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LP
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MONIKA 093LP
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LP version; includes printed inner and download. Moment is German electronic originator Gudrun Gut's latest solo collection. Her first solo album since 2012's Wildlife (MONIKA 077CD/LP) and 2007's I Put A Record On (MONIKA 055CD/LP) Moment distills a lifetime of persuasions and obsessions into a compelling 14-track statement. Stark, somber, sultry, and clever, the sides slide between ballad and lament, synth-pop and spoken word, anthemic and abstract. Gudrun Gut's story spans many years, scenes, and sounds, from the "ingenious dilettantes" subculture of early 1980's Berlin as part of Mania D, Einstürzende Neubauten, and Malaria! to her twilit industrial pop trio Matador into an expansive solo catalog of later work scoring films, videos, and radio plays. Her talents extend beyond musician, however, to include founding record labels (the influential imprints Moabit Musik and Monika Enterprise), club nights (progressive electronic pop collective Oceanclub), and experimental feminist collaborations (Monika Werkstatt). Gut also works extensively in the technical sector of the recording industry, as a producer. Recent projects have included collaborations with Antye Greie (AGF) and Hans-Joachim Irmler of Faust, participating on the advisory committee for Musicboard Berlin, and performing at The Royal Albert Hall with Âme as part of an Innervisions label night.
"Gut's background as a key figure in Berlin's first-wave industrial uprising still casts an aura in the music's mechanized rhythms and frozen emotional palette but decades of improvisation and collaboration have deepened her sense of composition and melody beyond any easy genre categorization. If anything Moment finds Gut's muse at its most enigmatic, threading shades of motorik hypnosis, technoid laboratory, coldwave pop, glitchy gauze, and even a gender-bent Bowie cover ("Boys Keep Swinging") into its eclectic web. It also showcases the depth and detail of her voice, reserved but suggestive, intoning blunt truths and opaque poetry in both German and English. This is music of history and heartache, modernity and desire, alienation and expression, by a singular creative committed to the complexities of sound." --Britt Brown
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CD
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MONIKA 093CD
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Moment is German electronic originator Gudrun Gut's latest solo collection. Her first solo album since 2012's Wildlife (MONIKA 077CD/LP) and 2007's I Put A Record On (MONIKA 055CD/LP) Moment distills a lifetime of persuasions and obsessions into a compelling 14-track statement. Stark, somber, sultry, and clever, the sides slide between ballad and lament, synth-pop and spoken word, anthemic and abstract. Gudrun Gut's story spans many years, scenes, and sounds, from the "ingenious dilettantes" subculture of early 1980's Berlin as part of Mania D, Einstürzende Neubauten, and Malaria! to her twilit industrial pop trio Matador into an expansive solo catalog of later work scoring films, videos, and radio plays. Her talents extend beyond musician, however, to include founding record labels (the influential imprints Moabit Musik and Monika Enterprise), club nights (progressive electronic pop collective Oceanclub), and experimental feminist collaborations (Monika Werkstatt). Gut also works extensively in the technical sector of the recording industry, as a producer. Recent projects have included collaborations with Antye Greie (AGF) and Hans-Joachim Irmler of Faust, participating on the advisory committee for Musicboard Berlin, and performing at The Royal Albert Hall with Âme as part of an Innervisions label night.
"Gut's background as a key figure in Berlin's first-wave industrial uprising still casts an aura in the music's mechanized rhythms and frozen emotional palette but decades of improvisation and collaboration have deepened her sense of composition and melody beyond any easy genre categorization. If anything Moment finds Gut's muse at its most enigmatic, threading shades of motorik hypnosis, technoid laboratory, coldwave pop, glitchy gauze, and even a gender-bent Bowie cover ("Boys Keep Swinging") into its eclectic web. It also showcases the depth and detail of her voice, reserved but suggestive, intoning blunt truths and opaque poetry in both German and English. This is music of history and heartache, modernity and desire, alienation and expression, by a singular creative committed to the complexities of sound." --Britt Brown
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7"
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MONIKA 078EP
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Monika label founder and long-term ambassador of the Berlin scene Gudrun Gut now presents a brand-new 7" single with two exclusive tracks to make you leave the city and go wild. Side A explodes open with GG's very own cover version of Canned Heat's classic "Goin' Up the Country." Gut has taken the blues-rock hit and given it her very own punk twist. With her roots in '80s bands such as Malaria! and Einstürzende Neubauten, needless to say, Gudrun knows how to give the song that extra edge. Turn the record over for an equally astonishing B-side in the form of the Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble remix of the track "Tiger," taken from the Wildlife (MONIKA 077CD/LP) album.
