EB Video Premiere: Gut Und Irmler – “Früh”

The pinnacle of German electronic music collaborations is fast approaching. Next month, the prolific Bureau B record label will release 500m, a nine-track collaborative LP from Krautrock pioneer Joachim Irmler and fellow Deutsche stalwart Gudrun Gut. Irmler, a founding member of Faust, first floated the idea a few years ago, when the Moabit Musik and Monika Enterprise label boss performed at his Klangbad Festival. “For more than a decade, I have been following a concept that merges electronics and percussion, and most of the collaborations were solely among men”, he explained. “I wanted to break with that and asked Gudrun if she would like to complement my organ improvisations”.

The duo finally teamed up to create a record at Faust’s studio in Scheer last fall, and now they’ve released a track from the album, “Früh”, along with a video made by Gut herself. It’s a purposefully amateurish clip that’s easiest to watch with your eyes unfocused—in fact, it might make you dizzy not to, because it opens with a handheld camera spinning in circles at an airport terminal. The shots get steadier as the video progresses and the camera wanders around the rainy runway, but the video never shakes a lo-fi, spaced-out vibe. The track matches its foggy aesthetic with a combination of fuzzy ambient noise, wooden kicks, and extended whines that cut through the haze with a serrated edge.

500m is out September 9th via Bureau B; stream more of the record through Soundcloud. 

Published August 18, 2014. Words by EB Team.