Houses of Worship & Brueder Selke – Spiegelpunkte

240329

Spiegelpunkte is the sound of two duos centered around the same notion of free exchange. At the forefront of blending ambient and post-classical genres, the Brueder Selke duo approaches their music through a distinctive sonic lens, rooted in their personal experiences of a split world in the last decade of the Cold War, and their creative handling of the restrictions on daily life in former socialist East Germany.

With Spiegelpunkte, the Selke brothers join forces with their like-minded friends Houses Of Worship, featuring Eric Quach (thisquietarmy) and Jim Demos (Hellenica), both hailing from Montreal and known for their experimental solo projects. Amidst the challenges of the pandemic, Quach & Demos found solace in creating together and spreading passion for projects that transcend conventional boundaries and question the gentrification of their environment.

It's so easy to draw parallels between the two projects and find the mirror point where a new figure emerges. Two nearly 20-minute tracks, where synthesizers, guitar, cello, piano, and soma pipes engage in sonic reflections of timeless timbres. A quadrilateral entity with a shared vision, with musicians at every corner mirroring each other in a subtle dialogue. A symbiosis so audible that it's hard to believe that it hasn't been recorded live in a room.

With Spiegelpunkte, the four artists built their own secret desert, somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic between Potsdam and Montreal.

01 Spiegelpunkte I
02 Spiegelpunkte II

Jim Demos, synthesizer
Eric Quach, guitar
Sebastian Selke, cello
Daniel Selke, piano, soma pipe

Recorded by Houses of Worship at SYP in Montreal (2023)
Recorded by Brueder Selke at Klingenthal Studio in Potsdam (2023)
Mixed and mastered by Jim Demos in Montreal (2023-2024)
Artwork by Minelly Kamemura
Layout by Romain Barbot

Album released on BLWBCK March 29, 2024

Brueder Selke - Q3Ambientfest 2024 (Official Compilation)

240310

The boutique Q3AMBIENTFEST is a musical happening that brings together established and emerging artists from various genres and diverse origins.

It is carefully curated by Brueder Selke, East Berlin-born, Potsdam-based, polyinstrumental composers Sebastian and Daniel Selke, who have become an insider tip as an award-winning cello-piano duo under their pseudonym CEEYS. Throughout the work that has come from this long-term collaboration between the two brothers who grew up on the other side of the Berlin Wall, the essential elements are encounter and exchange.

“We mixed smooth and silent with bright and intense pieces and invite open-minded music lovers to discover today’s contemporary composers and performers featured on Q3A.“ – BS

Music by Janek Sprachta, Cerys Hafana, rouge-ah, Julia Andersson, Midori Hirano, Brueder Selke and many more.

01 YANA - Morning Song
02 Brueder Selke x Eric Maltz - Crossing
03 Corntuth - Letters to my robot son F-001
04 Iván Muela - Unlimned
05 Cerys Hafana - Crwydro
06 Midori Hirano - Aros
07 Brueder Selke - Your Village
08 CEEYS - Wænde
09 Laure Boer - Impro
10 Kinbrae - Isolated Sketch
11 Julia Andersson - Within
12 Adriaan Swerts - Old Shelter
13 Klangriket - Skogsrå
14 Jakob Lindhagen - Under Water
15 Vargkvint - Till Havs
16 rouge-ah - coping
17 Janek Sprachta - Well kept memories
18 Cedric Vermue - We Came And Left

Compiled by Brueder Selke at Klingenthal Studio Potsdam.

Released on Soundwave March 10, 2024

Johanna Pyykkö – My wonderful stranger

240125

Lonely 18-year-old Ebba works in the port of Oslo. One evening, she discovers a handsome man lying on the ground with a head injury. Realising that he has amnesia, she tricks him into believing that they are lovers and builds a world for them based on lies. But little by little, Ebba realises that hers may not be the worst deceit...

Johanna Pyykkö is part Finnish part Swedish and lives in Oslo, Norway. She was Joachim Trier's assistant on Thelma and helped write the successful series Heimebane. Her short film The Manila Lover was presented at the 58th Critics' Week. This is an acerbic yet sensual exploration of the relationships of domination and desire within a love story between a Norwegian man and a Filipino woman. Min fantastiske fremmede (My Wonderful Stranger) was developed at the Critics' Week Next Step workshop in 2019. Its screening this year at Premiers Plans is a world premiere.

Cast: Radoslav Vladimirov, Camilla Godø Krohn
Screenplay: Jørgen Færøy Flasnes, Johanna Pyykkö
Cinematography: Torbjørn Sundal Holen
Music: Delphine Malaussena, Jakob Lindhagen with Vargkvint and Sebastian Selke (Cello)
Production: Bathysphere Productions, Eye Eye Pictures, Garagefilm International, MB17, Oslo Pictures
French distributor: Pyramide 

Released at Göteborg Filmfestival January 25, 2024.

Sebastian Selke – Year Change Mix 23-24

240101

This is “Year Change Mix 23-24” by Sebastian Selke. He has compiled this first part of a double bill mix with his brother Daniel which will be continued with an upcoming “Year Change Mix 24-25” by Daniel Selke at the end of 2024. A swapping dualism between Alpha & Omega, beginning and end:

“While the world is going crazy we mixed bright and intense pieces by some of the most inspiring contemporary composers, uploaded in the beginning of 2024.”

– Sebastian Selke

01 Cedric Vermue – Solace
02 CEEYS - Im Fenster (Midori Hirano Rework)
03 Sadao Watanabe – Morning Island
04 Mabe Fratti – En Medio
05 Vangelis – Antarctica Echoes
06 Brueder Selke – B3lk4 & Str3lk4
07 Kuedo – Sliding Through Our Fingers      
08 Reinhard Lakomy – Die gotischen Narren
09 Vargkvint – Stillhetens hav II

Compiled by Sebastian Selke at Klingenthal Studio, Potsdam.

There are two forms of compilations: a double bill Year Change Mix and the official compilations for Q3Ambientfest.

Self-released January 1, 2024.

