Reuter, Markus

Artist: Centrozoon
P: 2006
More interested in the harmonic content of music than mere sound, CENTROZOON shape chromatic spheres of dark atmosphere that are unlike anything that you can hear in contemporary electronica these days. There's a sensibility of musical dissonance and consonance that is closer to composers of the first half of the 20th century like Anton Webern and Olivier Messiaen. ANGEL LIQUOR refers to the spiritual nature of music: the muse, the good fairy, the angelic, the spirits. It's orchestral ambient music with teeth, featuring drastic multi-channel guitar treatments and quirky synth playing and programming. Relying almost entirely on autopoiesis, ANGEL LIQUOR was created in real-time (i.e. improvised in the studio), with only minor editing and post-processing to make the music album friendly. Audiophile analogue signal paths were used during mixdown and mastering to further enhance the organic and complex fractal nature of the intuitive compositions. Parts of ANGEL LIQUOR were premiered at the ARS Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria in 2004, although in slightly altered form, given the participation of part-time CENTROZOON vocalist Tim Bowness (of No-Man). 2006 finally sees the release of this ambitious piece on the new and eclectic Texas-based Divine Frequency label. "CENTROZOON is not afraid to use big slabs of sound to conjure up crystal clear and sometimes terrifying emotional statements."

Artist: Centrozoon
P: 2000    
DIN 6
LTD 1000 Copies. 750 pressed.
Centrozoon are a duo consisting of the guitarist Markus Reuter and synthesist Bernhard Wostheinrich. Blast contains four epic soundscapes that are ambient in intent but with unusual sequencer under-scores. Mixed by Ian Boddy this album should appeal to anyone who liked Distant Rituals (DiN 2).

Here are the last copies!

Artist: Centrozoon
P: 2002  
A collection of pieces of a varying nature, issued on British art-rock label Burning Shed in 2001 as a CD-R release. Allmusic noted the album’s ”ambient-inspired depths, with slowly progressing songs that unfold with layers of haunting, lovely drones that sound like soft sighs. " and commented on the “definite hints of prog-tinged exploration throughout… Reuter's a very deliberate player, and his skill at creating loops out of his performances establishes the shade and beautiful texture of the pieces. Wöstheinrich's work is subtle throughout, providing low-key accompaniment and melody to the performances, working in gentle sync with Reuter.

Artist: Ian Boddy  & Markus Reuter
P: 2013  
DIN 43
LTD 500 Copies
"Colour Division" (DiN43) sees DiN label boss Ian Boddy once again collaborating with German composer and guitarist Markus Reuter. They were both there at the birth of the DiN label, with their inaugural album, "Distant Rituals" (DiN2, 1999). Since then both musicians have grown in stature and widened their appeal, whilst periodically combining their musical talents on a series of further DiN releases such as "Pure" (DiN17, 2004) and "Dervish" (DiN33, 2009). Aficionados of the DiN label will be familiar with Boddy's musical exploits. They may not be fully aware of the plethora of work that Reuter has been involved with, including his extensive international touring with Stick Men (alongside Tony Levin and Pat Mastelotto) and The Crimson ProjeKCt. Most recently he has overseen the world premiere performance and recording of his 60-minute masterpiece "Todmorden 513" by the Colorado Chamber Orchestra. "Colour Division" sees these two skilled musicians effortlessly continuing their sonic dialogue over seven mesmerising tracks. Several of these use one of Reuter's trademark guitar looped soundscapes as a starting point over which Boddy paints a glorious ambient tapestry of sound. His distinctive, singing Ondes Martenot style ambient lead lines call out on the opener "Borderlands", soon to be joined by a myriad of Reuters guitar tones. This strong initial piece builds to quite a climax with heavy electronic percussion and an exciting Moog solo from Boddy. By contrast the next track, the title piece "Colour Division", features a beautifully emotional guitar solo from Reuter. The more leisurely legato tracks such as "Crescent" and "Reveal" are like reflections of the duo's first DiN outing "Distant Rituals". Boddy's love of analogue modular synths sees distinctive bass lines and sequencing on the muscular "Fulcrum" and the more laid back "Beacon" which are overlaid with an incredible variety of fuzz tones and textures from the instrument that Reuter is no doubt a master of, the U8 touch guitar. Finally the album comes to a beautiful last passage with "Slowfall", with Boddy's restrained production complementing Reuter's sparse, crunchy guitar chords.

With a beautiful cover image by Polish photographer Szincza and an elegant digipak design this limited edition DiN release is yet another high quality, eminently collectable offering from the DiN label.
 

