STEINBRÜCHEL
"MIT OHNE" (12K2010)
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EARLABS
(.ORG)
The seven movements presented here were originally conceived
alongside a series of visuals by Yves Netzhammer in an effort
to establish the environment as a radical exteriority prior
to and independent of any optic use, in whose grasp the subject
experiences itself as vulnerable and disjointed.
At the very least, such is what one is left to infer, given
the installations title - "The feeling of precise instability
when holding things" - the one image - from the original
seven - included with the release, not to mention the very nature
of the pieces themselves, which, though gimlet-eyed and spartan,
often evoke the sense of rooms of claustrophobic density or
onerous dynamism and precision.
In any case, these rooms are replete with ample sonic detail;
and the shifts between them display a coherent flow and balance,
which gives the work as a whole a certain dramatic arc, as Steinbruchel
threads them together into a loosely constructed collection.
The simple patterns of tones tighten and relax across continually
shifting tempos, creating the sense that these spaces are expanding
and shrinking, inhaling and exhaling. Mit Ohne thus calls attention
to how actions are solicited by spaces and the things of which
they consist. The work lasts all of eighteen minutes, but it
has a real, corporeal impact.
EARLABS
(.ORG) REVIEW #2
The release notes describe the exhibition and how the sounds relate
to the visual aspect in part as follows: “[…] an atmospheric
fragile and detailed work was created involving a three-part projection
and multichannel sound which conveys an abstract audio and visual
approach to the environment surrounding us and the concept of
a room itself. Each audio track takes the listener into a new
form of 'room' and simple patterns of single tones are layered
into dense movements surrounding the listeners space.” I
like the 'room' analogy. Only a mere 18 minutes 36 seconds in
duration, this seven part, continuous work (no pauses between
tracks) does to be sure give the “listener the feeling of
being moved suddenly from one room to the other.”
Whenever I listen to steinbrüchel’s work, Gary Zukav’s
book The Dancing Wu Li Masters [William Morrow and Company, Inc.,
New York, 1979] comes to mind. A sort of layman’s guide
to quantum physics and subatomic phenomena as it was understood
at that time, I see some parallels between Zukav’s elegantly
figurative description of particle physics and steinbrüchel’s
soundart - “a world of sparkling energy forever dancing
with itself in the form of its particles as they twinkle in and
out of existence, collide, transmute, and disappear again.”
An image of “chaos beneath order.” (p. 213). As I
listen to steinbrüchel’s signature approach on Mit
Ohne, fragile particles of sounds, skittering electronics, gossamer
tones, evanescent fragments of melodies, and subtle slices of
harmony conjoined with moments of dissonance emerge, collide,
transform, disappear, and reappear to create a sonic dance that
never quite repeats itself.
Mit Ohne is an excellent (albeit brief) representation of steinbrüchel’s
efforts. Too short for those of us who have to come to relish
his style, but a first-rate introduction for the uninitiated.
MUSIQUEMACHINE
(.COM)
Mit Ohne is a collection of shadowy vibe heavy electronic
tone manipulations by Zurich based electronic and installation
artists Ralph Steinbrüchel that were original conceived for
a installation piece using 3rd animation of Yves Netzhammer.
This certainly is one of the darker more introspective releasers
I’ve heard on the 12K label. The six pieces on offer are
a series of dense often pressing slowly revolving and drifting
electro gloomy vibe and bell tones, that are under fed by electronic
crackle and texturing. They bring to mind been alone in vast abounded
and powerless white officers as dusk weeps in soaking you in gloom
and for some reason your fearful of what the night will bring.
Or late night walks along people-less train platforms with the
white neo hurting your eyes and through you can’t see anyone
your sure your been watched. Steinbrüchel really mangers
to build up a grim feeling of dread and fear with- in the modern
world.
And through the disk is fairly short in length coming in just
under the 20 minute mark it feels the perfect length, as Steinbrüchel
builds a very tangible and real feeling of modern dread, but it
never feels over milk or dragged out in its intent. Really a very
prime distilling of sonic paranoia and dread perfect for lonely
late night walks through eerier cities scapes
TEXTURA
(.ORG)
Though presented here in audio form only, Mit Ohne is actually
a collaborative work by Ralph Steinbrüchel and Yves Netzhammer,
more specifically an audio-visual installation named “The
feeling of precise instability when holding things” which
was presented in 2003 at the Museum für Gestaltung in Zurich,
Switzerland. In the display, Steinbrüchel's sound pieces
were synchronized to Netzhammer's slowly mutating movements of
3D animation imagery. Even without the visual dimension (apparently
a three-part projection was augmented by a multi-channel sound
presentation), Steinbrüchel's seven tracks—four of
them less than two minutes each—suggest a sense of movement
through geographical space, a feeling further reinforced by having
each of the pieces flow uninterruptedly into the next.
In the first part, the soft patter of crystalline tones initially
resembles drops in a puddle before elongating into a blurry whole.
A swelling surge announces the onset of part two, after which
bright melodic fragments shimmer and glisten in the third. Part
four is the longest of the set and, more than any of the others,
its droning layers of slow-motion tones encourage reflection.
As the work moves towards its close, the static-laden and insistent
sixth is capped by a serene seventh. Mit Ohne's pretty drones
of glistening tones and soft pitter-patter are exactly the kind
of understated and polished sound sculpting one expects from 12k
and, for that matter, the release wouldn't sound put of place
on ROOM40 either.
TEMPORARY
FAULT (BLOG)
Apparently, Steinbrüchel is unable to bring into being less
than stimulating music. This short record - the audio counterpart
for Yves Netzhammer’s 3-D visual installation “The
Feeling Of Precise Instability When Holding Things” - consists
of about 18 minutes of warmly digitized emissions which persistently
shift and recombine, individuating their brain-relieving raison
d'être in narcotic sequences applied to chiaroscuro settings,
immaculate frequencies and stretched out tones similar to bell-like
elongations or metamorphic virtual realities producing incessant
awe in total aural fulfilment. The ever-present symmetries and
glowing beauty of this artist’s sonic kingdoms, derived
from “particles of melodies searching for space to breathe”,
are once again enough for me to classify the work as tremendously
charming, and – particularly in this circumstance –
perfect for personal utilization independently from the original
context. An instantly identifiable class that never betrays, enhanced
by a not excessive productivity that, together with the sheer
intensity of the sounds, places the Swiss composer/architect light-years
distant from the late-coming hordes of laptop rapists.
VITAL
WEEKLY (NL)
More music for exhibitions (see also Blood Stereo elsewhere)
is produced by Steinbruchel and this is more like what you could
expect from such things, all multi and all media. Its an exhibition
which you can no longer visit since its from 2003 where Steinbruchel
composed seven short pieces of images by Yves Netzhammer. Its
of course never easy to tell what they looked like if we only
get one side of the story. What's interesting to see of course
is that 12K now also moves into releasing CD singles as this
is just 18 minutes and 36 seconds. Tracks flow without pauses
into eachother. The seven pieces are trademark pieces for Steinbruchel
- delicate, soft, glitchy, drone like with a bit of crackles
here and there. If you wouldn't know what microsound is all
about, then these 18 minutes and 36 seconds could exactly sum
up what it is about. It doesn't offer anything else which to
some, perhaps me included, nothing new under the sun, but these
pieces of clustered tones are best played on
shuffle and repeat, so that your room will be constantly filled
with slow moving sounds that change quite quickly, but will
provide a constant ambient sound.
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