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2LP
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MARIONETT 024LP
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"Khôra is the medium Matthew Ramolo uses to delve deeply into initiatory world-building by way of sound, image, and lyrical prose. Figuring wholly realized art-myths which distill and rouse the numinous while provoking the visceral and cathartic, Khôra intricately collages studio documents of ritualized instrumental performances, introducing overdubs by transient, heteronymic personae which dismantle stable points of reference in the music and open uncommon planes of consciousness. Gestures of Perception is Khôra's first double album with a supporting artbook and features a fascinating array of sources subjected to patterned assembly, poetic layering, and the elevations of the heart. Deft handling of modular synthesis is palpably central, while feedback, erhu, keys, flute, contact electronics, guitar, field sounds, and various percussion objects (rattle and frame drums, seed pod sticks, random metal objects, meditation bowls, kalimbas, bells) all serve to provide breathing structures and energetic contours that guide and scaffold inner and outer journeys into the far-near. Prominent across the record's span is a home-built, solenoid drum machine, responsible for the alive and askew techno-archaic flows and conceived as the album's 'rhythm seed'. The music on Gestures is teeming with organic and alien textures, soaring drones, inter-dimensional noises, and emotionally resonant melodies; balanced on the fringes of exotica and meditative trance, with capacities that untether the listener from the ballast of limited reality. Operating hermetically in the penumbra of Toronto's cultural scene for well over a decade, Khôra has been invested in self-publishing handcrafted editions of spiritually driven recordings which led to the LP/CD reissue of inaugural album Silent Your Body Is Endless by Constellation. Khôra has toured extensively in North America and Europe both solo and in collaboration with Picastro, Nick Kuepfer, and Brandon Valdivia (Mas Aya, Lido Pimienta), generated over a hundred hours of unreleased, bewildering drone through durational performance with experimental outfit Nidus (Marc Couroux, Jason Doell), composed for live dance and independent film, been commissioned by MaerzMusik, and seeded and co-run the now defunct music and art venue Ratio in Toronto. Features a limited edition 42-page work of researched, poetic mythography rich with galvanizing text and images that shed light on some of the mandalic imaginings and esoteric threads informing Ramolo's inner worlds as Khôra. Made with struggle and love in close collaboration with Marionette."
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2LP
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MARIONETT 022LP
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"Bastian Epple makes an eagerly anticipated return to marionette under his elusive MinaeMinae guise that imagines rich sonic architectures for the journeying spirit to voyage to. Räumlichkeit is Epple's debut album and third release to date following Gestrüpp from 2020, venturing further into melodic electronic nostalgia and percussive beat-oriented soundscapes. Growing up in a small village in southern Germany, Bastian Epple was never interested in kitschy folk sounds, rather he took solace in the time he would spend meditating to repetitive and hypnotic patterns. His guitar strumming and what sounded to his mother like a young Philip Glass on a cheap Casio keyboard encouraged little Epple to tread on this self-taught path of developing his own musical language. This led him to start experimenting with a tape recorder and layering sounds with non-musical samples to eventually working with a DAW. Bastian went on to study Media Art at the Center for Art and Media (ZKM) in Karlsruhe and graduated with a diploma in film and documentary media -- where he now works as a freelance filmmaker and lecturer at Stuttgart Media University. However, this never stopped him from creating and playing with wide-eyed sounds, eventually amassing a vast collection of tunes and finally emerging from this anonymity. Utilizing modular synth, self-made tape echos, synthetic sounds, recordings of ethnic percussion and guitar, MinaeMinae understands musical material similar to documentary footage which he would splice, repitch, and rearrange intuitively into captivating worlds."
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MARIONETT 023LP
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"Pretty Sneaky, the anonymous project that has been quietly hiding behind a banana peel logo and self-released white label 12" EPs, present their dilated and slomo sub laden atmospheres, this time for Marionette -- following elusive outings for label favorites Mana and Meakusma. After being introduced to PS through a common internet friend back in 2016, a year before their very first self-published white label release, it was only in 2021 that Marionette reconnected to discuss an album for the label. Maintaining anonymity all these years is something to admire and respect, and PS is a reminder that the music itself and the imagination of it is compelling enough without the need to attach the name, face, or any context to the listening experience -- going against the grain of trends. Koldd (aka Norman Levy), is a longtime friend and collaborator of Pretty Sneaky, and while Norman has played instruments on two previous cuts, this is their very first collaborative release, where five of the recordings were produced at Levy's studio in Marseille. The seven themes presented here lysergicaly weave field recordings of bird call and wind/water with pastoral synth lines and resonating modular patches that are on occasion sideswiped with a bass-heavy thump and stripped back percussion. This album is a mysterious offering for the heads out there looking to get transported to the macro space around us while reminiscing the dancefloor -- the sort of thing you'd play for your friends after a night out that blows them to smithereens."
