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German electronic ambient release sounds like a deep ocean trench untouched by humans. Nothing but dark water and the occasional mysterious sea creature drifting by...
"Laudanum vol. 1" is the new release by Fatagaga, a long running German act founded in 1989 by Stefan Zoellner with three friends. Fatagaga were born in art school as a quartet, playing intricate arrangements on detuned but very loud guitars. Their name came from the fatagaga collages of the German Dadaists Max Ernst and Hans Arp. The word "fatagaga" is a contraction of "FAbrication des TAbleaux GAsometriques GArantis". As with so many ambitious undertakings the group was soon dissolved, but Stefan kept the name alive for use with his own projects. Over the last decade he experimented with a number of different musical styles, including the freejazz group "Der Beginn einer wundervollen Freundschaft", later renamed "Ölmann" and the dada-hiphop project DROM, with social beat writer Stan Lafleur. In the latter part of the 90s Fatagaga focused on electronics, in a techno context, but always in a way that tried to break free from simple beats and predictable patterns. The year 2000 marked the return to an introspective aesthetic for Fatagaga, beginning with a series of recording sessions that lead to the release of "Laudanum vol. 1". Lines of inspiration for the new album can be clearly drawn from Brian Eno's "Apollo - Atmospheres and Soundtracks", as well as the production qualities that defined Jon Hassel's sound on his landmark "Fourth World No. 1: Possible Musics" album. In the place between consciousness and sleep lies a short period of time known as the hypnogogic phase, where the body is detensioned and the mind is producing vividly imaginative pictures. Here, too, is "Laudanum", acting as a mind stimulating sedative. Fatagaga is music of the night, with a deep spiritual connection to artists of darkness and space, different personalities through different ages, like the writers Lautréamont or Rimbaud, or surrealist painter Roberto Matta, or musicians Steve Roach or Thomas Köner, as well as the aforementioned Brian Eno and Jon Hassell. Darkness doesn't mean death to Fatagaga, rather it's the origin of all existence. "Laudanum vol. 1" is released by Soleilmoon in a limited edition of 500 copies, under license from Satori Hype Records. For the future, "Laudanum vol. 2" is under construction, and a DVD-Audio production is planned for 2002, where the Laudanum aesthetic will be extended to a Dolby surround setting.
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