Astrosound Sternenklangkonzert 2.8.1998

Chapter 4 of the Cosmic Tale of Astrosound.
This is the whole concert on Marcus' (Lay De Fear, MIRG) Birthday Party in 1998. It was an outstanding concert. Still we got our structures from the "Kosmische Schaltung"-Phase, but this time we were going wild again and expand the improvisation space, Space, Space, it's ASTROSOUND.
After that we changed our name, because Heiko was unhappy with the esoteric feel of "Astrosound" and we called us "Projekt 7" and after that a lots of others I can't remember now... "Space Modul" was one of these names that lastet a little bit longer. Months later I slowly get bored of the dance and party culture, worked with Stolle again and in 2000 i quit this thing. Sure we all stayed friends and from time to time I made sessions with Heiko and with Thomas I started the Project "Amphibius" (more about Amphibius soon on emptyblaukraut). Nowadays ASTROSOUND is history and in the last months we all thaught about a reunion concert maybe around next year.
I think with these four posts you get a very good impression what ASTROSOUND was.
Space Space Space Space Space it's ASTROSOUND!
Enjoy this Bomb  of Sound!

Luv
Member

Astrosound Kosmische Schaltungen 1997 - 1998

Chapter 3 of the Amazing Astrosound Story.
Some Months later we are just a duo and developped our "Kosmische Schaltung". This was our new system or equipment setting. Everything is connectet and everyone played everything. We got a lot more of great synths, analog sequencers and drumcomputers by that time and our music is more groovy, melodic and mininmal, but still it's cosmic music, space you know, Space, Space, Space ... it's ASTROSOUND.
The Track "Cosmic Wings is one of the first recordings of the "Kosmische Schaltung" a tape side long session and almost some kind of ballad. After these early sessions we were working on structures, that we can use for live improvisations. "Dream of the raising fish" is the one of them I Liked most in these days. You can compare the studio version to the live version. And there is another live version called "Kosmische Phase". Both Live Versions were recorded at Weisskirchen Sessions I think.

Get Kosmisch!

Luv
Member

Astrosound - 1. Weiskirchener Elektronik Tage 1997

Capter 2 of Astrosound.
Our second concert on the "1. Weisskirchener Elektronik Tage" The Weisskirchen Electronic Scene was centerd around Elektrasmus (Holger aka Zarkov & Uwe aka Yapacc), mostly shared with Guba and Astrosound. It found a home at Uwes place at this time, the house of his grandmother, i believe... We met there once in a week and doin live sessions in the cellar and invited some friends and once in the year we clebrated it in a great festival - The "Weisskirchener Elektronik Tage". It was the coolest and best hidden secret of the frankfurt techno scene in the 90s, öchem....
So this was the start of the Weisskirchen scene for me and Astrosound and the last concert with our guitar player Thomas. We decided to get more electronic and play more on Techno Parties and Raves. A drug influenced scene in that time and Thomas, the most psychedelic guitar player I knew, didn't like drugs and smoke-filled places and so we decided to go on as a duo, not that we were a drughead band, Heikos drug is the Lord and we were praying before we started playing. So you don't need drugs to be psychedelic and mind expanded. It was a spiritual sound search in endless space. Space. Space. you know... it's ASTROSOUND.
But back to this evening. I got a new synth - korg ms 20 and made strange things with turntables and heiko got a new old drumcomputer casio rz 1, which was a lot better in use for our type of music. So here we are a lot more groovy, but our space is huge and neverending.
A Psychedelic Mind Trip!
You can take it here.