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MARIONETT 020LP
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"Max Loderbauer's career in music spans the last 3 decades, yet he's still managed to keep his listeners hungry by releasing only three solo albums to date. Two of those releases (Transparenz, 2013 and Donnerwetter, 2020) were on Tobias Freund's label Non Standard Productions -- his long-time collaborator and Templehof studio mate. In between those releases, Loderbauer graced Marionette with Greyland in 2016, revealing a previously unheard youthful and sentimental side. Now in 2022, the seasoned mind voyager is back with Petrichor, making yet another rare and treasurable solo appearance. Petrichor distills the elements of Loderbauer's work that are fundamental to the initiation of the label. With his Buchla, modular synth, and Haken fingerboard, Loderbauer's improvised studio maneuvers dilate into imagined journeys from glacial peaks into the exosphere. This is Maxi at his most exhilarating state, morphing through bittersweet and optimistic soundscapes to bleak moments of throbbing unease -- all while maintaining a sense of grace and elegance. Petrichor is a reflection of Loderbauer's impactful trips to the mountains, and returning from these summits with an electrifying urge to paint this mighty perspective. The harmonies and melodies on the tracks simulate emotional peaks and valleys, with vibration and rhythm rooted in the foundation of the sound, as though it's woven into the fabric of the fauna and flora. Legendary collaborations like Vilod (with Ricardo Villalobos), the Moritz Von Oswald Trio, Non Standard Institute, Sun Electric in the early nineties, and the newly formed Ambiq ensemble have gained this unique artist the respect of the underground and avant garde scenes alike."
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MARIONETT 019LP
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"Razen is the collective consciousness of core members Brecht Ameel and Kim Delcour, who since 2010 have realized themselves through virtuosic and highly expressive improvisations with lesser-heard instruments. Experimenting with repetition of tones through controlled breathing and phrasing, Razen arrive at a synesthetic playground of auditory textures and colorful imagery. The ensemble is carefully orchestrated for every occasion with the intent and desire to escape to environments unbeknownst to them, taking shelter in the fleeting ego-dissolving moments that arise, whether divine or disturbing. While the formula of instrumentation and like-minded peers may appear mundane on paper, it's Brecht and Kim's outlook and imagination beyond musical references that's the immeasurable catalyst to their peculiar pursuits. Conversations about paintings, books, or films ultimately manifest themselves into live performances or album recordings -- with the philosophy of embracing playfulness and exploration through the lens of a child's eye. Only six collaborators have been invited to their inner circle to date. This is mainly attributed to the rarity of finding spiritual counterparts that are seeking freedom outside the confines of written musical scores. Trading notes and rhythms for strokes and color, the band embodies emotive and meditative drones that demand a deep listening state. Joined by Will Guthrie and Paul Garriau, Razen venture into their vision of Arcadia through Regression, proudly presented by Marionette. On this album, Brecht Ameel turns to his trusty prepared harmonium and celesta, while Kim Delcour controls air and breath on various wind and reed instruments. Featuring Will Guthrie on tuned and melodic percussion (timpani, glockenspiel, marimba, vibraphone), the recordings have a distinct flow and fluid movement when compared to some of Razen's previous works where rhythm is taking a backseat. Hurdy-gurdy specialist, Paul Garriau, plays accompanying melodies and drones on Moon, Aether and Nebula. The album's earthly elements deal with survival, timelessness, and simplicity; such as the life affirming rewards of finding refuge and the wonders of observing the interstellar. The unearthly elements pitch this narrative into the realm of mythology and superstition, in the hopes of trying to understand our primeval universe and thrive in the unknown. Regression also addresses Razen's fascination with inhospitable places and how to adapt to the sorrows that come with this sort of brutalism. The resulting destination is a mind and time bending zone -- one that can be reached by riding sound waves that transcend the past, future, and present. Razen on this occasion is: Brecht Ameel: harmonium, celesta Kim Delcour: winds, reeds Will Guthrie: percussion Paul Garriau: hurdy-gurdy on Moon, Aether, and Nebula."
