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LP
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EMEGO 296LP
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Marcus Schmickler's music is designed for multi-channel sound projections and references German electronic music tradition, spectral music, experimentalism as well as 1990s club music. His artistic practice explores avant-garde trajectories in electronic music composition, formal systems, sonification and psychoacoustics. This release features two new major works from this audacious sound explorer. Sky Dice / Mapping the Studio premiered at Donaueschinger Tage fur Neue Musik 10.20.2018 having being commissioned by SWR and realized at the Experimentalstudio (EXP) in Freiburg. This is a work for ARP 2500, Publison DHM89B, Publison Infernal Machine and Computer. Taking cues from Bruce Nauman's Mapping the Studio I (Fat Chance John Cage) (2001) the piece draws a fragmented acoustic map of the SWR facility itself; the studio serves as a source-model for the sonic display of historical signal flow graphs. Various acoustic and psychoacoustic effects come into play including the Larsen effect, as well as Style Transfer and Topological Sonification. The result is a daring and dizzying display of disorientating audio. Sound moves in most unusual ways, rising and falling simultaneously, appearing and disappearing like apparitions, nothing here behaves in expected ways. To paraphrase Albert Einstein's now famous quote regarding quantum mechanics, this is spooky audio at a distance. "Fortuna Ribbon" is a selection of sonic material that emerged from a research based on how DPOAEs (Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emission) can be designed in the context of musical frameworks, augmenting the compositional pallets in regard to spatial hearing. In this manifestation, the materials are presented without context. The resulting emissions from the ear that are excited in varying ways from the six examples on display here. Playback in undisturbed acoustic environments is recommended at >82 dB/A. Schmickler's ongoing investigation of sound matter conjures impossible audio that delights in the extremity of form and resulting effects on the listener. Schmickler's audio invocations explore the capabilities of contemporary technology resulting in dizzying new worlds of sound. Cut 01/2021 by Andreas Kauffelt at Schnittstelle, Berlin. Artwork by Neo-Metabolism.
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2CD
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TA 162CD
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Double-CD collecting five of Marcus Schmickler's key-works composed and recorded between 2006 and 2016. "Richters Patterns" (2016), "Kemp Echoes" (2013), "E-UROPAS" (2006), "Fokker Bifurcations" (2014), and "Ata Oto" (2016). Full color digipak with eight-page booklet; edition of 400. "Richters Patterns" (2016) is a collaboration among Marcus Schmickler, artist Gerhard Richter, director Corinna Belz, and the Ensemble Musikfabrik. In 2011, Richter took an image of his work Abstract Painting and divided it vertically into strips and gave them to Belz who utilized specially developed software operations involving cuts, mirroring and reproduction to create a movie from these images. Schmickler and Belz worked in parallel, with the film and composition following their own independent logic. Schmickler's idea was to extend Richter's method to divide, mirror, repeat into sound and time. "Richters Patterns" was commissioned by Koeln Musik and had its premiere on September 9, 2016 at Cologne Philharmonic Hall. "Kemp Echoes" (2013) refers to a physical phenomenon in the ear discovered by physicist David Kemp in 1978. Otoacoustic Emissions (OAE) are signals in the ear (that can be detected with high quality small microphones) that are emitted by the cochlea, either spontaneously or in response to stimuli (frequently clicks). Schmickler strived to create a piece that can seem "electronic" to the ear without actually utilizing electronics. "Fokker Bifurcations" (2014) marks a departure into microtonal works for keyboards and mallets and maintains the composer's penchant for juxtaposed fixed pitches with pitch continua. Recorded live at ISSUE Project Room, Brooklyn on Nov 7, 2014. The recording has been edited for this publication. "E-UROPAS / Plurality of Centers" (2006): "Shall we say goodbye to modernism? I dare to confront the myths of new music in this music theater creation. Layers containing the manifestos of Cornelius Cardew, Guy Debord, and sound materials from six decades of the avant-garde create a collage that utilizes some of the formal principles guiding John Cage's Europera V". "ATA OTO" (2017) for Robot instruments TEMBLO, TINTI, TROMS, XY by Logos Foundation & computer.
