The Mock-up Pop-up Medley

two keyboards, percussion, drumset

ensemble

4tet Laboratoire
keyboard Lis Marti
keyboard Audrey Mützenberg
percussion Romane Bouffioux
drumset Corentin Barro

› watch on YouTube
› download score

The Mock-up Pop-up Medley is composed of five songs that – to a large extent – don’t exist: I’ve recorded only a tiny section of each, leaving the rest up to our imaginations. These little mock-ups are played back, listened to, reproduced, interrupted, reduced, extended, taken apart, layered, continued, accompanied, re-imagined, re-mixed, went along with, questioned, left unnoticed, outdone and overcome by 4tet Laboratoire. Exciiiting!

Performances

  • Lichtenbergschule (Turnhalle), Darmstadt, Germany
    Darmstadt Summer Course
    performed by 4tet Laboratoire

  • forum neue musik, Lucerne, Switzerland
    performed by 4tet Laboratoire

  • SMC, Lausanne, Switzerland
    performed by 4tet Laboratoire

  • Fonderie Kugler, Geneve, Switzerland
    performed by 4tet Laboratoire

  • Gare du Nord, Basel, Switzerland
    performed by 4tet Laboratoire

  • PROGR, Bern, Switzerland
    performed by 4tet Laboratoire

Simon Bahr

composer

Counterfeits, Cover-Ups & Karaoke

piano & playback

ensemble

piano Adele Thoma

› watch on YouTube
› download score

Counterfeits, Cover-Ups & Karaoke is composed of various tiny elements of sound or notation stolen from other peoples music. To cover up this massive theft, Adele and I try to distract your attention by offering counterfeits of familiar musical brands and making the piano sing karaoke… Will we get away with it?

After having worked with stolen sounds in Well-Planned Theft, where all sound sources and processing steps are documented in meticulous detail in the score, I decided to apply this approach to instrumental notation as well in this piece. All material played on the piano is taken from other piano pieces, which are referenced in a bibliography. The only transformations used are tempo changes, dynamic changes, transpositions, reversing the order of notes and filtering notes out.

Performances

  • KulturForum Saal, Kiel, Germany
    Frequenz Festival
    performed by Petek Atalay

  • ZKM (Kubus), Karlsruhe, Germany
    next_generation X
    performed by Adele Thoma

  • HfMT Köln, Germany
    performed by Adele Thoma

The Voice of Laptop

synthesized voice & hybrid ensemble

ensemble

flute Aaron Wolharn
flute Dimitry Stavrianidi
clarinet Sebastian Langer
bass clarinet Heni Hyunjung Kim
saxophone Leon Dehne
trumpet Felix Riedel
trombone Paul Lüpfert
ewi Tamon Yashima
accordion Filip Erakovic
vibraphone Carlotta Ribbe
electric guitar Frederik Taubenheim
electric & double bass Béla Bluche
drumset Jonathan Schierhorn
viola Jing Chen
cello Rebekka Stephan
cello Robert Alan Wheatley

› listen on bandcamp
› watch lyric video
› download score

The Voice of Laptop is an album that features a synthesized voice accompanied by a hybrid ensemble. It combines algorithmic composition with songwriting and acoustic instruments with a singing computer: Over the course of ten songs, Laptop addresses various highs and lows of their virtual existence and finally escapes their physical shell by uploading themselves to the cloud. Along the way, Laptop processes and reworks musical data fragments of various genres and languidly surrenders to digital nostalgias and fantasies.

Tracklist

  1. Updatedownloadbackuptime
  2. Superuser
  3. Deepfake
  4. Debugging My Love
  5. Laptop Running Hot
  6. ILOVEYOU
  7. Hibernate
  8. Internal Speaker
  9. I‘m > Σ(my parts)
  10. 1 Upload 2 Eternity

Credits

  • Béla Bluche – electric bass (1, 3, 5, 9), double bass (2, 4, 10)
  • Jing Chen – viola (2, 4, 8, 10)
  • Leon Dehne – alto saxophone (2, 5, 7), tenor saxophone (3, 8, 10)
  • Filip Erakovic – accordeon (6)
  • Heni Hyunjung Kim – bass clarinet (6)
  • Sebastian Langer – clarinet (2, 3, 7, 8, 10)
  • Laptop – synthesized voice (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10)
  • Paul Lüpfert – trombone (2, 3, 5, 8, 10)
  • Carlotta Ribbe – vibraphone (4)
  • Felix Riedel – trumpet (2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10)
  • Jonathan Schierhorn – drumset (1, 3, 5, 9)
  • Dimitry Stavrianidi – flute/piccolo (6)
  • Rebekka Stephan – cello (2, 4, 8, 10)
  • Frederik Taubenheim – electric guitar (1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 10)
  • Robert Alan Wheatley – cello (6)
  • Aaron Wolharn – flute (2, 3, 7, 8, 10)
  • Tamon Yashima – electronic wind instrument (6)
  • Simon Bahr – composition/production/mixing
  • drip – artwork
  • Arthur Jogerst – recording engineering (2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10)
  • Tim Pauli – mixing

The Voice of Laptop was released on Narval in August 2024.

Performances

  • ILOVEYOU
    Alte Feuerwache, Köln, Germany
    performed by S201

  • ILOVEYOU
    Szene 10, Essen, Germany
    performed by S201

  • LAPTOP LIVE
    BEISTE_Satellite, Köln, Germany
    Photoszene Opening

  • ILOVEYOU
    RüBühne, Essen, Germany
    performed by S201