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MARIONETT 017LP
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"Francesco Cavaliere and Tomoko Sauvage embody a tactile audio-visual display, radiating the color green into sounds and painting meditative music. By transforming collected objects into invented instruments and scenography, each motif becomes a dedication to a specific situation, an anecdote or a symbol, sometimes real and other times absurd, that the artists have encountered through their travels and conversations: the Chinese myth about a man wearing a green hat, naming convention of Japanese traffic lights, or even the imaginary chants of frolicking twin dolphins. This inspired the duo's personal research on experimenting with raw and synthesized idiophones, stage landscape design, spontaneous field recording and organized improvisation. For their installation and performance, Cavaliere and Sauvage assemble a green cabinet of curiosities -- instrumentarium combining water, glass, clay, bamboo xylophones, metallophones and synthesizers. Tomoko describes in an interview: 'When you are actually surrounded by green musical instruments, it has a calming effect as if you were looking at a forest or mountain.' Surrounding themselves with amulets and fluorescent fluids, the duo transcends into a musical imagination that connects scores, choreography and sculpture. Motions like crisscrossing the stage, feeling the presence of a perfectly plump leaf as it strikes a glass bowl, minerals slipping through fingers, all resonate to the soothing sounds of splashing water. There's an intuitive yet methodical nature to this conceptual approach to composition reminiscent of the Fluxus art movement. The pair's initial motif was to play Henning Christiansen's Green Music, whose score turned to be nonexistent. By then, their green dream was already flourishing in their mind, retracing the path of so-called environmental music from Walter Tilgner, Knud Viktor, to the likes of Kankyo-Ongaku and Hiroshi Yoshimura. Since there is a strong visual element to their work, witnessing this captivating site-specific performance may be imperative in understanding the range and influence of the color green and the impact on the sounds they create together. On Viridescens, the first release by Cavaliere and Sauvage, we are invited to experience these recordings in a more musical context. Acting like an intermediary, the duo transport us to their special planet, enlivened by animal voices, wind, and aquatic creatures dancing across a luminous aurora."
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MARIONETT 016LP
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"Papiro's approach to music is never technical, but always personal. Since the mid-nineties, he has released a handful of noteworthy albums, each carefully put together and seemingly self- contained, yet all sharing an unmistakable musical language and a certain escapist aura. La Finestra Dentata (The Toothed Window), is no exception. It includes both studio and concert recordings from 2016?2020. The sounds on this album appear infinite and full of marvels, ingenious in portraying imaginary creatures and environments. The title track and 'Anelli' take up most of the first side and include live outtakes. Papiro likes to describe his performances as therapeutic. These swirly symphonies are specifically intended as immersive deep-listening experiences for concert venues, and have been edited for this album to meet the physical demands of vinyl and domestic use. Imagine the younger cousins of Laurie Spiegel's Concerto Generator performance, or Terry Riley's Shri Camel. However, those who know Papiro only from the stage might be unaware of a different side to his oeuvre; starry-eyed miniatures that may appear frivolous in comparison to the more heady stuff, but are nonetheless well worth discovering. Each piece adds a chapter to a phantasmagoric world populated by such characters as 'Giant Duckling', 'King Hard-Beard', or the 'Bodulator'. Tracks like the opener 'Odilon' or 'Il triciclo nascosto', meanwhile, emanate a candor rarely found in the domain of serious music, and revisit Papiro's early days of instrumental storytelling."
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MARIONETT 015LP
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"The pieces presented on Rainbow de Nuit treat the ears to a carousel ride waltzing through a multiverse made up of surrealist puppet theaters, dramatic film noir act changes, and a mosaic of polyphonic instruments and toys alike. In other words, a score to a fable brought to life with haunting yet charming melodies and occasional hallucinatory voices reminiscent of laughter and infantile epiphanies which we hear on 'Tarzan en Tasmanie' and 'Madrigal for Lola'. This is taken a step further by Fenech, to a brief libretto of incomprehensible tongues on 'Pocarina'. Amid the mysterious and dark ('Septième Ciel' and 'Rugit Le Coeur') also lies tender and simple compositions ('Rainbow de Nuit' and 'Chevalier Gambette'), murky suspenseful melancholy ('Levy Attend' and 'Eno Ennio'), and casually slipping into pensive psychedelic backdrops ('Un Cercueil à Deux Places') -- forming a colorful blend of sounds. A world of echoes. A tale of tales. One persistent earworm that you'll likely be whistling and humming along to on a first listen."
