shop.knertz

tracklisting

01 · She, he and the cultural spam
02 · Der Galvaniker
03 · Skipping the rope
04 · Machine à coudre
05 · Kontemplation Heute
06 · Der Nostalgieabend der fordistischen Trachtengruppe
07 · Analyse und Zerstreuung
08 · O->.
09 · I like cats
10 · Das Lied der Wohnmobile
11 · He, she, the cultural spam and us

story

In the basement units of the company Joseph Kruemli &
daughters stood this giant modular system, joined by some
drum machines, samplers and CV sequencers. No one really
knew, where these electronic gizmos hailed from, though
Margarethe vaguely recalled having ripped them off of some
bankrupt music-producer in a poker game, who had been
responsible for a few space disco-hits in the late 70s, some
time ago when she was drunk.

Her compulsive gambling was distressing to her and she had
never told anyone from the family about it, hence she had
hidden the acquired equipment in the sternmost corner of the
basement.

Margarethe’s father, Josef Kruemli was a luminary in the
field of decorative-functional electroplating. A visionary man
who’s idea it had always been to utilize galvanic techniques in
order to optimize human performance and capabilities. Yet one
obstacle had always limited him in fulfilling his proposition so
far: It seemed impossible to find test subjects, willing to dive
into a bath of blue vitriol for several minutes to voluntary cover
themselves in an alloy of metal. Even if it seems irretraceable
today — at the time the necessity of a transition to a flexible
self was not yet well established amongst the general public.
One day, when Kruemli and his mate Stockhausen were once
again traveling abroad to lecture about “The supra-human
being of tomorrow and its manifestation in the sphere of
contemporary art and design”, an incident occurred that
would change everything: In search for a hide-out to listen
to some music from their telephones, two children from the
neighborhood snuck into the cellars of Kruemli & daughters,
accidentally falling into one of the barrel of electro dissolution.
Kruemli’s joy was great, when he first discovered this very
living proof for the feasibility of his brilliant work.

Then again, Kruemli soon turned very saddened because if this
incident was to go public, he was aware of having to face a
severe punishment due to the safety deficiencies in his plant.
As his fear of possible years of imprisonment doubtlessly
preponderated, Kruemli quickly decided to conceal the truth.
He locked down his cellars forever — enclosing the kids within.
Imprisoned and left to their own devices, it wasn’t for long that
the two began to look about, discovering more and more of
the great treasures hidden in their remand home. Besides
caressing porcelain cats from dusty shelves, reading books
broaching the issues of production methods during fordism and
learning to sew and to sing two-voiced canons, the kids soon
started recording their ado of chanting to rhythm machines
and their new found ferventness - the vast modular system.
It was somewhat 20 years later, when an insolvency
administrator unsealed the long-forgotten basement — barely
believing his: there were the two individuals, plated in silverand
chrome, yet blithefully dancing and singing in a corner
of the antiquarian facilities. The administrator (who was a a
man of deed) promptly decided to take the children under his
wings, getting them a record contract with an indie-label and
releasing a selection of their works — on this sound carrier
at your very hands.

A chanted and performed story on the basis of subtractive
synthesis. A musical about the relation between people and
things. A peculiar spree.

credits

all songs written and recorded & mixed by les trucs & several machines between 2010 and 2012.
choir: luzie, anna-susanna, oskar, meike, hanna-maria, olli, johannes, viktor, matze, jo, basti, mary, marie, joe, steffen, jonathan, theresa, anne, elisa, filippa.
duet-partner and additional choir in "skipping the rope": peter schleicher singers.
mastered by pluxflux master kreationen / burkhardt von der neide.
artwork by benjamin sickel.
thanks to renke and knertz.