cat. no. non013
vocals in nyans by lisa kärcher, mixed by arno steinacher, mastered by shapemod, berlin
neubau (arno steinacher) started composing at the age of 12, playing guitar and selfmade instruments in several improvisational projects. working more in the electronical music terrain these days, neubau is focussed on the implementation of scientific theories, ideas and models into his music, both in structural and metaphorical context.
concentratet on the interior of sounds, his arising fractal structures expose when microscopic sonic architectures enlarge, zoomed into yet undiscovered audible landscapes, colourful no man’s lands and exceptionaly constructed mathematical sound rooms.
listening to neubau‘s music one runs into sound panoramas of markets underlying splashes of self pity inside closed white chambers, touched by human voices speaking with dispensable content, finally escaping with the sound of walking through a snowy field ... neubau‘s accessible structuring methods turn inside out when the working process palpably causes the result and vice versa.
feedback
mit viel raffinement setzt arno steinacher aka neubau seine sounds in szene. gebrochene strukturen und eine gediegene ineinanderschachtelung von stimmen und 'found sounds' (wie etwa schritte auf schneefeldern) verdichten sich auf »rymdmyr« zu einer atmosphärischen cd, die auch akusmatische verstörung nicht außen vor lässt.
alfred pranzl, skug.at, austria 12/08
laut pressetext beschäftigt sich neubau auf ästhetischem niveau mit 'microscopic sound architecture', sowie 'undiscovered audio landscapes' und 'mathematic sound rooms'.
das mag prätentiös klingen, ist aber nichtsdesdotrotz angebracht. arno steinacher komponiert überaus avancierte electronica, ohne zeitgebundene erinnerungen an geraüsche zu vermeiden - mit stücken, die wie ein cocktail aus stockhausen, tangerine dream und markus schmickler klingen. wie das alles zusammengeht? da bin ich mir nicht so sicher - womöglich durch eine übergreifende musikalische architektur, im grossen als auch im kleinen. mit dem kopfhörer ist das auf alle fälle ausserordentlich spannend anzuhören - eine umfassende präzision, verbunden mit blubbernder freude am zufälligen rausch - wie xenakis versus cage.
die liedertitel sind auf norwegisch und bieten wenig hilfe beim navigieren durch dieses gefährliche gebiet zwischen 'akademischer' und 'populärer' elektroakustischer musik. dennoch gelingt es neubau, und das ist das besondere an 'rymdmyr', das beste aus zwei welten zu vereinen: grösstmögliche und dennoch zugängliche und spannende komplexität...
sven rånlund, soundofmusic.nu, sweden 10/08
an assortment of rebellious electronica, found sounds and absurd juxtapositions, certainly not world-shattering but meticulously pulled together and repeatedly satisfying to these ears. in the opening "isregn", at one point, there's a magnificently sloping glissando that alone is worth the whole cd, while "den inre solvaenda" combines female and male voices with echoes from the street of a city that could be turkish or moroccan in a kasbah-like atmosphere of sorts. yet the large part of the disc deals with abrupt changes, loops, compulsive cut'n'paste and, in general, neurotic sequences of divergent revisions of reality: "nyans", with its degradation of drones and warped-in-time vocals, is an ideal symbol in that sense. palatable, nonetheless incomparable material whose composer deserves praise, principally for not wanting to sound similar to anything else - and, more often than not, succeeding.
massimo ricci, touchingextremes.blogspot.com 11/08
per ora realizzato solo in formato digitale, 'rymdmyr', è il secondo album della giovane carriera di arno steinacher a nome neubau. un disco di nove frammenti da ascoltare l'uno di seguito all'altro. un flusso sonoro in cui immergersi completamente come davanti ad un film. facendo attenzione a non perdersi i dettagli delle microstrutture con cui la musica è stata costruita. particolari apparentemente inaccessibili mixati a dialoghi rubati durante scene di vita quotidiana. fragranze forti, a tratti disturbanti, ma che rivelano sempre lati nascosti e inaspettati. un disco da vivere sconsigliato a chi ritiene che la musica elettronica sia adatta solo come sottofondo ad una buona lettura. 7/10
roberto mandolini, rockerilla, itayl, 09/08
there’s an interesting phenomenon with creative types and the name neubau. i’m aware of a rather excellent typographic foundry and graphic design company that goes by the name, as well as a very worthwhile german netlabel. this is the third creative that I’ve come across now with the name, which translates literally into english as ‘new building’. and, in spite of the variety of their activities, they all do have a commonality in their mix of the aesthetic and the strictly structured.
