s with many of the recent releases on the Raster-Noton label, Weltecho started out as a sound installation—or, to be more precise, several different sound installations. I mention this only because the creation of music for a specific, physical space is remarkably different from the creation of a traditional recorded work. The acoustic parameters of a particular location—here, the Chemnitz gallery—play a significant role in the shaping of any music. However, unlike traditional recorded works or even (in some cases) live performances, a sound installation allows an artist to shape the sounds to fit the environment they will inhabit.


So what happens when the music created for a sound installation is released on a commercial label and made available to anyone curious enough to check it out—regardless of his or her location or sound system? Can the installation experience be translated to disk? Generally, no. At most, we (the home listeners) get a simulacrum of that experience: something that points to the real thing, but nowhere near as powerful or as evocative. In other words, something is missing—the aura. Usually, though, we don't even get that—we just get music that must stand or fall on its own merits, regardless of the acoustic space that music might find itself inhabiting.


The problem is, I think Weltecho wants to capture some of that aura from the sound installation. The echos, delays, and decays in the music here seem, at times, at odds with the music itself. When I listen to these tracks on my computer using my headphones, I get a lot of unusual distortion, as though the creators of these tracks were attempting to incorporate into this recorded work some of the acoustic space of the installation itself.


Ironically, the first half of this release actually benefits from this technique. The two works on disk one of this two mini disk set—Robert and Ronald Lippok's "Fruit of the Loom" and the great William Basinski's "Shortwavemusic"—are masterful works that take advantage of the esoteric distortions and make the most of them. The Lippoks' work is centered on an off-centered, distorted synth loop that is accompanied (at various points) by glitches, pulses, bleeps, and any other sound imaginable. The plethora of sounds is not the key to this work, however; the key is the continuous parade of sound as it rolls down an invisible musical highway, with all the bumps and curves and potholes of regular highways. It doesn't really capture any sort of installation experience, but the distortions make sense here and give the work a life all its own.


This acoustic power is also evident on Basinski's work. "Shortwavemusic" focuses on lush string-like echoes and distorted voices all slowed down, stretched out, and processed into noise. This track is very reminiscent of Basinski's epochal The River, and while this track is nowhere near as powerful as that work, it is nevertheless a perfect example of what makes Basinski's music so compelling.


Sadly, the incredible power of these two tracks on disk is marred by the general mediocrity of disk two. Lumen's "Loopsets" is a sort of Pan Sonic-lite, complete with the over compressed bass drums and snapping cymbal noises. It's not a terrible track, but there is a sense that the artist is seeking to create something powerful, unsettling, even "magical" out of these distorted beats and snaps. The problem is, that magic is simply not evident here. This is also true of Errorsmith's "Unter Diesen Umständen," which also seems to know a great deal about Pan Sonic distortions. Finally, the last track, called, simply, Weltecho's "Datatrack," may or may not be the source material used to shape the other tracks (the liner notes are not clear on this). Despite this "originary" position, it is an unusually straightforward synth-pop number (with the obligatory distortion), and it reminds me of some of Solvent's lesser moments. It's pretty worthless on its own.


I doubt that any of these disk two tracks were all that interesting at the gallery itself, much less on this release. And yet, I have to recommend this release. "Fruit of the Loom" and "Shortwavemusic" are simply too good to be passed over simply because they are bundled with lesser works.