Ian Boddy:
Serge & Eurorack modular, Moog Voyager, Kontakt & Alchemy

Markus Reuter:
Guitar, guitar synth, loops & soundscapes

Artist: Markus Reuter & Ian Boddy
P: 2009    
DIN 33
LTD 1000 Copies
Having first worked together on the enigmatic ambience of Distant Rituals (1999) and the melodic complexities of Pure (2003), Dervish is Ian Boddy and Markus Reuter’s most challenging studio collaboration to date.
Recorded in England and Austria, the album contains a guest appearance by King Crimson’s drumming and electronics wizard, Pat Mastelotto. Inspired in part by the musical theories of 20th Century composer Olivier Messiaen, there’s a terse angularity to the compositions whose unexpected textures feature the appearances of a string quartet and a recorder player.
At a personal level, the music of Dervish and the creative methods used in its composition, have pushed both Boddy and Reuter into markedly different places, forcing each one to change their usual approaches.
At a 2008 recording session in Austria, having sampled Reuter’s Touch Guitar loops, Boddy then effectively “plays” the notes.

The result is a mirage of shades and colors in which it is impossible to determine the respective roles of the players. At times Dervish occasionally flirts with playful but punchy dance beats, off-kilter funk and stabbing percussive blasts that manage to be both unsettling in their apparently anarchic deployment whilst also providing a startling focal point.
Their microscopic attention to the album’s sound design ensures every track sparkles with intriguing detail that include the spiraling pat

Artist: Ian Boddy  & Markus Reuter
P: 2017
DIN 52
LTD 500 Copies
“Memento” (DiN52) is the fifth DiN CD collaboration between label boss Ian Boddy & renowned composer and touch guitarist Markus Reuter. They were there at the birth of DiN in 1999 with their inaugural release Distant Rituals (DiN2) and this latest work not only affectionately looks back to that album but forges ahead into new musical territory. The album opens with the powerful tour de force of “Gyroscope” with its ever evolving guitar arpeggios and thunderous percussion. The following track “Spindrift” has a mysterious harmonic feel highlighted by Reuter’s beautiful guitar playing & Boddy’s ambient production. “Linger” & “Stay” form a pair of soundscapes where Reuter’s guitar loop ambiences are intermingled with extraordinary analogue textures from Boddy’s Serge modular synthesiser. The former provides a breathing space within the album after the two opening tracks whereas the latter brings the CD to a gentle, drifting close. The title track hearkens back to the duos first collaborative album with it’s pulsing cut up treatment of a Reuter guitar loop soundscape and perhaps informs the listener as to the nature of this “Memento”. Although Boddy often keeps in the background in terms of lead solo work when working with Reuter the track “Deadlock” features an Ondes Martenot style synth line that soars above this dark emotionally laden piece. Once again Reuter & Boddy have proved to be a potent musical team with their balance of styles producing a complex, deep album. Effortlessly crossing genres between prog and ambient electronica it not only looks back to their roots but creates new sonic landscapes for the listener to explore.

Artist: Ian Boddy  & Markus Reuter
P: 2021
DIN 66
LTD 500 Copies
Renowned touch guitarist Markus Reuter has been one of the stalwarts of the DiN label, having been there right at the beginning in 1999 with his initial collaboration (Distant Rituals DiN2) with label founder Ian Boddy. Since then he has been involved with several other collaborations with Boddy, as well as with other artists such as Zero Ohms & Bernhard Wöstheinrich. Looking to do another collaboration with Boddy, Markus composed several long soundscape improvisations over the summer of 2020. The duo realised that with the pandemic they would not be able to physically work together in the same studio this time, as they had with all their previous work. Boddy then took these ambient starting points and using his vintage Roland System 100M modular synthesiser started to arrange, cut up and shape these into a coherent album. As well as a CD release this time both artists wanted this music to be presented on vinyl, so the work was conceived as two long 20 minute suites that would take up one side of a record each. Each suite is comprised of three distinct sections that seamlessly segue into each other. The music feels like a sonic journey, opening with the grandeur of “Citadel”, before heading off with the rhythmic slice of electronica that is the second track “Parallels”. Interlocking sequence lines and modular rhythmic treatments of Reuters soundscapes propel this piece along overlaid with beautiful guitar parts soaring overhead. The first suite closes with the title track “Outland” with a gentle, yet slightly unsettling atmosphere.
The second side opens with “Brood”, a huge claustrophobic track, before taking a gentle breath before the journey recommences with the beautiful rhythmic piece “Trails” that once again features Reuters trade mark liquid guitar solos. Finally all comes to rest with the end of the album and “Home”. A beautiful pastoral combination of Reuters exquisite guitar playing and Boddys emotive synth solo using his analogue Ondes Martenot style keyboard.
Composed to make the most of the vinyl format the fascinating musical collaboration between Boddy & Reuter continues to produce music of the highest quality.

