~scape

scape38

		mapstation
distance told me things to be said We are here to listen and to respond to the sounds of the world. What do they tell us and how do we put them together ? The new Mapstation album "distance told me things to be said" brings us to unknown topographies and familiar surroundings alike. It is the warm and sometimes close distance between orientation and imagination, the things that exist somewhere inbetween that can tell us something. Produced between 2003 and 2005 at various studio and living places in London, Berlin and Düsseldorf it is Mapstation's debut for the ˜scape label. Behind Mapstation is Stefan Schneider from Düsseldorf, who has started to produce and to play live under this alias already back in 2000. Like all other Mapstation albums this one was also mixed in Berlin in autumn 2005 with Bernd Jestram of Tarwater. Every song on "distance told me ..." may start with the smallest of signals but then the line of communication becomes organic and imagination takes over. On songs like "horns version" and "warm distance" we hear wonderful guest appearances of London based trombonist Annie Whitehead. Martin Brandlmayr of Viennas trio Radian is once again the percussionist of choice. After his stunning performance on mapstations previous album "version train" (Mapstation feat. Ras Donovan, Staubgold 38/2003), Martin Brandlmayr has offered here polyrhythms that elegantly and effortlessly go together with the sequencers. The songs "Valencia was asleep" and "Listening to Stockholm" are based on real live recordings from these cities to project a sense of narration, pockets of silence, amplified streets. The world can be used as a place for playing. Another dimension to "distance told me..." comes from the influence of traditional african music and it's role as an integral part of the everyday life. Like on the track "Loin d'afrique" we find here the other Africa, the Africa of the mind. Like the fantastic dreams of frensh writer Raymond Roussel, using the West African coastline as a musical score in the novel L’Impressions d’Afrique. A mild ecstatic feeling, the scenery slowly changing from dark green to ochra; colours to swim in, get absorbed by. Afternoon atmospheres, twilight music. Rhythms and melodic fragments going around and around and around. Electronic sounds, 303 basslines, drum machines, percussions and trombone phrases. The music of Mapstation is there and it is watching you with its pulsating sounds. No virtuosity, no outstanding effects. But by combining low-key melodies with field recordings, a submerged reality seeps into the material. You hear a child playing somewhere nearby, the window is open, a car is passing by. Then you return to the room to scrutinize the atlas. You travel fro place to place by reading the intriguing names, slowly and carefully. Dakar, Yamoussoukro, Accra, Lagos, Addis Abeba. A continent of dreams, a series of dub nations. The music is going backwards, tracing its own line of thoughts back to the beginning. How did it start? Where do the melodies come from? Quiet music, secret melodies. There’s no end to it, it just continues like the fundamental emptiness and openess of the world. Stefan Schneider is currently working as a guest teacher for "sound and photographie" at the university/ZKM in Karlsruhe and is also a member of To Rococo Rot. Other collaborative work in the past three years has been done with Barbara Morgenstern, Paul Wirkus, Ras Donovan, Scallo, The Pastels, Philippe Poirier, Ming, Bill Wells, Hauschka, Carsten Nicolai, Music A.M.