cristian vogel: polyphonic beings

Producer Cristian Vogel, born in Chile and in raised in Bristol, England, represents an inner turmoil within the history of electronic music and techno. Like only a few other artists such as Aphex Twin, he personifies the second wave of techno during which authorship, previously pronounced dead, returned in full force. The former punk, who had completed studies in composition (20th century classical music in Sussex) conveyed a powerful force in his music, which now finds its place very naturally as electronic music; back then, it did more than just shake up the concepts of techno. Vogel went under for a time and lived in Vienna before arriving in Berlin nearly two years ago, where he made his first new and daring attempt to assimilate everything that electronic music represented to him on one album: The Inertials. Shortly after that, his mystical, floating ambient work Eselsbrucke was released, which already spoke the language of the new city. He now presents a new album entitled Polyphonic Beings -- a true masterpiece in the inimitable Vogel style, as his fans will no doubt claim. Polyphonic Beings begins, after two minutes of an irritating noise wave, with a surprisingly classic dub track and grows darker and more abstract from track to track, minute by minute. An eerie and unbelievable sound, with all as it should be: every reverb tail, every movement of the fader, every composed note takes the listener piece by piece into Vogel's own cosmos. He foregoes interwoven elements for swaying towers of rhythm, powerful sound passages, spaces, roads, mirrors and pathways, leading to a stream of ideas that never wants to end. He aptly quotes Karl-Heinz Stockhausen in the liner notes: These are the "atomic layers of ourselves." And so it is. We are what we hear. This is the definitive Cristian Vogel. "In his 1972 lecture entitled 'Four Criteria of Electronic Music,' the composer Karlheinz Stockhausen touches on a compelling idea. When we hear music, we are modified on levels we are not able to perceive -- he refers to the "atomic layers of ourselves." It struck me that if indeed we are embodying music so deeply into ourselves, then surely we begin to resemble that music -- in some sense, we become what we hear. I propose then, that we expose our cells to the wildest music quality, to the deepest transformations. I have faith that this music can be abundant and that it opens up new ways of being which are unimaginable without having heard it. So with much love and gratitude, I am proud to present my latest music release, Polyphonic Beings -- it takes the form of studio recordings which I put together over the last 12 months at various locations around the world. I am thankful to all those who have helped and guided me. Enjoy what this music brings to you." --Cristian Vogel (Copenhagen 2014)