01. Würg Der Burgenbart
02. Schlappi Der Schlitzer
03. Cliff
04. Nachdenklich
05. tief in mir(meiner Seele)schmerzt es
06. Voyeurismus
07. Koala
08. der feuchte Gustav
09. Frankfurter Fortf?hrung
10. Falscher Freund
11. Kleine Tr?umerei
12. Haut ab
13. kleine Fummelei
14. Rumspringer
15. ?ber der Kirche
16. Tip
17. ich war ein eso Psycho
18. Weichei
19. Generation Opfer
20. fire in the sunshine
21. Japaner
22. Naturzed
23. ihr müsst eure grenzen am Kopf
24. und wenn die Wolken ziehen
25. abgeschobenes Opfer
26. Bitte bleib bei mir
27. Student
28. lass jucken Kumpel
29. Naturschützer
30. Torsten
31. Paolo

“Miniaturen” or in English: “Miniatures” is Konrad Sprenger’s first solo album. The dictionary defines a miniature as “a representation or image of something on a small or reduced scale”. Sprenger worked
for over two years to find a “grand form” in which to represent his myriad bagatelles; drawing from hundreds of finished and unfinished recordings recorded over the last ten years with a diverse palette of musicians, artists and friends.
The result is an unlikely juxtaposition of 32 abbreviated sonoric vignettes, each with its own internal logic, each a setting within a diverse range of musical styles (ranging from pop, kraut, baroque, american minimalism etc.), recognizable on the one hand, yet always unexpected. The instrumentation is equally abstruse: from mechanical bird organs and automated musical machines from the 1800 to sine waves, harmonium, timpanies, steel drum, siren and countless other examples; this is a sonic exploration
of endless possibilities where each work takes the listener one step forward, building on perceptual associations, so that one never knows where one will end up next.
The sonic “miniatures” function as reduced modules, always referring to some “other” music or sounds we must have heard somewhere, but which we are forever unable to pin down. After producing recordings by Ellen Fullman, Arnold Dreyblatt, Doc Schoko and countless others, and performing for years as Konrad Sprenger with such luminary bands as Ethnostress and Ei and the art group Honey-suckle Company, Sprenger has finally made his own artistic statement with “Miniaturen” once again adorned with a cover by artist Jonas Lipps. (Arnold Dreyblatt)

Konrad Sprenger-Miniaturen LP/ CD

KONRAD SPRENGER - Stack Music

Format: LP / Digital 
Cat. No: PAN 78 
Release Date: 2 June 2017

p-a-n.org

purchase: bit.ly/2rdmu6S

Released by:
PAN
Release date:
1 July 2017

Having felt restrained by the limits of traditional instruments and the techniques tied to them, composer, music producer and artist, Konrad Sprenger (b. Joerg Hiller), spent years developing various algorithms and custom instruments to realize his work. His recent focus has been on rhythmic patterns based on the Euclidean algorithm, using a computer-controlled multi-channel electric guitar.

The unique system can create complex rhythmical patterns whilst tuning the strings during performance - sounding at once like an electronic instrument, a drum computer, a guitar, a harpsichord, even at times as a full orchestra. Hiller has long collaborated and performed with minimalist Arnold Dreyblatt, and musician/instrument builder Ellen Fullman amongst others, and first built primitive acoustic mechanical instruments, gradually developing a more complex, digitally-controlled system. “My guitar gives me the possibility to discover almost every aspect of the sound produced by the excitation of the string – as if scientifically under a magnifying glass.” He says. “I can control such parameters as the speed and time, length of the attack, the intensity, the pitch (allowing the use of different tuning systems), and the location of each string in space by the use of 6 speakers.”

Early on, Hiller realized that the harmonically complex sound of strings are impossible to reproduce digitally, and therefore became interested in the development of mechanical instruments, visiting European collections of Pianolas, Orchestrions in Belgium and Holland. Within his live performances and on this new recording, his music is influenced by the insistent rhythms from Minimalism, Krautrock and Techno, and their shared focus on transcendence through a propulsive, full-spectrum sound.

Informed by early American folk music and its descendants (John Fahey et al), his new album Stack Music presents a selection of recordings over the years from residencies and live performances, such as ’Opening’, an early live performance of the digital guitar system recorded in New York and composed at Phill Niblock’s Intermedia Foundation Loft, whilst ’Rondo’ consists of recordings of the guitar played by a motor with shoelace exciters, horns, and piano harp. In ‘Largo’, he utilises the software Melodyne to generate midi notes from a original guitar system recording.

The release is mastered by Rashad Becker at D&M, featuring artwork by Bill Kouligas.

Konrad Sprenger

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