Endlich Mittwoch by ampl:tude
The long lost art of analogue live electro. AMPL:TUDE are releasing their fourth album called “ENDLICH MITTWOCH” (“Wednesday at last!”), a raw masterpiece of organic electronic music.
Here’s the beat, rumbling deliciously beneath melodies joyously tickled from oscillators. Here’s the casual chord work and the cheeky wave and marvellous curves of the synth’s cut-off knobs. In these songs, the grand gesture and the skilfully clumsy come together to celebrate with you: some things really are okay! Ampl:tude still don’t care about broadband electro or any compromise to make their sound, you know, “work”. Even after more than 15 years as a band, these guys steer clear of polished fatness and sterile quantisation. In terms of musical influences, “Endlich Mittwoch” is an eclectic album. Its songs: colourful, relaxed, impetuous, idiosyncratic.
It’s their latest album. And yet, it’s also the big sister to all their earlier releases. On “Endlich Mittwoch”, the obvious video game music references welcome a new pinch of soul, a tablespoon of post-rock and a helping of noisy tinkering into the mix. The time-honoured devices from the analogue-synth and keyboard collection of the four Berliners have spent some time away. In a quiet place, they hung out with a few new sounds and their instrument friends. The result: a mature and very good 40 minutes that portray how the last years have been spent focusing on what “Endlich Mittwoch” is about: everyday worries of everyday people. Getting degrees, quitting jobs, starting over, having kids, leaving town, staying in town, becoming teacher, creating art, delivering pizza, buying baguettes and – whenever it suits the occasion – doing the rubber peter. Which sounds so much naughtier in English than it does in German.
Ampl:tude send us on a walk through a park full of honest and serious nonsense and handmade things full of stories, lovingly tossed into being, meticulously planted. Here’s live electronic music, bubbling Knertzisms, bull’s-eye grooves and melancholy next to euphoric fidgetries. And then: a moment of clarity. This music… no one else really does it like they do. No shit. This record also raises questions: Do we hear a vibraphone? Is that John Cage’s toy piano? Are they singing a GDR doll melody? Did they really press this cool, bumbling solo onto vinyl? Isn’t this beat coming in a bit late? Don’t I know this reverb-drenched piano melody from their first record?
Hey, everything is possible! It’s Wednesday at last!
- digital distribution by SinnbusRecords
- limited 180 g vinyl edition of 200 copies on Knertz and self-distributed
- limited tape edition on Froggi Records
www.knertz.de
www.froggirecords.de
www.sinnbus.de
www.smarturl.it/EndlichMittwoch
Tracklist
| 1. | Manches Ist OK | 4:56 |
| 2. | Die Lustigen Fünf Minuten | 4:06 |
| 3. | Der Gummipeter | 3:22 |
| 4. | Achtzig Mehr Als Zehn | 2:20 |
| 5. | Banone | 3:54 |
| 6. | Achtung! Frau Spinne! | 3:34 |
| 7. | Sechs Millionen Dollar | 2:42 |
| 8. | Zwei Lange Hankel | 4:24 |
| 9. | Endlich M.J. Endlich | 6:39 |
| 10. | Je Suis Deux Baguettes | 4:10 |
Credits
Knertz / Froggi 2017
Recorded between 2010 & 2011 at Coe-Pro-Studio Berlin.
Assembled and maturated 2011 until 2017.
Recording + Mix: Robert Hauspurg
Mastering: Freddy Knop
Ampl:tude are:
Matthi Ruthenberg, Philipp Guhr, Conrad Rodenberg, Johannes Ruthenberg
Guests:
Christian Rodenberg: Saxophone (1,5,10)
Max Scholz: Trumpet (1,5,10)
Lisa-Theres Wenzel: Piano-Sample (7)
Cover/Artwork: Matthi Ruthenberg
Thanks: Carsten, Melissa, Ralf und der Schokoladen, Steffen und Hackenporsche, Janis, Floyd, Lisa P., Tobi, Sn C, Sn H, Iris, Robert, Felix, Freddy K., Freddi H., Nina, Flennen, Sinnbus und besonders Knertz.