Brueder Selke – Belka & Strelka (Official Concert Film)

231222 

The album is named after the two space dogs who for a day circled the Earth on Sputnik 5 on 19 August 1960. Unlike Laika who rode aboard the Sputnik 2 in 1957, Belka and Strelka returned to Earth safe and sound. Together with the mice, rats, and flies who were also on board, they were the first animals to survive a space flight in Earth’s orbit.

Musically, the album is based on their concert at Jazzclub Tonne in Dresden ending of 2022. On the one hand, it was one of the rare performances, with their most extensive live set to date, shortly before the end of the corona pandemic, and on the other hand, it was, after the brothers’ performance at Spectaculare in Palác Akropolis in Prague (which was also recorded) and as the planned follow-up and response to that concert, an opportunity for a more intimate concert among like-minded people.

Concert film directed by Brueder Selke, filmed by Roman Koblov.

Album available worldwide on 24/11/2023.
Order CD/DL/LP on Oscarson. 

Music written and performed by Sebastian & Daniel, Brueder Selke (CEEYS). 

Recorded by the same two guys at Jazzclub Tonne in Dresden.
Mixed by Edward Sikorski at Studio B in Dresden.
Re-recorded on tape by Antonio Pulli at Leiter Studio, Funkhaus Berlin.
Mastered by Chihei Hatakeyama at WPM Studio in Tokyo.

Cover 'Belka & Strelka' by Lala Vaganova.
Copyright Brueder Selke & Oscarson 2023.
Published by Kick The Flame.

www.bruederselke.com  
www.oscarson-label.de
www.kicktheflame.de

Billy Luther - Frybread Face & Me

231124 

It’s 1990. Benny is a Native American boy growing up in San Diego who plays with dolls and listens to Fleetwood Mac. Everything Benny thinks he knows about himself and his family is turned upside down when his parents force him to spend the summer at his Grandma Lorraine’s sheep ranch on the reservation in Arizona.

There he meets his cousin Dawn— AKA Frybread Face, a pudgy 11-year-old vagabond, tough-as-nails tomboy. Benny has never met anyone like her, and he is equally intimidated and impressed by her knowledge of Navajo language and tradition. Benny is introduced to Navajo life on the Rez, and his unruly uncle Marvin. Together, Benny and Fry create a memorable summer.

Director: Billy Luther
Executive Producer: Taika Waititi
Producer: Chad Burris
Screenwriter: Billy Luther
Cinematographer: Peter Simonite
Editor: Fred Kochsman
Production Designer: Jonathon "Robot" Long
Sound Designer: Bob Edwards
Music: Ryan Beveridge
Principal Cast: Keir Tallman, Charley Hogan, Martin Sensmeier, Kahara Hodges, Sarah Natani
Music: Brueder Selke (CEEYS) – Hiddensee

Brueder Selke – Belka & Strelka

231124

In their new video for “B3lk4 & Str3lk4”, the album’s second single, we see a fascinating montage gives us a glimpse of its development as we shadow Seb & Daniel from stage to studio and places in between as the hypnotic track unfolds to exhilarating effect!
Brian Housman, Stationary Travels

Everything here is appealing, from the concept to the cover to the visual and aural execution.
Richard Allen, A Closer Listen

The East Berlin-born, Potsdam-based, polyinstrumental composer duo Brueder Selke, with Sebastian Selke on cello and Daniel Selke on piano, presents their new album and concert film BELKA & STRELKA. It is named after the two space dogs who for a day circled the Earth on Sputnik 5 on 19 August 1960. Unlike Laika who rode aboard the Sputnik 2 in 1957, Belka and Strelka returned to Earth safe and sound. Together with the mice, rats, and flies who were also on board, they were the first animals to survive a space flight in Earth’s orbit.

Musically, the album is based on their concert at Jazzclub Tonne in Dresden ending of 2022. On the one hand, it was one of the rare performances, with their most extensive live set to date, shortly before the end of the corona pandemic, and on the other hand, it was, after the brothers’ performance at Spectaculare in Palác Akropolis in Prague (which was also recorded) and as the planned follow-up and response to that concert, an opportunity for a more intimate concert among like-minded people.

In the concert, alongside Sebastian’s cello from Klingenthal, a Fender Rhodes Mark II was used for the first time, together with electronic instruments from VERMONA as well as an expansive palette of experimental sound generators from SOMA-Laboratory. So it was in this setup dominated by electronic instruments that the only acoustic instrument was the cello, which was likewise extensively modified with Sebastian’s well-known chain of effects using filter, ping-pong, and sequencer.

The pieces are partly familiar compositions that have been further developed and partly new works that meticulously sound out the potential of the acoustic as well as the additional electronic components. All are based on fragmentary compositions that only through the mutual action and reaction in their interplay – through “listening to each other” – become complex but recognisable unities. They were recorded directly from the stage with high-end field recording equipment and several cameras. In the brothers’ Klingenthal Studio, the pieces for the album were then selected and put together using their keen sense of the particular atmosphere in that concert.

The creative, interlocking aspects in the approach of the Selke brothers follow a central idea to which both stay deeply committed: the search for a harmony between musical profession and human existence – transported by a constant balance of the specific elements of their work. In the process, their reductive approach is applied to a contemporary aesthetic based on their personal experiences and handling of the restrictions on daily life in former, socialist East Germany.

As CEEYS, the two brothers have released six albums – three duologies – that tell of episodes from their childhood in the former GDR, which together with the acoustic HAUSMUSIK as well as the corresponding rework album MUSIKHAUS leads to a current positioning, classification, and at the same time also perspective of their work today.

So, just as the two stray dogs Belka and Strelka once roamed the dirty courtyards and rancid back alleys of Moscow, were found, raised up, and prepared for the weightlessness of space, and in the end gave the encouraging impetus for manned spaceflight, and also just as three years later Strelka’s daughter Pushinka was given as a present by the head of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, to the family of John F. Kennedy and went down in history as a reconciliatory gesture between East and West, so the album and concert film BELKA & STRELKA tries longingly and at the same time weightlessly to confront and finally surmount the subject of division and separation.

After the release of their hybrid album duology THE GRUNEWALD CHURCH SESSION as CEEYS beginning of 2022 and MARIENBORN as Brueder Selke ending of 2022, which in their line-up and production process can be seen as a turning point in the work of the collaborative duo, the two long-term musical partners present for the first time pieces in an album and concert film format – though it is now their second time using their real names and, at the same time, the first time as a pure live recording.

