G*PARK appreciation

[FreakAnimalFinland]

I guess this must be the lesser talked Schimpfluch related project?
Been listening all morning Reuters LP A-side. It has been so capturing, that I haven't been yet able to turn to b-side, just lift the turntable arm to beginning of side, over and over again.
To me it somehow reminds of Small Cruel Party, yet less of repetition, less efx. Especially tasty are the clear recordings of ice.  Not shattering glass. No banging on metal, but something that sounds like piece of ice is thrown to surface of frozen lake, where shattered pieces slide on surface, creating excellent textures that are hard to synthetically re-create.
I do have handful of other releases, but looking at discography and there are things like 6xCD box, and I'm like WHAT?! When did this happen?  How is early works? And how is the new CD from 2010?!

Audio Works
1983 - G*Park 1 (Tape)
1984/85 - G*Park 2 (Tape)
1985/86 - Anästhesie (Tape)
1987 - Ko-Nü (Tape)
1988 - 2 Freunde (Tape)
1990 - Seismogramm (LP), Schimpfluch, Zürich
1991/93 - Yack Park (CD), Zabriskie Point, Colorado Springs
1995 - Geopod (CD), Zabriskie Point, Colorado Springs
1998/03 - Monode (CD)
2004/05 - One Hour as Bernel and Hofmann (CD), Tochnit Aleph, Berlin
2005 - Reuters (CD)
2006    - 1983-1988+ (6CD-Box), Tochnit Aleph, Berlin
2007    - Seismogramm (CD Reissue), Blossoming Noise, Atlanta
2008    - Reuters (LP), Tochnit Aleph, Berlin
2009    - Slow (Compilation CD), Zelphabet, Hollywood
2010    - 15 (CD), Rumpsti Pumsti (Edition), Berlin

[Mattias G]

The only thing i have heard is the Reuters LP but that one is amazing. The sounds on the recording is easily the better i have heard, both recording wise and as "music". Very fascinating record.
What else should i pick up? The Blossoming Noise CD?

[Jaakko V.]

What else should i pick up? The Blossoming Noise CD?

Seismogramm - definitely! Amazing, crude approach.

Some of the CDs on that discography are actually quite limited CDRs. Like the 6 x CDR box. For sale at Discogs for no less than 180 euros!

[Henrik III]

Seismogramm and Reuters recommendations definitely seconded, magical vibrations. Bernel and Hofmann is also quite nice if you can find it somewhere. For some reason those ZP CD's always felt somehow too sampler-ish or something, maybe should give them another listen, it is a while since the last play. G*Park is certainly one of those artists that would be really keen to see live some day.

For some reason have a vague feeling that the 6CDr box was supposed to be reissued on CD...

[ImpulsyStetoskopu]

I do have handful of other releases, but looking at discography and there are things like 6xCD box, and I'm like WHAT?! When did this happen?  How is early works? And how is the new CD from 2010?!

I have got 6 x CD-R (unfortunately only copy) release and, in my opinion, this is very good material. Maybe it isn't such good as "Geopod" or "Yack Park" (my favourite items) but still intriguing. There are many tape collages, a liittle bit in minimal style, chaotic concrete sounds and cut-up noises. Recommendations!

[Zeno Marx]

I associate G*Park with Zabriskie Point, and I have nothing but admiration and gratitude for Ben of Zabriskie Point; who was a great source of recommendations, a small and high quality catalogue at "punk" prices", and dedicated letter writer.  Never photocopied a catalogue in all the time I knew him.  Wrote every single one of them out, and they could be as much as 3 pages long.  Just as much effort went into the correspondence.  Memory Lane.

I can't recommend both of the ZP CDs enough.  They were my introduction to this project, and they still manage to be high quality listens.  At least 1000 of each of them exist, so they can't be too difficult to find.  I don't think I've heard anything newer than 2000.  Like FA said, they're somewhere between Small Cruel Party, electro-acoustic, and something more crude like a slightly manipulated Jeph Jerman.  Maybe I'm wrong in my association, but I hear a lot of thoughtful artiness in their tracks.  It's probably why you hear less about them than the other Schimpfluchers, who are more "shit" and physical than cerebral.

