Tobias. will release his second solo album, A Series Of Shocks, on Ostgut Ton this March.
The producer, real name Tobias Freund, is a certified sound obsessive—as evidenced by Jordan Rothlein's Machine Love feature last year. A sought-after engineer, he's worked on records by everyone from Function and Dettmann to Milli Vanilli and Meat Loaf in a career that stretches back to the mid-'80s.
Freund describes A Series Of Shocks as a "dark and raw techno album." Its title is borrowed from a David Bowie lyric: "I chose the title before I started to work on the music, it kept me focused," he told RA. His NSI. studio partner Max Loderbauer lends his expertise on one track, "Entire."
A Series Of Shocks follows the first Tobias. full-length, Leaning Over Backwards, which was described by Andrew Ryce as "consummate home-listening techno, detailed and varied enough for even the most fickle of attention spans." We quizzed the producer about the record this week via email:Where does the album's title come from?
I listened to a song by David Bowie—he was singing the line "A series of shocks" and I thought that fits perfectly with my idea, which was to make a raw and dark techno album.
Did you approach in the studio differ on this album in comparison to Leaning Over Backwards?
The process was quite similar. I am used to working with lots of analogue machines in my studio, and while I was going through old samples on my floppy discs I found amazing material from the early days.
Did you mix down the album yourself? Does mixing your own record daunt you more than doing it for others?
Yes, I mixed everything by myself. I like the process of mixing songs in general, whether it's for me or for my customers.
The album's launch party will take place at Berghain on Saturday, April 5th. Freund will perform, with Peter Van Hoesen and Margaret Dygas also appearing on the bill. Further names will be added over the coming weeks.
Tracklist
01. Entire (CD only)
02. Heartbeat
03. Testcard
04. Instant
05. Ya Po
06. The Scheme Of Things
07. He Said
08. Cursor Item Only (CD only)
09. If
10. Fast Null
Ostgut Ton will release A Series Of Shocks on March 31st, 2014.