Luv Member

Astrosound - Tell Me Something About Art 1997

Another Chapter in emptyblaukraut history. We're coming now to the wonderous story about Astrosound. For Member the Lay De Fear Experience lead to the beginning interrest in electronic music. In the days after Lay De Fear I wanted to play electronic music. By that time Air Liquide and similar artists have a deep impact on me. Live Techno Acts who made very spontaneous and improvised, psychedelic, wild, free form techno, or electronic groove music, call it as you will techno, acid, house, dub, trance, breakbeat it's all techno music. I made music on computer before, but I didn't like it. It wasn't spontaneous, it wasn't free. You had to use old analog synths, sequencers and drum computers to do real live programming. So in the beginning of 1997 I bought my first analog synth, a roland sh 2000, met some friends with the same approach and we founded the live electronic project Astrosound.
In the Beginning Astrosound were three people Thomas on guitar with thousands of effect units, Heiko on synths and drumcomputer and Member on synths and bass played through a bass-synthesizer unit. We weren't so rhythm orientatet, our aproach in music was space, the farest space an imagination can reach. When I listen to the early Astrosound today it reminds me more on bands like Hawkwind then electronic groove music. We had no real sequencers and our first drumcomputer was real shit, was the same one Lay De Fear had. But wow we were spacey, wow, Space, Space, Space, Sound ... we call it ASTROSOUND.
This is the first Astrosound Live Experience at the Kommunikationsfabrik in Frankfurt.
(Funny Thing: I play again this Friday at the Kommunikationsfabrik for the first time since 1997 and again with free electronic groove music, this time with Lover 303 (= Conni Maly (Lava 303) and Manni Neumeier (Guru Guru) More about this here.)
We played at an Exhibition. The Artist, a sculptor, made art out of scrap. The Exhibition was in a huge white room. In the middle of the room was a labyrinth with the sculptures in it and in a corner of the room was our place, but the moste place in this big room was empty space, space - you know.... It was a great experience to play here our first concert. On some tracks Uwe from Electrasmus jammed with us and it was a beginning for a new scene and stories and music to come, but more in the next chapter.
First Enjoy this and that.

Luv
Member

Egomania - Planet Ego Drone Orchestra 2003

Hello again, this time I will introduce to you "Planet Ego Drone Orchestra", an Egomania Record from 2003. I made the first piece called "I Am Flying" in July 2003 and was excited about it. Next thing was, listening again to "Om Helos Ra". This track is one of my personal all time favourites. An excerpt of it was on my record "Moon" from 2000. I made a new mix of the whole piece and after that, I was looking for another long drone thing to complete the CD, I found the 2002 track "Planet Ego Drone Orchestra" perfect title for the whole thing and so here it is.
All of this done live and spontaneously out of the moment. And still I love it to listen to these tracks. Timeless space journeys.
Very recommended!

Get it here.

Luv
Member

Empty Blues 2009

This time, dear reader, we are offering another compilation of music out of our beautiful emptyblaukraut-universe: EMPTY BLUES !
The name of the game here is Blues, man. From way down our very souls.
We got one cover version of Albert King's Born Under a Bad Sign, and our version of the Traditional In My Time Of Dying, both done by Stolle & Member at our legendary Reuschberg-Holiday in 2003.
The rest of the stuff, however, features our very own approach to the devil's music. All of it, as always, improvised freely and straight out of nowhere by MIRG, EGOMANIA, LAY DE FEAR and DER BERG GROOVT.
Get yourself a bottle of booze, and enjoy!

Stolle & Member

MIRG - Inferno Der Dimensionen P.T.E. #1 2009

Time to hear again from one of our most beloved Projects, the sweet and fragile thing called MIRG! This time we met, sadly, without Steffi and so we did a boys camp thing, drank lots of alcohol and flew away. While fighting the omnipresent flys buzzing around and in our heads, we made plenty of music, channeling the vibes of African Music, The Beach Boys, Velvet Underground, Tangerine Dream or Pink Floyd. Another thing is - we got a Tambura again which provided the drones of India.
All of this and a lot more is mixed and refined by the anarchistic manners of MIRG.
The title of the thing is borrowed from Perry Rhodan, a german pulp-SF-series that Stolle is a big fan of.
So here you got a first Psychedelic Transfer Explosion, scanning our new recordings, and believe me - This is just the tip of the Iceberg.