BELKA & STRELKA  is the second project to be recorded on a live stage. The record was given into the gifted hands of Edward Sikorski, who mixed the material at his Studio B in Dresden, of Antonio Pulli who re-recorded the album on tape at Leiter Studio and of Chihei Hatakeyama, who mastered the record at his boutique WPM studio in Tokyo.

Tracklist
01 Stray Around The Cosmos
02 Soyuz
03 Wendepunkte
04 Vor den Toren der Sternenstadt
05 B3lk4 & Str3lk4
06 Cemëpka
07 Berge & Taeler
08 Caroline's Present

Credits
Concert Film Project
Produced by Brueder Selke

All music written and performed by Brueder Selke

Recorded by Sebastian Selke at Jazzclub Tonne in Dresden, November 2022

Mixed by Edward Sikorski at Studio B
Re-Recorded to tape by Antonio Pulli at Leiter Studio
Mastered by Chihei Hatakeyama at WPM Studio

Cover illustrated by Lyalya VaganovaConcert Photograph by Roman Koblov
Design & Layout by Daniel Selke and Matthias Rehling & Claus Dressler 

Thanks to Christian Waaga
teffen Wilde & Everyone at Jazzclub Tonne
Matthias Rehling & Claus Dressler at Oscarson
dward Sikorski, Antonio Pulli, Chihei Hatakeyama

Roman Koblov, Lyalya Vaganova
William Chang, Torsten Posselt
Levin Haegele, Salvador Vanegas
Johannes-Jeremias Blackstein
hristian Radtke & Everyone at Tines and Reeds
Vlad Kreimer & Everyone at SOMA Laboratory
Susanne Stephan
Rajk Barthel & Everyone at Kick the Flame
Everyone at Tobira Records, Everyone at Norman Records
Everyone at Bis aufs Messer, Everyone at The Business
Everyone at Motorpool, Everyone at Inpartmaint
James Vella & Everyone at Five Worlds
Our like-minded friends and beloved family 

Dedicated to our dear parents Harald & Gabriele

For Alma Lucia *22.02.2019

℗ & © 2023 Oscarson Germany
Published by Kick the Flame Publishing

All rights reserved, Made in the EU
LC30329 OSCNO50

Album released on Oscarson November 24, 2023

Brueder Selke – Go East

231115

Brueder Selke, a polyinstrumental composer duo originally from East Berlin, consistently enriches the repertoire of their two primary instruments: cello and piano. Their independent curator role shines through as they frequently host boutique concerts and happenings, featuring both established and emerging artists during their yearly Q3Ambientfest.

'Go East' marks a significant milestone in the long-term collaboration of Brueder Selke, two brothers who grew up on the socialist side of the Berlin Wall. The tracks are driven by the essential components of a restored Piano-Strings machine, along with two electronic organs named Sandy and the ET6-1, and a E-Piano, all manufactured by Vermona in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Their innate sense of interplay, developed during their upbringing in GDR times, stems from a deep-rooted longing for connection and exchange with like-minded musicians and individuals. Through their music, they convey ideas that embrace a universal duality, showcasing how diverse elements harmoniously complement each other. The album encompasses a wide range of atmospheric moods, from intimate classical chamber music to expansive textural landscapes created by these now rarely intact socialist synthesizers, with their parameters mimicking strings and keyboard instruments. In this ironic and thoughtful manner, Sebastian and Daniel once again skilfully let their main instruments, cello and piano, merge into one another.

'Go East' aptly reflects the artist's profoundly experimental yet accessible approach, making it their 8th duo album. The 2x2 recordings were produced in their Klingenthal Studio in Potsdam in February 2022.


Tracklist
01 Brueder Selke - When Things Fall Apart (Vermona Piano-Strings)
02 Brueder Selke - Nikita’s Song (Vermona Sandy)
03 Brueder Selke - Sanseveria (Vermona ET 6-1)
04 Brueder Selke - Kontaktring (Vermona E-Piano)

Credits
Composed, performed, recorded and mixed by Brueder Selke
Mastered by Luca Sammartin
Artwork by Contronatura

Album released on One Instrument November 15, 2023.

Brueder Selke – Monday is OK Mix

231113

„Think of it as a double-sided MC with earlier & more recent, traditional & contemporary, acoustic & electronic, organic & synthetic music, from established & emerging, at least seemingly like-minded colleagues & friends.“ Brueder Selke