neubau the recording artist, known during daylight hours as arno steinacher, is possibly even more overt than the others in this mix. his bio mentions ‘microscopic sonic architectures’ and ‘exceptionally structured mathematical sound rooms’. as pretentious as that sounds, it’s probably as close to an accurate description of his music as you might find.
to my ears, what steinacher achieves is a grand update of the serialist traditions of the mid-20th century. those ideas came to their climax as elektronische musik in cologne in the 1950s, where purely electronic sounds and sequencing were used to ‘play’ serialist music which was so complex, yet rigid, as to render it impossible for human instrumentalists to create. while those actual sounds were obviously very primitive and sound dated to our ears now, giving the music a very dry edge, on a lot of the tracks on rymdmyr, steinacher seems to have applied similar serialist restrictions, but with infinitely more interesting timbral variety. there is the apparent randomness of notation and tempo at the micro level which make much clearer sense when the listener pulls back and listens on a macro level. but it is the nature of the sounds which are most impressive. the title track (and album highlight) features scraping synth drones shifting over languorous chordal shifts, and the sound of tapping which had me thinking someone was breaking into my room as I lay half asleep listening on headphones one night. field recordings on tracks like ‘nysnoeyra’ are given the same mathematical developments - built, blended, cut short, reverbed out - as the small synthetic plonks on tracks like ‘plast 2 - fragrance shed’. human voices are treated likewise on ‘nyans’, fractions of syllables blended and contrasted with more complete assonances.
it’s an academic basis for creating music, but the results transcend this restriction. it is only when the music is examined from a distance that these kinds of mathematical patterns might emerge. In the moment, this music succeeds in doing exactly what you might hope - be eminently listenable and evocative on an emotional level. it’s not often an artist can traverse those often polar objectives, but neubau seems to pull it off effortlessly.
adrian elmer, cyclic defrost magazine, 07/08
arno steinacher is a young austrian composer and musician that started his musical route at the age of 12 and has since veered into the world of electronic music; this release is under the working name neubau. to first give you the idea behind this sort of music, here’s a quote from arno’s website: “music does not need listeners, it needs participants.”
relying on both manipulation of recoded sounds (organic sounds) and the creating his own sounds (electronically), neubau travels in a unique musical world where he serves the listener an amalgam of sounds (or noise made into sounds); whether those are voices, sounds recorded from nature, street or any other non-artificial setting, those are all incorporated into the grand scheme to make this otherworldly atmosphere, sounding as if detached from a human touch; but one must remember throughout the album that this is man-made. along with the recorded sounds, come the effects and electronic tones that neubau adds that seem to take whatever organic sound that is away from its roots and into a different dimension. a place where the sound takes on a new meaning, where one finds a new way of listening to them.
when listening to this type of music i am always amazed how to manage to make an intentional collage of sounds such as this, and morph it into something that is not only listenable but, to me at least can be one or more of the following: pleasant, perplexing, meditative, hypnotic, disturbing, annoying, captivating, appealing, transcendental.
that is the beauty and attraction of this music for me; its ability to pose a challenge to the brain: can you perceive those sounds differently; are you able to follow the composer’s vision and either see through his musical eyes, or even create your own private imagery, when listening to his creation? in this aspect, i think arno’s music is successful. moreover, in compositions such as track 4 “plast 2 - fragrance shed”, he manages to not only create a fascinating sound-scenario, but also to capture the essence of creating such a sound-journey with few minimal effects and “noises.”
in other tracks, such as the in opening track “isregn“ and the title track, he does a compelling job of combining both worlds of organic and artificial sounds, achieving a wonderful aural effect which is even melodic at a point or two (not a common trait at all in this style).
perhaps not innovative or rebellious in his approach (some effects and styles are recognizable from other electro-acoustic recordings from older composers), but as a newcomer to the genre i am not in a place to judge. to me, he does an excellent job of creating his musical visions and making them sound both special and appealing to the listener/participant.
