Berlin-based producer Robert Lippok will return on May 18th with his newest solo LP »applied autonomy« out via the German label Raster. While it’s been seven years since his critically acclaimed effort »redsuperstructure« came out on Raster-Noton, the musician and set designer has been busy giving workshops around the world, writing music for dance, sound installations and theater performances, as well as collaborating with musicians like Soojin Anjou, Askat Jetigen, Jesse Osborne-Lanthier, Noir, and Klara Lewis.
Many of the sound components on »applied autonomy« began as sketches recorded over a short period of time. Meant to be used as layers during Lippok’s club performances, the tracks on the upcoming LP were shaped using the material and his experience working with it during his live events. In addition, the album culminated in a collaboration with Klara Lewis during a 2-day residency at EMS studios in Stockholm. Using the concept of “applied autonomy” as its launching point, the musicians played and recorded simultaneously, though not explicitly together, using the shared creative space more as a psychic laboratory–rather than as an avenue towards a traditional recording session. The result is the LP’s 14-minute closer, “samtal.”
Today we listen to the »applied autonomy« track “all objects are moving.” Back in 2012 while discussing his music with Headphone Commute, Lippok explained:
“I like to see my tracks as sculptures formed out of basic structures.”
That framework seems to be still in play today, and those sculptures might be imagined as mobiles where component parts are suspended and yet able to move freely in space. The central motif here is an elastically repeating percussive element ricocheting thru the resonant sound space. Acting as a central layer, Lippok’s deft and minimal touch eventually adds airy pads, percussion, and a vocal sample to create a track that seems in constant motion. Without forward propulsion as its goal, though, instead “all objects are moving” suggests a static object around which all the subsequent sonic parts seem to revolve.
