microsuoni: Marc Behrens

Marc Behrens

	artista : Marc Behrens & Paulo Raposo
	titolo : Hades
	etichetta : and/OAR
	formato : CD
	packaging : cardboard sleeve
	cod. nr. and/25
		2006
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After their first successful collaboration "Further Consequences of Reinterpretation" (premiered in May 2003 at the Goethe-Institut in Lisbon, released as a CD album by the Portugal-based label Crónica), and the project's appendix release entitled "Product", the sound artists Paulo Raposo and Marc Behrens have created a new dynamic sound work entitled HADES.

HADES is based on sound recordings made aboard Lisbon ferries and at the quays of Cais do Sodré, Trafaria and Cacilhas 2001-2005. Both artists had initially set out to record independently, being fascinated with the sounds of the ship hull and landing gear, as well as with the actual passage on the river, which gives a magnificent (maybe the best) view on large parts of the old city of Lisbon.

During the course of the work which took three years to complete, some more precisely directed recordings were made together. Understanding the actual crossing as a symbolic passage, and once it was reduced to sound and memory, it became associated to the crossing of the mythic river Styx to enter Hades, the ancient Greek underworld.

As the different sound recordings provide the artists with very diverse material (for example low frequencies from the ship's hulls and motors, high frequencies and beats from the gates at Cais do Sodré), they understand the composition as hovering on the delicate borderline between a soundscape portrait and a multi-strata arrangement, in which things happen parallelly, and individual layers move on more than one path simultaneously.

In the opinion of and/OAR, HADES is not only one of the strongest works to surface from either artist, a/O will go out on a limb to state that it could very well set a new precedent of quality for collaboration work of it's ilk. Needless to say, a/O is highly honored to be releasing it. Please give it a very attentive listen. Especially on headphones!

Prezzo : € 12,00 disponibilità immediata - in stock

	artista : Marc Behrens
	titolo : Animistic [For Donatella]
	etichetta : Auf Abwegen
	formato : CD
	packaging : super jewel case
	cod. nr. aatp14
		2004
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500 copies / DVD case / 7 full colour photo cards
This CD contains two pieces, 'Animistic (for Donatella)' concentrating on mixing location recordings with 'played' objects to obtain a complex soundscape in three parts that is inspired by the idea of an animist understanding of nature. 'Decaying Study 3' on the other hand offers a dense and dynamic drone-like composition built from the generative transformations of two sound files. The cover features 7 full colour cards in a DVD box that show photographs by the artist, complete with liner notes and texts explaining the nature of the location recordings.

Marc Behrens is an artist and designer working in several fields. He has conceived musical compositions, installations, performances, objects, videos, and design. Born in Darmstadt, Germany, M. Behrens is a citizen of Konungarikena Elgaland-Vargaland (KREV). His discography spans releases on such labels as sirr, trente oiseaux, hypnotism, intransitive, wachsender prozess to name but a few. He has collaborated with francesco lopez, paolo raposo, john duncan and others.

Prezzo : € 19,80

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Title available to pre-order. You may use the form or send an e-mail to bitstream(at)microsuoni(dot)com with the titles you would like to preorder.

	artista : Marc Behrens
	titolo : Security vs. Freedom
	etichetta : Edition...
	formato : 2xminiCD
	cod. nr. xxviii
		2002
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The successor to Transition (2001) in the same format -- two mini CDs, six full-colour cards with photographs -- further exploits the idea of the absent transition. Between two poles of music the listener imagines a huge step from one phase of work to another with a distance of nearly seven years in between, or perhaps just one state of mind to another: security and freedom. But does the security lie in the carefully pronounced minimalist compositions of 'The Unknown' on disc 2, or in the dense sound fields of 'Compressed Location 1 and 2' on disc 1 that engulf and embrace the listener? Or vice versa: is freedom expressed in the structurally open, expressive passages of the latter, or in the gap between very low and very high frequencies of 'The Unknown - part 1', in which the noise of the surroundings is framed by sound, but still remaining fully audible -- unsuppressed?

