Nicolas Wiese started the solo project [-Hyph-] in Hamburg around 2001.
Inspired by media theory and Godard’s principle of the ‚irrational cut‘,
[-Hyph-] was all about irritation by editing – subversive counter-zapping.
Over the years, the cut-up form became less rough’n’rugged, more subtle…

[-Hyph-] discography on discogs

 

Here are some pieces from the [-Hyph-] years (/releases).

 

 

BREATHING GADGETS is a 60 minute composition, which has been aired on
„ONE HOUR AS“ / RESONANCE FM and released on CDR by AIC in late 2004.
it deals with the metaphor of breathing, and with the idea of spoiling, repairing
and simulating the respiratory system by technology.
sound sources ( in this extract ): myself breathing, cello, the voice of VICTORIA
FERNANDEZ, the pneumatic brake of a freight train, self made techno beats
played through a broken speaker and then recorded on magnetic tape.

 

 

WERKEND 20xx (2006) was a contribution for a competiton of the BR
( bavarian broadcast ), unfortunately without success. the concept was to
deliver a contemporary „remake“ of Walter Ruttmann’s legendary sound
collage „WEEKEND“ (1930). i decided to only work with human voices, and apart
from having comprehensible spoken words, to generate sounds from those
voices which can be associated with industrial labour, post industrial labour,
spare time environments and pressure.
the only sound source: voices recorded from BR broadcast.
In 2010, the piece was aired by Swiss radio DRS2.

 

 

PULVERIZE DREAMS (2005-2007) // edit from the 10 minutes opener of the
CD album „ALTER.TENACIO“ out on Tourette Records / Houston, USA.
The source material used: Xylophone, City sound scape recording from Barcelona,
Improvised Double bass / Alto Saxophone duo recording of J. Hughes and L. Scherzberg
This piece features the most excessive moment of my
MAGNETIC TAPE VS. DIGITAL EDITING back and forth exploration.

 

 

GRANULIT 150405 (2005) is another installation soundtrack. The installation
in total was a collaboration with Hans Stuetzer. This edit has been released by
TWISTED KNISTER / Bremen, on a rectangular mini CDR in a cardboard box.
Sound sources: a rusty gate in Barcelona, a short tape-edited string quartet
fragment, field recordings of children playing in a park, myself breathing into
a plastic bottle, myself drumming on the same plastic bottle.

 

 

DISLOCATED STRING QUARTET1 (2002) has been released on the [-hyph-]
debut tape IRRATIONAL CUT RESEARCH VOL.I.
I used a lot of different recordings from string instruments, and manipulated
those recordings via minidisc, cassette tape and magnetic tape. I finally
assembled this „composition“ using one tape deck, two minidisc recorders
and a keyboard triggered AKAI S2000 sampler. No computer and
no multitrack recording used.

 

.

 

THE REALNESS was a plunderphonic concept focussing on acapella rap vocals.
There has been a freedownload release in September 2007 by the netlabel Plakatif, a short historical approach to the ideological notions of
»authenticity« and »street credibility«, in contradiciton to the actual commercialization
of HipHop culture. Including points towards the mythic competitive murders of
2Pac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. Smalls, and the specific role(s) / ambiguities
of female rappers.

 

 

ULTRAPEER (2008 Excerpt) string quartet manipulation. As released on the LP Ultrapeer, Walter Ulbricht Schallfolien.

 

 

VERTIKALZEIT (2007/2008) is a 15 minute composition for manipulated sounds
of string instruments ( violin / viola / cello / double bass ) and has been one of the
winning pieces in the Canadian/German competition JTTP 2009. Details see HERE

 

***

„…this stuff might unsettle, or cancel at least part of your confidences;
it surely makes us think hard about how wrong certain artistic canons are… […]“
MASSIMO RICCI / TOUCHING EXTREMES
„…all jumbled up into a slubby electronic ball and pushed along with sticks.
seems like the base material was probably assembled as much as it was
played per se, but who are we to judge?“
THE WIRE
„…[-hyph-] zappt durch die Kanäle und untermischt die schnarrenden Drones
mit verzerrten TV-Stimmen, Schnipseln von Hardcore und Hip Hop. Zwischen
geheimnisvoll zischelndem Geflüster und gedehntem Gurgeln klimpern
verzerrte Pianoklänge, tschilpen Vögel. Höre ich da so seltsames wie
„Rückwärts geht das Schweigen schneller“? Nur 19:22, aber vollgesaugt
mit einem Zauber, der über das Verstummen hinaus anhält…..“
R.DITTMANN / BAD ALCHEMY
„….silence is hardly an option for him. his collages reminded me a bit of the
good ol’ Brume work. constant shifting the sounds backwards, forward,
upside and reversed, with voices swirling in and out. Very much a work of
musique concrete and electro-acoustics….“
F. DE WAARD / VITAL WEEKLY
„Musique numérique, procédés électroacoustiques, la recette et le mode
opératoire sont sensiblement les mêmes. Le rajout de sonorités acoustiques
non retraitées et reconnaissables apporte cependant un aspect plus organique.
Nicolas Wiese affectionne les variations brutales entre silence et volume sonore
intense. Il faut être sur ses gardes, car le pilote est un peu brusque parfois!
Abstraites, étranges et composées de fragments divers, les compositions sont
parfois lourdes et oppressantes. Du grand art pour un performer autant à l’aise
dans les manipulations analogiques que numériques.
[…..]
Nicolas Wiese semble posséder une vision à 360° et assume très clairement
ses prises de risque.“
SONHORS