'Live
sets at ego 1998-2000' is an exceptional compilation of electronic live
sets recorded at EGO in Duesseldorf between 1998 and 2000.
Unlike many other
samplers that are released in this field of electronic music it features
a wide variety of artists ranging from club-oriented projects like Continuous
Mode or Antonelli Electr., Thomas Brinkmann's minimal techno, Kotai/Bader's
and Khan's vocal tracks to more avant-garde computer music composers like
Carsten Nicolai and Marcus Schmickler.
The compilation covers
21 tracks on two CDs, coming in a specially designed digipak.
While CD 1 features
more dance-oriented tracks, CD 2 is a more relaxed and sound-oriented
offering, represented by acts like Monolake or Senking.
The tracks on this
compilation are recordings of live performances, and although some have
been released before, they appear as unique and autonomous versions on
this release. Each track represents a single excerpt from the performance
without any additional editing or overdubbing. The results not only reveal
something of the technical process of creating electronic music live,
but also provide a glimpse inside the personal production style of each
composer.
In this sense the
EGO compilation is also document of a special field of computerized club
music.
|
|
Part of the documentary
concept of this compilation is the 44-page full color photo booklet with
high quality pictures of the performing artists and the space where it
all took place.
EGO was not designed
to be a club but rather as a non-commercial space run by a handful of
enthusiastic artists, combining live events with short-term exhibitions
and constantly varying design, including different 'entrance engineering'
for each evening.
Currently, the project
has shifted its focus from organizing live events to more documentary
work such as compiling material from the audio archive for this compilation
and setting up a structure for a future web-based audio archive.
'Live sets at EGO
1998-2000' is another step in realizing the ongoing idea of creating a
special place for the performance and the perception of electronic music.
|