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LP
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MEP 002LP
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Christian Naujoks's work has been heard and seen in a wide range of contexts, from nightclubs to concert halls, art venues, and the theater. He released three solo albums on Berlin-based label Dial Records. After his critically-acclaimed album Wave (DIAL 036CD/LP, 2016), which has been praised as a contemporary masterpiece of ambient romance, followed by numerous collaborative projects with performance artist Ei Arakawa, filmmaker Loretta Fahrenholz, and composer Ari Benjamin Meyers, among others, Christian Naujoks is back with a new record produced during his exhibition Soft Mouth Data Service at Galerie Max Mayer in Düsseldorf. Recorded live on site the eleven tracks featured on this album range from electronic ambient music, microtonal guitar excursions and abstract beats to a unique cover version of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" --all characterized by Naujoks's evocative, humorously wistful approach to music-making and his self-aware yet unabashed search for fragile, intimate beauty. Showing once more that he can feign both naivete and virtuosity, camouflaging one as the other as he effortlessly dresses up art as pop and vice versa. Naujoks engages in a referential world-building that stays geared toward the here and now. In "Aberrant Joan" he combines glitched string orchestration with melodic synth-flutes that call to mind the online activism of K-pop stans. The bass line of the song diptych "No Rave" and "Ambient Rave" takes the music to a deeper dimension, echoing early '90s rave which is contrasted by Naujoks's crystal clear voice. The album closes with "Tearz", a duet for piano and drum sampler, which captures both the emotional gravity and the surprising lightness of the entire album in one track. Lacquer cut by Mike Grinser; includes inlay with liner notes by Colin Lang. Transparent vinyl; edition of 300.
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