#Nonplace Urban Field

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nonplace urban field -- whimp

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Nonplace Urban Field (Bernd Friedmann) at Festival pomladi, Ljubljana, Slovenia 2008

source: wikimedia 📸: Špela Škulj  flikcr

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German Trip Hop Playlist (YouTube)

Alright, folks, for the past couple Sundays I've been posting playlists comprised of German music from electronic genres that the country tends to be naturally associated with—trance and techno—but this week, to end this little Deutsch-centric foray I've been on, we're getting into some sweet cuts from a genre that Germany's not so typically known for: trip hop.

Now, maybe when you think of German music, you naturally assume some things. And probably because of Kraftwerk and krautrock and techno, you imagine stuff that sounds cold, mechanical, repetitious, and robotic. But this little playlist here, which really isn't even beginning to scratch the surface of Germany's trip hop landscape, should start to disabuse you of your very own wrongly held preconceived notions. All of these tracks here are a blend of smooth, blissful, and relaxing. Clearly and obviously, there’s far, far, far more to German music than sounding like an automaton, but maybe you never really thought about it all that much 🤷‍♂️.

So let's highlight some of these nuggets here, and start with a track that really seems to call back to trip hop's own Bristol, UK origins, when it was basically fusing Jamaican dub and hip hop in order to form sonic syrup in the late 80s and early 90s. The Frankfurt-based duo of Soul Patrol, who only ever released a pair of 12-inches, bring forth "Slow Groove," a sedative that served as their debut track when it appeared on a pair of compilations back in '95. This gem uses a sample that should sound *very* familiar to hip hop heads: Isaac Hayes' "Walk On By," a part of which was famously used in The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Warning," as well as another mid-90s trip hop tune, Belgian group Hooverphonic's "2 Wicky," which got a lot of burn on Pandora back when Pandora was still a big fucking deal. "Slow Groove" basically sounds like it was made by Portishead, but replacing Beth Gibbons on vocals is an American woman named Francesca Harper, who is actually now a world-renowned dancer. And it has a little over 43,000 plays across a few different uploads on YouTube.

Next up, from Berlin, we have a guy named Jiri.Ceiver, who in 1997 released a song called "Ycool" on a 10-inch single as well as his second and final album, Jig, Amble & Lisp, which were both put out on the legendary Frankfurt-based and Sven Väth co-owned Harthouse label. Harthouse had originally started out as a pioneering outlet for hard trance, trance, and techno in the early 90s, but by the latter part of that decade, and before they wound up closing their doors, they had expanded their palette with a bunch more electronic genres. And “Ycool,” a terrific piece of reconstructed trip hop-blues, serves as a sweet example of just how broad that expansion was getting. And it only has 169 plays!

And lastly, we have something beautifully dubby from another Berliner named Christian Kleine, whose 2000 tune, "Bitter Things," first exclusively appeared on a lovely double-disc compilation called Putting the Morr Back in Morrissey, which really had nothing to do with The Smiths' own frontman, other than the fact that a bunch of its songs had a reflective melancholy to them. However, despite "Bitter Things"' own title, this is a song that was really made to sync up with a sunrise. An organic, crunchy, and happy, boom-bappy bop, with cool, dubby effects employed all throughout. Over 36,000 plays across a few different YouTube uploads.

This playlist is ordered as chronologically as possible:

Nonplace Urban Field - "Universe" Jazz Con Bazz - "Wayz of Life" Knowtoryus - "The Revenge of the Bomberclad Joint (Kruder & Dorfmeister session, Part II)" Fon:Kin - "Montininja (Fauna Flash remix)" Hacienda - "Nightmare of Max" Soul Patrol - "Slow Groove (Soul Patrol original vocal)" Beanfield - "Charles (remix)" Jiri.Ceiver - "Ycool" Christian Kleine - "Bitter Things" Lali Puna - "Fast Forward (Flowchart Rmx)"

And this playlist is also on YouTube Music.

So with this start, we have ten personal German trip hop favorites of mine that appear on a handful of compilations that I've collected over the years. Totals at 53 minutes.

And next week we'll be staying in this chilly mode, but we'll be zooming out from Germany ⛄.

Enjoy!

More to come, eventually. Stay tuned!

Like what you hear? Follow me on Spotify and YouTube for more cool playlists and uploads!