  1 Isao Tomita - The Great Gate of Kiev
  2 Brueder Selke - When Things Fall Apart
  3 CEEYS - Im Fenster (Midori Hirano Rework)
  4 Anne Müller – Heliopause
  5 Stefano Guzzetti - While you sleep
  6 Sadao Watanabe - Morning Island
  7 Kinbrae - Isolated Sketch
  8 John Metcalfe – Night
  9 CEEYS - Rueber ft Martyn Heyne
 10 Sophie Hutchings – Anchor
 11 Corntuth - Letters to my robot son F-001
 12 Shinya Sugimoto & Jeremy Young - Fiction 4
 13 Ben Lukas Boysen – Der Fall Collini
 14 CEEYS - Circa (Marina Baranova Rework)
 15 Ed Carlsen – Loose
 16 Illuminine - Patterns, Erase
 17 Donato Dozzy - Slow Train Part 1
 18 Takeshi Nishimoto – Straßenlaterne
 19 Carlos Cipa - Secret Longing
 20 Library Tapes – Silhouettes
 21 CEEYS - Fallen (Ben Lukas Boysen Rework)
 22 Christoph Berg – Grief
 23 Twin Color - Going Home
 24 Lisa Morgenstern – Metamorphoses
 25 Andrea Belfi - Oggetti Creano Forme
 26 Dirk Markham - Our Condition
 27 Paddy Mulcahy – Runway
 28 Vangelis - Antarctica Echoes
 29 Enzo Caterino – Live for Q3Ambientfest
 30 Marco Caricola - Bright Star
 31 Kelly James Wyse – ssSwan
 32 Mike Oldfield - First Excursion
 33 Hania Rani – Esja
 34 Masayoshi Fujita – Requiem
 35 Brueder Selke – Alpha & Omega
 36 Sarah Davachi - Hall of Mirrors
 37 Diane Barbé - Terra Sonus
 38 Brueder Selke x Eric Maltz - Crossing
 39 Tim Linghaus - I Was Atoms And Waves
 40 Frank Bretschneider - Subharchorded Waves
 41 Clemens Christian Poetzsch – Belvedere
 42 AVAWAVES – Mulholland
 43 LAVALU - GINGER NIGHT
 44 Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto - Vrioon
 45 CEEYS - Strelka (Simon Goff Rework)
 46 Aidan Baker - The Sea Swells A Bit 2006
 47 F. S. Blumm - Mage (from Kiss Dance Kiss)
 48 Marc Marcovic feat. F.S. Blumm - Shalom Saddam
 49 Reinhard Lakomy - Der Traum von Asgard
 50 Ben Osborn - The Fire
 51 Snowdrops - Mémoires élémentaires
 52 Poppy Ackroyd – Suspended
 53 Chikiss - Ему не взять
 54 Jonny Greenwood - Future Markets
 55 Pianofield – Sun
 56 Simeon Walker – Ache
 57 Marie Awadis - Lounas Waltz
 58 CEEYS - No Eins (Hoshiko Yamane Rework)
 59 Kuedo - Infinite Window
 60 Lau Nau – Nukahtamislaulu
 61 Colin Stetson & Sarah Neufeld - Never Were the Way
She Was
 62 CEEYS - Belka (David Allred Rework)
 63 CEEYS - Hover, Over, Me
 64 Heinali – Beatrice
 65 Resina - Horse Tail
 66 Laure Boer – Impro
 67 Ell Kendall and The London Ambient Orchestra –
Sunlight
 68 CEEYS - Yes, Brick By Brick (Mara Simpson Rework)
 69 Will Samson – Arpy
 70 Melodilalia - Nie Mam
 71 Vaghy – vita
 72 Vargkvint - Stillhetens hav II
 73 Hauschka - Pripyat
 74 Simon Ansing - If Only I Had An Elevator
 75 Villemin – Sirens
 76 James Heather – Glimmer
 77 Andi Otto - Gold-Detector
 78 Liam Byrne - Nico Muhly's Drones
 79 Brueder Selke - Berge & Taeler
 80 Thomas Ankersmit - Serge Modular
 81 Perila – barefeeter
 82 Brueder Selke - B3lk4 & Str3lk4
 83 Ale Hop – Untitled
 84 CEEYS – BELKA
 85 Robert Ames & Ben Corrigan - Space Hopper
 86 Farewell Modhachaidh [Ben Corrigan Remix]
87 Mia Brentano - Silver Rain
88 Yair Elazar Glotman - A Child
 89 CEEYS - Plans
90 Brigid Mae Power - Counting Down
 91 Tom Blankenberg – acnor
 92 Simon McCorry – Spheric
 93 Lucas Alvarado - Karl Friedrich Abel
 94 Nathan Shubert – Folds
95 5 String Theory - Summer Particle
96 Thisquietarmy x Hellenica – Migration
 97 Hior Chronik - In The Morning I'll Be With You
 98 Alex Stolze – Sinai
 99 Machinefabriek – Instuif
100 CEEYS – Wænde
101 Julia Reidy - Of Neither
102 Alex Stolze feat. Ben Osborn, Anne Müller – Babylon
103 Hélène Vogelsinger - Metaphysical Alteration
104 Sofi Paez – Preludio
105 Laura Cannell - Someone Will Remember us in Another
Time
106 Grand River - All There Now
107 Mabe Fratti - En Medio
108 Cedric Vermue - Solace
109 Johannes Malfatti - Cloud Sketches III
110 Brueder Selke - Marienborn’
111 CEEYS x Constant Presence – Nothing Special
112 Sergio Díaz De Rojas – Porcelain
113 CEEYS - Hiddensee

Total: 03h12min.

 

Who/Where/What are you?

We are the brothers Sebastian & Daniel Selke. Mostly on rainy days like today we love to develop ideas for new projects, albums, collaborations and concert formats – to discuss and share in a permanent exchange. This happens at the new standing studio desk in our Klingenthal Studio in the UNESCO Creative City of Film Potsdam in geographic and historic proximity to our birthplace. We were born in the former socialist German Democratic Republic in East Berlin as the Wall was already beginning to totter.

While Sebastian works as acting principal cellist in the Babelsberg Film Orchestra, Daniel holds a chair in piano chamber music at the State Music School and leads several choirs. Only recently did we found our first chamber orchestra, named simply Hausorchester, and regularly perform mostly choral symphonic works like, for example, the Carmina Burana. It’s just the beginning though.

Sebastian has a four-year-old daughter, the cellist-to-be Alma Lucia.

Together we compose, play, record and publish pieces as we expand the repertoire of our long-standing cello-piano duo collaboration. We also curate and produce cosy happenings to meet other like-minded people and to exchange ideas with these creative colleagues on and off the stage.

 

Tell us about the Monday mixtape you’ve put together for us. 

Think of it as a double-sided MC with earlier & more recent, traditional & contemporary, acoustic & electronic, organic & synthetic music, from established & emerging, at least seemingly like-minded colleagues & friends.

 

If it were to be drawn what would it look like? 

How beautiful dynamic waveforms should look. A finely nuanced landscape of mountains & valleys, maybe a river or a stream ;-)

 

If it were a food what would it be? 

Possibly an original and freshly tossed bowl full of A for Aubergine to Z for Zucchini, or maybe a colourful, appetising Japanese meal rolled in small creatively formed bundles.

 

What would be the ideal setting to listen to the mix?

When we’re curating our events, we always try to create a comfortable atmosphere, complete with nice cushions, blankets or oriental carpets. Our suggestion for your individual listening experience: find a trusted, intimate corner of your flat – yeah (laughs) – be it in the bathtub or on the toilet. Choose your personal comfort zone. If you’re using headphones, go to the park and find a duck pond.

We love discovering abandoned concrete ruins in the city. It has to do with our nostalgic memories and feelings. As children, we grew up among these Plattenbaus, at home and in school.


What should we be wearing?