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LP
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KOM 407LP
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Kompakt welcomes veteran contemporary experimental producer Marcus Schmickler with the release of his spectacular noise/techno fused medallion entitled Particle/Matter-Wave/Energy. Marcus Schmickler's fifty plus release discography is one of the most fascinating in his field. From his studies under Cologne-based Stockhausen collaborator Johannes Fritsch to his releases through legendary imprints a-Musik, Editions Mego, and Mille Plateaux, over the years Schmickler has been behind innumerable collaborations and sonic explorations. Be it through his ground-breaking indie/electronic band Pluramon or through his releases that have included collaborations with musicians such as John Tilbury, Thomas Lehn, Julee Cruise, or MIMEO, he has even had his works being performed by ensemble recherche, musikFabrik, or Paragon Ensemble. Beyond continuing to perform on the world stages, he authors theater and film and currently teaches at Institut für Musik und Medien in Dusseldorf. Particle/Matter-Wave/Energy, a 37-minute long piece (split into two parts on the LP version), explores the borders of a scientific universality of sonification towards something that becomes a singular experience -- sound. The pieces' foundational aim was to create an acoustic rendering of what it sounds like when two galaxies collide by gravitational forces. To avoid this one sheet getting lost in theory, the audible result of Particle/Matter-Wave/Energy is an incredibly, immersive work that is required listening from start to end. Contemporary experimental music and modern techno collide as waves of synths caress the listener through intense waves of frequency variables. The orchestral enormity of the piece is both discomforting yet embracing as the listener feels engulfed with its robotic caress.
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CD
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EMEGO 113CD
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Marcus Schmickler's new release following his acclaimed Altars Of Science (EMEGO 082CD) is a must-have for those interested in the rising field of contemporary computer music. It reconfirms Schmickler's interest in the liaison of sound, phenomenology and cognitive sciences. Schmickler, therefore, utilizes a new interpretation of 1960's discovery, the Shepardtone, discovered by Roger Shepard, which creates the auditory illusion of a tone that continually rises or descends in pitch yet ultimately seems to get no higher or lower. The phenomenon was first introduced to the music world by James Tenney in his piece "For Ann Rising." Similarly, Schmickler has a musical take on the subject by creating arpeggios, short sequences of tones creating a similar effect. Schmickler's interest in the field was sparked by Ernst Gombrich's essays on "Art And Illusion," questioning the very foundations of our understanding of the history of the image and its representation of our world. Adequately, Schmickler's work ever since can be seen as a play within an anthropology of music in terms of its very fundamental parameters, rhythm, sound and pitch, as well as its socio-economic implications. Beyond that, the title Palace Of Marvels was taken from French intellectual Jacques Attali, who, in his critically-acclaimed book, Noise: The Political Economy Of Music, cites one of Leibniz's little-known but "extraordinary" texts, "Drôle de pensée touchant nouvelle sorte de représentation," in which the philosopher describes the "Palace Of Marvels." The Palace Of Marvels is Leibniz's idealization of a perfect political organization, which is built in such a way that the master of the house is able to hear and see everything that is being said and done in the premises without himself being perceived by his subjects. Leibniz's vision of disciplinary society not only predates Foucault's subsequent versions of surveillance mechanism, the Panopticon, but it also conceptualizes a more effective and absolute form of power through eavesdropping, censorship, and recording, as well as surveillance through visual means. Listening in on, ordering, transmitting, and recording noise are at the heart of the modern State. The idea for the material was originally conceived for a collaborative installation piece together with arts collective Interpallazo. The technical application was realized with the kind assistance of Prof. Dr. Alberto de Campo. Recorded and mastered at Piethopraxis, Köln. January-August 2010. Artwork by Tim Berresheim.