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Various - 50 Years Of Sunshine 2xCD (1993)

100 Micrograms / 01 Dr. Timothy Leary - The Incredible Lightness Ov Being Molecular 0:00 02  Pelican Daughters - The Bicycle Ride 4:14 03  Closedown - Bliss 11:18 04  Love Spirals Downwards - Kykeon 16:51 05  Nurse With Wound - Beetle Crawls Across My Back 21:42 06  White Stains - Let It Be Thus 28:03 07  XKP & Mr. L - Thee Spirit Ov Thee Molecule 33:09 08  The Ultraviolet Catastrophe - Full Moon (Crescent Mix) 39:25 09  Nonplace Urban Field - Pseudogarten 46:53 10 Psychic TV - Acidosis  55:53 11 Earth Leakage Trip - The Awakening 1:02:38 

 250 Micrograms / 12 Phauss - Radiator (For Amanita Muscaria & Mark McCloud) 1:11:20 13 Belt  - Under The Sunset  1:15:19 14 Elliott Sharp - inSERGEncy  1:18:52 15 Harvey Bainbridge - The Voyage - In The Wake Of Passing Clouds   1:22:37 16 Controlled Bleeding - After The Rain  1:38:13 17 Hawkwind - Space Dust   1:42:28 18 68000 - Disillusion   1:47:52 19 Satellite IV - In A Sugarcube   1:53:27 20 Hyperdelic - Dosed  1:58:33 21 Drome - Bipolar Trip  2:05:45 22 Steel Porn Rhino - On LSD  2:11:42

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Nonplace Urban Field - Pseudogarten

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1990s Trip Hop Playlist

Nice and juicy update with this 90s trip hop playlist, folks! This thing’s growing into a real beast, chock-full of many obscure, slept-on gems that are simply deserving of *much* higher play counts than they currently have. In this update we’ve got a fun remix by the legendary Kruder & Dorfmeister, a couple tracks from guitar-infused Swiss Portishead clones Swandive, something sensual from a group called Soul Patrol that uses the same Isaac Hayes sample as Notorious B.I.G.’s “Warning” and Hooverphonic’s “2 wicky,” a track from a Danish duo called Nature™ that uses a fluttering flute melody and what sounds like possibly a slown-down sample of the bells from Bob James’ famous “Take Me to the Mardi Gras,” which has also been sampled in Snap!’s “The Power,” Missy Elliott’s “Work It,” and, as I noted some days ago, Mario Winans’ remix of Dream’s “This Is Me,” and more.

And an extra note on Swandive: if you consider yourself, like, a real mid-90s alt music head, their stuff seems to have passed under the radar of the critics, but you’ll probably *really* like the two songs I selected of theirs. “If I Scream” is pretty lyrically dark though.

Nonplace Urban Field - “Universe” Knowtoryus - “The Revenge of the Bomberclad Joint (Kruder & Dorfmeister session, Part II)” Fon:Kin - “Montininja (Fauna Flash remix)” April Nine - “Deepest Chills” Swandive - “If I Scream” Soul Patrol - “Slow Groove (Soul Patrol original vocal)” Beanfield - “Charles (remix)” Nature™ - “Feelin’ Mellow” Bang Bang - “Bye Bye Blues” Swandive - “Innocent”

Added a song to the YouTube and YouTube Music versions of this playlist too, which isn’t on Spotify:

The Funky Lowlives - “Notabossa”

So, as it currently stands, the Spotify version of this playlist is at 33 songs and almost 3 hours long and the YouTube and YouTube Music versions of this playlist are at 56 songs and over 5 hours long.

Also, consider checking out this other more specific YouTube and YouTube Music playlist of dope trip hop tracks exclusively from 1996.

Enjoy!

More to come, eventually. Stay tuned!

Like what you hear? Follow me on Spotify and YouTube for more cool playlists and uploads!

[spaceintruderdetector]

Various - 50 Years Of Sunshine 2xCD (Silent 1993)

Tracklist: 100 Micrograms 01 Dr. Timothy Leary - The Incredible Lightness Ov Being Molecular 0:00 02 Pelican Daughters - The Bicycle Ride 4:14 03 Closedown - Bliss 11:18 04 Love Spirals Downwards - Kykeon 16:51 05 Nurse With Wound - Beetle Crawls Across My Back 21:42 06 White Stains - Let It Be Thus 28:03 07 XKP & Mr. L - Thee Spirit Ov Thee Molecule 33:09 08 The Ultraviolet Catastrophe - Full Moon (Crescent Mix) 39:25 09 Nonplace Urban Field - Pseudogarten 46:53 10 Psychic TV - Acidosis 55:53 11 Earth Leakage Trip - The Awakening 1:02:38 250 Micrograms 12 Phauss - Radiator (For Amanita Muscaria & Mark McCloud) 1:11:20 13 Belt - Under The Sunset 1:15:19 14 Elliott Sharp - inSERGEncy 1:18:52 15 Harvey Bainbridge - The Voyage - In The Wake Of Passing Clouds 1:22:37 16 Controlled Bleeding - After The Rain 1:38:13 17 Hawkwind - Space Dust 1:42:28 18 68000 - Disillusion 1:47:52 19 Satellite IV - In A Sugarcube 1:53:27 20 Hyperdelic - Dosed 1:58:33 21 Drome - Bipolar Trip 2:05:45 22 Steel Porn Rhino - On LSD 2:11:42

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Various - 50 Years Of Sunshine 2xCD (Silent 1993)

an ambient landmark.