Wear at least something, and always what you choose. Above all, be comfortable.


Where was it recorded?

In our Klingenthal Studio we make everything music related. Besides the sounds, we also enjoy the smell of our freshly painted and finished wooden furniture.

 

How do you feel about Mondays in general, excited… or?

One of our concert series was called KOSMOSKONZERTE and always took place on Mondays. We love to start the week with inspiration and have always tried to see Mondays as the last day of the weekend and at the same time as a blank page.

 

Who got you hooked on electronic music?

In the former GDR, music from the Western hemisphere was for us quasi unreachable. We listened to old and contemporary masters and today still love especially the works of the classic Russian composers, particularly for their complex rhythm and cinematic epic. We also loved playing the music of Debussy, above all his chamber music.

But especially smooth music from Japan, for example with the sax notes from Sadao Watanabe on Morning Island, was every time like music from another star. It was with extra care that our loving parents too handled each and every record with new music. And so we discovered their record collection not only passively as listeners but from very early on actively, developing our own fine feeling for these gems.

Early on, the timeless soundtracks from Vangelis and his Short Stories with Jon Anderson played for us a profoundly moving role, and also the multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield, yeah, we were very excited about his guitar playing and how he adopted a wide range of musical styles from classical to ambient back then. In the early 1990s, cassettes with electronic dance music were being passed around in school daily and so became, alongside our first classical attempts on the cello and piano, the precursor to our second musical passion: our enthusiasm for synthesisers.

Only later did we discover GDR electronic music veterans such as Frank Bretschneider and Carsten Nicolai as Alva Noto. And we are still captivated fans of both of them today.

We were surprised when we found out about the electronic music experiments of Reinhard Lakomy who we until then only knew as the prominent creator of the magnificently visionary and subtly composed storytelling songs for children in the former GDR. (Alma Lucia already sings along to them with gusto.)

 

Who would you say are your biggest influences and what are you hoping to achieve with your music?

Ultimately, we received a pivotal push from Radiohead and Jonny Greenwood’s scores, one which turned our whole production approach on its head.

This dynamic mix of past and present and at the same time a sustained flow of inspiration through encounters and exchanges with like-minded people inspired and inspires our play with acoustic and electronic compositions. In the end, it made sense to seek out old GDR synthesisers, to rebuild them anew, and similarly to work anew with them compositionally, as we’re currently doing with the album “Go East”.

We poke around in all kinds of genres, whereby above all it was the minimalist compositions and the slower pad-based types of electronic music that moved and still moves us.

Inspired by the sheer infinite variations, we’ve once again immersed ourselves in our classically trained instruments and continue searching, as we’ve always done, for alternative playing techniques to transfer the textures and pulses one knows from electronic music to our acoustic companions and to recreate them mechanically. At the same time, the socialist stringmachines and E-pianos should be playable without pre-set sequences and so be immediately tangible.

Such dual interplays interest us in our work as a duo. And the levels seem also somehow to melt together: cello and piano, classic and modern, past and present, encounter and exchange, artist and audience. You can keep going, for example, the mixtape as a whole, but also as a product of phenomenal individual performances.

Altogether, it seems to be about nothing less than the balance in our lives as a whole – mountains and valleys, micro- and macrocosmos as a balanced waveform of ups and downs.

The answers to our questions, our search for them, are unfortunately or fortunately never so concrete – nor should it be. Instead we get from our neverending search more and more a feeling of and between certainty and uncertainty, and with it at least an idea of what the creation of our world and that which holds it together could mean.


What were your original aspirations as musicians and how do you think you're shaping up?

In the beginning, we were above all classically trained musicians on cello and piano. We were for a time happy to be able to study and play these instruments, each for himself. But we realised already early on that solo careers were not for us. Rather, from the beginning, it was about chamber music. Alongside competitions in the traditional sense, in the end it was occasional musical gigs, from birthday parties to funerals, that showed us a financial perspective. Alongside this understandable approach, there appeared in the daily rehearsals moments that soon went beyond the familiar repertoire. Soon we were improvising freely with each other, even at these predominantly small church concerts.

We wanted to hold on to that. So we developed an interest in recording techniques and studio work in general. After our musical studies – Sebastian in Berlin, Daniel in Leipzig – and our first engagements in orchestras, we quickly found our way back together. Now we play only our own music, and then from 2016 also with our small boutique Q3Ambientfest.

We now understand the music and all its surrounding elements from recording to organising our own events as the universal key to the hearts of like-minded friends and companions.


Some self help questions for a Monday: 

Am I excited to dive into the challenges that I have lined up for the week?

Nowadays we look forward to every coming week and divide our tasks fairly between us and over the days. During the week as well, we try for a balance between work and free time, deadlines and extended jam sessions. Right now we are working on our upcoming releases, “Go East” and “Belka & Strelka”.


Am I looking forward to engaging with the people I am meeting or working with?

That depends on what “people” you mean. Colleagues, always, because something exciting always develops from that. Our favourite is meeting people in person, although even with that there are different levels, and we’re not even talking about the Tax Office… (laughs).

 

Am I going to my dream job?

We made sure early on that our day jobs also at least have something to do with music, with our instruments. So we’re at least speaking the same language. In that respect even when we’re working with students we can still think about our personal projects as Brueder Selke, in this context, for example, on our planned music books. In collaborations between the film orchestra and other artists we are constantly learning interesting aspects of the interactions between the group and soloists.


Am I being compensated fairly for the value I bring to my job?

Fortunately, we’re able to support each other too on this sensitive aspect of a musician’s life. We simply stick together, and our thoughts, tasks and goals unite us through the joint concerts and events. These days, as event organisers with high standards, you can be happy just to break even financially. Of course it’s also fun, but still rent and utilities, clothing, food and drinks have to be paid like everywhere else. So we share the load – and the joy – across both our shoulders, and bank accounts.

 

Do I feel energised, rested, and confident?

We think so. But the breaks are important – not only in the music, but in life in general. They should be regular, in small, short instalments, so not too long, but commensurate with the workload.


If you were trapped on a desert island with one other person, who would you choose? How long would it be before you eat them?

