glitterbug

‎’Vacuity’ is the first part of my four part composition ‘Egress’, released earlier this month on False Industries. Imagine opening your eyes in a dead, dark, hostile place where everything is in ruins. That’s pretty much what ‘Vacuity’ is about, and I couldn’t imagine a more fitting visual translation of the piece than Ronni Shendar‘s video for it. Taken from the live premiere at the Plektrum Festival in Tallinn / Estonia, September 2011.

My ‘Egress’ EP is out on the Israeli label False Industries! Hurray! Thanks Yair for your efforts, I am so exited about this.

False005: Glitterbug with a dark and magical release on False Industries. This Release will come with remixes of The Sight Below and Tilman Ehrhorn

Egress is a work for string ensemble and electronics composed and recorded by Glitterbug, consisting of four chapters – Vacuity, Span, Stagger and Appraise.

Continuing his notable cinematic approach and pushing it to its next level, Glitterbug unveils Egress as audible storytelling, similar to radio-play and audio drama scores, dealing with notions of escape, isolation, loss, mourning, and undefined fear.

The composition’s thirty minutes are desolate and bare. They narrate an idea of a final, irreversible departure, presenting a soundtrack travelling through vacuous territories and hollow drifts. It narrates a void of inhabitable space, documenting the emotionality of the sound of a world post society, of a future in an unknown and possibly hostile place.

Egress is formed by a reduced musical structure, built upon discerning tonal subtleties, suspended single notes, and harmonics going slowly atonal.

(Note to the listener: As the work explores wide ranges of sound and tone, a decent stereo system or high quality headphones are required to fully experience the work, as computer or laptop speakers will obliterate vast parts of its frequency range.)

I am super happy and very proud to announce my first contribution to beloved Ki records.

You can buy the vinyl in shops worldwide and / or the digital tracks here: Boomkat, iTunes, Kompakt, ZeroInch, Forced Exposure and countless more.

This is what Ki writes about the release:
Following the Debut LP on Ki, we’ve put together a few of our favorite artists to remix some tracks of their choice. It was important for us, that the artists kept their individual approach to their genre, so that we could get a very diverse release.
First up is the Japanese producer Stereociti, who just released his debut album on Mojuba Records. He gives the title track „Reisegefaehrte“ his very own deep touch. Second up is our close friend Glitterbug, who seems to create a very own genre with his interpretation of „Barracuda“. On the flipside Stundman goes straight to the dancefloor. Jacking beats and pounding basslines are his „Reminder“. And as if P.Laoss knew what the real deal is, he turned „Subsistence“ into a Fata Morgana trip back to the time when Dub was really „Dub“. Perfect completion of what we expected from this Remix EP.

With this year’s sale we are celebrating our double CD compilation Audible Approaches For A Better Place.

We gathered 10 of our favourite artists (Gold Panda, Brandt Brauer Frick, John Kameel Farah, Jasmina Maschina, Khan, Casper Clausen & Mads Brauer (of Efterklang), Glitterbug with Enas Massalha, Christian Löffler and Eliad Wagner) for an experiment, and asked them to create music for a better, more just and beautiful place.

The result? Eclat Magazine writes “A truly magnificent aural experience, a fantastic musical experience full of harmonious beauty” , “Ambitious and deeply sentimental project” – Boomkat UK ,“The concept: simple and straightforward; the result: powerful and provocative” – Textura, “Ten wonderful snapshots” – Groove

SUPER SALE
For this year’s sale, we are happy to offer Audible Approaches for a Better Place + your choice of any 2 c.sides label releases for only €20!! or you can order a copy from our entire backstock + a c.sides T-shirt, for only €40!!

GIVEAWAY
And if that’s not enough, if you order by Dec. 20th, you have a chance to win one of six individual Audible Approaches frames. We will be raffling a single frame from each of the six Audible Approaches for a Better Place videos by Ronni Shendar, Gold Panda, Karim Ghahwagi, Eliad Wagner, Christian Löffler, and Khan!!!

