Wolfgang Voigt

As part of the celebrations surrounding the Kompakt label's 20th anniversary, Wolfgang Voigt (aka Gas) created a science fiction-themed music and art installation at the entrance to this year's Art Cologne fair. The installation was named "Zukunft Ohne Menschen" ("Life Without People") and included photos of urban environments with the humans digitally removed, as well as a manually triggered arpeggiator. This collection of minimal machine music seeks to document the installation; its ten tracks are accompanied by ten digitally altered images seemingly smeared by a human-annihilating cursor. The music lacks the sheer immensity that must have graced it originally, as it's virtually impossible to recreate something so grand at home. The ultra-minimal electronic arpeggios are nearly skeletal in nature, provoking a desire for Voigt to supplement the proceedings with a hint of sonic "meat." Occasionally — and this is such a time — less is not necessarily more.