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MARIONETT 014LP
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"Minor Planets completes a trilogy of cosmically themed electro-acoustic albums by UK and Berlin based trio Twinkle3, 15 years in the making. This third installment is once again all about the unique synergies the group discover in combining free group improvisation with studio and musique-concrete techniques. The group's combined love of everything from Lee Perry to Noh Theatre via Karlheinz Stockhausen and King Sunny Ade lead them to respond musically to create a single universe where they all coexist and interact. Aleatoric analogue sequencing, chamber-like acoustic improvisation and dub treatments become distilled into a distinct and emotive narrative that takes us on an exhilarating hyperspace cruise to the outer reaches. Clive Bell is a virtuoso of the Shakuhachi. His aesthetic takes us on a timbral journey between noise and pitch, expressed and phrased rhythmically by the contour of human breath. This creates a perfect context and focus for a music that moves seamlessly between rhythm, suspension, time modulated analogue states, dissonance and melody. Richard Scott and David Ross share a background in acoustic free improvisation and have pioneered new approaches to rhythm using self-designed analogue systems. On Minor Planets these seemingly paradoxical orthodoxies cross-pollinate in a spirit of wonder and optimism to produce original and experimental music that is both life affirming and uplifting. Album artwork by Benjamin Kilchhofer captures the feeling of peering through the vacuum of space and catching a rare glimpse of the mysterious alien biomes, fossils, and silhouettes cast by dwarf planets, asteroids, Kuiper belt, and other trans-Neptunian objects."
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MARIONETT 013LP
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"On this seven track album we hear MinaeMinae (alias Bastian Epple) playfully scurry through his dense soundscapes on a tightrope. The sounds lying somewhere on the crossroads of psychedelic trance, exotica, ambient and melodic dance music -- veering further off orbit with nontypical rhythms and dystopian percussive patterns. MinaeMinae understands musical material similar to documentary footage which he would cut up, repitch, and rearrange freely. Most of his tracks are a mix of analog, synthetic sounds and recordings of ethnic percussion and guitar. Recently Bastian began experimenting with modular synthesis and self-made tape echoes -- seeking a more reduced and minimal composition style compared to his earlier quite whimsical tunes. Growing up in a small village in southern Germany, Bastian was never interested in kitschy folk sounds that everyone would mindlessly clap and sing along to, rather he took solace in the time he would spend delving into patterns and repetitions that pleased him. His guitar strumming and what sounded to his mother like a young Philip Glass on a cheap Casio keyboard encouraged little Epple to continue on this self-taught path of developing his musical language. He then started to experiment with a tape recorder and layering sounds with non-musical samples, which his former village friends found too weird -- then to eventually working with a small freeware DAW. Bastian went on to study Media Art at the Center for Art and Media (ZKM) in Karlsruhe -- initially enrolled in music but the frustration and doubt of not being able to produce the music he wanted led him into film and documentary media. During his studies, Bastian was living with Florian Meyers (Don't DJ) for several years where they would philosophize life and music into the wee hours -- he encouraged Bastian to start sharing what he's been quietly working on all these years and slowly emerge from this anonymity which eventually led to his first release on Human Pitch last fall. Disproportionate forms, color changes, backdrops weaved into the foreground, all lay the dense earth for Gestrüpp through Benjamin Kilchhofer's artwork."