100 Micrograms 

 01 Dr. Timothy Leary - The Incredible Lightness Ov Being Molecular 0:00 02  Pelican Daughters - The Bicycle Ride 4:14 03  Closedown - Bliss 11:18 04  Love Spirals Downwards - Kykeon 16:51 05  Nurse With Wound - Beetle Crawls Across My Back 21:42 06  White Stains - Let It Be Thus 28:03 07  XKP & Mr. L - Thee Spirit Ov Thee Molecule 33:09 08  The Ultraviolet Catastrophe - Full Moon (Crescent Mix) 39:25 09  Nonplace Urban Field - Pseudogarten 46:53 10 Psychic TV - Acidosis  55:53 11 Earth Leakage Trip - The Awakening 1:02:38 

 250 Micrograms 

 12 Phauss - Radiator (For Amanita Muscaria & Mark McCloud) 1:11:20 13 Belt  - Under The Sunset  1:15:19 14 Elliott Sharp - inSERGEncy  1:18:52 15 Harvey Bainbridge - The Voyage - In The Wake Of Passing Clouds   1:22:37 16 Controlled Bleeding - After The Rain  1:38:13 17 Hawkwind - Space Dust   1:42:28 18 68000 - Disillusion   1:47:52 19 Satellite IV - In A Sugarcube   1:53:27 20 Hyperdelic - Dosed  1:58:33 21 Drome - Bipolar Trip  2:05:45 22 Steel Porn Rhino - On LSD  2:11:42

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Nonplace Urban Field - “Kung Fu Workshop (Remix)” Minimalism: More Or Less 1998 IDM / Abstract

Nonplace Urban Field was the alias used most by Germany's Bernd Friedmann aka Burnt Friedman. Having been involved in electronic music since the 80s, Friedman debuted his NUF moniker in 1993 and released a total of five albums between then and 1999. He is an artist whose music is impossible to pigeonhole. Every time you try to describe his sound by associating it with a certain genre, you need to qualify it by putting "sort of" in front of that genre: Friedmann's music is sort of IDM, sort of dub, sort of breaks, sort of downtempo, sort of ambient, and sort of future jazz.

But it goes deeper than that. His own website's biography probably puts it best:

The German artist's music exists beyond any zeitgeist or totemic musical pole in [a] unifying artistic language all onto its own. With an acute focus on rhythmical structures to an almost obsessive degree, Friedman's work operates on the fringes of electronic, experimental music, reinforcing a pervasive, primordial musical form that exists through and inspite [sic] -of every and any musical tradition and stylistic trope. If Friedman's music conforms, it's a fundamental conformity, a precursor to all music and something he consolidated recently with an Anthology that contextualises a career spanning the better part of four decades.

And then there's an explanation of the name Nonplace Urban Field :

Through several solo projects and collaborations, Burnt Friedman created music throughout the nineteen nineties, with his largest contribution coming via his Nonplace Urban Field project in which he first established the idea of music with origins from- and designs on a non-place. Nonplace is music that lives outside culture, identity and music politics as a form of artistic expression that moves "beyond a culturally determined reality".

In other words, Nonplace Urban Field's music is basically incomparable to anything else. Its job is to be as divorced from convention as possible. It can't accurately be lumped in with any other music that's ever existed before it. Every piece of music that's ever been made, besides, I guess, the first-ever piece of music, derives some kind of influence from the music that precedes it. However, as Nonplace Urban Field, Friedmann does his best to consciously obscure that fact.

Under the NUF name, Friedmann released two albums in 1996 and another in 1999. In those intervening years, a number of his tracks made exclusive appearances on a bunch of compilations. One of those compilations was by a small, yet extraordinary experimental and abstract electronic label in the UK called Law & Auder. In '98, they released Minimalism: More Or Less, a double-disc that features Friedmann's "Kung Fu Workshop (Remix)". The original version of "Kung Fu Workshop" appears on an unreleased demo by Friedmann, but the two versions are apparently not very different.

On this track, Friedmann provides a litany of disjointed IDM sounds, working them into rather strange melodies and underlies them with a combination of some beatboxing and a drum from another continent that leaves a residual buzzing hum with each strike. The aforementioned primordial touch is certainly felt and Friedmann's concept of "nonplace" is totally accomplished. Because of a lack of a traditional backbeat and synth pads, this song has a considerable amount of dead space, despite it being nowhere near empty. Topping out at three layers at the end, "Kung Fu Workshop (Remix)" earns its place on a compilation of minimal electronic music.

Abstract late 90s electronic stuff from Germany.

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Voici une chanson que vous allez aimer… Nike Air de Nonplace Urban Field