Thomas Köner - 1990 Nunatak Gongamur

[Dark Cavernous Minimal Ambient]

Label:

Barooni

Catalog#:

BAR002

Format:

CD, Album, Limited Edition

Country:

Netherlands

Released:

1990

Tracklist

1		Untitled	3:23
2		Untitled	6:03
3		Untitled	4:27
4		Untitled	5:22
5		Untitled	6:23
6		Untitled	3:28
7		Untitled	5:06
8		Untitled	3:25
9		Untitled	3:28
10		Untitled	3:12
11		Untitled	4:04

There are two different editions of this CD. The booklet is identical, the CD prints appear very similar, but they are pressed at different plants. The main difference is the backcover. The first edition does not have a barcode and no reference to Staalplaat, but the original Barooni P.O.Box address instead.

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pass: rbk

Thomas Köner - Unerforschtes Gebiet

[Cavernous Minimal Dark Ambient]

Label:

Die Stadt

Catalog#:

DS43

Format:

Vinyl, LP, Album, Picture Disc, Limited Edition

Released:

May 2002

and

Label:

Die Stadt

Catalog#:

DS56

Format:

CD, Album, Limited Edition

Released:

2003

This is a beautiful solo album by Kontakt der Jünglinge's Thomas Köner. The first edition came out in 2002 as a picture-disc LP. It was reissued a year later on CD with the 27-minute "Les Soeurs Lumičre" as a bonus track. Unerforschtes Gebiet translates to "uncharted territory," the expression found on old maps to designate areas that were still unexplored. It could apply to any region or terrain, but the two-part title piece is strongly evocative of vast, cold, icy areas. That is due to the main sound source Köner used: a dusty piece of blank 16mm film played in a film projector. Not quite wind, not quite white noise, this sound provides the foundations upon which Köner builds an imaginary landscape powerful despite its rather arid nature. Eventful at its own pace, the piece is immersive and gains in attraction with every listen. The bonus track is unrelated to "Unerforschtes Gebiet," but its inclusion can be justified from two points of view. The most obvious one is the cinema connection: it was created for a video presentation by Karen Vanderborght. But deeper is the relation between the icy world of "Unerforschtes Gebiet" and the interstellar vacuum of "Les Soeurs Lumičre." The cavernous sounds are few and far between but they resonate for long stretches of time, moving around like gusts of solar wind. They provide a backdrop for the reading (by Vanderborght, presumably) of letters between two pen pals, Stella and Lucia. We follow them from childhood through adulthood, as Stella completes her dream of becoming an astronaut. No clues are given as to what the video component looks like, but the piece works very well as cinema for the ear.

Tracklist

1		Unerforschtes Gebiet A	21:49
2		Unerforschtes Gebiet B	21:54
		Bonus Track
3		Les Sœurs Lumière	27:26

In this rip: 2 tracks ripped from orginal vinyl version, and additional bonus track ripped from CD version.
Vinyl version limted to 700 copies, CD version limited to 1000 copies.

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