Artist: Ian Boddy  & Markus Reuter & Nigel Mullaney
P: 2001    
DIN 9
LTD 1000 Copies
Boddy, Reuter and Mullaney offer a seamless blend of improvisation and composition in this latest disc taken from their appearance at the E-Live 2000 Festival in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
As you'd expect when three musicians of this calibre get together to perform on stage for the first time, there are moments of delicacy, robust experimentation and tangles of knotted rhythms with critical breaks and sequences which are guaranteed to have fans of electronic music salivating.
Moving somewhere between the transient hinterlands of ambient and dance, Triptych blurs the edges in swathes of lambent sonics, as layer after layer of shifting timbre and harmony coalesce into a music which is expansive in its vision and yet knowingly intimate in its detail.
Fans of Ian Boddy's distinctive use of atmospherics and colour will not be disappointed by this release and here he combines forces with Markus Reuter's heartfelt searing touch guitar and Nigel Mullany's innovative use of decks which has syntax and sound-pigments falling into forever.

Artist: Robert Rich & Markus Reuter
P: 2007 
The Rich/Reuter collaboration is called "Eleven Questions". It's at times intense, rhythmic, melodic, quirky, a bit noisy, and it should come out in Autumn.
We're hoping this CD might surprise you a bit. Thirteen short pieces fall together as a sort of puzzle, sometimes odd and playful, sometimes rather intense. This international collaboration was conceived, composed and recorded in person in one intense week at Robert Rich's Soundscape studio in California. Rich then completed, mixed and mastered the work over the subsequent two months.
Unlike most releases of the ambient/electronica genre, each piece on Eleven Questions has an instant hookiness. The songs form short, concise statements. The album features mostly acoustic and electro-acoustic instruments (lap steel, touch guitar, piano, acoustic guitar, flutes) rather than synthesizers. With audiophile sensibilities, Rich and Reuter employed the best of custom tube, vintage and contemporary studio equipment to craft a unique sonic landscape.
This is an album for lovers of modern movie soundtracks, sound fanatics and people who look for beauty and melody in contemporary music.
Markus Reuter - Touch Guitar, Acoustic Guuitar, Piano
Robert Rich - Sound Design, Piano, Flutes, Lap Steel Guitar
SiRenée - Voices

Artist: Markus Reuter
P: 2000
Markus's instrument is the Warr Guitar, a tap-style 8-stringed instrument which is played less like a true "guitar" and more like a Chapman Stick. The sound, especially on Digitalis, goes through heavy electronic processing, with the result that (like fellow Hypnos label guitarists Jeff Pearce and David Tollefson) he ends up with a very un-guitar-like sound, but with a "feel" and style of playing that sets it apart from keyboard-played electronics. DIGITALIS has a fairly bright and vivid sound, as compared to the smooth and mellow tones of Pearce, or the heavier, sometimes challenging sound of Tollefson. Still, the end result is abstract and definitely "ambient!" "Released a few months ago on Mike Griffin's Hypnos label, Digitalis is the latest work by touchstyle guitarist Markus Reuter. He has also recently released another solo project, The Longest In Terms Of Being, which is an engrossing work of ambient sound made solely with the touch guitar. Digitalis was recorded in real-time onto a 2-track stereo in 1999. Twelve tracks which mostly blend into one another creating a consistent whole, although there's a marked dip into silence on track 8 ("radiating blackness"), and the tracks further break up following this point. Swirls of sound, harmonics and drifting ambience dominate this beautiful recording. Reuter's touch guitar is just the beginning for a host of delay techniques, loops, and live manipulations; really it's quite remarkable that this music is created in real-time. I'll admit however that I found this work less engaging than The Longest In Terms Of Being, which was able to captivate my attention with a more simplified sound palette. Here, the swirls of cloud 9 can be a little much, and where this record shines is where the loops and delays take over (as in the track "whole", or in the finale "holy" which closes things off rather nicely), and take you astride their irresistible currents." --Incursion, Richard di Santo
"Markus Reuter plays the touch guitar and benefits from the different approach afforded by an instrument that does not resemble the typical tools (i.e. synthesizers) used to produce our community's wealth of musical releases. Reuter could surely market his album Digitalis as a demo disc of the latest in sound manipulation and processing gear, but his vision as an artist in ambient sound is clearly evident and Digitalis rises above our too often technology driven medium.
Recorded essentially in real-time, Digitalis is a churning and drifting swirl of interesting harmonics and subtle moods realized through the vision and character of an insightful musician. The idea of layering the sounds of a guitar by means of a long delay is about as old as our modern concept of ambient music. On Digitalis, Reuter stretches the parameters of his tools and the depth of the genre and aspires to more than he inherited. On one hand, Digitalis does represent Reuter's mastery of the gear that loops, shifts, delays, flanges and filters a sound source. However, his involvement with the music goes deeper than just twidling knobs. Talent is the invisible force behind this gentle and amorphus music - acting like a soft breeze on the direction of mountain mist."
--Star's End Radio host Chuck VanZyl