assaf vestin, sonic frontiers.net, 07/08
highly electroacoustic. but in a fashion that reminds me of my experimental days during the 80s. but with digital precision. neubau offers an interesting sound world which deserves everyone's attention. arno steinacher started composing at the age of 12, playing guitar and selfmade instruments in several improvisational projects. these days he works more in the electronic music terrain, focused on the implementation of scientific theories, ideas and models into his music, both in structural and metaphorical context.
steinacher stays concentrated on the interior of sounds, he tells us, his arising fractal structures expose themselves when microscopic sonic architectures enlarge, zoomed into yet undiscovered audible landscapes, colourful no man's lands and exceptionaly constructed mathematical musical rooms. enough with the promotional lines, what do we hear on this disk? as i wrote in the introductory text this reminds me quite often of my experimental days during the 80s. but that should by no means be regarded a negative issue. i really loved the period where many indulged in unlimited experimentation. which led to a lot of rubbish but it didn't matter. there was a lot of fun involved in the doing/the making. and most times you just shared the results with a few friends and friends of friends.
this music in itself reminds me of that time. but there's one big difference and that is the technical realisation, which is excellent. all acoustic material is very well recorded, the cuts and mixing are well-timed. neubau shows his complete gamma of skills. some of his compositions are easy, like in composition "den inre salvaenda" where the basis is community singing. it's quite cozy actually and the electronics that are layered over the acoustics is quite comforting. this reminds me of the old us scene around lovely music. other compositions, such as "rymdyr" consist of structured jumps of percussive sounds. "nysnoeyra" has a certain vangelis feel to it with its grandeur and swelling waves of synths. at other times sounds (really all kinds of sounds) occasionally and nervously pop up and submerge. it just continues being entertaining from beginning to end. excellent... rated. 8,5 / 10
jos smolders, earlabs.org, 07/08
now that summer is in full effect it is time again for a little electronic clickery and wizardry. especially the kind that is soothing and refreshing, with its subtle, sub-line bass sounds and ambient keyboards that always sound like underwater travelling. a cooling experience, much welcome in these days of 33 degrees celsius in the city and no cooling off until late at night.
for nonine recordings and the artist neubau such an approach is too superficial and too short-sighted. the genre of electronic clickery is superficial and short-sighted, no doubt about it, so to approach the music with questions like “is it relaxing?” or even “does it do something to calm me down?” is not only pragmatic but necessary. anyway, neubau aka arno steinacher has something deeper and more profound in focus. the tracks are regularly spreading away from the cool and relaxed area to more structural and complex ideas, both in structure and sounds. like moving away from the pool area of your holiday resort, where all the well dressed, well tanned and well groomed people are, to the backroom seminary and workshop facilities, where people are actually working their brains, instead of having them baked by the sun.
this means effectually that the droning of neubau is regularly interspersed with sounds of unclear origin and effect, with real instruments and all sorts of microscopic additions that are hard to make out while you are dozing in the sun to your ipod, but have a strong effect. little bleeps or beeps that only come up once or twice in a track, different variations of crackles and the dynamic opposition of layers that make the tracks sound like a post-postmodern version of knitting factory jazz. there is a distinct interest for the human voice used as one of these variation themes, especially distorted human voices or the clatter of human voices. there already have been a lot of words on the speciality of the human voice as opposed to all other means of meaningful sound production and even if steinacher uses these samples as just another source of sound and mixes them into the track on a same level basis, they nevertheless don’t lose their signifying manner.
there is probably a lot of mathematics in these tracks, or steinacher was going through a difficult phase in his life, when he wrote the songs on this album. “rymdymr” as a nonsense / dada album title hints at an affiliation with the track-title-machine that aphex twin built for himself which then accidentally started to make music as well. in comparison to that allfather of electronic music, “rymdymr” sounds a lot more relaxed, diverse and less looking for extremism – and probably thereby much more intriguing. this makes the tracks wander into strange territories sometimes, from sinewy to soundtrack. remarkably, the only track with something close to a percussive or rhythmical element is the title track and there it only takes a few moments of beats and mutates into a glacial synthie wall quite quickly. when it returns it has changed into an echoy, nightmarish replica of a beat, almost like an evil twin of itself that has rotated through the mirror and then collapsed on itself. but that is gone just as quickly.
