Changing techno from within, Stefan Goldmann has created his uniquely own version of contemporary art music. Neither constrained by the pitfalls of academism nor those of electronic club music functionality, his work topics range from micro details of production to macro concepts of exposing terminal points of entire musical genres or technical formats. His investigation into remixing might serve as an example here, including both, a remix that does not change the score at all while cutting up dozens of recordings (Stravinsky: Le Sacre Du Printemps), and one that replaces every sound bit until the original work is no longer present except for a ghostly structural shadow (Fennesz: Remiksz).

The choice and handling of methods and material often resemble the movements of an occupational force that takes strategic positions others missed to capture. These positions may be structural (such as specific tonal or rhythmic concepts) or technological (such as “branding” the sound of a piece of gear by excessively exposing its sonic characteristics in a new context – think of the Fuzzprobe pedal in The Maze). The scope of his work seems vast, yet it all is essentially derived from the aesthetic and technical parameters of techno: sample, loop, edit, remix, track. Unified by relevance, solid connections and idiosyncrasy, seemingly disparate outings form a cohesive, almost hermetic body of work.

For this reason DJing sets of house music is an activity pursued with the same rigor as scoring a ballet or conceiving performance formats such as Berghain’s Elektroakustischer Salon (a now monthly events series at Berlin’s emblematic music venue). The desire to reach beyond the obvious becomes as important as the need to move on rather than to dwell on the same subject repetitively. Read more here:  sgoldmann.wordpress.com/biography

Stefan Goldmann 17:50 – album preview