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LP
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MONIKA 077LP
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Gatefold LP version. Gudrun Gut goes "back to nature" on her first album release since her outings with the Greie Gut Fraktion in 2009. However, Wildlife does not portray nature as a cosy ur-idyll, but rather as a realm filled with rough tenderness and its very own dangers. Gudrun Gut -- in her guise as Berlin post-punk activist, label owner, radio presenter or party promoter -- has always been interested in gaps, niches and risky locations. Now, nature itself provides such a small and utopian niche; a place where "it" might happen in a very existential sense. All of the album's tracks took shape in Gudrun Gut's Uckermark hideaway, an hour or two away from Berlin. During production, in autumn and winter, this landscape exudes an almost eerie calm, suggesting that the outside world's hectic universe of data and projects is no more than a figment of our collective imagination. Far removed from hippie-esque humanism, Gut's natural states are much closer in spirit to the cool knowledge of punk and its successors. With the sangfroid and serenity of three decades of active music experience, between completely ingenious and utter dilettante, Gut now ventures into a lavishly proliferating world of sounds and references. While the opener "Protecting My Wildlife" confronts us with jarring post-techno minimalism, "Garten" soothes the ear with its shuffling, electric romance. Soon enough, however, well-trodden paths are left behind: Gut's reworking of "Simply the Best" turns this hackneyed mega-hit into a staggering love ballad; a streaky guitar adds further distortion. "How Can I Move" seems to hide a trace of Armand van Helden in the underbrush; "Mond" flirts with subtle Detroit techno allusions. The distinctly dark "Tiger," on the other hand, truly does sound like a veritable tiger leap into the past. Similarly free of nostalgia, "Erinnerung" looks back to the past with a string of words created in a lyrical back-and-forth ping-pong match between Gut and author Annika Reich. All tracks were mixed together with Jörg Burger at two studios in the East and West. Time and again, the album exudes a lascivious and demanding intimacy that comes into its own on the fantastic "Frei Sein." Here, the track turns a nursery rhyme's playful naivety into an idiosyncratic anthem with African-inspired rhythms and a clicking, animist, ambient sound. "Frei Sein," i.e. being free, is what Gudrun Gut is all about.
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CD
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MONIKA 077CD
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Gudrun Gut goes "back to nature" on her first album release since her outings with the Greie Gut Fraktion in 2009. However, Wildlife does not portray nature as a cosy ur-idyll, but rather as a realm filled with rough tenderness and its very own dangers. Gudrun Gut -- in her guise as Berlin post-punk activist, label owner, radio presenter or party promoter -- has always been interested in gaps, niches and risky locations. Now, nature itself provides such a small and utopian niche; a place where "it" might happen in a very existential sense. All of the album's tracks took shape in Gudrun Gut's Uckermark hideaway, an hour or two away from Berlin. During production, in autumn and winter, this landscape exudes an almost eerie calm, suggesting that the outside world's hectic universe of data and projects is no more than a figment of our collective imagination. Far removed from hippie-esque humanism, Gut's natural states are much closer in spirit to the cool knowledge of punk and its successors. With the sangfroid and serenity of three decades of active music experience, between completely ingenious and utter dilettante, Gut now ventures into a lavishly proliferating world of sounds and references. While the opener "Protecting My Wildlife" confronts us with jarring post-techno minimalism, "Garten" soothes the ear with its shuffling, electric romance. Soon enough, however, well-trodden paths are left behind: Gut's reworking of "Simply the Best" turns this hackneyed mega-hit into a staggering love ballad; a streaky guitar adds further distortion. "How Can I Move" seems to hide a trace of Armand van Helden in the underbrush; "Mond" flirts with subtle Detroit techno allusions. The distinctly dark "Tiger," on the other hand, truly does sound like a veritable tiger leap into the past. Similarly free of nostalgia, "Erinnerung" looks back to the past with a string of words created in a lyrical back-and-forth ping-pong match between Gut and author Annika Reich. All tracks were mixed together with Jörg Burger at two studios in the East and West. Time and again, the album exudes a lascivious and demanding intimacy that comes into its own on the fantastic "Frei Sein." Here, the track turns a nursery rhyme's playful naivety into an idiosyncratic anthem with African-inspired rhythms and a clicking, animist, ambient sound. "Frei Sein," i.e. being free, is what Gudrun Gut is all about.
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12"
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MONIKA 075EP
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Gudrun Gut presents her Best Garden EP on Monika. The Jörg Burger (aka Modernist) mix of "Garten" is an absolute hit in the Cologne tradition. The "trimmed" edition of the track is a shorter version taken from Gudrun's upcoming album Wildlife. "The Best" is a cover version which at first glance doesn't really fit Gudrun Gut, but its recontextualization gets a whole new power. Thomas Fehlmann has got all sides covered with two cool mixes.