other than that “rymdmyr” is mostly all layers and movements, drones and sounds, instrumental and structural and has a lot of depth in each and every moment. so you might relax by the pool to this album as you may sit up and listen. at the end there is a remix of the title track by me raabenstein added to the album, who is the runner and mastermind of nonine records to make this a neat package. and maybe to soothe of the effects of the last track by neubau “nysnoerya”, which based on the sound of feet walking through rubble stones is the harshest and most structural on here. whereas the remix dives into soothing sounds from the beginning.
georg gartlgruber, cracked, austria 07/08
encore la texture du son. l'expérimentationš elle domine l'art contemporain comme l'univers musical. en matière de musique électroacoustique, il est toujours question de technique et neubau n'échappe pas à la règle. au contraire, il l'amplifie jusqu'à l'obsession. âgé de trente ans, l'autrichien arno steinacher compose depuis ses douze ans et teste de manière compulsive des instruments traditionnels ou de sa propre fabrication. l'axe central de son travail réside dans le support : quel usage, quel détournement, quelle architecture ? ce premier album a pour but de traduire en sons des algorithmes mathématiques, des théories de physique fondamentale, il est en cela à rapprocher des productions du label allemand raster noton, lequel produit des artistes tels qu'alva noto, cyclo, coh, ryoji ikedaš mais alors que ses aînés développent une proximité permanente avec le milieu artistique des installations, neubau se veut scientifique pur. ses compositions sont hermétiques, à l'instar du nom de cet opus. la référence à des pierre schaeffer ou des steve reich est évidente dès le premier morceau tant l'aspect sériel et concret est prégnant, et l'album décline différents usages des sons en fonction de ces grandes influences. l'usage de la disharmonie est introduit sur le second morceau, une plongée dans la perception auditive qui emprunte des chemins certes déjà balisés (alva noto, uskè orchestra, microstoriaš) mais suscite un intérêt réel tant l'ensemble offre une cohérence interne agréable. a découvrir.
mélanie meyer, octopus-enligne.com 07/08
si le premier morceau se structure autour d'ambiance mélodieuse, de sub-basse et d'un rythme caverneux, bien vite ce disque s'oriente vers des contreés plus expérimentales, entre improvisations électro-acoustiques et bidouillage laptop. ces deux univers musicaux étant au coeur de la démarche d'arno steinacher alias neubau. cet artiste tente également de transposer certaines théories scientifiques et modèles mathématiques dans la musique. une approche certes pas nouvelle mais qui est toujours fructeuse. c'est aussi la raison pour laquelle ses compositions présentent souvent un aspect fragmenté. un disque exigeant mais passionnant qui s'achève sur un long morceau en forme de labyrinthe ambient-noise.
musiques et cultures digitales, france 07/08
neubau ist arno steinacher aus österreich, der schon mit 12 gitarre und selbstgebaute instrumente in improvisatiosbands gespielt haben. davon ist heute nicht mehr viel übrig geblieben, heute baut er am rechner komplex strukturierte elektronische musik und "mathematische klangräume". knistern, knacken, synthiesounds, digitale störgeräusche, bearbeitete fieldrecordings und fetzen menschlicher stimmen ergeben mal warme, mal insektenartige hörstücke, die immer etwas ambientes haben, aber oft mit interessanten wendungen aufwarten.
asb, de:bug 07/08/2008
das neubau album ist wirklich gewagt, manchmal finde ich es schon wahnsinn, auf welche ideen produzenten kommen und diese dann auch noch umsetzen. leichte kost ist es aber auf keinen fall, dafür muss ich mir nochmal extra zeit nehmen und ich glaube es wird von mal zu mal zugänglicher. überaus gute musik, bei der der hörer gefordert wird und sowas ist zum teil echt rar auf dem musikmarkt...
mathias desch, bogaloo radioshow, 05/08
excellent electrical nuggets of sound!
