Thomas Brinkmann — GETGETGET

German sound artist and producer Thomas Brinkmann pays tribute to his friend and Editions Mego founder Peter Rehberg with his latest, GETGETGET. Originating at the Editions Mego 30th anniversary party, Brinkmann examined silence/space against noise, taking inspiration from Günther Anders' "Negative Music," the work of Heinrich Böll, and, of course, his friend Peter Rehberg. The album that came after is two, side-long tracks of exploration, utilizing the above concepts, Rehberg's "GET" trilogy, and the perspective of silence on the listener. Engaging and more quickly moving than most silence study pieces, GETGETGET is one worth thinking about while interacting and a nice shout out to not only Rehberg's musical work but his commitment to releasing important experimental electronics via Editions Mego.

Outside of clips of Rehberg discussing the work and creation of Editions Mego, GETGETGET is just electronics in thought and action. Working within the Böll framework, Brinkmann sets up a consistent barrage of noise to set up the pressure and power of the release, allowing the spare moments of silence to have a stronger role. Many would represent silence through minimalism, something like the legendary "4'33," for example, where this is quite the opposite. As Anders uses silence as negative space in consistent noise (like negative space in visual art), so does Brinkmann. These silences, though, aren't big, obvious gaps, like rests in a concerto. Instead, one can feel and experience them just by existing with the noise, the pops in between sounds, the disappearing bits during interference, and other interesting ways. If matter is mostly empty space, then so must be sound, since it cannot exist without matter. How is this experienced by the listener? Brinkmann's thesis is a good one and GETGETGET is an engaging bit of electronic layering that moves too quickly to get stale, but it's not obvious on the surface. It certainly benefits from the background provided, but still would be nice, crispy, and interesting on its own.

Weaving dark electronics with twisted and deepening layers, Thomas Brinkmann's GETGETGET is an engaging mixture of study and execution. Starting with Peter Rehberg's "GET" trilogy, he moves forth, altering soundscapes and forcing perspectives upon the listener, washing them in waves of sound and begging them to find the air. With this thesis in mind, one takes more of an active approach to listening, analyzing as it is received instead of letting it work passively through the emotions. However, GETGETGET works very well in the latter, too, being a solid work of dense and shifting electronics.