Wolfgang Seidel’s Freeartslab

Basic Electricity stalwart Wolfgang Seidel sent me these new additions to his freeartslab Youtube channel.

The first two videos feature music from his collaboration with the wonderful duo Lan Cao and Gregor Siedl, aka Zicla. The synthheads among us might enjoy the conversation between Wolfgang's Buchla Music Easel and his old friend Conrad Schnitzler's EMS Synthi A.







If you like the music, you can get a copy of the trio's CD 'Optimistic Modernism' from Moloko Plus Records.

Basic Electricity - concert, tomorrow night in Berlin

Basic Electricity returns tomorrow night with a special concert featuring Michael Vorfeld’s Glühlampenmusik and Wouter Jaspers’ Field Trip at the König Otto in Berlin, Neukölln - come along at at 20:00 for what promises to be an audio-visual treat!

There’s more info at the Basic Electricity Blog and here is the Facebook Event.

Here is Wouter performing with some of his Koma gear at Powwow last week:



Look forward to seeing you tomorrow night at Basic Electricity!

BE#22, Thursday, 28.9.17 @ König Otto
Am Sudhaus 3, 12053 Berlin Neukölln
U7 Rathaus Neukölln or U8 Boddinstr.

Tickets 10€. Doors at 20:00, music starts 21:00
Seating is limited to 50, so please come on time.
The bar will be open for drinks and sandwiches.

Superbooth Gig Video

Thanks to Synthtopia for taking the time to document our trio's concert at Superbooth!

Hilary Jeffery has dates in France this weekend. Check his site for more live engagements.

Wolfgang Seidel has just published a book about Krautrock.



Everything you ever wanted to know about this strange German music but were afraid to ask, written by a man who was there.

Ultraschall Festival

A quick heads-up about the Ultraschall Festival for new music, which opens in Berlin today.



For details, check the programme at the Kultur Radio or Radialsystem sites.

Tickets are still available for tonight's TU-Studio concert, featuring a five-channel performance of Pierre Alexandre Tremblay's Ever Now Soon An End, a new piece by Ron Kuivila and a live performance by Alvin Curran.

TU Berlin EM Hören on Myspace

Update to this post on Folkmar Hein and the TU studio via Michael Hoeldke:

The TU Berlin's Elektroakustische Musik listening session has a presence on Myspace:

http://www.myspace.com/emhoeren

Be sure to visit the page for regular updates on coming events.

Tomorrow is a public holiday in Berlin, so the next session is on Thursday May 28th at 18:00.

The address is the TU Studio (EN324) Elektrotechnik Neubau, Einsteinufer 17, 10587 Berlin. (S-Bahn Tiergarten or U-Bahn Ernst Reuter Platz).

Folkmar Hein & the TU Berlin Electronic Music Studio

A Tour of the Technical University of Berlin's Electronic Music Studio Storeroom.

After 35 years as the head of the Berlin Technical University's Electronic Studio, Folkmar Hein went into retirement this February. He's composed more than 100 pieces of electro-acoustic music, was a co-founder of the 'Interventionen' festival and DegeM association and has been a promoter of electronic and new music events around the world.

Since 1985 Folkmar Hein has curated an electro-acoustic music listening session on Thursday nights at the TU - a forum for composers, artists, students and those interested in EA music to perform, hear and discuss. Last Thursday was the last session under his stewardship and those who attended were treated to beer, pretzels and a rare glimpse into the studio's storeroom.


Folkmar Hein at the Hochschul-Universal-Mischpult für Experimentierzwecke, an experimental mixing desk built at the TU in 1959.


Close-up of a Telefunken M5 tape recorder. These machines played an integral role in composition right up to the 1980s. As Folkmar Hein commented: "Zeit gab es nicht, sondern Meter" (Back then, there was no time, only meters).


Albiswerk graphic EQ. A studio standard offering 60dB of cut or boost.


The Tempophon or 'Springermaschine", late 50s. Used in conjunction with a modified M5, this device was a forerunner of the time stretching and pitch transposition functions found in modern samplers. Out of sight, to the right of this machine, was another M5 which was modified to run at 1.5 cm/ s. Originally designed for use as an earthquake monitor, it could also be used to record DC signals.


The Event Recorder. The Studio's first sampler, fully expanded with six 2k cards giving a total of 12k memory, it offered a third of a second sampling time.


The Bewegungssimulator. Used for Doppler effects.


Wall 'o' Scopes.




Various measuring devices.




The SynLab Spree System modular synthesizer, located in the main studio. More information on the SynLab here.

The storeroom tour was a fascinating trip through the history of music technology. It wasn't all as old as I thought: amongst the Bakelite and VU meters were several pieces of more recent techno junk: Atari 1040STs, Commodore floppy drives, early ProTools rigs and unused Lexicons all lay gathering dust, testimony to the studio's 56 year history.

You can read more about the TU studio here or in the book "Musik..., verwandelt" (Wolke Verlag, 1996). The EA music archive is here. Myspace is here.

Thank you Folkmar and all the best!