Through a wonderful stroke of good fortune, I am now honored to have claimed a copy of Nah Und Fern for my vinyl library. A milestone compilation – both for Wolfgang Voigt, performing under his legendary moniker GAS, and for the incredible impact the recording had on my own musical experience.
GAS is ambient minimal techno in its purest form. Voigt’s samples are ghostly sonic elements – formless and featureless. There is no melody, no key, no pitch, and no progression for the listener to cling to. Instead, the pieces, (all untitled), pulse steadily in place, with no discernible beginning or end.
Voigt, himself describes it as “GASeous music, caught by a bass drum just marching by, that streams, streams out through the underwood across the forest soil.” The music of these projects were inspired by Voigt’s LSD experiences in the Königsforst forest near Köln.
There are four albums in the GAS project – Gas, Zauberberg, Königsforst and Pop. Released between 1996 and 2000, the albums were later compiled into a 4CD box set titled Nah Und Fern in 2008 on the Kompakt label.
This limited vinyl release consists of four side-long edits, the first of which is exclusive to the LP.
GAS was my initiation into drone music, and led me on a rewarding path of discovery with albums like Jimmy Cauty’s Space, Robert Rich’s Somnium, Black Swan’s vinyl-only releases, and later to Voigt’s own influences – namely Wagner and Schoenberg. A delightful friend and ambient guru first played GAS for me in his bookshop, and the rest was history.
But Nah Und Fern does not come cheap, and I confess that I approached the purchase with some hesitation. Thankfully all my doubts were vanquished when I learned that the gentleman who sold me his copy was a fellow member of the Youtube Vinyl Community!
Critics have called it many things – zero-gravity club music, tunes for lucid dreaming, underwater techno, or as Wire put it, “an outdoor rave, heard floating through the air from a neighbouring village.” One thing is certain – this is drone music at its finest.
The Innerspace Connection 