More info & oder details here!

I have been neglecting this blog for quite a few months now, not necessarily because I wanted to, but more because the past few months have been so intense and draining that I barely had the time or energy to write.

Much has happened in the past half year, on many different levels. Some that are closer to me might have heard that my father died this April, which has been a challenge on many different levels. But that is a way too long and a tad too personal story to be shared at length on a blog…

So, besides my process of mourning and taking care for my father’s mess he has left behind (he was an artist and died suddenly, and left 1500sqm of studio space behind), I actually worked on A LOT of music. And since my music is what keeps me sane and going, I have been tangled in a strangely productive, yet very inverted and emotional production process. Bellow please read about a few of my projects that I either finished or that are still going to be released this year.

***

I am very happy and very proud that I finished my third album, Cancerboy, which will be out on c.sides in February 2012. It actually is a techno album about the disease cancer, and yes, it is auto biographical. It’s a very dense and very personal album, and probably the most intense I have ever worked on so far. More info to be shared soon.

***

Out since Monday, September 12th is the double CD compilation ‘Audible Approaches For A Better Place’ (visit the microsite here), which has fantastic new and exclusive works by beloved artists like Brandt Brauer Frick // Enas Massalha // Eliad Wagner // Christian Löffler // Khan // John Farah // Jasmina Maschina // Mads Brauer & Casper Clausen of Efterklang // Gold Panda and my humble self feat. the fantastic Israeli-Palestinian soprano Enas Massalha.

Here’s the full version of our piece:

Glitterbug feat Enas Massalha-The Sky Fell Silent by Glitterbug

If you fancy to pick up a hard copy, it’s available internationally. You can also order it on Kompakt’s website or download it from iTunes, Juno, Zero Inch and alikes.

***

Additionally, there is an EP of mine to still be released in 2011 on the Israeli label False Ind. It consists of a 4 part composition for strings and electronics and is titled “Egress”. It will come with remixes by dear friends and fellow artists The Sight Below, Tilman Erhorn and the man behind False Ind., Yair Etziony.

A few more words about the work:

Egress is a work for string ensemble and electronics composed and recorded by Glitterbug, consisting of four chapters – Vacuity, Span, Stagger and Appraise.

Continuing his notable cinematic approach and pushing it to its next level, Glitterbug unveils Egress as audible storytelling, similar to radio-play and audio drama scores, dealing with notions of escape, isolation, loss, mourning, and undefined fear.

The composition’s thirty minutes are desolate and bare. They narrate an idea of a final, irreversible departure, presenting a soundtrack travelling through vacuous territories and hollow drifts. It narrates a void of inhabitable space, documenting the emotionality of the sound of a world post society, of a future in an unknown and possibly hostile place.

Egress is formed by a reduced musical structure, built upon discerning tonal subtleties, suspended single notes, and harmonics going slowly atonal.

***

Also out in November 2011 will be a remix I made for our dear friends over at Ki Records, for Biodub’s ‘Baracuda, taken off his album ‘Reisegefährte‘. And yeah, it’ll be out on wax!

Next on, I will be working on a split EP on Ki Records, with New York’s native Konroy . It’s super exciting to have to opportunity to work with such a great new talent! It’s gonna be a wonderful, deep and emotional EP, ‘nough said!

***

Also still out this year, will be a track of mine that will be released on der friends Mark & Matt Thibideau’s Obsolete Components from Canada. The homework was to create an entire track solely recorded with only ONE analogue synth, and I chose one of my most favorites of all times: the Yamaha CS 15.

“Electric Lairs” is entirely based on the Yamaha CS15. No other sound sources have been used. Besides EQs on the channels, I only used some reverb, tape delay and a little bit of compression on the bass drum part. Also, I didn’t sequence it, all parts are played live and recorded and mixed in Logic… My CS15 also has a bit of a sad story, since it was previously owned by Christian Morgenstern, who suddenly died in 2003. A mutual friend, Falko Brocksieper, was asked by Christians parents to take apart and sell off his studio after he passed away, and Falko asked me if I would maybe like to have this very particular one. I took it and loved it ever since.

