"Apodiktische Gewissheit" ("apodeictic certainty") is the title of an audio-visual cooperative project from Berlin-based artist Gerhard Mantz and Wolfgang Voigt. The project is premised on a digital video piece from Gerhard Mantz. Steadily flowing geometric forms and themes move evenly around a fixed center towards the viewer. A hypnotic undertow-like effect of seductive beauty emerges - impossible to elude, whether you want to or not. Wolfgang Voigt seizes on the digital aesthetic and the mechanical flow of the images, giving them a musical equivalent. The result is a successful amalgamation of imagery and music that generates maximum intensity with minimum motion. An Impression of concurrency between loop-ish continuity and a constant forward thrust, always the same and always different, beginninglessness and endlessness is created. The vinyl release at hand is a part of the audio-visual art installation "Apodiktische Gewissheit", developed in cooperation with Cologne-based gallery Hammelehle and Ahrens at Cologne's Gertrudenkirche and starting on Friday, November 4th 2016. More

Stoicism is one of the most influential philosophical schools in western civilization. In fact, the name traces back to a portico on the Agora, the town square of Athen: it is here that Zeno of Citium founded the dotrine in the early 3rd century BC. An essential property of stoic philosophy is the cosmological perspective on a holistic experience of the world, resulting in a universal principle that prevails in all natural phenomena and correlations. The stoic individual is mostly concerned with recognizing and occupying his place in this order - he does so by embracing his fate through the stoic practice of emotional self-restraint, striving for wisdom by means of serenity and tranquility. More

Assumedly most of us are familiar with FREILAND from younger Profan releases, namely Klaviermusik (Piano Music) and Geduld (Patience). In fact, however, FREILAND (Open Land), primarily was the successor project of the legendary Studio 1 series that started in 1998 and was limited to 6 maxis. No hi-hats, no snares, no samples. Less is more. With its consistent concept of a single synthetic sound, evolving in a stoic-minimal rhythm around one bass drum only, FREILAND, alongside Sog (Undertow), is and was Wolfgang Voigt's most important project of this kind. The piece, FREILAND - ROT 2 (Open Land – Red 2), to some degree is an epitome of the concept of "the art of omission". Accordingly, "ROT 2" is the first part of the remix series "FREILAND - FREIE SICHT" (Open Land – Clear View). Like a rusty steel sculpture à la Richard Serra, the original is set on an open field, defying wind and storm to this very day. For his Z.O.M. mix, Wolfgang Voigt brought the sculpture indoors and enveloped it in an almost club-like, warm groove coat. Neatly wrapped up, it's put through the silver glittering tinsel machine rain and out through the arpeggiator, offering a small taste of the album to be released in September, "Zukunft Ohne Menschen" (Future without people). "ROT 3" (Red 3), the mother of all shaffel bombs, dressed in gaffel mix. Meaning: gabber meets schaffel (shuffle). Greetings from Kompakt Extra / Speicher, home of glam hog-rock. The musical alter ego of painter Albert Oehlen, virtually guest of honour, reverences Wendy Gondeln. His work on the original and so far unpublished version of "ROT 4" is in line with the expressive, radical nature of his paintings. Using aggressive, abstract violin sounds in real time, he pushes the stable statics of the beat to its limits. A short but intensive intermezzo and an unusual approach to techno. The final shine is added by Michael Mayer's smart and confident dancefloor-style, in the best kompakt'esque sense, by condensing the ingredients of the subtle grooving schaffel track "GELB 3" (Yellow 3) to a hissing filigree of blurred drum sounds. Musical own-blood therapy with short and thrifty sombre house-like chords. More

In the beginning God created the bass drum. He made it beat 8,601 days. Then he left it away. God said: Death is the greatest work of art. And it's expensive. Finally infinite. That's politics and science and art. The art of omission. The art of refusal. Death is absolute. The bass drum is absolute. Do you want the absolute bass drum? If you manage to convince him, God will be happy to lend you his axe, because what happens is what he wants. Just like the people. They want it to happen, too. The most expensive work of art in the world is a skull encrusted with 8,601 diamonds. More

Du musst nichts sagen" ("You don't have to say anything") was a puristic sound study with lots of bassdrum and a hint of flourish, which threw a tight girdle over Wolfgang Voigt's sonic cosmos. Originally the b-side to "Rückverzauberung 2", a much more freeform exploit, "Du musst nichts..." marched towards a dark fortress, following a point-blank trail and inspired by the mute grit of the many. But the original's rigor is neither unknown to this oeuvre, nor would the artist not have other strategies in mind to reach his designated goal. The remixes at hand present three distinct alternatives, starting with the Fanfaren Mix that cranks up the amount of fanfare – hence its name –, but also explicitly carves out the underlying 4/4 rhythm. By contrast, the Informel Mix dabs on his percussion in a more intuitive way: created as the soundtrack for an experimental video, this version doesn't so much buy into the source's drama, but focuses on what was heard between the notes in the first place. The flipside is an old acquaintance too: the Doppelvoigt Mix was showcased in a video of the same name, which took an interview given by Wolfgang Voigt and translated it into some sort of documentary Techno both abstract and humoristic. In the end, all three versions share one classic Voigt verdict: Techno is essentially Ambient... only without the Ambient part More