Get the whole thing here.

Enjoy

The Lay De Fear Tapes 1993 - 95

This is something really, really special. In 2001, a friend asked for a Lay de Fear-CD to put it on his page, muzik23. So Stolle made this wonderful P.T.E., a wild cut-up Journey through our tapes from 1993 - 1995, but then we unfortunately could not release it, and this wonderful CD got almost forgotten. However, now some time has passed, and so decided to try one more time to release this outstanding piece of art, before it gets lost....
This is a wild Journey to our early beginninings: free improvised music... Industrial, Krautrock, Ethno Fakes and Tape Collages, Tarot Sessions and Schlager Trash, - the BIG BANG of the Stolle & Member - thing !!!!

Don't Miss This DIAMOND
Get The Jewel here

Enjoy

Stolle & Member - Blicken Zurück 2003

Stolle & Member are looking back on 10 years of combining their creative powers. This was the motto for this compilation out of the year 2003. Some tracks from the previously released records "Elemente", "Doppelalbum" & "Gojira", Lay De Fears Live Recording "Im Zentrum Des Lichts", one MIRG track from Steffis Birthday Party in 2000, a track off of a release from our "Räume" - Series, (more about the "Räume" - series coming soon), one track out of the "Numbers" period and some unreleased tracks compiled by Stolle in 2003

Get it here

Enjoy

Unterwegs Mit Stolle & Member 2002

This is something special from our "Gojira"-year, 2002. One year before, we founded The Whole as our live performing project, but in the beginning of 2002 we had a crisis during our so called "Black Whole - Workshop", and so we decided to perform live as Stolle & Member. This was some kind of a life demo CD for concert organisers. Nothing happened, of course. (It was only after re-establishing The Whole as a live band, that we started performing as Stolle & Member also.)
There are some outtakes from the Gojira CD and some interesting new tracks we did later in 2002.
Gospel Road is a piece done on UBIK paint's old 8-track tape recorder.
Loop One is based on double bass loops done by member, overdubbed by stolle and then overdubbed again by member.


You find the thing here

Enjoy

Stolle & Member - Dies Ist Mein Leben (2006)

These are four pieces recorded on Computer in Frankfurt & Bruchausen in 2006.

Sonne Platz is a beautiful little MIRG song which we lost the original recording of, - covered and thus saved by Stolle & Member.

Dies ist mein Leben is a long free-folk improvisation, recorded at Member's sleeping room and overdubbed at the PC.

Forbidden Planet is a space jam paying tribute the well known science fiction movie.

Kontrolle is an industrial indie song, recorded at Stolle's place to get him used to Cubase (which failed, he still refuses to record to computer).

Another diamond from out of our vaults.

See the shimmer here

and enjoy

Stolle & Member - Numbers (myspace - edits) (1998)

Some time ago we made a little journey through the origins of our constantly changing universe by presenting the legendary "numbers" tracks on our myspace page in edits. Here are the myspace blog entries around numbers:

Stolle & Member - "NUMBERS" on myspace (27.7. - 17.8.2007)

27.7.2007

After "Lay De Fear" fell apart in 1996, everyone went separate ways..

Chris went on doing acting workshops at the Reuschberg, hangin' around in the dark wave scene and lost contact to Stolle & Member. Stolle lived his live in Karlsruhe in the southwest of Germany, worked as a DJ and played in his band "UBIK paint". Member lived in Frankfurt played in the Crossover band "Tinnitus Mask" and in the live-electronic-project "Astrosound".

But soon Stolle & Member started an intensive exchange of letters and music. The LAY DE FEAR-experience had to be worked out, wounds had to heal, and time had to pass to get the right perspective. So they paid visits from time to time, and after two years Stolle & Member carefully began to make music together again.

