Königsforst

Gas includes: Wolfgang Voigt.
Progressive producers decry the thumping 4/4 of techno as primitive--an encumbrance to rhythmic and structural creativity. Koln's Wolfgang Voigt remains resolutely true to what others regard as the hegemony of 4OTFF (four on the you-know-what floor). The ludicrously prolific Voigt maintains dozens of identities yet never strays from the metronomic mother-beat of all techno. Somehow, though, Voigt's recordings (as Studio Eins, Mike Ink, Pentax, Kreisel, M:I:5, Love Inc, etc, etc) always innovate within their 4/4 confines. Gas is his occasional "ambient" alias. The beat remains the same, but Voigt suffocates it--to supremely atmospheric effect--within woven spectral loops of synth, horn, and woodwind sounds.
The golden gauze of KOENIGSFORST evokes the mist-shrouded Black Forest groves of Teutonic myth. Night slips through pine needles, moonlight projected across still lakes as luminous lacework. Mountains, groaning in ancient repose, throw their shadows over magical midnight workings and sleepy hamlets. Reveille wafts over stony Teutonic battlements--ectoplasmic trumpet voluntaries for galloping ghost cavalries. KOENIGSFORST, Voigt's affectionate ode to legend and heritage, owes far more to the pageantry of Richard Wagner than it does to club culture--its 4/4 beat is as staunch and unwavering as Voigt's proud German heart.