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2LP
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EMEGO 113LP
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2LP version, featuring an extended version of "Mystery Bouffe." Marcus Schmickler's new release following his acclaimed Altars Of Science (EMEGO 082CD) is a must-have for those interested in the rising field of contemporary computer music. It reconfirms Schmickler's interest in the liaison of sound, phenomenology and cognitive sciences. Schmickler, therefore, utilizes a new interpretation of 1960's discovery, the Shepardtone, discovered by Roger Shepard, which creates the auditory illusion of a tone that continually rises or descends in pitch yet ultimately seems to get no higher or lower. The phenomenon was first introduced to the music world by James Tenney in his piece "For Ann Rising." Similarly, Schmickler has a musical take on the subject by creating arpeggios, short sequences of tones creating a similar effect. Schmickler's interest in the field was sparked by Ernst Gombrich's essays on "Art And Illusion," questioning the very foundations of our understanding of the history of the image and its representation of our world. Adequately, Schmickler's work ever since can be seen as a play within an anthropology of music in terms of its very fundamental parameters, rhythm, sound and pitch, as well as its socio-economic implications. Beyond that, the title Palace Of Marvels was taken from French intellectual Jacques Attali, who, in his critically-acclaimed book, Noise: The Political Economy Of Music, cites one of Leibniz's little-known but "extraordinary" texts, "Drôle de pensée touchant nouvelle sorte de représentation," in which the philosopher describes the "Palace Of Marvels." The Palace Of Marvels is Leibniz's idealization of a perfect political organization, which is built in such a way that the master of the house is able to hear and see everything that is being said and done in the premises without himself being perceived by his subjects. Leibniz's vision of disciplinary society not only predates Foucault's subsequent versions of surveillance mechanism, the Panopticon, but it also conceptualizes a more effective and absolute form of power through eavesdropping, censorship, and recording, as well as surveillance through visual means. Listening in on, ordering, transmitting, and recording noise are at the heart of the modern State. The idea for the material was originally conceived for a collaborative installation piece together with arts collective Interpallazo. The technical application was realized with the kind assistance of Prof. Dr. Alberto de Campo. Recorded and mastered at Piethopraxis, Köln. January-August 2010. Artwork by Tim Berresheim.
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CD/DVD_AUDIO
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EMEGO 082CD
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The work of Cologne-based Marcus Schmickler has over the years crossed the boundaries between classical and pop, improvisation and techno. He is active as a solo artist under his own name, as well as working under the Pluramon moniker with Julee Cruise, plus countless collaborations in the field of electronic improvisation. Altars of Science is Schmickler's first purely electronic release since 1998's prize-winning Sator Rotas. A fascinating tour de force of modern computer music composition. Intense in its outlook, yet polished in its execution, it is an essential addition to any serious collection of 21st century audio. This special dual sided DVD+ format disc contains two versions of the same piece; one side has a stereo mix playable on all CD playing devices while the other side features the mind-blowing multi channel mix, playable on DVD players set up to 5.1.
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CD
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A 032CD
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"Marcus Schmickler's recent release on A-Musik is yet another proof of his stylistic diversity. His music defies all attempts at categorization. Schmickler appears to be well versed in all musical genres, having reached a level of perfection which seems almost unique in these times. Sui generis, as they say. Only a short while after his impressive duo improvisation with John Tilbury (Variety) and with a new Pluramon album due for release, Schmickler will once again convince critics and audiences. At the same time, this release reveals yet another aspect of his manifold musical activities -- composing for instrumental ensembles and choirs. Demos is Schmickler's most ambitious work to date. Premiered in March 2004 in Cologne, the piece went on a triumphal trip through half of Europe. Among other places, it has been performed at Cracow and the renowned Center for Contemporary Arts (CCA) in Glasgow, where it was performed in the course of a three day festival organized especially for Schmickler. Demos -- which can be heard on this release in an arrangement for choir, chamber ensemble and electronic sounds -- deals with Nietzsche's thoughts expressed in his Zarathustra on the extent with which language could be dealt with (or addressed) as music. The piece does so on the basis of fragments from the text. The basis for (t)his philosophy Nietzsche perceived in the expression of the choirs in ancient Greek tragedy. Marcus Schmickler transcends the classic mythic emblems of ancient Greek choirs such as recitative and declamation by employing contemporary means. In the overwhelming power of the choir, Demos -- the Greek term for 'community' and commonly used for 'people' -- lets one sense the energy, which serves as a metaphor for a people and their ability to strongly voice their desires, their requests and their demands. Moreover, Schmickler's abstract and strepitous electronic sounds blend in an illustrative way with the text and the imagination of events portrayed in the dramatic performances of the choir. Thus they become projections of the clamour of an abstract mass. Demos is demanding, disturbing and suggestive in its idiosyncratic blend of sounds. This is a music which passes on the spirit of such luminaries as the late György Ligeti ('Requiem'), Jani Christou or Iannis Xenakis ('Medea'), but which in Schmickler's contemporary attitude gains a wholly different significance. Complementing the album are two excerpts of Schmickler's musical arrangements for theatre productions. All in all, this is an album which resurrects traditions as well as pursues the hitherto unheard in a unique way. In addition to that, it examines in how far constructivist and post-dramatic approaches can today inspire classic forms with new structures though the amalgamation of text, music and performative elements without betraying the qualities of the originals."
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