TIETCHENS, ASMUS - Litia

"180 gram vinyl. Released in 1983, the Litia album concluded Asmus Tietchens' études phase and bid a farewell to rhythmic synths -- well, almost. All the signs of "pseudo pop" as heard on Biotop (BB 141CD/LP), Spät-Europa (BB 142CD/LP), and In die Nacht resurfaced: squeaky sounds and protracted, rattling rhythms grouped into abstract forms through their accentuated artificiality. Sporadic noisiness is as much a part of it as is a winking gesture, which should not detract from the basic sobriety of the work, however. Musik aus dem Aroma Club (1998) is Tietchens' first openly-parodic work, not that he had ever lacked humor. Take the plays on words in his titles, with "Unterhaltungsmusik" mutating to "Unterhaltsmusik" ("light" music becomes "livelihood" music) or the appropriation of terminology from respiratory medicine ("Nebulizer" is another word for an atomizer). The banality of everyday life proves itself to be unconquerable: "Auf Elf" ("On Eleven") refers to the fact that the piece