What if artists composed music for a better world?

Audible Approaches For A Better Place

Haus der Kulturen der Welt,
John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10 10557 Berlin
Doors open 19:30 / Concert begins 20:00 (sharp!)

One evening with 10 live performances by:
Casper Clausen and Mads Brauer (of EFTERKLANG) feat. Karim Ghahwagi
Christian Löffler
Eliad Wagner
Gold Panda
Glitterbug and Ronni Shendar feat. Enas Massalha
Jasmina Maschina
John Kameel Farah
Khan
and very special surprise guests (to be revealed in May!)

c.sides asked ten diverse artists (and bands) to create new works, all sharing one goal:
to make a humble contribution toward making this world a better, more just and beautiful place!

Artists had full freedom in their creative process. We provided only general guidelines to participating artists regarding the project’s concept and an intended timeframe of ten to fifteen minutes for each piece, in order to allow the artists to develop an idea beyond the limitations of a ‘regular track.’ We also encouraged artists to work with different musical means than they usually would!

This is an artistic experiment we have wanted to do for a very long time. It is a personal reaction to the overwhelming global and local injustices, catastrophes and troubles, and stems from a slightly naïve, yet sincere belief that art, in its essence, can be a political act and path to changing the world. The idea is self-critical and self-deprecating, yet genuine and heartfelt: to create something beautiful and thoughtful, to dedicate a bit of our creative time to pondering the world and our role in it.

And the results? Probably our most beautiful production yet!

And, it will take place on one of Berlin’s best sounding stages: the large auditorium at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt.

It has been an amazing experience for us to see the pieces come together, miraculously corresponding with one another and with our own individual works. And we don’t think anyone should miss out on this event.

One first step to making this world a better place is that entry costs only 8 Euros at the door, and 5 Euros for those eligible for discount!!!

A Second step is that a (double CD) release under the same title (Audible Approaches for a Better Place) will be released on the c.sides Label in September featuring all the works of all participating artists. The release will already be available for purchase on May 12th for those who attend the event. Yep, that’s 4 months before the official release date!

This evening is part of the HKW Lokal program, as part of the ÜBER LEBENSKUNST initiative, more info here.

From our friends at Kompakt:

“Even if the headlines are now dominated by other topics, many of our Japanese friends are still in a dire situation. Kompakt’s family of distributed labels feels the urge to help, so here it comes: 34 tracks handpicked by the owners of some of the world’s leading labels in electronic music: Ostgut Ton, Freude Am Tanzen, Bpitch Control, Dial, Kompakt, Comeme, Raster Noton, Monika, Rrygular, Vidab Records, Optimo Music, Anticipate and many more. Ranging from ethereal ambient sounds to pumping club sounds of Berlin, New York’s new disco underground and leftfield experimentations, there’s something for everyone.

There are many options as to where you can purchase this special compilation, but we encourage you to buy the compilation from Bandcamp or Other Music as 100% of the proceeds will go directly to The Red Cross Society Of Japan. The pricing for the compilation is € 7.99 for all 34 tracks, or € .99 per individual track. Bandcamp also offers you the option to pay more as an extra donation.”

How to buy:

We would like to thank the following labels and companies for participating in our effort to help:

Oktaf, Anticipate, Bpitch Control, Optimo Music, Monika Enterprise, Steadfast, Dial Records, Italic, Best Works Records, Kompakt, 200 Records, Supersoul Recordings, Laid, Memo, Throne Of Blood, My Favorite Robot Records, And Music, Freude Am Tanzen, Ostgut Ton, Vidab Records, C.sides, Pro-Tez, Boxer Recordings, Rrygular / Mo’s Ferry Prod., Falkplatz, Foundsound Records, Cómeme, Raster-Noton, m=minimal, Musik Krause, Hypercolour, The Agriculture, and Greta Cottage Workshop.

