Klopfzeichen

Klopfzeichen

Origin	Quarto, T.F.o.E. (Manchester, UK)
Genres	Electronic Music, Ambient Music, Experimental Music, Industrial, Avant-Garde, Noise, IDM, Glitch
Years Active	2010-2015
Labels	Madcat Records
Current Members	Billy Neil
Past/Variating Members	John Gordon, Sami Tebs, Thomas Bainbridge, Ryan Russell, Ryan Thomson, Andre Sammut

Klopfzeichen was an experimental electronic music project based in the Technological Federation of Erephisia and formed in October 2010. Erephisia's first musical group, Klopfzeichen was originally envisioned as Synth Pop/EDM duo "Soundwave" (founding members Billy Neil and Ryan Thomson) but the group recalled it's releases, changed name and began working under it's current guise. While the project has "released" albums, they have been works-in-progress, and the Project's first album proper, And I Grabbed His Hand (released October 2012), is made up of the sessions from 3 of the project's "albums" so far (Gegenschien, G2.1 and G2.2).

History

The band was formed in late-October 2010 as Synthpop/EDM act "Soundwave". Billy Neil was working on a solo album, the basis of which would later become Soundwave's second album "Motion", but he decided it would be better if he conjoined his musical efforts with his friend, musical producer Ryan Thomson, former King of Smegola. Neil approached Thomson with the concept, and Thomson agreed and Klopfzeichen was born. As Soundwave, and currently as Klopfzeichen, the duos recording sessions vary from lengthy and infrequent improvisations to more "spur of the moment" composition techniques. Klopfzerichen have noted that hey don't intend to make "commercialized" or "pleasing" music, rather they prefer to compose in a erratic, eclectic and experimental manner, mimicing the style of bands such as those found in the German electronic movement of the late 60s-early 70s and the English industrial movement of the mid to late 70s. While the project has released upwards of 7 albums, these have been just to show the works in progress of the project, and the first album was released on October 2012 (on the band's 2 year anniversary).

Music

Klopfzeichen's music deals with existence in the modern world, giving wordless warnings and celebrations about common occurrences such as walking, trains and forms of energy. Another theme in Klopfzeichen's music is that of randomness and variability, and that of dystopian urbanization.

Influence on other musicians

Taigh a Batan musician Scott Harwood named one of the tracks in his 2011 album Minimalism to the Max "Motion" as a tribute to Soundwave's second album. Harwood also released a cover of Klopfzeichen's "Break" on his 2011 album "The Second Halloween Album".

Discography

As Soundwave

Engineering

Engineering is the debut studio album by Erephisian electronic band Klopfzeichen and the first original music release from the band, whom had previously released mainly cover versions of songs by artists such as Kraftwerk and Daft Punk. The name and theming album was derived from Klopfzeichen's members collective interest in engineering and physics. Engineering remains, after it's release, one of the bands most popular works.

The album was completely experimental to the band, who considered it to fit in the 'ambient', 'minimalistic' and 'techno' genres, however, later consideration revelaed that album tof it into the "acid House" and "Techno" genres. The album was for a short while distributed by Erephisian record label Madcat Records, but was afterward distributed by Erephisian media executive ECRAB and was released on the 9th of May 2011.

Production

The album was conceived by Klopfzeichen late 2010, shortly after their founding. The duo intended to release a "hit-and-miss" first album before releasing an album in their proper style. Production on the album was intended to begin earlier, yet due to scheduling conflicts work on the album was postponed until February 2011. With Neil's solo work Motion on hold due to the responsibilities and production for the album where transferred to the band as a whole, The band decided to create another engineering/motion concept for an album. This was, however, dropped and only the name of the album is engineering related.

The album, in it's entirety, is composed of recordings of the duo testing their instruments, talking randomly into the recording microphone and leaving it to record during discussion, and random drum and synthesizer riffs, however there are now no vocals on the album due to a change in production method. Due to this the full length of the album is minimal and could be more accurately regarded as an EP. All of the tracks, due to complications in the recording studios, were then re-recorded on the Nintendo Game Boy based software synthesizer Pocket Music, and finally re-rerecorded on related software MTV Music Generator 2. The album is totally devoid of lyrics.

The second track on the album, Lever, was originally decided by Soundwave to be Erephisia's Microvision entry, but this was later changed to the album's 4th song Break. Lever remained as Engineering's sole single, with either Break or Synthesis as B-Side.

Structure and Styling

All of the songs in the album are very repetitive, composed mainly of repeating synth and percussive riffs. Testing begins with a repeated sample of underwater noise, gradually building in volume until a loud, synthesized klaxon-like sample sounds and the song proper begins. Lever is a vaguely generic repetitive synth theme, while Doppler uses a pitch bent repeated humming bass sound that brings to mind passing vehicles.

Release

The album was released under Soundwave's own label Madcat Records. The album hasn't sold any copies as it was distributed for free, but there are at least 10 unofficial and 1 official physical copies in existence, all of which have since been lost.

Critical Reception

The album was well received by most of it's listeners, with the songs receiving a modest amount of airplay on ECRAB. Break was the most popular song.

Track listing

All songs written by Billy Neil unless otherwise stated.

1. "Testing" (2:48)
2. "Lever" (5:28) (Billy Neil, Ryan Thomson)
3. "Doppler" (3:46)
4. "Break" (4:24)
5. "Synthesis" (4:10) (Billy Neil, Ryan Thomson)
6. "Speech" (2:44)
7. "Distance" (6:22)

Personnel

• Billy Neil: Software Synthesisers, Sequencers, Percussion, Recording Engineer
• Ryan Thomson: Percussion

Motion Elements

As Klopfzeichen

And I Grabbed His Hand Forwards Defoliant Physics Template:Erephisianav