Prezzo : € 16,20

	artista : Marc Behrens
	titolo : Architectural Commentaries
	etichetta : CMR
	formato : CD
	packaging : bustina di cartone
	cod. nr. cmr2
		2002
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German composer and sound artist Marc Behrens has put forth a beautiful installment of sound work for CMR's second CD release, entitled Architectural Commentaries. Marc has been working with sound (in one form or another) since 1986 and is probably most recognised for his digitally re-worked field material and composition. With a long history of installation work and live performance, he has exhibited alone and in group exhibitions; and performed live internationally in locations such as Japan, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Spain, and the UK. He has completed tours with fellow sound artists Francisco Lopez, Bernhard Gunter and John Duncan and has had notable CD releases on Gunter's label Trente Oiseaux (Germany), Digital Narcis (Japan), Raster Music (Germany) and Intransitive Recordings (USA).

Architectural Commentaries is comprised of five tracks. The first three pieces, entitled 'Architectural Commentaries 1-3', are some of Marc's most recent compositions arranged in 2001 using basic material recorded from 1990-2000 in various global locations. Taking title, sleeve images and sound together we are left with new audible environments for architectural structures; jets of forced air and amplified nothing, distant machinery and tiny bites of frequency, faded and cut together to create beautifully atmospheric soundscapes. Track 4 was previously released on RLW's 'Tulpas' 5 CD set (Selektion 024) and was constructed using source material from Ralf Wehowsky. Track 5 was composed in 1992 as a soundtrack to accompany the video Der Raum by Torsten Grosch - stills of which feature on the CD sleeve. The album permits a smooth flow between Marc's earlier and more recent work and shows the artists' continuing exploration into the depth and dimensions of sound recording.

Prezzo : € 13,80

	artista : M. Behrens
	titolo : Integração
	etichetta : Sirr
	formato : CD
	packaging : jewel case
	cod. nr. sirr2004
		2001
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"This is a composition I performed live in several versions.Usually the title integrates the language of the place where the piece is performed. In all the performances there is a basic repertoire of sounds - a nucleus of tree recordings made in a mountain forest close to the Italian/Slovenian border in 1998, which in the performance arrangement became broadened with more recent material from 2000 (for example compilation work such as Multiplication, a re-interpretation of a composition by John Hudak) as well as different older material like Elapsed Time (released by Intransitive Recordings, USA), and remixes I made in autumn/winter 2000 of older work dating from 1992 and 1993, some of the latter featured on the CD Transition (released by Edition..., USA). The tree recordings were made by shaking the trees, thus the patterns of the sounds were generated partly by the plants, partly by human intervention, and arranged later according to coincidences and inherent keys in the material. Some of the performances were characterized by long silent pauses (up to two minutes). On this CD, Integration of Silence reflects this fact.

Integração now bears a title in portuguese without location, because it was not performed. Never-theless it sits as a studio version encoded on a compact disc released in Portugal. For the version on this CD I used the tree recordings along with a few field recordings of urban infrastructure, made during the preparation of the composition Advanced Environmental Control and later, preserving the original intention of the first performance: integration of a naturalistic and a technicized conception of sound."

The CD version does neither contain any live recordings nor the original sound of the auxiliary speakers which were specifically made for the Integration performances.

M. Behrens, November 2001

Prezzo : € 6,00 offerta! disponibilità immediata - in stock

	artista : Marc Behrens
	titolo : Elapsed Time
	etichetta : Intransitive
	formato : CD
	packaging : jewel case
	cod. nr. int017
		2001
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The latest album by Marc Behrens is the end result of his attempt to understand his artistic choices in light of thier possible subconscious meanings. Regarding the process that led up to this album, Behrens writes, "I was reflecting on my own past, in which there was a period of occupying myself with plastic model airplanes out of fascination with the technology (as I understood it)... it occoured to me that electronic music has been very much linked with military technology, the latest of them being the computer. Many of our contemporary electronic tools are byproducts of military technology and, unfortuately, application. Still a bit unsure of about whether my early affection for military technology had different motivations, I saw a chance for sublimation in my musical work."