[ddmurph]

For some reason have a vague feeling that the 6CDr box was supposed to be reissued on CD...

yeah, a cd box reissue (minus the 6th r&g g*park collab cd) is in the works apparently ... http://www.chondriticsound.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=399001#p399001

And how is the new CD from 2010?!

2010    - 15 (CD), Rumpsti Pumsti (Edition), Berlin

it's great! it's a live recording from 2009 (one of the tochnit aleph 15th anniversary shows). pretty short, about 25 minutes, and is a cdr rather than a cd release.

there were two more collaboration lp's, with luigi archetti and ian anull, released in 2009 and 2010 also (as marc zeier rather than g*park). i haven't heard last year's one ("aktion") but "made in china" (2009) is pretty good. consists of manipulations of recordings made in china ... traditional instruments, some phonetic/enunciation-type pieces, etc. there's a sample here which is pretty representative of the lp ... http://www.luigiarchetti.com/miscellious.html ... i'm not familiar with luigi archetti at all so i don't know how it compares to his work but it's pretty different to g*park material

and yeah, reuters is probably one of my favourite records of the past 10 years or so. that + seismogramm are definite desert island records for me

[Jaakko V.]

The recently released Gour 12" is something I'd recommend any G*park fan to get hold of. It's very much what one would expect: sparse subterranean sounds in the G*park way, but still very innovative and original.Well crafted and composed, with a strangle, surreal atmosphere. No synths I guess, only edited (slowed down, reversed) field recordings etc. I don't know how it is possible to craft such evocative atmospheres with such simple means... Excellent.

[Baglady]

Haven't picked up Gour yet, thanks for the reminder.

Any thoughts on the Sub 2CD? It's been quite a while since last time I gave it a spin, but I remember it as truly mesmerizing. Almost scary to listen to it, the way the sounds sneak up on you from all directions, and the silences in between.
Picked up the short tape on Bannded, Corpse, recently. Brilliant in its low key fly-buzzing glory, but way too short. Not even satisfied after three spins in a row. A positive thing ofcourse.

[Zeno Marx]

Any thoughts on the Sub 2CD? It's been quite a while since last time I gave it a spin, but I remember it as truly mesmerizing. Almost scary to listen to it, the way the sounds sneak up on you from all directions, and the silences in between.

I remember it being rather anemic, but I only listened to it once or twice.  It didn't hit me like expected, so I filed it away.

[CMSFoundation]

Any thoughts on the Sub 2CD? It's been quite a while since last time I gave it a spin, but I remember it as truly mesmerizing. Almost scary to listen to it, the way the sounds sneak up on you from all directions, and the silences in between.

I remember it being rather anemic, but I only listened to it once or twice.  It didn't hit me like expected, so I filed it away.

G*Park releases have snuck up on me several times on multiple re-listens. I have my favorites, and when a new album takes a direction I wasn't expecting, I'm initially disappointed, but I usually warm to it over time. My favorite of his albums is always going to be Yack Park, which is a bit different from all his other albums. It features a lot more silence between sounds, more discrete sounds, a very binary approach to sound that I find really appealing. I later bought the One Hour As Bernel & Hoffman CDr from Tochnit Aleph, and initially declared it his worst recording, only because it made extensive use of tape hiss and had a more "saturated" sound than I was used to. Three or four listens later and it became one of my top 5 favorite G*Park records.

I agree with with you that Sub hasn't really hit me yet, but I am willing to give it more time. The only one I'm really not holding out hope for is the 9/11 CD in the canvas bag. It's so unprocessed, so seemingly untouched at all, it didn't move me much more than one of those "Environments" LPs you can find in the library. It seemed like it would have made more sense coming out as a "Marc Zeier" record rather than G*Park, kind of like the difference between Hands To and Jeph Jerman's later cleanly recorded environmental collages. Who knows...in five years, that might turn out to be my favorite...