Stefan Goldmann preps limited cassette release

  • Published
    Mon, Jan 4, 2010, 16:00
  • Words
    Resident Advisor
  • Share
  • Haven't I Seen You Before will see the Macro co-founder manipulate his guitar playing into a loop-based composition.
  • Stefan Goldmann preps limited cassette release image
  • Stefan Goldmann will again step away from the world of techno with a forthcoming cassette-only album. Haven't I Seen You Before will be the twelfth release on The Tapeworm imprint, which has already seen contributions from celebrated avant-garde and ambient producers Philip Jeck, Stephen O'Malley and Biosphere. As the label's name implies, every single release on The Tapeworm comes as a limited edition cassette, and Goldmann has conjured up something especially for the series. "Since I'm a less than mediocre guitar player, but a quite versatile editing engineer with a decade of experience of handling samplers and midi-sequencers," Goldmann explains, "I could finally realize an old project which I can trace back to a lesson with my bass teacher in my teen days. He had found out a bass player with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra had recorded hours of improvisations and paid an engineer to cut it together into an enjoyable 'jazz' album. The teacher, a profound jazz player himself, found this to be some sort of scam, while I was deeply impressed by the idea of merging hi-tech and improvisation. Finally I had a reason to play and record some guitar for this fine project and cut it to death afterward." Goldmann's guitar is the only sound source on the entire record, and his recordings were then cut into loops of various durations before overlapping and sequencing them. Detractors of the cassette in this day and age make a point that the tapes are used only for the sake of nostalgia and analogue fetishism, but Goldmann has made a concerted effort to maximise the unique potential of the format. Each track has an alternate version on the reverse side, and due to them being mapped together, the listener can utilise the Auto-Reverse function on some cassette players to switch between the two versions, creating an interactive listening experience. As with most of The Tapeworm's previous releases, Haven't I Seen You Before will be limited to 250 copies. Tracklist A1 The Eyes of Jesus Christ (Left Eye) A2 2005 A3 Spouse A4 Wastelands (Version A) A5 Enclosures (Part 1) B1 Enclosures (Part 2) B2 Wastelands (Version B) B3 Lover B4 7513 B5 The Eyes of Jesus Christ (Right Eye) The Tapeworm will release Haven't I Seen You Before during January 2010.
RA