ZWEISTEIN, TRIP FLIP AND MEDITATION 1970
Yes,let me take you on a trip to Obscuranus,to planet Zweistein.Heres one of those frustrating records than havent seen the light of day on CD(e.g Woorden,Brave New World Impressions of Reading Aldous Huxley).As with Mr Reichels masterpiece 'Echo' it wouldnt fit on to just one CD and maybe Universal (or own everything it seems) or who ever could take responsiblity for a release aint prepared to pay as this is as self indulgent as it gets.
Over 3 records worth of noises from a flotation tank, a electronic aviary, a fairground, kindergarten and someones living room all put through a ton of phase, flange and echo. Its mostly like field recordings with the odd acoustic interlude.It has an eerie quality to it and sometimes is infuriating with those sped-up voices on the ‘Flip’ record.Its probably the ‘flip’ record which helped Philips change their mind to withdraw all copies and produce no more. The thick book like foil packaging which Philips could only afford through selling so many Nana Masourki records was probably making a big dent in their profit margins so off the shelf it went. If you search the Internet you can find out the real story behind Zweistein and the fact that Suzanne Doucet was the main player behind the whole project along with the help of an engineer and her sister. Suzannne was a famous German singer at the time so a psuedomyn was created for this avant piece, to think the same woman who created this curio went on to write and release a record called ‘Roller Skate is up to Date’ in the late 70s really shows diversity or maybe just plain trendmonkeying. Overall the sounds are quite crude, avant and if you cant afford to give your money to some dealer who’s makin a fat wad then I would recommend buying a copy of Musica Electronica Viva’s Leave the City instead which manages to do what Zweistein where trying to do on just one side of an LP.

Reviews Index