New music by Gudrun Gut
December 2018
The German underground musician shares a few thoughts and a handful of moments from her new album
Audio Player
“Startup Loch” 0:05:56
“Shuttle Service” 0:01:11
“Baby I Can Drive My Car” 0:03:43
“FMP” 0:02:01
“Are You Hungry” 0:02:20
Following her collaborations with Faust’s Hans-Joachim Irmler and her former Mania D and Matador colleague Beate Bartel, among others, Berlin based musician and Monika Enterprise label boss Gudrun Gut is set to release a new album. Called Moment, it’s her first solo record since 2012’s Wildlife. From the title to the music contained within, the album audibly evokes a sense of fleetingness. “Yes totally,” agrees Gut, “it originated in the audio. My intention was to take moments out of the recording session. I was trying to avoid the computer and I used a lot of free electronic improv with my new and old little toys. I synched them up, or not, and let them do what they do and played with it. From that recording I grasped some special moments and then edited it, cut it, arranged and produced it. This time I used the computer for recording and producing only. That was a challenge for me and I enjoyed it very much. Generally – yes – I really do appreciate those moments most when not connected with phone or computer or whatever…”
Moment encompasses and references many of the different genres and scenes Gut has participated in during four decades in Berlin either side of the fall of the Wall, from her early groups Mania D, Malaria! and Matador, through her Ocean Club project to her Monika Enterprise label and solo music. Did she intend to give her new album a sense of historical weight? “Oh, I did not think about this at all,” she protests. “Historical weight? Oh no. I would even say I thought the opposite: track the moments passing. Forget the eternal recording. Don’t think of a weight but a flow. Enjoy the moment. But naturally I am carrying my past with me. I do have all this inside me and there are references. I simply cannot shake it off. Makes a difference when you are older. Haha.”
Moment is released on 7 December by Monika Enterprise. This exclusive stream includes five of the album’s 14 tracks. Gudrun Gut is featured on the cover of The Wire 290. Subscribers can access the full story via the online archive.