This early identification phase extended over the year 1998. All developed pieces were numbered and this is why this period is called "Numbers".

1 & 2 were experimental electroacoustic pieces. Stolle & Member iniatially were not very content with the results, and so they restricted themselves in just playing two acoustic guitars, because like Holger Czukay said- restriction is the mother of the inventive play. With exception of the pieces of 20 - 23 and evenly 1 & 2 are thus all pieces of the "Numbers" series are played using just acoustic guitars. We proudly present now, in rapid consequence, edited versions of all "Numbers" pieces from 1 - 26.

30.7.2007

In the second part of our "Numbers" series comes the first highlight: 8 (eight) - a tribute to the music of "The Tiger Lillies". Member sings the heartbreaking love song about eight, the girl who has been too long with the seven boys. The song is totally free improvised and a perfect example for "Stolle & Member" Songs come out of nothingness and shine....
This was that same old magic we experienced while playing with Lay De Fear, and it finally reassured us to continue to walk that path leading through our ever-changing universe.

4.8.2007

Here's the third part of our "Numbers" Series.

9 is called "Nine Days in Hell" is a blues/gospel type of song. Stolle plays stand up bass and sings the happy lamentation.

10 is called "Zen" and a Zen way to get in our kind of music.

11 is called "Elfquest" and our meditative tribute to the comics of Richard and Wendy Pini.

12 (Twelve). Stolle sings slightly ecstatic in this wild and beautiful song.

8.8.2007

13 is called "3Zen" and our interpretation of the japanese folk song "kojo no tsuki" turning into a moody and wild balkan-gypsy style. One of the best tunes in the "Numbers" series.

14 is called "Quatorce" and its our beautyful meditation about la france

15 in the original length of 23 minutes you can find really everything we tried to achieve in the "Numbers" series. In this edit you just hear the song conclusion...and it's still a highlight.

In 16 we were just a bit of lazy, doin this again and so you can hear stolle playing a little bit of "a chien d'espace" by motorpsycho, while member is "bongsmoking"...

12.8.2007

Before we come to an end with the "Numbers" series, we get electric again in the numbers 20 –23.

20 is called "20 Umbrellas" and as you see, the experiences of the acoustic phase are now integrated in our electronic setting.

21 is called 21 "Secrets" and turned to be a typical Stolle & Member Song.

22 is a slow drone groove.

23 is a remix of a remix. Stolle did an experimental solopiece with distorted guitars & vocals called 23. Member did a techno remix of this piece and then Stolle & Member used this remixed piece as a basic for the last electronic session in the "Numbers" series.

17.8.2007

Our "numbers series comes to an end. you can listen to the last acoustic adventures of stolle and members.

19 starts as a percussion thing

24 is a beautyful acoustic tune after the electric experiences of 20 - 23.

25 is called I don't need you. it's a kind of punk thing.

26 is called "Nobody needs 26", and after that we consequently stopped the series, started to develop our electro-acoustic recording setting, and began the sessions that led to the fire experience and the "Elemente" CD, the first proper record of stolle & member.

The myspace edits are lost, now you get the 320 rated versions in 5 parts.

Numbers 1
Numbers 2
Numbers 3
Numbers 4
Numbers 5

Enjoy

Stolle & Member - DOPE EP (2001)

Time to jump into the time machine again and travel into the year 2001. Dope was an EP accompaniying our "Doppelalbum". Some kind of tribute to VU's Sister Ray, this became a drug influenced guitar noise piece. Back then we felt it didn't quite fit in the more pop-ish style of the Doppelalbum, so we created this EP. You get 4 different mixes and a 2001 re-visit to our track "23" from 1998, the beginning of the Stolle & Member work as a duo, in the so called "Numbers" - Era. More about Numbers in our next post.
The DOPE EP. Experimental Guitar Noise Drone Work. A exiting find from out of our vaults.
Find the monster here and enjoy it.