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MARIONETT 012LP
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"Experimental trio Giraffe crystalize time on Desert Haze, their new LP on Marionette. Giraffe is the musical project of Sascha Demand (guitar), Jürgen Hall (keys), and Charly Schöppner (percussion). Sascha Demand is a composer that comes from a contemporary and improvised musical background, collaborating with the likes of Ensemble Integrales and Vinko Globokar. Jürgen Hall works in electroacoustic experimental projects, theatre and film scores, with releases on Staubgold and Edition Stora. Charly Schöppner is known for his popular music releases such as Boytronic on major production companies in the 1980´s and composes for theatre, dance, and film scores. With only a couple of releases to date on the wonderful Meakusma imprint as well as an EP on Marmo, little is known about Giraffe. After letting go of other artistic projects, the trio now focuses solely on Giraffe by continuously searching for and finding their own unique language. Sascha, Jürgen and Charly have quite diverse musical backgrounds, though morphing into Giraffe they tower into one single composer. Their music is a critical statement, not in a political sense but rather an artistic one. Being mindful about what it means to create and how to position themselves as artists nowadays (without the constant hassle of being en vogue and short-lived trends) shaped their rather rare and stoic artistic stance. It is refreshingly honest to see their expression develop so naturally. On Desert Haze, they've created a vibrant and minimalistic tribal sound that feels inspired by the Saharan traditional music of the Tuareg, Jazz, and German psychedelic krautrock. Giraffe themselves also list the radical music of the Viennese School (Schoenberg along with his pupils Berg and Webern) as well as the Köln School with its early electronic experiments as their main influence and inspiration. More precisely the composition process and the organization of musical material within space and time, where a conceptual and intellectual approach melds with an experimental yet expressive sound searching method. Side A focuses on the trios studio work; it is built around tone color and pitch analysis of resonating prepared guitar sounds. Through a unique mixture of free improvisation and a serialism "rule set", they develop instrumental layers and structures to form their tracks. Side B sees Giraffe playing more freely with a reduced setup - representative of what you may hear when listening to them live. Desert Haze, along with its track-titles, showcases an almost mimetic approach to art. The haptic music grabs the listener not as a passive recipient but as an active resonant body to vibrate through. One can almost feel the Elements, pressure and heat forming a diamond, hypnotic overtones ringing through windy caves, shamanistic rhythms conjuring up mysterious and ancient landscapes -- where the constant cycle of sedimentation and erosion reveals structures of fragile beauty -- always gentle to the hand's touch and the mind's eye."
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MARIONETT 011LP
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"Valentina Magaletti and Julian Sartorius maintain a dialogue of irregular tempos and off-kilter percussion on their first collaborative record titled Sulla Pelle. Valentina is a force in the world of electronic and experimental music - working with Tom Relleen under Tomaga, jazz/pop band Vanishing Twin, the collective UUUU with a couple of releases on Editions Mego, as well as various collaborations with the likes of Nicholas Jaar and Raime/Moin to name a couple. Julian Sartorius is a denizen in and of the beat -- he's collaborated with artists such as Matthew Herbert, Shahzad Ismaily, Sylvie Courvoisier, as well as touring worldwide and widely through Europe with his solo show on the bill with the likes of Deerhoof, Faust, and Jaki Liebezeit. It's apparent that time is not perceived in an ordinary manner by Julian -- he's released a Beat Diary consisting of 365 beats and, on a daily basis, adds an element to his collage and modifies an 8-second audio loop under the project called Morph. More recently, he played percussion on the track 'Firesmoke' on Kate Tempest's new record The Book of Traps and Lessons. Sulla Pelle chisels away at your headspace at varying velocities with a harmonious flow -- at times gently carving out channels that dramatically flood with syncopated kick drums and shifting propulsive beats. It's as much about monotonous playing as it is about those moments where it seems as though every vertebra branches into tentacles and antennas ricocheting hits in foreign symbiosis. Rasping prepared drums that traverse the body into all sorts of ceremonial throttles, hedonistic arm flails, primal cheer at every incipient dynamic accent. This raw and sparse drumming and percussion record sees Valentina and Julian cueing each other in on interlocked ratchets and clanks with different mallets and metalwork from Malcom Catto's studio on top of modular tinkering and occasional distant subdued ramblings."
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MARIONETT 010LP
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"Pierre Bastien orchestrates his meccano marionettes on Tinkle Twang 'n Tootle to form the charming imaginative ensemble that he's been known for since the late '80s. Equal parts composer, inventor, mechanic, and performer -- Bastien translates his imagination into instruments and compositions that defy any musical categories. Whether it's preparing instruments like playing a trumpet underwater or through a kazoo, using belt-driven motors and mechanical components to perform cumbersome yet surprisingly musical operations on traditional instruments and household items, or using a fan to hit the strings of a kundi harp with flowing paper -- Bastien's love for tone, rhythm, noise and harmony is poetically reflected across his quite extensive oeuvre. Playful and melancholic, the sound sculptures that Bastien invents and plays with are partly inspired by the work of Raymond Roussel, a visionary French author who at the turn of the 20th century wrote a unique form of literature which inspired and guided artists from the surrealist and pataphysical movement and was declared by Michel Foucault as one of structuralism's founding fathers. On that note, the influence of literature and syntax on Bastien's work cuts all the way through to the palindromes he uses for his track titles - which, much like his machines, infinitely loop. True to its adorable title, Tinkle Twang 'n Tootle is a music box of unfolding whimsical structures, half broken rhythms, detuned harmonies, and fantastical sound collages that evoke a childlike sense of wonder and an urge to explore the spaces in between the sounds."