A special thanks goes out to Other Music, and Ripblock for donating 100% of their work!

I usually don’t steal from other blogs, but in this specific case, I would like to point to a very exciting project that Ronni Shendar and I have been working on for the past few months, and that is slowly wrapping up. And why writing it all over again if somebody else already said it all, and even so beautifully?

The video bellow was created by Ronni Shendar, the soundtrack was made by me.

You can find the original post on Ronni’s blog here.

***

“I created the video above for the HKW Lokal concert series at the Haus der Kulturn der Welt as part of the ÜBER LEBENSKUNST (Art of Living) initiative, in Berlin.

The 4-part concert series brings Berlin’s international music scene to set the climate change to music: From “Apocalypse Culture” to “Audible Approaches for a Better Place”, from Trucker Songs in the age of electric engines to “climate change” between human voice and computer-generated sounds.

Till Rohmann aka Glitterbug not only created the soundtrack for the video, but he and myself also curated the last event “Audible Approaches for a Better Place” – an evening of 10 performances of diverse artists who each created a new dedicated piece for this evening, all sharing one common goal of making a humble contribution to making this world better and more just through audible means.

You can read more about the project and its upcoming release on the c.sides Label in my previous post. Participants include: Mads Brauer and Casper Clausen (of Efterklang), Gold Panda, Khan (Oral), Jasmina Maschina, Christian Löffler, John Farah, Eliad Wagner, Enas Massalha and the joint project of Glitterbug & Enas Massalha, as well as some very special guests.

HKW Lokal Concert Series

7 April, 8pm
ELECTRIC TRUCKS & HYBRID HOT RODS
DM Bob & Speedy Jake 

Jimmy Trash & the Gunpowder Temple of Heaven 


28 April, 8pm
NATURE VS. MAN
9

September Collective feat. Chor der Kulturen der Welt


5 May 2011, 8pm
ANIMAL POLITICAL SONGS
Animal Cops

Lord Mouse and the Kalypso Katz

12 May 8 pm
AUDIBLE APPROACHES FOR A BETTER PLACE
Mini festival with 10 acts including:
Casper Clausen and Mads Brauer (of EFTERKLANG) feat. Karim Ghahwagi (visuals)
Christian Löffler
Eliad Wagner
Enas Massalha
Gold Panda
Glitterbug & Ronni Shendar feat. Enas Massalha
Jasmina Maschina
John Farah
Khan
and very special surprise guests (to be revealed in May)

In the past few weeks and months, I (and pretty much my entire personal and artistic surrounding) have been occupied by the disasters, catastrophes and the political turmoil happening around the world.

Much of my music that I have been working on in the last few months is deeply influenced by the current state of the world and the concurrence of greatly impactful events, providing a new and uncanny undertone.

Our next c.sides Label release is a double CD compilation with all-new commissioned works under the title “Audible Approaches For A Better Place” a project that will also be performed by all participants on the 12th of May at the HKW in Berlin (more info here)

I have an upcoming abstract ambient EP under the title “Egress EP” that will be released on the Israeli label False Ind., an EP that investigates the search and hope of finding new places and new prospects in the wreckage, when everything familiar has turned to rubble, and even more so,  my next album which will be titled “Cancerboy”,  a darker Glitterbug than previously known. An album that deals, as the title says, with cancer on a very personal and autobiographical level.

I have barely felt so hope- and helpless watching the news, and not that I actually would believe that giving tracks to benefit compilations and playing in benefit concerts makes that much of a difference, I do not see any other way of getting involved at the moment, so I think it’s still better than doing nothing.

Dear collegue and appreciated artist and musician Terre Thaemlitz wrote a nice text about the cons of participating in such things (you can read it here), and while I certainly agree with much of his criticism, I still do believe that it doesn’t hurt to give a little bit of something if you don’t have the means or framework to give more or other things.

So, below are two projects that I / we participate in.