Creates a claustrophobic, nightmarish atmosphere that can definitely be described as "Kafkaesque". More

Limited to 400 copies! Like its predecessors, this SOG release stands in the tradition of "The Art of Omission". More

Wewantsounds is delighted to announce the release of Ryuichi Sakamoto's classic LP "Coda”, issued in Japan in 1983 as a solo piano version of the "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" soundtrack. The album, which was never been released outside of Japan until now, sees Sakamoto on acoustic piano reinterpreting fascinating versions of his famous soundtrack including the classic theme and "Germination," which was later used in the "Call Me By Your Name" soundtrack. This reissue has been remastered by Seigen Ono's Saidera Mastering studio in Tokyo and boasts the original artwork plus a 4-page insert with new liner notes by Andy Beta.



When the film "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" hit the cinema in Summer 1983, it was a worldwide instant success, due in no small parts to its renowned director, Nagisa Oshima and to its superb cast including David Bowie, Takeshi Kitano and Ryuichi Sakamoto. The latter, fresh from his success with Yellow Magic Orchestra and a thriving nascent solo career, was also enrolled to compose the score of the film.

The soundtrack was released at the same time as the film in Summer 1983. It became equally successful and made the Japanese composer a global icon as the instrumental theme became an instant classic all around the world and also Sakamoto's signature track from then on.

That same year, his Japanese label decided to release an exclusive cassette book as the format was getting popular in Japan. The project, called “Avec Piano,” featured an audio cassette together with a beautiful 80 page book including illustrations and texts by various designers and writers. As for the music, Sakamoto re-recorded the Merry Christmas soundtrack on solo piano at the Onkyo Haus studio in Tokyo. This version of the theme which Sakamoto would re-record many times, is therefore the first ever recorded solo piano version of the composition. As Andy Beta notes in the liner notes, "Now we can hear Sakamoto –seated in front of Steinway full concert piano housed in the first studio at Onkyo House in Ginza– his lifelong debt to the music of Debussy (and “Claire de Lune” specifically) laid bare.

The cassette book's success led to an LP release a few months later under a new title, "Coda" and with a different artwork by Japanese designer Tsuguya Inoue. The original orchestrated theme "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (which had been included on the cassette as a bonus on top of the piano version) was dropped, replaced by two new tracks, "Japan" and "Coda," recorded a couple of years earlier in 1981 and featuring Ryuichi Sakamoto's blend of ethereal ambient soundscapes and modern electronics.

The album, which has never been available outside of Japan, has become cult over the years for the fascinating interpretation of the main theme, but also for "Germination," which was used by Luca Guadagnino in the soundtrack of his arthouse hit "Call Me By Your Name" in 2017. "Coda" is quintessential Ryuichi Sakamoto and an essential album in the Japanese composer’s discography, which Wewantsounds is delighted to bring to his many international fans for the first time.



Side 1

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence 4:49
Batavia 0:50
Germination 2:09
A Hearty Breakfast 1:18
Before The War 1:44
The Seed And The Sower 3:55
A Brief Encounter 2:27


Side 2

Ride Ride Ride 1:02
The Fight 1:20
Dismissed! / Assembly 1:50
Beyond Reason 1:26
Sowing The Seed 1:31
Last Regrets 2:05
The Seed 1:06
Japan 2:58
Coda 5:32 More

REPRESS!

This is the first 12“ of the new Move D - “Recurrent Recollections“ series. “Something ’Bout The D“ is featuring three previously released tracks, that only ever appeared on Various Artists compilations on different record labels - from Fred P’s Earth Tones Vol. 1, via Russ Gabriel’s Ferox label to Lowtec’s Out to Lunch imprint. Now for the first time on Source Records, this 12“ kicks off with Aspiration 2010, a subtle and slow building Deep Acid House track evolving across the entire side A. On the B-side the title track “Something ’Bout The D“ takes the vibe back to 90s oldschool Detroit inspired house music - spiced with some 909 euphoria, some uplifting chords and a technoid, abstract but soothing melody. Closing out the 12“ on B2 is the much beloved and hard to find Move D contribution to Out To Lunch’s “Airbag Craftworks Vol. 2“ compilation “Marshmellow Boots“. A hypnotic and bouncing hookline is transformed over surrounding synth stabs and dubs. A subdued fluffy little groover in a typical Move D trademark fashion. More

For this brand new chapter in the highly acclaimed Wamono series, DJ Chintam goes digging into the vaults of one of the most revered Japanese labels, Trio Records, and unearths some killer drum breaks, dope bass lines and funky horns, for an essential selection of jazz funk fusion and rare groove vibes produced on Trio between 1973 and 1981! More