[microsound] ekkehard ehlers

[david turgeon <david.t@xxxxxxxx>]

> Ekkehard Ehlers (can anyone tell me about his other work?)

ehlers' work is quite varied but revolves mostly upon reappropriation of 
samples in a postmodern way.  a favorite is still autopoieses' _la vie à 
noir_ (mille plateaux) which he did in collaboration with (??? can't 
remember his name, he is "random inc." on ritornell, sebastian messner is 
that it?).  the concept is "black" music, in every sense of the term, so it 
mixes jazz, noir film music, & old music (including tape hiss & some sweet 
DSP tricks) for 40+ short tracks most of which sound great!  autopoieses 
has 2 other albums which are somehow related to this one ("live à noir" on 
ritornell & a remix album, i think?)

it took me a lot longer to get into ehlers' solo album _betrieb_ (mille 
plateaux also) despite its enlightening liner notes.  _betrieb_ takes its 
material from "turn-of-the-century compositions, especially by arnold 
schönberg & charles ives."  sometimes the classical instrumentation is 
quite obvious (& often quite poignant) while the rest is much more 
scrambled than anything on _la vie à noir_.  this has turned me off for a 
while but one day i really got into it & i must say it's quite a strong CD 
overall, but one which requires some dedication from the listener.

to complete this tour d'horizon, there's always auch's _kiss tomorrow 
goodbye_ (force inc.) which to me is the weakest ehlers CD...  well, it's 
some very good minimal house/techno (& i suspect it was made using other 
house/techno samples) but sometimes it gets uninteresting.  the first few 
tracks however are worth a listen.  there is an auch remix CD also which i 
haven't bothered checking it out.

gotta run.  hope this helps.

~ david