2008/2009

This is A Compilation of Music we did in 2008 & 2009. Some of the tracks you might know from previous posts, while others are unreleased until now.
"CD 1" shows some new tracks of Egomania, Members Solo Project, some pieces of "Der Berg Groovt", Members Hippie Neighbour Collective, and the complete soundcheck of "Damo Suzuki & The Whole"'s last concert in december last year.
The focus on "CD 2" is on "MIRG", "Steffi & Stolle" & "Stolle & Member". Steffi & Stolle is a one of our rare and always delightful "half-mirg"-projects. Steffi & Stolle are the two singer/songwriter type of musicians, while the other two Marcus & Member are more kind of a free flow kind and not so well musically educated.... whatever that means. This is the first time Steffi & Stolle joined as a duo, because Steffi wished to make a Blues record with Stolle. They met last year at Stolle's place and did some wonderful and very recommended recordings, although not quite Blues. Listen to it here for the first time, and maybe we are posting more of this beautiful music. Same thing with the music of MIRG. We meet just once a year, making the most beautiful music, record it ... just to disappear in our archives. Here are three incredible pieces made during our last meeting at the Akademie Reuschberg.
The Stolle & Member tracks were posted here before.
Enjoy this ride through our constantly changing Universe.

Get the whole thing here and here.

Sous les pieds la terRemixed

We took part in a Remix thing with our projects MIRG and Der Berg Groovt.

One year ago, Philippe Baudouin (aka Monsieur Tympan - phonographer) and Alexandre Manzanares (photographer) have produced a sound and photographic documentary about rural world, available on CD, called "Sous les pieds, la terre" (which means "Under the feet, the land"). To realize this project, they have collected sounds and pictures of people and landscapes they've met on the road: old country people, kids in garden, sounds of agricultural tools, beauty of mountains... In September 2008, Philippe decided to put online 30 samples of the sounds he recorded and to collaborate with Headphonica to release on their netlabel. With this sound samples, everyone was invented to make his own remix. The idea was to propose people to appropriate these field-recordings and to make a subjective remix. Even if these different sounds come from a very little part of the world (Vaucluse, France), the 80 remixes they've received show us the universality of these ones.

Here is the result sent by people from all over the world!

Enjoy yourself!

Damo Suzuki & The Whole live 12-9-08

So here we go! What you get here is our latest gig with Damo. It was another wonderful occasion for us to throw our improvised jams at the former Can-Singer to take them and shout it out to the world. Damo was in a quite melodic mood this evening, and we were on fire, supported by Matthias on guitar, who gave our music a nice new colour. We recorded this on laptop and got a quite descent sound.

Soundcheck:

1. Soundcheck 01 2:40
2. Soundcheck 02 6:47

1. Set

3. Und So Beginnt Es 29:20
4. New Ways Again 15:46

2. Set

5. Damo Dub 34:56
6. On The Run 14:30
7. Funky Doors 12:12

8. Zugabe: Cocaine 26:52

Get The Whole Thing Here and Here!

Enjoy!

We Are Coming Back With You Know What

Happy New Year To You All....
Here We Are Again...
One Month ago since our last gig with Damo Suzuki & The Whole. In the meantime I had another freaky concert with my neighbourhood collective "Der Berg Groovt" on January the third, also with them, I had a wonderful New Years Eve Session and we build our new Studio and I integrated my equipment there and turned my bedroom into a space lab, in october I started a new job to earn my living and working with kids again. Now It's time to continue with our blog....
At first we will post our last gig with Damo. Here is a download link to some pictures of this magic evening.
2008 was heavy productive and all here is just the top of the Eisberg.
There is a lot of outstanding unreleased material from the last Stolle & Member Sessions.
There was an incredible meeting with MIRG.
A beautiful Steffi & Stolle Session...
... and I listened to some crazy old stuff like Lay De Fear and Astrosound.
So stay tuned and have always an eye on emptyblaukraut....
luv
Member