Well, the two of us are already there, so we’re just missing the cellist-to-be Alma Lucia, Sebastian’s daughter, Daniel’s niece – that’s a nice trio for the island… “Hiddensee”, that’s it (laughs).

We love having each other for dinner. Classic.


Your doctor says you need more exercise… what do you take up for exercise?

This just in: We’re starting regular swimming lessons with Alma Lucia.

 

If you could travel in time… where in time would you go? Why? 

Not too far back. But we would love to experience our first years again. At the same time, with Alma we’re living through everything again in a way. So really no reason for too much nostalgia and definitely no “ostalgia”. There’s a time for everything, and we feel pretty comfortable with where we are.


What was the first electronic record you heard and how did it make you feel?

Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” – interpreted by Isao Tomita. Classical music was, is and remains a constant element in our work. But we’ll never forget the moment when classical elements became electronic variables. A completely new perspective, a perspective that led us to new ideas.

 

How does your brain work when making music? How does it work when you aren’t?

In the different work phases, rehearsal is of course unavoidable. But now we try to structure the rehearsals as openly as possible. Which means we look for a “carefree state”, beyond ideas of perfection, instead with a perfect permeation of our musical ideas, until our improvisation is only controlled by action and reaction and not pre-determined structures that must be followed.

 

What were the first and last records you bought?

We were constantly surrounded by music. In the beginning records, then cassettes, finally CDs. And there were always more being added. It continues to this day. Against the trend, we still see the CD format also as a haptic Gesamtkunstwerk. Almost every day there’s a new album. Now, not always in physical form, but ideally yes, on stage at our boutique happenings to which artists intensively dedicate themselves and their creative approaches.

 

What are you obsessed with at the moment?

We have the good fortune to be able to look forward to and get excited about our own projects again and again. It just still means the world to us to be able to present our own statement with a recording and artwork, and with it to stimulate colleagues and friends to enter again into conversation with us and exchange experiences. Right now, we are quite proud and happy about our two new albums “Go East” and “Belka & Strelka”. “Go East” is for us a small pearl of a record on Aimée Portioli’s brilliant One-Instrument and a really successful minimalistically subtle and mystical, almost retro-futuristic visualisation of a GDR mosaic with the title “Man Conquers the Cosmos”. Marco Ciceri created the visualisation based on photos from our “house and court photographer” Roman Koblov. The mosaics themselves are from the grandfather of Paul Kalkbrenner and can still be visited in Potsdam. “Belka & Strelka” is our first attempt to record and capture a concert on film.

 

What's your answer to everything?

Balance.

 

Anything else we need to discuss?

Keep your senses and especially your ears open. Stay in time. Drop us a line if you’re interested in a collaboration with us or want to introduce us to an artist with an exciting project in Potsdam. We are lost in Potsdam and it is only an hour away with the car from the centre of Berlin and easy to reach on the S-Bahn or the Regio. Write us, or just come by!  

Alles Liebe
Sebastian & Daniel

Released on Ransom Note November 13, 2023

Vargkvint – Stillhetens Hav II (w Brueder Selke)

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Alongside Antonio Pulli’s guiding hand, and of course Lindhagen’s vital contributions – “He’s my co-writer and co-producer, and was with me all the time in the studio as well as playing a lot of the instruments” – Nystrand is joined by Daniel and Sebastian Selke, a German brother duo known for their CEEYS and Brueder Selke projects. “We decided to try out ‘Stillhetens hav II,” she grins, “and that first take turned out so special we used it as the single. It was one of those days where everything connected.”

LEITER is proud to announce a new album by Sweden’s Vargkvint, the solo project by multi-artist Sofia Nystrand. ‘Månens Hav’ is the follow up to her 2019 debut ‘Hav’, and it’s co-produced and engineered by Grammy Award-winning Antonio Pulli at LEITER’s studio in Berlin’s celebrated Funkhaus complex. Released on June 2, 2023 via all digital platforms, it’s preceded by a single, ‘Stillhetens hav II’, accompanied by a stop-animated video made by Nystrand herself.

‘Månens Hav’, with its transparently related title, maintains the fascination that lay behind Nystrand’s debut, and it’s one that’s hardly surprising. Growing up in the Swedish archipelago of Roslagen, she lived close by the harbour where ferries arrive from Finland, and her bedroom window offered a clear view out over the ocean. ‘Hav’ took its name from the Swedish for ‘the sea’, and though she lives in Stockholm now, its power and mythology remain a constant companion. “When I’m not close,” she confesses, “I feel a bit disoriented.”

She’s quick to point out, nonetheless, “It wasn’t always about sun, blue skies and warmth. Winds can pull boats from the harbour out to sea, and fog can creep over the bay so you can’t see the other side.” On her second album, as on ‘Hav’, one can hear this tug – between beauty and brutality, awe and fear, magic and sorcery – in the gentle contrast of ‘Drömmarnas hav’’s delicate piano with the eerie sound of a musical saw, or the way ‘Stormarnas ocean’ accelerates, her crystal-like voice carried away by a swell of cellos and an undertow of mysterious static. It’s there, too, in ‘Stillhetens hav II’’s increasingly sombre mood and ‘Gränslandets hav’’s faintly ominous stillness, and indeed throughout this haunting album, which floats in a netherworld where ambient, folk, new classical, goth, new age, and even dreampop co-exist. Its title, however, betrays the fact that this time she’s journeyed far beyond her debut into otherworldly realms. ‘Månens Hav’, you see, means ‘Oceans of the Moon’.

 

Nystrand didn’t always intend to explore intertwined themes across multiple records. “I honestly wasn’t interested in following up the marine concept,” she admits. “It was more as if the new concept found me.” It did so in a lunar map hanging in a cottage belonging to the family of her husband and collaborator, multi-instrumentalist Jakob Lindhagen. “Early astronomers,” she continues, “thought the darker parts were oceans which they gave very romantic, dramatic names such as the ‘Ocean of Storms’ or ‘The Sea of Tranquility’. I became a bit obsessed with the special connection the moon has with the earth, so it became a fresh white canvas to project all my thoughts on.”

