the limited edition deluxe 2LP will be released may 30th
a very limited amount of copies purchased here will include a cd copy of the i-sound dj set @ the cooler nyc, 1998
city slang will reissue berlin-düsseldorf trio to rococo rot’s 1999 album, the amateur view, as a double vinyl edition, featuring both the original album, and an extra collection of material drawn from contemporaneous releases, such as the album’s satellite telema and cars EPs. re-assembled in this way, the amateur view is re-presented with an expanded vision; we hear the album anew.
the amateur view appeared at an opportune moment in spring 1999, connecting the dots between elegant pop electronica, the minimalism of techno, the spatialisation tactics of dub, and the grit and depth of electronic noise and musique concrète. core to this development were the friendships to rococo rot founded when touring their first two albums, 1995’s to rococo rot and 1997’s veiculo. their encounter with new york abstract dj and producer, craig willingham aka i-sound, who appears on the amateur view’s “a little asphalt here and there”, was particularly important. to rococo rot‘s minds were blown when they experienced willingham’s wild dj skills, weaving dancehall, reggae, and the avant-garde together at high volume. ‘from the first track of his dj set, we fell in love with his energy, the flow of the music,’ robert lippok recalls.
to rococo rot recorded most of the amateur view with tobias levin, at his electric avenue studios in hamburg. this represented another widening of the trio’s worldview, moving away from their early, self-recorded sessions. the amateur view is the point of focus, of increased confidence, for to rococo rot, where they turned both to pop music (tunes, melodies) and to noise (abstraction, intervention), to create one of the late nineties’ most singular, graceful, elegant albums. during this time, to rococo rot seemed always to be in transit, always moving somewhere: as stefan schneider remarks, it was ‘quite unbelievable that we were doing so many things in such a short time.’ the amateur view is destination, departure, and throughline, all at once.
Tracklist:
LP1:
01 I Am in the World with You
02 Telema
03 Prado
4 A Little Asphalt Here and There
5 This Sandy Piece
6 Tomorrow
7 Greenwich
8 Cars
9 She Loves Animals
10 Die Dinge des Lebens
LP 2 (Bonus):
1 Set
2 Cars (Variant)
3 Meet the Lucky Kitchen
4 Telema (Längs)
5 Rocket Fuel
6 Copa
7 Pantone 6
8 Numbers in Love
9 Casper
10 Milker
11 A Day Long
12 Pantone 1