Beginning in 1996, Behrens sorted through his catalog of late 1980s and early 1990s four-track tapes and field recordings, and set to examine his older analogue sounds through his current computer-based compositional aesthetic. By keeping his previous interest in military technology in mind, he preserved a sense of remoteness and removed examination in the music. Sounds seem to come from a great distance, possibly reminiscent of pilots sitting alone in planes over enemy territory, or of lonely sailors aboard submarines far below the population they are defending. In light of recent events, Behrens' questioning of the implications of his own decision to appropriate instruments of possible military origin for his art is especially poignant.

Marc Behrens has been active as a sound and installation artist since the mid 1980s. Currently based in Frankfurt, Germany, he has exhibited or performed throughout Europe and Japan, and has worked with artists such as Francisco Lopez, bernhard gunter, Atom Heart, and Nicklaus Heyduck. His previous releases have included "Advanced Environmental Control" (trente oiseaux, GER), "Final Ballet" (Raster-Noton, GER), and "Contraction" (Digital Narcis, JAP). His piece "Revelation" appeared on Intransitive's "VARIIOUS" compilation last year. "Elapsed Time" is his first domestic US album.

Prezzo : € 6,00 offerta! disponibilità immediata - in stock

	artista : Marc Behrens
	titolo : Contraction
	etichetta : Digital Narcis
	formato : CD
	packaging : jewel case
	cod. nr. dncd006
		1999
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Features three compositions from 1997-99. Parts centering around field recordings in forests, and creating a very dense and deep atmosphere, took about two years to complete. The cover of the CD as well as the text quotation from Thomas Pynchon's book Mason & Dixon point to his slightly mysterious view of nature.
G. Stefani's front cover photograph of plant layers in a friulian forest, the author's photograph of a circular formation of a liana's root in a similar forest correspond to the recordings used in the pieces 'Scrutto' and 'Secular Air'. Those that were made at the Hohemark (Taunus Hillside, Germany) were made close to an old Celtic settlement with sacrificial groves. A different perception of time (long, nearly motionless periods) established during field recordings in this forest with its intense history. The music reintegrates such recordings with others made in a similar hillside in Italy (Valli del Natisone, Friuli), also with a similarly intense history, as well as natural and electronically manipulated sound. In parts it is also characterized by periods in which arrangements change only in details.
'Scenes for Contraction', on the contrary, consists of totally different sound material, electronically modified to a big extent, organized in five rather short scenic parts. The sound spectrum here is sharp, straightforward, simpler than in 'Scrutto' and 'Secular Air', in which lots of facets of the single elements and their combinations can be discovered by intense, contemplative listening.

Prezzo : € 6,00 offerta! disponibilità immediata - in stock

	Artist: M. Behrens
	Title: Four Installations
	Label: Trente Oiseaux
	Format: CD
	Cod. nr. TOC992

M.Behrens' second CD on Trente Oiseaux, Four Installations can be seen as the counterpart to his intricate electroacoustic compositions: it contains soundtracks of four different sound and mixed media installations made during 1998 and the beginning of 1999. The often very minimal sound events are actually capable of transporting the listener into the various spaces. Locations in which the installations took place range from the basement of the Institute for New Media in Frankfurt, Germany, full of computers, to a rural village in the mountain area at the border between Italy and Slovenia.

Prezzo : € 16,20

	artista : M. Behrens
	titolo : Advanced Environmental Control
	etichetta : Trente Oiseaux
	formato : CD
	packaging : jewel case
	cod. nr. toc952
		1995
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Environmental and naturally occurring sounds recorded onto mini-disc and digitally edited by Behrens and Bernhard Günter. The sounds are presented in a low-key and non-jarring way and somewhat of a classic in the field of minimalistic abstraction in the way it distorts your memories of familiar and totally alien sound.

Prezzo : € 16,20