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12"
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MONIKA 054EP
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In Pieces is the perfect accompaniment to Gudrun Gut's magnificent solo album, I Put A Record On. Jörg Burger, the man behind The Modernist and Triola projects, has again teamed up with Kompakt boss Wolfgang Voigt aka Wasserman especially for this mix. "Move Me," which originally came out to great acclaim as a 7" on Earsugar Jukebox, gets remixed by Burger/Voigt, and it's turned into a dance-pop symphony. Pole lends his hand to "Cry Easy" and lends it a Mr. Oizo-esque bass groove. Lastly, Dntel provides an astonishing remix of "The Wheel."
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CD
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MONIKA 055CD
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It can hardly be believed that I Put a Record On is Gudrun Gut's debut album as a solo artist, considering her key contributions in the Berlin musical underground. Not only is she label-head of Monika Enterprise, she is a founding member of the Berlin bands Mania D., Malaria! and Matador and long before the Wall fell she was a member of Einstürzende Neubauten. With so many references to her credit, it's no wonder that an atmosphere of delicate diversity is built on this record. The listener is unconsciously pulled along into the moods and associations evoked by Gudrun Gut and the way she plays with different sources. Gudrun's preferred style is a kind of minimal techno with a warm sound and a dark timbre. Titles such as "Rock Bottom Riser" and "Last Night" are swinging mid-tempo numbers. "Move Me" is a club-compatible cross between polka and tango, while "The Wheel" is some kind of hip-hop fairy tale. The tracks are loop-oriented and disarmingly concise, really showcasing the artist's cunningness. I Put a Record On pulsates in imaginary black light -- this quiet stillness gives the album a lascivious quality which is reinforced by the way Gudrun Gut's voice murmurs in one's ear (if you've ever heard Oceanclub Radio you will know about this). Gudrun also makes fair use of her talented friends on this release -- "Rock Bottom Riser" arose from a spontaneous sing along in the Monika office, featuring the voices of Uta Heller and Matt Elliot. Malaria! and Matador companion Manon P. Duursma guests as co-writer of the dub-blues tracks "Pleasuretrain" and "The Wheel," and the original version of "Girl Boogie" already appeared as a contribution to the Girl Monster compilation on Chicks On Speed Records. As a visual bonus, the CD also contains an edited version of the video "Celle," taken from an installation which Gudrun did together with celebrated artist Pipilotti Rist for the Sonambiente Festival in Berlin, 2006. Experienced musician Gudrun Gut allows her new album to radiate with beautiful melancholy like a strong perfume -- an invitation to let oneself fall backwards into her warm pulse.
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LP
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MONIKA 055LP
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2CD
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MOABIT 015CD
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Double CD for the price of one (reissue of a 1996 album, plus 2nd CD of remixes by Thomas Fehlmann, The Orb, Ellen Allien, and more) from Berlin's Gudrun Gut. Gudrun currently runs the Monika label, was a early member of Einsturzende Neubauten and most famously founded the 1980s band Malaria! She has collaborated with Blixa Bargeld, Anita Lane, Thomas Fehlmann, etc. "The summer of 1994, a flat share in Berlin's Potsdamerstraße and it's blazing hot. Back then I was busy tinkering with some simple bass loops on my computer and my loop machine. The speakers helped to spread the loops across the entire flat, a perfect match for the relaxed summer feel. Laurie said: 'it's like being under water, in the ocean.' An ocean club -- all of a sudden, my future had a new home. After years and years of playing in bands I wanted to pursue my own visions -- but continue to work with friends. I wanted to create a loose collective, an open club for members: Members of the Oceanclub. I locked myself in the studio with longtime Australian friend Anita Lane and the loops became tracks. Johnny Klimek loved the result and offered to help out on production. In Inga Humpe I rediscovered an old friend from the 80s at the E-Werk and we decided to re-explore the strange power of the butterfly. My work was beginning to take shape. Further new members included Danielle de Picciotto and my Malaria and Matador sidekick Manon P. Duursma, I also invited Katharina Franck, Jovanka von Willsdorf (Quarks) and Jayney Klimek and, naturally, included a track by my Miasma partner Myra Davis. In the end, we also needed the obligatory male joker: my Schöneberg neighbour and old partner in crime Blixa Bargeld joined me in an homage to the sun, adding additional sparkle to the ladies' circle. In 1996 the resulting album Members of the Ocean Club was finally released by Alternation. By now the Oceanclub network spans the entire globe, and I am very proud to reintroduce you to its beginnings with this double CD. The remixes featured on CD 2 were only ever released on vinyl and, like the original recordings, have long been discontinued." -- G.Gut, Berlin July 2004. Remixers include, Klaus Schulze, Paul van Dyk, Thomas Fehlmann, Johnny Klimek, Ian Pooley, Orb, Spinout Butterfliege, Ellen Allien, Corbra.
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