P16.D4- Alltag

P16D4 was a German band whose music bordered on the industrial and on the cacophonous. On their debut album Kuhe In 1/2 Trauer (Selektion, 1982) they managed to fuse the playful irrationality of dadaism and the oppressive tones of expressionism. Ralf Wehowsky, Roger Schonauer and Ewald Weber focused on an austere art and technique of loop and tape manipulation. Stefan Schmidt joined the ensemble on Distruct (Selektion,1995), a deconstructing remix of sound sources provided by friends of the industrial scene. The double album Nichts Niemand Nirgends Nie (1985), a collaboration with Achim Wollscheid, delved into musique concrete and electronic improvisation but, like the previous ones, ended up sounding more theoretical than emotional stuff. Tionchor (Sonoris, 1987) collects revised rarities, and is probably their most successful albums, precisely because it offers a variety of ideas instead of an obsessive analysis of one idea. Acrid Acme (Selektion, 1989) 1/2 Cut Cows Ralf Wehowsky has released the solo works Acht (1992), the manifesto of his electronic and computer music, 14 (1992), that collects unreleased material of the last decade, Revu et Corrige` (Trente Oiseaux, 1995), When Freezing Air Stings Like Ice I Shall Breathe Again (Streamline, 1995), and the mini-album Nameless Victims (Metamkine, 1996). They explore the technique of having musicians exchange sound material and re-composing it. By pushing the concept to the extreme, the monumental (five CDs) Tulpas (Selektion, 1997) is virtually an essay on his work compiled by other musicians. Pullover (Table of the Elements, 1998), which uses voice as its source material, L'Oeil Retourne/Vier Vorspiele (Selektion, 1998), with Walter Marchetti, Yang-Tul (Anomalous, 1999), with Andrew Chalk, Cases (Selektion, 2001), with Kevin Drumm, simply refined the technique taking advantage of computers.