Originally developed as a film score »Takt der Arbeit« is inspired by a handful of industrial and instructional films from the early 1960's until the early 1990's that portrait different forms of work. Felix Kubin is translating these historic documents into a musical poem of conceptual depth. »Takt der Arbeit« - the beat of work - is not only serving as a title but also as constructive element in this endeavour.
Being hunted down by the ever accelerated pulse of our reality is an omnipresent issue in capitalist societies of the the Western world. Living in times of constant exhaustion, it's not only our bodies that have been disciplined by and synchronized to the rhythms of working processes, but also our minds that rage in the tempo of our surroundings. Following an almost analytical effort, Kubin and an ensemble of 3 percussionists are investigating the different qualities and intensities of time that are catalyzed in working processes. While picking up precise temporal and motoric motives of the films, condensing paces and excavating rhythmic patterns, the ensemble is mapping out an animist choreography, shifting from a time when labour was still relying on bodily efforts to a time when machines and ticking clocks seem to reign and model our perception. While Side A is dedicated to procedures that are still based on manual and mechanical movement, Side B is inspired by the digital age, marked by invisible processes and subcutaneous pulses that we internalize.
The result is a critical and poetic reflection on the rhythms of our daily life and yet another example of Felix Kubin's skills as a composer, placing him in the field of orchestral music.
Music composed by Felix Kubin, tracks A1+2 together with Miłosz, Magda and Hubert.
The pieces are soundtracks to educational and industrial 16mm films dealing with the subject of "work". They were commissioned by NDR das neue werk (North German Radio).
Recording engineer: Robert Migas, Black Kiss Studio, Warsaw
Mix: Tobias Levin, Electric Avenue Studio, Hamburg
Mastering: Rashad Becker, D&M, Berlin
Production: Felix Kubin
Film archive: Metropolis Kino, Hamburg
NDR editorial department: Dr. Richard Armbruster
Felix Kubin is a Hamburg-based artist, whose various experiments and epithets include radio artist, composer of sci-fi pop
and orchestra music, incendiary performer, record label owner (Gagarin Rec), lecturer and curator.He has written and produced several feature-length radio plays for German National broadcasters and performed live shows for London’s Resonance FM and Vienna’s ORF Kunstradio....more
supported by 6 fans who also own “Takt der Arbeit”
2nd listen: a necessary antidote to the claustrophobic desolation that mainstream music has been since 1994.
1st listen: brutally wholesome and melodiously harsh. nofatclips
Recorded after overcoming serious physical issues, joy and und radiate from every note of trumpeter Steph Richard's incredible new LP. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 23, 2024
The prolific drummer and producer, a veteran of the Philadelphia and Antwerp club scenes, proves his rhythmic mastery once again. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 21, 2024
supported by 5 fans who also own “Takt der Arbeit”
This album is seriously a miracle. You can feel the combined love that each individual musician put into it to make this sprawling luminous collaboration. You can't just listen to one track, you need to listen to the whole album every time bortknockols