Firstly, a compilation that our friends at Kompakt are putting out:

“Even if the headlines are now dominated by other topics – many of our Japanese friends are still in a dire situation. Kompakt’s family of distributed labels feels the urge to help, so here it comes: 34 tracks handpicked by the owners of some of the world’s leading labels in electronic music: Ostgut Ton, Freude Am Tanzen, Bpitch Control, Dial, Kompakt, Comeme, Raster Noton, Monika, Rrygular, Vidab, Optimo, Anticipate and many more. Ranging from etherical ambient sounds to pumping club sounds of Berlin, New York’s new disco underground and leftfield experimentations there’s something for everyone. All money generated from this unique compilation goes directly to help organizations in Japan.”

Tracklisting:
1. Marsen Jules – Trio Les Fleurs (Oktaf)
2. Ezekiel Honig – Past Tense Kitchen Movement (Anticipate)
3. Jahcoozi – Lost In The Bass (Bpitch Ctrl)
4. Space System – Petik (Optimo Music)
5. Greie Gut Fraktion – Wir Bauen Eine Neue Stadt Wolfgang Voigt Remix (Monika)
6. Manaboo – Unhuh (Steadfast)
7. Efdemin – Time (Dial)
8. Antonelli – Waiting For You (Italic)
9. André Lodemann – Searchin’ (Best Works)
10. Lawrence – Dwelling On The Dunes (Laid)
11. Michael Mayer – Picanha Frenesi (Kompakt)
12. Nhar – Megumi (200 Records)
13. Xaver von Treyer – Lunar Rover (Supersoul)
14. Cosmic Kids – Reginald’s Groove (Throne Of Blood)
15. My Favorite Robot – The Future Will Judge (My Favorite Robot)
16. Kaito – Open My Window (Kompakt)
17. Audision – Red Sky (And)
18. Monkey Maffia – Yo Baby Yo (Freude Am Tanzen)
19. Nick Höppner – Makeover (Ostgut Ton)
20. Gowentgone – Love & Respect (Vidab)
21. Glitterbug – Parted (C.Sides)
22. SCSI-9 – Electric Flowers (Pro-Tez)
23. Dusty Kid – America (Boxer)
24. Tassilo – Petite Patate (Rrygular)
25. Davenport & Deutschmann – Trump (Falkplatz)
26. Mr. Statik – Smoothest Cat On The Block (Memo)
27. Someone Else – Funny Day Elsewhere (Foundsound)
28. Ana Helder – El Groove De Tu Corazon (Comeme)
29. Anne-James Chaton – Vendredi 26 Juin 2009 – Événement N°23 (Raster)
30. Borngräber & Strüver – People Crying (M=Minimal)
31. Metaboman – Stony (Musik Krause)
32. Maya Jane Coles – You (Hypercolour)
33. DJ Olive – Kokanee’s Drop (Agriculture)
34. Out Of Plato’s Cave – Rainbow For Dawn Shane Berrys Rainbow for Japan Mix (Greta Cottage Workshop)

Secondly, Ronni Shendar and I will be performing in a benefit concert on the 8th of May in Berlin at Maria Club.

KI.ZUNA
Kizuna is the japanese word for bond.
www.kizuna-berlin.de

“After the catastrophic happening in Japan, which has not directly affected us, who live here in Berlin, it became a frustrating and helpless situation. Obliqued by the international media, we are concerned about the people and our friends and family in Japan.

After many years of intense exchange of art and culture between Berlin and Tokyo, our friends stand by us and share the situation. This strong bond encouraged our team, of Berlin DJ ́s and promoters, to become active supporters and demonstrate a KI.ZUNA to Japan.

With the KI.ZUNA event, we want to show our sympathy and friendship with a benefit party. Together with an Berlin located international artist collective of DJ ́s, musicians, promoters and media, we want to support the reconstruction in the effected areas.

