Gajek produces electrifyingly futuristic clubmusic true to the almost five decades old motto of Berlins Zodiak Free Arts Lab: „Total freie Musik“ – totally free music. In his 21st century turn on Kraut Gajek revisits the abstract clarity and improvisational audacity of 1970s electronics from a perspective firmly rooted in the digital now. Beyond the echoes of past utopias Gajek discovers present signs for possible tomorrows. Gajek’s latest work ’17 was recently included in the XLR8R Best of 2017 roundup , describing it as “an example of contemporary IDM at its very best”.
Additional to his releases on Monkeytown and Infinite Greyscale Matti Gajek is a member of the newly formed New Composers Collective alongside colleagues Mouse on Mars and Michael Rauter and writes scores for movies, video instalation and performance. Below you will find Futur Zwei, one of three panoramic music videos that accompany Matti Gajek´s new Album ’17. The record, a follow up to Gajek´s 2014 release Restless Shapes, pays tribute to electronic pioneers like Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Florian Fricke from a perspective firmly rooted in the digital now. Staying clear of historical mystification Gajek´s music revisits the abstract clarity and improvisational audacity of 1970s electronics by mutating it into something different and futuristic. Gajek ’17 out now! Stream, download or buy here at Monkeytown Records.
FACTS:
1: Flute-sinks are not for humans only.
2: Iggy Pop played a Vorta in DS9.
3: Bookstores don´t need your passport number.
QUESTIONS:
1. What is the biggest inspiration for your music?
I´m past inspiration. I really can´t tell anymore.
2. How and when did you get into making music?
I´ve made music since I was a teenager in the 90s. There wasn’t´t much else you could do where I grew up. It was one way to space out of the boredom and make your own reality.
3. What are 5 of your favourite albums of all time?
I don´t have a list but here are 5 that come to my mind.
Cluster – Zuckerzeit
Death – Spiritual Healing
Rashad Becker – Traditional Music of Notional Species Vol. II
Georgia Anne Muldrow – Olesi: Fragments of an Earth
Hirazawa Susumu – Berserk OST
4. What do you associate with Berlin?
Unpaid labour. Freedom. Escapism.
5. What’s your favourite place in your town?
It´s Sonnenallee, always horribly crowded but I love it!
6. If there was no music in the world, what would you do instead?
Would still do music, but people would think it´s land scape gardening.
7. What was the last record/music you bought?
Mark Leckey – Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore
8. Who would you most like to collaborate with?
If it makes sense, I´m happy to work with everybody.
9. What was your best gig (as performer or spectator)?
As spectator I loved the performance of Jay Boogie at europool in sommerbad.
10. How important is technology to your creative process?
I have no fetish for technology. I´m interested and I always like to try out new technics for music production but for me it is basically a vehicle to bring out my idea of music/art.
11. Do you have siblings and how do they feel about your career/art?
I do have a half brother but I don´t know how he feels about my career/art.
In Futur Zwei motoric rhythms emerge and elapse from aural scapes, linking the thermodynamic to the ephemeral. Shot in a 360° format the video creates a space for this music by placing it in an atmospheric audiovisual environment. Instead of following a fixed linear narration that is dismembered by fast cuts the video invites us to experience the music while exploring an ambient sphere. In a surrounding white void, we encounter four sanitary ceramic sculptures that seem to have been infested by several snakes. The interactive 360° format allows to direct the gaze into all directions by manipulating the perspective of the basic circular motion. In this space the music can be experienced as an immersive power unfolding from the inside out. Progressing into all directions the track infuses the strange scene with eerie hypnotic urgency.
