Nonwrestler Blog

Weekly MP3 #5: Barbara Morgenstern / Mapstation / Paul Wirkus

OK, my incredible plan of supplying a legally available MP3 from each of my fave albums of last year is turning out to be extra special... my assumption that these days lots of people made available at least one full track from any given new release seems to be all wrong.

I'd also expected the electronica nerds to be the ones most relaxed about this kind of thing. However, two of my enduring favourites of 2007 were quiet electronic affairs - Sart by Norwegian duo Pjusk and All The Birds Were Anarchists by the Austrian/German "supergroup" (heh) September Collective - and I can find no free downloads from either album. There's streaming stuff and what have you, but that's it.

Last on my album list was Woolfy's If You Know What's Good For Ya!! and aside from the fact that doesn't seem to have got a physical release yet (apparently Rong's distribution fell over) I can't find free MP3s from that one either... As per usual, there're some streaming tracks (including my fave, 'Odyssey') on his myspace...

So this is the end of that briefly lived theme, but I've found a means to wrap that up while marking the more free-form approach I'll probably take in coming weeks. It turns out all 3 members of September Collective do have free songs online...



From left to right:

Mapstation - Tapes
Stefan Schneider is the reason I came across September Collective in the first place. As well as his solo guff as Mapstation he's a founding member of two other bands I really like(d?), Kreidler and To Rococo Rot. His music may be considered boring, repetitive, monotonous... or subtle, trance-like and meditative. I like it a lot. His last Mapstation album was one of my faves of 2006 - at that point I hadn't really expected an ambient album to come along and grab me as much as it did.

Barbara Morgenstern - Aus Heiterem Himmel

Morgenstern's also collaborated with another member of To Rococo Rot, Robert Lippok. Her solo work is songs, for the main part, whereas I'm assuming her part in September Collective is mainly pianist...

Paul Wirkus - Blask

His approach seems to involve a giant table of boxes, cables and wires, which certainly has appeal quite distinct from that of the soft environment of laptop performance. There's a certain organic quality to September collective that I've romantically decided is due to Paul's involvement.

I like this track until the vocals come in. Hm. Maybe you'll like it more and be ever so grateful that I shared something I didn't even particularly like! Ah well.

Labels: music, weekly mp3

Posted at 13:10