The location Maria am Ostbahnhof, is a strong partner who instantly commited to the KI.ZUNA benefiz. All crew, location, technical support, promotion, artist fees will be sponsored.The entrance fee will be 100% donated.

Not only the natural cathastrophy, as well the nuclear desaster has and furtherly will cause a lot of victims. We will make sure that the money will be recieved in the areas of (for example) Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate – the three most affected places.

As our official donation partner, we chose betterplace.org as the biggest donation platform in Germany, to keep the lowest production costs and show the most transparency to all supporters.

On the following link, you will get all needed information about the supported projects and follow your donation:
www.kizuna-berlin.betterplace.org”

Lineup:
Aerea Negrot bpitch control | live
Akiko Kiyama | live – japan
Glitterbug & Ronni Shendar c.sides | audiovisual live performance
Kai Taro | live – japan
Shingo Suwa merkur | live – japan
Roman Flügel (tbc)
Kiki bpitch control
Soundstream soundstream
Stewart Walker persona
Gebrüder Teichmann
Ryo Fujimoto
humanelectro | japan
Mieko Suzuki koo koo | japan
Mijk Van Dijk
Mary Jane | ritterbutzke
Frank Mueller | müller rec
Didier de la Boutique | tonkind
Akira Hwaks | japan
Ara | groove magazin
Aroma | aromamusic
Charles Tone | pentagonik
Elbee
Bad Jakob Richter | maria
Hito | japan

It has been very quiet here lately, and I would like to apologize for that. The past two months have been insanely busy, not only with being in the studio, but also with all kinds of other projects, after December and parts of January saw heavy traveling and insane amounts of deadlines.

So, here are the latest news:

The upcoming months will bring quite a few new releases of my music. Funnily, it seems this will be the Glitterbug ambient spring… the next Mule Musiq ambient compilation “Enjoy the Silence Vol. 2″ will have a piece of mine. The release date is the 23rd of May. Very proud, very happy me!

Maybe even before, an EP of 4 abstract compositions (accompanied by a remix of Rafael Anton Irisarri aka The Sight Below) will be released on our good friend Yair Etziony’s label False Ind.

c.sides is also venturing off to new release-adventures. Coming up next is a 2xCD compilation under the beautiful title “Audible Approaches For A Better Place”, which is a series of mini-compositions (each 15 minutes long) which will be performed live by all participating artists in Berlin on the 12th of May, in the HKW (House of World Cultures). More info to be shared soon, but the release will see exclusive and eclectic works of our dear friends and favorite-ever artists like Efterklang, Christian Loeffler, Brandt Brauer Frick, Gold Panda, Khan Oral, Jasmina Maschina, Eliad Wagner, my humble Glitterbug self in a collaboration with Isralei-Palestinian opera singer Enas Massalha and visual genius Ronni Shendar, Enas Massalha solo, and John Farah. The idea for the evening and the CD-compilation came as both a response to the overwhelming issues of global and local injustices and a very naive and sincere belief that art in its essence is a political act and path to changing the world. It’s both cynical and self-humorous while totally genuine and heartfelt: To make something beautiful and thoughtful; to dedicate a little bit of our creative time to ponder about these things and to do this on stage with other artists and the audience.

Besides working on these bits and pieces, I am also in the advancing stages of composing and recording my next album, which will be released in the late fall. It’s gonna be- well, how shall I put it- quite serious auto-biographical techno. The title will be ‘Cancerboy’. More to be shared soon!

In addition, there are a few more things in the making, like probably two more dance-y EPs, a score for a movie, and some commissioned works. Never a dull moment!

As of performances, we decided to take a few weeks off to be able to wrap up our studio duties, before we will be touring again all of April, with a fully revised live show that already incorporates some of the new album materials. Some of the highlights include a show at Unsound New York on April 9th, maybe an installation at Boulder/CO’s Communikey Festival (TBC), shows in San Francisco and Los Angeles, a performance in Geneva’s famous Electron festival on April 21st and finalizing the April tour, a show in Vienna at Fluc on the 23rd of April.