In this 16th mixtape volume, the Italian-born and Berlin-based experimental producer Andrea Taeggi has prepared a selection of sounds that inspired his last album Mycorrhiza (OOH-sounds, 2020), also including some recordings from the late Sanne van Hek, a dear friend of Taeggi and a great artist.

Taeggi’s work is often categorised under the labels of experimental ambient, techno or minimalist through which he explores the sculptural potential of sound. His research expands the physicality of sound, its tactile quality and implied 3-dimensionality, the grey area between acoustic & electronic sources, the disassociative & hypnotic power of repetition and the fictionality of recorded audio. For his research endeavours, he has been a regular guest-composer at renowned research institutes such as STEIM Amsterdam, EMS Stockholm and Willem-Twee, where he further developed his investigation in analogue synthesis, extended techniques, reel-to-reel tape treatments, recording techniques and composition

Earlier this year, Taeggi has published a new experimental album, this time inspired by Funghi and it’s biological structures. Taeggi shares the album is not written or inspired by the intoxicating use of fungi, rather he observes the cognitive and intelligent behaviour of mycorrhizal fungal roots—one of the great mysteries inhabiting the forest soil, and from which a network of beneficial underground relationships with plants sprouts. A mutualistic symbiosis that Taeggi similarly establishes with the rather rare arsenal of sound machinery he had access to at Willem-Twee synthesis.

He shares that while originally this mix was meant to show the inspirational music that influenced “Mycorrhiza” he also thought of including some material from Sanne van Hek, a dear friend and great artist who passed away much too soon: Sanne and I shared a common fascination for Indonesian gamelan music (she was of Indonesian descent) and both explored ways to re-work those beautiful bell-like sounds and drums...I think you can hear that quite clearly in the mix. It is said that no label ever wanted to release her music, although it was carefully crafted and rhythmically exciting—hopefully, more people will be able to check her work now and realize what they missed. For the rest, I included other artists that were (un)conscious inspiration in the making of Mycorrhiza and others I admire or feel closely related to. Fun fact: the oscillators used in Stockhausen’s seminal “Studie I” are the same I had the privilege to use at Willem-Twee...you can hear them in “Oculus Cordis” on the record—a stately drone track centred around the pristine sine-waves generated by those oscillators.

Tracklist:

Sekaten Gendhing Rangkung Pelog Lima - gamelan of central java, vol. 4- spiritual music

Patamamba, Sur le 3∞ Mode - place : ecuador

Sanne van Hek, Medley 14aug (excerpt) - unreleased

Andrea Taeggi, Kodama - Mycorrhiza

Sanne van Hek, Medley 14aug (excerpt) - unreleased

Burnt Friedman, Sky Speech - Musical traditions in central europe, explorer series vol.4

Andrea Taeggi, Cuttleburrs - Mycorrhiza

Piezo, Blue Light Mama Magic - Perdu

HHY & The Macumbas, Wilderness Of Glass Version - Camouflage Vector: Edits From Live Actions 2017​-​2019

Biosphere, Altostratus - Dropsonde

Bernard Parmegiani, La Roue Ferris (excerpt) - Violostries

Andrea Taeggi, Phantasmagoria - Mycorrhiza

Alexi Perälä, GBBVT1337052 - The Colundi Sequence

Karlheinz Stockhausen, Studie I (excerpt) - Elektronische Musik