Manuel Göttsching
E2-E4

LA RECENSIONE

Ultralight and magmatic masses of introverted atmosphere, extroverted, nuclei of depleted uranium suspended in plasma, hallucinogenic flashes, a damn relentless grip on the brain and stomach.
Electronic waste, samples, drum machines, synthesizers, post-fused electric circuits in a furious yet methodical scuffle. Accompanied arm-in-arm by two chords of filtered, effected, de-humanized guitar, two chords repeated for an hour.

A potion with a stunning, intoxicating, damnably sensual effect. A hypnotic vortex.
Chance and method marry; analysis and synthesis finally coincide.

CHESS: a game for artificial cyborg-brains. Yet sometimes man can surpass the computer. The dance/techno/house scene is born and dies on this old-fashioned chessboard, cream and chocolate.

1981: music that comes directly from the future, so advanced that it was already thought for the CD. Fifty-eight minutes and forty-three seconds of uninterrupted and non-fragmentable live flow on the two sides of a vinyl. Born perfect. When the CD did not yet exist. When the dance/techno/house scene did not yet exist.

E2-E4 is one of the most common openings, but here it goes far beyond: three-dimensional six-sided boards (?), physiotherapeutic exercises/massages for the mind, have you ever tried playing it blindfolded?

Fifty-eight minutes and forty-three seconds of overdubbed improvisation on two chords: minimal a-melodic variations, precise and timely melodic deviations to the left, perpetual exhausting/invigorating repetition of the main theme. Music conceived as a programming language, infinite loops of short interludes, sub-routines re-executed endlessly.

Even Göttsching himself didn’t know if it was a joke or an extraordinary stroke of genius.