Mapstation

Since the late 1960's Düsseldorf has provided a fertile hotbed for electronic music – spawning pioneering acts like Kraftwerk, Neu!, Der Plan, DAF and, more recently, Mouse on Mars and Kreidler.
In its very own way, Mapstation pursues and continues this tradition. With 'I begin to know the map' this solo project of Stefan Schneider, a founding member of Kreidler (1994-1999) and contributor to the modernist landscapes of the Berlin/Düsseldorf trio To Rococo Rot, now presents a very personal selection of previous Mapstation releases and unreleased tracks supplied exclusively for this compilation.

- drawing a map to get lost -

Yet, let us return to the beginnings: In 1999 Stefan Schneider discovered the possibilities offered by the arpeggiator mode of his analogue synthesizer, directing patterns of random notes to the oscillators to create unpredictable pulses, distortions, superb disorder.

To approximate the spontaneity and chaos of real life, Schneider decided to take a step back as composer and let the machine make most of the musical decisions.

Soon, the resulting simple basslines began to seep into Stefan's occasional DJ sets - at the time mostly a blend of electronic sounds (1950's - Detroit techno) and a capella versions of reggae 12" singles - and finally turned into a complete live set.

In early 2000 the owner of notable London-based label Soul Static Sound, Darryl Moore (D), asked Stefan to record a self-titled mini album, which was released a few months later during a UK tour with Vladislav Delay. On the strength of this recording Stefan was approached by minimalist electronics label Staubgold, who later relocated from Cologne to the German capital of Berlin, and their fertile partnership lead to three consecutive
albums between 2001 and 2003.

- the process of observation -

On 'A Way To Find The Day' (2002) Schneider decided to explore his take on contemporary reggae music (he considers it a form of electronic music) in a collaboration with singer Ras Donovan. Introduced by their mutual friend Bernd Jestram of Tarwater, whose
studio expertise both had previously relied on, Donovan and Schneider later continued their exploration of uncharted territories with “Version Train” (2003), which featured abstractions of their previous set in the Jamaican 'versioning' tradition. Despite the fact that tracks like 'New Direction' or 'Stand me Stand' were obviously carried by Ras Donovan’s plaintive voice, Schneider never intended to compete with the genre’s
Caribbean originators, but instead pursued his very own imaginary and decidedly non-authentic take on reggae music.

- shuffling topographies -

In late 2003, another fruitful alliance saw the light of day, triggered by a remix request by Leeds musician Meriel Barham (a former member of the Pale Saints who had already released a stunning album on Cologne-based label Karaoke Kalk as Kuchen) – a request Stefan rejected in favour of a collaboration based on sending each other musical sketches on mini disc. After two years of postal exchange Meriel and Stefan finished their “Kuchen Meets Mapstation” album at the Tarwater studio in Berlin.

- the things that can tell us something are the ones that exist somewhere in between -

'Version Train' and 'Kuchen Meets Mapstation' were followed by plenty of live shows and a tour over all in europe, siberia and algeria.)

translation by Sonja Commentz