 

She saw, in particular, an opportunity to respond to her fears for the earth. “All of the titles that end with ‘hav’ are different ‘oceans’ on the moon,” she elaborates, “but today we know they’re not actually oceans, which tingled my imagination. Science today says that the moon was probably once part of the earth, and when you think of how climate change might affect our planet you can see the moon as a ‘ghost-earth’, a place with deserts, swinging between extremely hot and extremely cold, and oceans that have dried out.”

 

These are links explored in her video for ‘Stillhetens hav II’, but less gloomy themes whetted her appetite too. “The moon has an obvious connection to femininity and the female cycle,” she continues. “Three tracks – ‘Selene’, ‘Artemis’ and ‘Hecate’ – are named after Greek goddesses symbolised by the moon and connected to the life and roles women take on.” All this cosmological talk stimulated further thoughts of mankind’s vaulting ambition and “the sad fact that, since that first landing about 50 years ago, no woman has ever set foot on the moon.” At times, she worked to a soundtrack of recordings downloaded from NASA’s website to set an appropriate mood. “I wanted to capture the feeling I got watching those documentaries,” she says. “’Stormarnas ocean’ is an abstract reflection on the technology left on the moon and floating around in space, broken, and ‘Gränslandets hav’ is a lament for people who died for the race to space.”

 

Space was crucial to ‘Månens Hav’ in another way, too. “I can’t underline enough how much the sound of the album was affected by it being recorded where it was recorded,” Nystrand enthuses. “LEITER’s studio is such a special place, so big and beautiful, and the ceiling is so high the natural reverb makes you feel like you’re floating.” She was invited there after contributing to the label’s first Piano Day compilation, and immediately understood the opportunities. “On my previous album I recorded almost everything on my own, in my home studio and other borrowed spaces, then mixed and produced it with Jakob. I think it took me a year to finalise, doing everything very DIY. With this I wanted to capture as much as possible live, together, in this incredible atmosphere where you can use the room as its own instrument, and it was recorded in only four days.”

 

Distantly echoing the (ghost-)world building of similarly ethereally-minded acts – like This Mortal Coil, Agnes Obel, múm, Cranes, Sigur Rós and amiina – ‘Månens Hav’ finds Vargkvint gazing up at the moon to explore its dark side and illusions. It’s still, though, the product of a vivid imagination first given free rein by a day-dreaming youngster gazing down at a shoreline and marvelling at the sea’s almighty power. “Sitting in my room as a kid, making up stories and fantasising about unknown creatures in the fog… I think that’s still where my creativity comes from: all my own little worlds…”

 

01 Stillhetens hav I
02 Drömmarnas hav
03 Stormarnas hav
04 Selene
05 Artemis
06 Hecate
07 Stillhetens hav II
08 Gränslandets hav
09 Molnens hav

 

Single released on Leiter April 28, 2023
Album released on Leiter June 02, 2023.

Daniel Selke - Year Change Mix 22-23

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After the Year Change Mix 21-22 by Sebastian Selke uploaded at the beginning of 2022, his brother Daniel has compiled this second part of the double bill mix which will be continued now with this Year Change Mix 22-23 by Daniel Selke. A swapping dualism between Alpha and Omega, beginning and end:

„While the world is on the loudest peak we mixed smooth and silent pieces by some of the most inspiring contemporary composers, uploaded at the beginning of 2023.“ – Daniel Selke

01 James Heather - Glimmer
02 Marie Awadis - Lounas Waltz
03 Grand River - All There Now
04 Hoshiko Yamane - Threads
05 Brueder Selke - Your Village
06 Mabe Fratti - En Medio
07 CEEYS – Wænde
08 Sinemis – Gazel
09 Jakob Lindhagen - Rewritten
10 Vargkvint - Utåt
11 Johannes Malfatti - Cloud Sketches III
12 CEEYS - Helikopter
13 Laura Cannell - Someone Will Remember us in Another Time
14 Greg Haines - Snow Airport (For Piano)
15 Sergio Díaz De Rojas – Porcelain
16 Laure Boer - Départ de Berlin
17 perila – barefeeter
18 Kinbrae & Clare Archibald - Half Seen Truths of the M90
19 midori hirano - Night Traveling
20 Alice Baldwin - kreisreise_in_progress_xx
21 Takeshi Nishimoto – Straßenlaterne
22 Hauschka - Late Summer
23 CEEYS – Hiddensee
24 Library Tapes - Silhouettes

Compiled by Daniel Selke at Klingenthal Studio, Potsdam.

There are two forms of compilations:
a double bill YEAR CHANGE MIX and the official compilations for Q3AMBIENTFEST.

Self-released January 1, 2023.

Listen here

Resonance Extra - Injazero #49 - Brueder Selke Guest Mix

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For us, who once grew up behind the Iron Curtain in East Berlin, the most inspiriting moment remains the encounter & exchange with other like-minded people.

We are happy to e-meet you here, in the hope that we will soon get to know each other in person. Until then, feel invited to follow this collaborative approach by

listening to our choice of established and emerging artists that we invited to share the stage with us in Filmstadt Potsdam at one of our cosy happenings.

Our guest mix for Sinés fine Injazero series on Resonance Extra includes tracks from our catalogue we released under our Alias CEEYS but also actual music from Marienborn our debut as Brueder Selke which we released in November (111122).

Do not hesitate to discuss projects & bookings by leaving us a short message or signing up on our website bruederselke.com to simply stay in touch.

Alles Liebe
Sebastian & Daniel

 

01 David Allred - For Catherine E. Coulson (Solo Piano)
02 James Heather - Glimmer
03 Sinemis – Gazel
04 Laura Cannell - Someone Will Remember us in Another Time
05 Brueder Selke - Marienborn - 08 - Your Village
06 Mabe Fratti - En Medio
07 Liam Byrne - Somnoptera (Valgeir Sigurðsson)
08 Ale Hop - Havel River’
09 Jakob Lindhagen - Rewritten
10 Vargkvint - Utåt
11 Grand River - All There Now
12 Lau Nau – Kuula
13 Heinali - Rondine
14 Anne Müller - Heliopause
15 Mara Simpson - Exit Plan
16 Laure Boer - Départ de Berlin
17 Library Tapes - Silhouettes
18 CEEYS – Wænde
19 Andi Otto - Amahamba
20 Hoshiko Yamane - Threads
21 Marie Awadis - Lounas Waltz
22 CEEYS - Helikopter
23 Sergio Díaz De Rojas – Porcelain
24 Diane Barbé - Terra Sonus
25 Echo Collective - Glitch
26 midori hirano - Night Traveling
27 perila – barefeeter
28 Johannes Malfatti - Cloud Sketches III
29 Resina – In
30 Simon McCorry – Driftwood
31 Takeshi Nishimoto – Straßenlaterne
32 Martyn Heyne – Sparks
33 Hauschka - Late Summer
34 CEEYS – Hiddensee
35 Kinbrae & Clare Archibald - Half Seen Truths of the M90

 

Released on Injazero Records December 01, 2022.