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MARIONETT 009LP
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"For the ninth Marionette, Kilchhofer and Anklin release their collaboration record Moto Perpetuo. Michael Anklin is a drummer and percussionist based in Switzerland. He's involved in various bands, collaborations and interdisciplinary projects. Anklin has previously appeared on a few recordings from Kilchhofer's album The Book Room. Kilchhofer uses his main instrument -- the modular synth -- in a more electroacoustic manner, where he derives and processes voltages from Anklin's playing. The album title describes the fascinating idea (yet impossible reality) of a perpetual motion -- where no energy is lost yet energy is constantly being created, an endless music, yet far away from generic ambient or minimal music. Anklin's live drumming influences delicate feedback patches on Kilchhofer's synth, where dry and transient heavy percussion and synthesizer sounds erupt into a feral electroacoustic instrument. A fluid concept of time where the rhythmic pulse constantly shifts is at the heart of the record. The idea was to create an instrument where acoustics and electronics are interconnected and dependent on each other. The smallest disturbance could sway the entire system out of order. This idea of a circular motion was at the center of the recording process and is also reflected in the artwork which resembles a topographical view of a closed natural habitat. Kilchhofer and Anklin draw inspiration mainly from their rural surroundings and mountain landscapes where natural overtones and stumbling rhythms navigate through high plateaus and velds to stony ravines and wooden trails -- on a never ending quest for an 'ur-klang'; a primordial, ancestral music." LP includes download code; Risograph insert.
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12"
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MARIONETT 008EP
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"Soundwalk Collective is a multi-disciplinary audio-visual collective founded by Stephan Crasneanscki, including members Simone Merli and Kamran Sadeghi. The Collective's approach to composition combines anthropology, ethnography, non- linear narrative, psycho-geography, the observation of nature, and explorations in recording and synthesis. The source material of their works is always linked to specific locations, natural or artificial, and requires long periods of investigative travel and field work. Their recent projects include a collaboration with Patti Smith and reworking the archive of recordings on Jean-Luc Godard's film set. For the 8th Marionette publication, Soundwalk Collective present Death Must Die. A sound piece that began in 2004 and ended up as a composition for the PS1 radio in NY. For this New release the Collective has revisited the piece in a more musical way. Death Must Die is based on Stephan Crasneanscki's multiple visits to the sacred Indian city of Varanasi, originally known as Kashi and Banares. Sacred texts maintain that Varanasi isn't even a city, but rather a lingam of celestial light, the subtle and cosmic form of Lord Shiva which manifested itself as a city for the sake of seekers of liberation. To bathe in the holy Ganga is to be purified of your sins. To die in Varanasi, is to attain liberation and to bring an end to the cycle of rebirth known as transmigration. Determined to capture the elusive reality of this ancient city, Stephan has day by day recorded and re-imagined his understanding of how to perceive the continuously moving stream of the holy Ganga; performing a simple form of sadhana, which request is to be very alert but also to allow your mind to be quiet, making it easier to slip into the streams, and into the current that both the city and the river are offering. Death Must Die begins before the rising of the sun and reproduces the cycle of a day in Varanasi, going down the river that is believed to be the divinity descended to this Earth in the form of water. She grants us happiness and salvation. The composition attempts to emulate the vibration of Kashi that encourages the kind of interiority that enables a person to get a better perspective on reality than one might have, while constantly being in the current of human life. A vibration dedicated to eliminating the distinction between human and non-human, between alive and dead, between light and dark."