pietro da sacco, igloo magazine, 05/08
one arno steinacher is behind neubau, who started composing at the age of 12, played the guitar, did improvisations and now works in the electronic music field. it seems to me that his main input is the voice and perhaps field recordings, which is then treated inside the computer. i might be entirely wrong here, but i don't think he uses any instruments. no rhythm as such here, not like slowcream. neubau's music is more microsound, but at the same time things sound also very digital. throughout the music is highly atmospherical, ambient inspired, but also dark at times. nevertheless quite pleasant if somewhat unsurprising music. not something that hasn't be said or done before, but neubau executes his ideas with care.
fdw, vital weekly 631, 06/08
nuova etichetta di elettronica da berlino, per quanto di "elettronica" si tratti il termine tutto sommato va relativamente stretto alla label tedesca. non sapevo nulla della nonine, come non sapevo nulla di parecchie cose, ma a differenza delle "parecchie cose", ascoltando neubau (ma anche altri gruppi del catalogo come gli slowcream) sono rimasto ben impressionato dalla gran classe di questi crucchi. so che quanto sto per dire è discutibile, ma resta che sono convinto del fatto che alcune delle migliori uscite elettroniche che ho sentito in questi anni, quanto meno in ambito europeo, sono arrivate tutti dal paese di karl heinz rummenigge.
anche se molto più morbido, questo cd mi ricorda alcune delle cose fra minimal e strane che ogni tanto buttava fuori la sonig, dissonanze o no resta tutto molto soft e con un effetto "blu notte" che fa da collante per buona parte dell’ascolto. elettronica gentile, ma non per questo melensa, pallosa e cosa più importante è molto diversa da quella quasi-soft, quasi-minimal dei fratelli del sol levante. tanto per essere chiari, questa semmai è la terra del "sol mancante" e arno steinacher per quanto gioviale, certe cose le avrà nel genoma, nonostante ciò non preoccupatevi perchè non si tratta di nulla di particolarmente cupo, semmai di quel sano grigiore e quella freddezza che fa immediatamente classe e mitteleuropa. pastiches digitali fra loop di voci, suoni di laptop, collages futuribili e dissonanze amichevoli tanto da non dare mai quel fastidio che invece regala molta music digitale della zona, sicuramente non tutte le tracce sono ugualmente fruibili, ma l’astrazione di questo rymdmyr è controllata e non deve dare per forza sui nervi, anzi. cazzo ragazzi, vi ricordate di buck rogers? era quel telefilm dove il protagonista si ritrovava sospeso per cinquecento anni e poi si svegliava e si integrava in una società del futuro; beh se lo ricordate e non avete neppure dimenticato come si immaginavano le musiche del futuro quelli che negli anni ottanta avevano prodotto questo telefilm immondo (http://www.fablibrary.com/buckrogers.htm)? ok, se ricordate tutte queste cose, oltre a venir premiati per il vostro grado di "nerditudo maxima", potete anche immaginare che quella musica non era poi così diversa da neubau e quindi direi che l’armageddon è già dietro l’isolato.
andrea ferraris, sodapop 06/08
neubau che però mescola tutti gli (stressi) input in un magma demenziale da cui emergono rumori, sibili, voci casuali e frasi d'elettronica deforme: ideabile e realizzabile in un tempo persino più breve del precedente (un secondo meno di quartanove minuti)
stefano i. bianchi, blow up. 07/08 2008
excellent, distant and mysterious reverberent sounds, nice, microglitching too! keep creating we're listening!!
artunit, cleveland, ohio
amazing
zoon van snook, bristol, uk
nice to discover this music
strings of consciousness, marseille, france
great abstractions in your tracks.always good to hear true experimentalist work
ocosi, spain
tasty sounds
earsay, vancouver, canada
i'm stuck by the intersecting "interferences" cut through and within the music. fascinating effect....
jason eckardt, new york, usa
interesting sounds!
michael denhoff, bonn, germany
beautiful atmosphere in this music!
serge bertcchi, amiens, france
great and unique sounds, excellent tracks
apjiw (the schared fate), montreal, canada
diese musik hat manchmal fast eine schmerzhafte schönheit und ist schon etwas besonderes.
ongaku-hh, hamburg, germany
brilliant soundscapes. very beautiful tracks
ion, athens, greece
good vibes here
nice sound texture and landscape.
monobloc sound fidelity, france
impressive soundscapes of rich atmosphere and fine detail
allan jarvesalu, sydney, australia
very beautiful soundscapes
taper jinx, ireland
