SPEX Magazine

The recent issue no. 366 of SPEX magazine publishes a very good review about my re-releases "Head-Visions" and "Wake Up In The Sun".

If you are looking for the albums, you can find them at "Bureau B/Tapete Records" and "MIRecords/Bandcamp".

bureau b releases Head-Visions and Wake Up In The Sun!

After many months of preparation and work it is time now to tell you, that the very known Hamburg based label "bureau b" releases my first solo-albums "Head-Visions" and "Wake Up In The Sun" on 6th of november. The releases will be available as downloads, Compact Disc and Vinyl. Especially "Wake Up In The Sun" wasn't not released since more than a decade. So this will be your chance to rediscover the music of my very first musical period.

Let's say bureau b some own words about it:

"It  was  Klaus  Schulze’s  album  “Moondawn”  (1976)  which  altered  the trajectory of Kistenmacher’s life when he heard it on the radio at the tender age  of  16.  The  sequencer  patterns,  melody  lines  and  soundscapes triggered all of his aesthetic receptors. From then on, this was the only kindof  music  he  wanted  to  hear.  He  became  a  relentless  venerator  of Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze, particularly the latter.

But  his  heroes  evolved,  their  music  changed  with  the  advent  of  digitalsounds and midification. A fairly normal process in music which is strongly influenced by technology. But Kistenmacher was not happy with the way things  were  going.  And  if  his  idols  were  no  longer  making  the  music  he loved them for, then he had to take up the challenge himself. His father had shown him how to play the piano when he was a child and he had always been  fascinated  by  the  technology  of  synthesizers—Kistenmacher  thus decided to become a musician. Synthesizers were prohibitively expensive, so he started to build his own modular system. But before he finished, he realised that, for one thing, he was going to have to spend inordinate sums of money and, secondly, he was not going to achieve the results he strove for unless he could get his hands  on  a  proper  synthesizer. As  soon as  he  was able  to pay for  one, Kistenmacher  bought  a  Korg  Mono/Poly  which  would  become  the cornerstone of his career. That was back in 1982.

He acquired more and more equipment until, in 1984, he finally released his first cassette (“Dancing Sequences”). Kistenmacher was now using his analogue gear to create the sounds which Schulze and Tangerine Dream played  at  the  zenith  of  their  careers.  Two  further  cassette  productions followed  (“Music  from  Outer  Space”,  “Romantic  Times”),  as  did  various concerts,  meeting  with  approval  from  radio  stations  and  consumers.  In 1986,  the  time  had  come  for  him  to  release  his  first  LP:  “Head-Visions”.

The cover art features a work by the Berlin sculptor Rainer Kriester. The  reaction  was  overwhelming.  Radio  plays,  big  concerts,  music  for fashion  shows  and  television  formats  indicated  to  Kistenmacher  that  he was on the right track: repetitive sequencer patterns, soft melody arches and  layered  soundscapes,  with  rhythmic  bass  lines  driving  the  musicforward.  Minor  keys  dominated.  In  other  words:  Bernd  Kistenmacher embodies the spirit of the Berlin School."

So please check out the following audiosamples or go directly to the website of "bureau b". Again the releases will be available from november 6th on and exclusively for the first time at my upcoming show in Berlin at the "Planetarium Am Insulaner" on the 7th of november. 

I meet you there!

Bernd Kistenmacher   Head-Visions (bureau b no. BB214)

Bernd Kistenmacher   Wake Up In The Sun (bureau b no. BB215)