[ Hypnos Forum ]

I think it's about time to open a new thread but then again, here we go:

Thanks to the overwhelmingly positive response synchronize or die received, I could raise the funds for the next album in the pipeline, no sleep 'til wilmersdorf. Thank you very much to all of you who have supported me through their generosity and enabled me to pick up where I had left in 2012.

wilmersdorf will be the 11th album in ['ramp]'s history, and as you may have guessed already (telling from the title), this time it's going even further back (and faster) than with SOD:



In 1978/79, I spent some time in Berlin with my parents, living in the borough of Wilmersdorf, not too far away from all those historical sites as Thomas Kessler's Beat Studio, Michael Hoenig's place, Edgar Froese's home, Peter Baumann's Paragon Studio, or David Bowie's and Iggy Pop's flat in Schöneberg. To me as a six-year old boy, it was an amazing experience, witnessing the city divided by The Wall (not Roger's), passing through abandoned ghost stations in East-Berlin when taking a ride on the metro -- in fact, I still draw from these memories when spending time in Berlin, and I confess I quite miss the oppressive and bleak atmosphere this place used to have:

https://doombientmusic.bandcamp.com/track/no-sleep-til-wilmersdorf-album-teaser

The album will be released officially on 2nd May 2018 in order to celebrate the 35th anniversary of my very first musical lesson. It will be limited to 222 hand-numbered copies (real CD, btw, no CDR), and it will come with a 12-page booklet. I am taking pre-orders now (if you don't need to have the FLAC download) through stephen at parsick dot com -- be quick if you want to make sure you're first in line.

 Thanks for your time,

 Stephen

Good news for all afficionados of out-dated and clumsy media (like myself, for instance):





synchronize or die will be released on double-12" vinyl in a lovely gatefold sleeve on 19th February 2018. Presales have opened, you can order your copy directly from https://www.adansoniarecords.de/shop/.

Please bear in mind that the two different pressing will be limited editions of 100 copies and 250 copies respectively (particularly the 100 copies of the orange splatter version with additional gimmick will be gone quickly, I suppose), so please make sure you order your copy in time. 

I will also have a limited number of albums in stock which I will make available through my Bandcamp slot as soon as I have packing materials etc. to ship vinyl around the world (which is completely new to me). You might as well want to get in touch with me directly but please wait until I have the vinyl in stock myself -- I cannot reserve anything for anybody without knowing anything about quantities.

The album originally was to be mastered by Eroc but Andreas Bäcker, owner of Adansonia, was so pleased with my own mastering that he took this as the basis for the lacquer cut. The bit of vinyl mastering that was required (adjusting bass levels and some stereo stuff) was done by Dirk Jan Müller of Cosmic Ground fame.

Thanks for reading and spreading the happy news,

Stephen

Happy New Year all!

I'd like to thank all those who supported my work last year and whose contributions have helped me to raise the funds required for the next ['ramp] album which will be released in May. More info to follow when it's about time... I believe it will be a cracker but that's only me, of course.

In order to feature the entire back catalogue on one single page (and give you an idea of how my music has evolved over the years) I have opened a doombient.music shop on Bandcamp as well:

https://doombientmusic.bandcamp.com/

I will release some more music from the back catalogue in course of the year so please drop by regularly.

You can, of course, also use the other slots for ['ramp] and Parsick that you're already accustomed to .

Thanks for your time and your attention,

Stephen.

cold storage, the final rehearsal of the concert performed at Oberhausen Gasometer in November 2007 has now been made available as a FLAC download again:

https://stephenparsick.bandcamp.com/album/cold-storage

It used to be around for some time when Iapetus were looking after my digital albums but it has been offline since our collaboration ceased in 2012.

If you're into glacial dark ambient, I think you might want to give it a try.

Thanks for listening, and thank you very much for your generosity and support,

Stephen.

German radio DJ Ecki Stieg of the famous Grenzwellen programme will be featuring my work in his next show on 25th October between 9pm and midnight (EST):

http://radio-hannover.divicon-stream.com/

Of course, the interview will be held in German (which might sound a little funny in places).

Thanks for tuning in. Enjoy!

