art

2006: Karl Sczuka Award for Acoustic Art

2010-2013: Teaching Sound Design at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg

2018: lectureship at the University of Fine Arts, Vienna. Subject: Site specific art.

tietchens.de

REVIEWS OF
Parallelen

  • Comparatively, Parallelen comes across as a more purely sonic experiment as opposed to one grounded in a specific theme. The components are similar, such as the wobbling tones and occasionally shrill passages of the lead off piece “Parallele Ebene 1,” but instead of conjuring desolate images of rocks and minerals, there is an almost vintage science fiction soundtrack feel, something Tietchens has used to great effect in the past. A sense of alien life and space also comes through extremely well for “Parallele 1” via guttural sounds and ringing pulsations that sound like nothing from Earth.

    Tietchens also toys with conventional music elements throughout this album, such as the fragments of backwards melody that drift through the murky, interlocking layers of abstract sound throughout “Parallele Ebene 2.” Ghostly tones also inhabit “Paralelle 4” quite obviously, but the musicality is most prominent on the closing “Am Fluchtpunkt.” The piece features what sounds like digital low bit rate detritus molded into almost music box like melodies, resulting in a strangely active, almost carnival like atmosphere that is far lighter (and dare I say almost fun) than what preceded it.

    It would seem that Tietchens utilized similar strategies to create the sounds used on both Schatten Ohne Licht and Parallelen, but it is the different approach to theme and composition that makes for two distinct works. Both, however, are indicative of Tietchens’ ever evolving style and imagination. Even well over 40 years since his first recorded work, he is consistently producing new and innovative works that never feel stuck in any sort of complacency, but instead is indicative of his never-ending creativity.
    —brainwashed.com