M=MINIMAL CONRAD SCHNITZLER SPECIAL
// Date: 12. July 2012 // Venue: Le Lieu Unique, Nantes // Time: 19:00 // Entrance free // Facebook Event   Program: CONRAD SCHNITZLER SCREENINGS CONRAD SCHNITZLER "CASSETTE CONCERT", INTERPRETED BY WOLFGANG SEIDEL DOMPTEUR MOONER JENS STRÜVER PLAYS CONRAD SCHNITZLER'S "ZUG" BORNGRÄBER & STRÜVER PLAY "CON-STRUCT" M=MINIMAL DJ-SETS   CTM Festival has been invited to curate three nights within Au milieu du monde - A festival of festivals, that takes place between June 15 - August 19, 2012 at Le Lieu Unique in Nantes.   Our first night presents the Berlin label m=minimal with a tribute to the work of German electronic music pioneer Conrad Schnitzler, who died, sadly, on 4th August last year, at the age of 74. Schnitzler – a seaman, industrial labourer, student of Beuys and Stockhausen, autodidact, co-founder of Kluster (with Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius), sometimes member of Tangerine Dream, and incorrigible experimentalist – was a source of inspiration for numerous later artists. A pioneer of new musical forms, he ranked among the first adepts to recognize and consistently explore the potential of the synthesizer. His non-conformist, experimental bent made him a key figure in an unorthodox free form of electronic music, and hence one of the foremost figures of the electronic avant-garde in Germany.    Founded in 2009 by Jens Strüver and Christian Borngräber, m=minimal releases their own work and of other artists such as Kreidler's Andreas Reihse, Ernstalbrecht Stiebler or a collaboration of Martin Brandlmayr with Christian Fennesz and Werner Daffeldecker. Shortly before Conrad Schnitzlers death, Borngräber & Strüver, Wolfgang Seidel and Conrad Schnitzler set up a trust to manage Schnitzler's musical estate, with the plan to make some of Schnitzler as yet unplublished works available, as well as to commission reworkings of the pioneering artist’s material by contemporary artists. This task is now in the hands of m=minimal. Next to original works by Conrad Schnitzler, such as the albums Zug, CON (Ballet Statique), and his last work Endtime, m=minimal has established a series with re-workings of Schnitzler materials, titled Con-Struct. Releases in this series so far have seen contributions by Borngräber & Strüver and Ricardo Villalobos with Max Loderbauer. Further releases by Dolphins into the Future, Thomas Fehlmann and others are in the making.   For this evening CTM and m=minimal present a selection of Schnitzler reinterpretations, plus screenings of films on or by Conrad Schnitzler:   Wolfgang Seidel, co-founder of Ton Steine Scherben and a long-standing friend of Schnitzler will conduct a "Cassette Concert". Seidel is namely one of the few players Schnitzler personally authorized in his lifetime to perform this work. Conrad Schnitzler  developed the "Cassette Concert" in the 80s as a dynamic method by which to simultaneously compose and perform electronic music, one that allowed elements of structured, composed, improvised and conceptual music to be fused at will. He thereby resolved also to render performance of his music independent of his own person, claiming that a "Cassette Concert" could in principle be performed by anyone, anywhere, anytime. All that it takes to do so is several playback devices, a mixer, and a number of pre-prepared cassettes (later CDs, both supplied by Schnitzler), containing single tracks of a larger composition. The performer freely combines these single tracks, regulates the volume and equalizer settings and so, in co-authorship with Schnitzler, generates compositions that, although always identically underpinned, unfold unpredictably, as unique pieces. The "Cassette Concert" makes coincidental processes and shared authorship constitutive components of composition and performance. Static recordings are liquefied in an open-ended process with infinite possibilities.    Dompteur Mooner, one of the most knowledgeable experts in obscure vintage electronic music, will paly a DJ-set focused on the music of the late Conrad Schnitzler. Himself familiar with Schnitzler’s creations, in 2008 Mooner released a remix/edit EP of the late artist’s work on his own Erkrankung Durch Musique imprint. Mooner stepped into the limelight as part of Zombie Nation, whose 1999 smash hit "Kernkraft 400" was signed to DJ Hell’s Gigolo label and earned worldwide chart success. His sound is influenced by italodisco-B-sides, obscure cosmic-cassettes from his young days, electro, acid, rock, punk-funk, krautrock and the Club le Bomb wildstyle mixing. › mooner-industries.de   Jens Strüver and Christian Borngräber have been making music together since 1999. Ten years later they founded the m=minimal label. To date they have released the albums in g, urlaub and the Conrad Schnitzler / Borngräber & Strüver cooperation Con-Struct (2011). For Con-Struct, Borngräber & Strüver browsed Schnitzler vast archives and used his original materials for new sound assemblages. For the night at Lieu Unique, they will attempt a to re-create and further this process in a live performance. Before, Jens Strüver will re-interpret Conrad Schnitzler's album Zug in a solo live performance. › m-minimal.com     Au milieu du monde - A festival of festivals As part of Le Voyage à Nantes, the city of dukes is rolling out the red carpet for new visitors from both near and far. Firmly anchored at the heart of the Continental hemisphere, le lieu unique offers the public an opportunity to travel without moving: the best festivals from France and across Europe have been invited to grace our venues, one after the other, every weekend. And so, if we believe the Swiss Romande legend that says the centre of the world is in the Vaud canton (between the Rhine and Rhone rivers), then Nantes is ready to claim its title and rise to the challenge for 10 straight weeks—that’s no fewer than 30 nights—by bringing locals, tourists, travellers, and innocent bystanders alike the very best the world has to offer right here, right now: thanks to guests arriving from Berlin, Brighton, Fribourg, Hyères, Reims, Rotterdam, and more... More information › here.	> July 12, 2012
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