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2LP
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MARIONETT 007LP
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"Benjamin Kilchhofer is not new to the world of recorded music, yet he doesn't seem to fit into a particular scene or group. As an outsider he is, however, fully immersed and melded into his own universe. He mentally escapes to a parallel world and weaves an alternate reality. Kilchhofer avoids the spotlight; isn't really visible in today's culture of ever changing content and social media. This is where Marionette steps in, to attempt to shed as much light as possible on this unique artist. The Book Room is Kilchhofer's musical diary. His library of emotions. It is an imaginary place shaped by exotic cultures, an escape from modern society, a collage of real and imagined experiences. Influences abstracted from a wide number of musical approaches: the story-telling nature of folklore music, conflicting rhythms of tribal drums, melodies and pads reminiscent of classical minimalism and microtonal experimental music, the freeform approach of early electronic music and krautrock, and, buried deep within the tracks, some hints of dance and club music."
"Drawing principally from minimalism, ambient, and krautrock, Swiss producer Benjamin Kilchhofer's latest is a deeply immersive timbral and tactile experience." --Philip Sherburne, Pitchfork
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12"
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MARIONETT 004EP
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"Marionette wanders through the polyrhythms and shifting harmonics of Benjamin Kilchhofer's Dersu. This is an expedition into modular synthesis and physical modelling, where patches become complex instruments, and the instruments become music. Kilchhofer composes the 4th Marionette instalment, enveloped in a film of spring reverb and tube distortion."
Philip Sherburne on "Bittern": "Like all of the tracks on his new mini-album for Toronto's Marionette label, Benjamin Kilchhofer's 'Bittern' blurs the line between synthesis, rhythm, and environmental sound. At its core is a hypnotic drum pattern, resonant and wood-grained but also eerily exact, like a drum circle located deep in the uncanny valley. Rhythmic figures compete for possession of the downbeat; the nature of the pulse is largely a question of perception, as rippling refrains circle each other like the strands of a double helix, perpetually stepping on each other's toes. The sense of wandering through an ingeniously designed digital simulation is heightened by the sound effects that drift through the space of the track: laughing voices, syncopated claps, splashing water, the metal creak of what might be a swingset. You imagine a children's playground in a jungle clearing -- or a biodome. The sense of freedom is a direct result of how the music was constructed, with Kilchhofer programming complicated patches on his modular synthesizers, generating music that morphed and mutated as if of its own accord. The goal, says Marionette founder Ali Safi, was to create 'a living system which breathes and evolves.' With virtual environments like his, who needs holodecks?"
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12"
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MARIONETT 002EP
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"A Fading Virtue By Passing Time is a familiar cocktail served in an oddly shaped glass. The pulse of Laurine Frost's music is, on the one hand, in the mould of a Perlon record, but the Hungarian's studio technique leans towards electroacoustic composition. Frost's bristly sound design is unsettling because it's so bare, but it's also present in a way that feels intrusive -- each piece of clanking percussion is a guest at a party standing a little too close to you. The gloopy drums and rich bass of 'Marionette Manifesto' have a velvety touch to them, and together they stir a sticky, hypnotic groove out of very little The song's other textures, however, range from unsettling to 'what the fuck?' dungeon groans, helicopter blades, kazoos: it's all happening. 'Viburnum Opulus' uses the same suite of drums and some Star Trek lasers to wriggle into your personal space. It's engrossing, but I'm not sure it's quite worth 11 minutes of your time. I could have used more of 'Virtue' though, an earthy four minutes of jittery bass and marching snares that sounds like a jazz ensemble in an airing cupboard." --Ray Philp, Resident Advisor
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12"
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MARIONETT 006EP
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"Superb, expert neo-minimalism from the retiring Berliner -- veteran of collaborations like Vilod (with Ricardo Villalobos), the Moritz Von Oswald Trio, NSI and Sun Electric -- making a rare, treasurable solo foray. Six tracks ranging from oscillatory steppers to eerie hauntings. Beautifully sleeved, too."
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12"
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MARIONETT 003EP
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"Pulsating reconstructions of fragmented piano compositions, melded with gritty peripheral field recordings. Transcending from flashbacks, lingering between natural and industrial landscapes. Broken left-field electronica by Maxim Wolzyn for the third Marionette issue."
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12"
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MARIONETT 005EP
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"Another utterly brilliant salvo from Friedman -- after the future-classic 'Masque', and the Pestle EP for Latency. Six kinds of musical occultism -- transcendent and nocturnal, geometric but intuitive, like a djinn testing a logic map -- nodding to Solomon and West's compendious book about near-death experiences."
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