Gas (musician)

Gas
The signature Gas logo
Background information
Birth name Wolfgang Voigt
Genres
Years active 1995–2000, 2014–present
Labels Mille Plateaux, Kompakt

Gas (stylized as GAS or G A S) is a music project of Wolfgang Voigt (born 1961), a German electronic musician. Voigt cites his youthful LSD experiences in the Königsforst, a German forest situated near his hometown of Cologne, as the inspiration behind his work under the name Gas.[1] He has claimed that the intention of the project is to "bring the forest to the disco, or vice-versa".[2][3]

Aliases and projects

Voigt is known for over 30 aliases and projects.[4] Of these, his best known is arguably Gas.[5]

Other names under which Voigt has released music include, but are not limited to, All, Auftrieb, Brom, C.K. Decker, Centrifugal Force, Crocker, Dextro NRG, Dieter Gorny, Digital, Dom, Doppel, Filter, Freiland, Fuchsbau, Gelb, Grungerman, Kafkatrax, Love Inc., M:I:5, Mike Ink, Mint, Panthel, Popacid, Riss, RX7, Split Inc., Strass, Studio 1, Tal, Vinyl Countdown, W.V., Wassermann, and X-Lvis.[6]

History

In 2008, Voigt's own label Kompakt re-released all four of his Gas albums, albeit with subtle changes made to the tracks, as a four-CD box set entitled Nah und Fern. A limited double vinyl version of the set was also released, with one track from each album per side. In 2016, Kompakt reissued Zauberberg, Königsforst, Oktember and Pop as a 10-LP box set called Box, again editing or expanding many of the tracks.

Voigt has intermittently revived the project for remixes and released a new Gas album entitled Narkopop on April 21, 2017.[7]

Music

Gas's sound is ambient techno[5][8][9] and minimal techno,[10][11] combining ambient music and 4/4 techno.[3] It is the most abstract of Voigt's many projects,[8] with each album consisting of several long tracks. All Gas material shares a characteristic sound, consisting of an ambient wash of drones and loops, "barely-audible fragments of horns, strings, record hiss and wind",[12] usually accompanied by a repetitive four-on-the-floor kick drum.[12][13] The Wire described it as "an outdoor rave, heard floating through the air from a neighbouring village".[1] Voigt names it "GASeous music, caught by a bass drum just marching by, that streams, streams out through the underwood across the forest soil".[1] He also said it "[moves] around in constantly overlapping loop structures" and "there is no definite start nor end".[14] His live performances, which he performs using MIDI controls and Ableton Live, has this same organic quality.[15]

He commented that he builds his tracks using samples, which are manipulated beyond recognition to create what can better be described as textural environments than songs. He described the technique as "a certain kind of loops [sic] and reverse, and alternated reverses, which has no ending and no start, and it's just totally confusing".[1] Most of the time there is no clear musical progression in a Gas track, because it lacks any trace of orthodox melody or chord change, many would not describe it as musical.[footnote 1][14] However, the sources of Voigt's samples are often of musical origin, encapsulating "old pop record stuff"[1] as well as classical music such as Richard Wagner and Arnold Schoenberg.[14]

Discography

All Gas tracks are untitled, except the Modern and Oktember releases.

Albums

EPs

Compilations

Remixes

  • Love Inc. – "Hot Love (Gas Mix) (1995)
  • Markus Guentner – "Regensburg (Gas Mix)" (2002)
  • The Field – "Cupid's Head (Gas Ambient Mix)" (2014)
  • Robyn & Kindness – "Who Do You Love (Wolfgang Voigt GAS Mix)" (2016)

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Voigt has responded directly to this statement in this Wikipedia article in an interview with online music journal Globecat:
    Q: In your Wikipedia entry, whoever wrote it says: "Because Gas music lacks any trace of melody or chord change, many would not describe it as *musical*." How would you respond to the writer of the article -- and where do you personally draw the line between "musical" and "non-musical," if there is such a line?
    A: I think the boundaries between "musical" and "non-musical" are in a state of flux. Otherwise, I do not really care about any "musicality" related to GAS. Emotions, structure, aesthetics are more important to me. Melodies in the classical sense are not supposed to be in GAS, although they exist, as hidden and overlayered as the chord changes. But you have to notice them.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Young, Rob. "Deep in the woods". The Wire (291).
  2. ↑ "Red Bull Music Academy". Red Bull Music Academy. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  3. 1 2 Bunz, Mercedes. "Der deutsche Wald in der Disko". Heise.de. Retrieved June 5, 2017.
  4. ↑ Coleman, Jonny (August 11, 2015). "10 Classic Ambient Albums For People Who Don't Know Shit About Ambient". LA Weekly. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  5. 1 2 "Wolfgang Voigt's pioneering ambient techno gets an anthology box set". The A.V. Club. August 26, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  6. ↑ Kemker, Wolf. "wolfgang voigt @ wolf's kompaktkiste". Kompaktkiste.de. Retrieved June 5, 2017.
  7. ↑ "Wolfgang Voigt Announces First New GAS Album in 17 Years". Pitchfork. March 15, 2017. Retrieved August 16, 2017.
  8. 1 2 Perevedentseva, Maria (June 26, 2017). "To The Things Themselves: The Strange World Of... Wolfgang Voigt". The Quietus. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  9. ↑ Beta, Andy. "This Is the Best Meditation Music". Vulture. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  10. ↑ Rabenau, Kai von. "mono.kultur - Wolfgang Voigt". Mono-kultur.com. Retrieved June 5, 2017.
  11. ↑ GmbH, musicline.de / PhonoNet. "Genrelexikon - Dance & Electronic - Sound of Cologne - musicline.de". Musicline.de. Retrieved June 5, 2017.
  12. 1 2 Murray, Ian. "Looping Back: Wolfgang Voigt's GAS (1996-2000)". Ethos. University of North Carolina. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  13. ↑ "Dive Into a Musical Opium Den With Wolfgang Voigt's New GAS Album". Thump. Vice Media. April 28, 2017. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  14. 1 2 3 "Interview with Wolfgang Voigt". Globecat.blogspot.com. August 12, 2008. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
  15. ↑ Sherburne, Philip (October 21, 2008). "Wolfgang Voigt plays Gas". Resident Advisor. Retrieved December 5, 2008.
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