Stephen

PS: There is also a fundraiser going to help Grenzwellen to remain an independent source of information. You can donate here, if you wish:

https://www.leetchi.com/c/projekt-von-grenzwellen

Thank you for your support.

Hi all,

after five years of silence, I am delighted to present ['ramp]'s tenth release to you: synchronize or die. In order to commemorate the 20th anniversary of ramp's first-ever live concert in 1997 and celebrate twenty years of unsolicited noise, the album will be released officially on 29th august 2017:

https://ramp1.bandcamp.com/track/synchronize-or-die-album-teaser-2

Those past twenty years were busy not only in terms of musical adventures: artistically and personally, some more or less desired changes took place, and here and there some obstacles and new challenges had to be dealt with – not only on a musical level.

This was the very reason why I decided to pull all plugs after the 2012 concert performance at Bochum Planetarium and the subsequent album release astral disaster: I simply realized I was running out of stamina and steam as the past ten years had taken their toll on me. Rather than carrying on, releasing half-baked albums just for the sake of it, I decided to have a sabbatical for an indefinite period of time, to recover from the strain and to focus on new musical visions.

synchronize or die is the result of this sabbatical. I decided to elaborate on the technique I had discovered for creating complex sequencer tracks and multi-layered rhythmical patterns, without employing computers running audio software: making use of some old-fashioned synchronizers from the 1980s, I recorded multiple layers of sequences onto a digital eight-track recorder, using a clicktrack to tie in additional sequencers while overdubbing or mixing down to stereo. This is the reason why the trusty old Friendchip SRC units adorn the album sleeve.

Most of the tracks were created on my own in the seclusion of my dachgeschoss recording space (were the future is being made, today), with one notable exception: Torque was created in collaboration with fellow synthesiser enthusiast Axel Jungkunst who helped me out with his massive modular synthesiser rig and additional sequencer backings which resulted in one of ['ramp]'s most accessible titles of all time – whatever that means.

I am taking orders now through stephen at parsick dot com (and through bandcamp from 29th august onwards). If you would like to have the album along with the digital download, please wait until 29th August.

The albums ordered after 20th august will start shipping after 11th september 2017 so please bear this in mind when ordering. Direct orders through me will include a free download code for one exclusive track.

Thank you for your support,

Stephen

Hi all,

in order to celebrate ['ramp]'s 21st anniversary this month (for some reason I believe in the magic of three times seven...) I decided to make the first two albums available as digital downloads.

"nodular" was released in 1998, and you might have guessed already what the pun in the title is referring to. It's heavily sequencer-based music firmly rooted in what is commonly called "Berlin School" -- I still am amazed at the sequencing in the title track, and it's almost twenty years old:

https://ramp1.bandcamp.com/album/nodular

"frozen radios" was the second album by ['ramp], released in 2000. It carries on where "nodular" left off. If at all, it's even edgier and rawer in its approach to sequencing and sound design:

https://ramp1.bandcamp.com/album/frozen-radios

Many people still have fond memories of the main sequencer rig crashing halfway through the concert where "damage / dissolution" was recorded... that was fun, if not for me.

More is to come, stay tuned.

Enjoy, and thanks for purchasing,

Stephen.

[...] I'm sure they're great and worthwhile if I was in a surf rock band but not for an ambient musician who might only use one a little bit here and there. [...]

I wouldn't call Brian Eno "surf rock" but he did use a Roland RE-501 Chorus Echo in conjunction with a Lexicon 224. This is what made "Plateaux of Mirrors" and "The Pearl" so lush-sounding.

Stephen

You might want to give a decent spring reverb a try instead.

Stephen

Hi all,

after the rather fierce doombient.two album I am happy to announce the release of the third limited-edition doombient album, kalte sterne ("cold stars") as a digital download:

https://ramp1.bandcamp.com/album/doombient-three-kalte-sterne

Recorded live in concert at Bochum Planetarium on 24th February 2007 and originally released in a limited production run of 100 copies back in 2008, it was to become the final recording of the original line-up of ['ramp]. On the same night, the official release of ceasing to exist was celebrated, and it comes to no surprise that doombient.three is the most tranquil and peaceful recording of the trilogy. If you are fond of cinematic deep-space music with a colder and somewhat darker edge to it, you might like this one. 

Thanks for listening and, of course, for your support,

Stephen