"First thing to note," enthuses Kev Nickells (over at Freq) "The Fall borrowed one of these tracks (“Blutmund”) for “I am Damo Suzuki.” An odd thing to hear that track, one I’ve had in my head for ages, rendered in filthy synth tones and with new queasy harmonies. For the most part Tietchens establishes a rhythm and a melody and colours it with various synth ghostings. There’s a perpetual sense that minor keys can sound a lot more unpleasant when the body of the note is missing a few critical overtones or has some filter/envelope on it that makes the square waves entirely revolting. I’ve not seen any documentation of the gear he’s using, but I’d wager that 1981 was just at a time when synths were available-ish but still heavily modifiable. That is to say, these are either factory presets from someone who had ears tuned wrong or Tietchens has made every effort to make a virtue of electronic gear’s inability to sound like ‘real’ instruments."
Posted on: Wed, 02 Oct 2013 08:24:25 +0000