Listen here

Brueder Selke – Marienborn

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Ein expressionistisches Werk mit musikalischer Seele. Ein immersives Ambiente voller Tiefgang und emotionaler Bandbreite. Zwei Musiker mit Herz und tiefer Seele, die es vermutlich nur einmal auf dieser Erde gibt. Dafür sollte man dankbar sein, die Mischung aus Ambient und Neoklassik wird man noch Generationen nach uns hoffentlich zu schätzen wissen. Auf ihrem neuen Werk „Marienborn“ beweisen die Brueder Selke, dass sie noch sehr viel zu erzählen haben in der Zukunft und ihr Weg immer weiter an die Spitze der zeitgenössischen Künstler in der klassischen Musik führt. Best of 2022.

André Schönauer, Gezeitenstrom

 

Subtle piano noises, fingers grazing strings, intimate and expansive drones.

Mike Lazarev, Headphone Commute

Musically inventive, picturesque and intelligent in a curiously subtle way.

Written for piano and strings, the composition is as nonchalant as it is elegant and brilliant, taking you through its dynamically rich course filled with originality and pure musical delight. What makes CEEYS stand out most is probably the immense amount of nerve loaded into each bar of their creation, which is then finely balanced with the aforementioned appreciation for elegance and universal beauty - making it all extremely digestible.

It is a unique approach that not only characterizes their solo recordings but has made them sought after as collaborators on high-profile music libraries as well, elements of which surface in the new record.

Brian Housman, Stationary Travels

 

Brueder Selke is an overlooked but highly intriguing duo from the old East Berlin. The Selke brothers - Sebastian and Daniel (who have previously released music under the name CEEYS) - compose and perform their own compositions together as poly-instrumentalists. The two are obviously inspired by Icelandic Ólafur Arnalds and German Nils Frahm. But you are also listening to something original - a living organism; a form of music that is constantly evolving and yet has a clear and consistent core. The music is aesthetically beautiful, bordering on form-fulfilling, mixed to perfection with layer upon layer upon layer.

Ivan Rod

 

An manchen Stellen greifen die Stücke einen direkt bei der Seele ("Division" ist so ein eindrucksvoller Moment), während andernorts so etwas wie ein natürlicher Fluss der Töne entsteht ("Transit Traffic").

Daniel Dreßler, Unterton

 

The East Berlin-born, Potsdam-based polyinstrumental composer duo Brueder Selke, Sebastian Selke on cello and Daniel Selke on piano, also known by their award-winning alias CEEYS, presents the unusual piano duo album MARIENBORN. It is named after the former Grenzuebergangsstelle Marienborn (border crossing Marienborn), which is a memorial today. Musically the album is mainly based on a selection of special samples. On the one hand, these come from a library that the two produced on commission for the Canadian content provider LandR. The second package of the series, Prepared Piano internally called GO EAST II - Pianos, centers on two upright pianos from Daniel's childhood that he still plays today. One was built in the former GDR by Alexander Herrmann at VEB Deutsche Piano Union Leipzig and was damped here with moderator and felt. The other piano was made by the Steck company, a subsidiary brand of Aeolian Piano, a large number of which were made in Gotha, also in East Germany. The loops of the pianos were first meticulously composed and recorded at the Brueder Selke's Klingenthal Studio in Potsdam. Then they were variously edited and combined for the album. Coupled with a fine feeling for asymmetrical time signatures and tempos, as known from electronic genres, a number of dual effects, such as ping-pong delay, a stereo spring reverb and finally a sequenced analog filter are used and finally travel through a quartet of legendary elaborately restored RFZ preamplifiers. Thus, the entire working method follows the aesthetics of analog recordings on the one hand, but digital production techniques in post-processing on the other. The free overlaying of different phrases, lets the two pianos merge and sound like ONE instrument. In addition to the pianos, textures of a virtual string quartet become audible, masterfully created by Ólafur Arnalds and Viktor Orri Árnason, for which Sebastian had played the cello part at the time. A finely adjusted backdrop of subtle pedal noises from the pianos, fingers that only gently graze the strings, and last but not least, small framing drones from the string quartet put the album in a suspended state between intimacy and expansiveness.

 

The creatively interlocking approach of Brueder Selke follows a meaning-giving idea to which both remain deeply committed, searching for harmony between musical profession and human existence through a constant balance of elements of their works. Their approach of reduction is applied to a contemporary aesthetic based on their personal experiences and dealing with the everyday constraints of life in what was then socialist East Germany. As CEEYS, both have released six albums and three dilogies, respectively, under the radar, so to speak, recounting episodes of their childhood in the former GDR, and under which the acoustic HAUSMUSIK and the accompanying rework MUSIKHAUS lead to a current positioning, classification and perspective of their work today. 

 

“Just as the former checkpoint facilitated the transition between the two German states, the album MARIENBORN, with its purposefully placed delicate textures, minimalist figures and an intimately rooted sense of it, seeks to address and overcome separation and division. Following the early 2022 cassette release of our former 2016 debut THE GRUNEWALD CHURCH SESSION as CEEYS in early 2022, it is thereby heard as the responding second part of a hybrid album dilogy, which can be seen as a turning point in the work of the duo collaboration in terms of instrumentation and production style. Here the two long-term musical partners present pieces for the first time in an unfamiliar form and under their real name - Brueder Selke, a new perspective.”

– Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS)


Tracklist
01 Grenzuebergangsstelle
02 Bravo & Alpha
03 Marienborn
04 The Division
05 Landstrasse
06 Transit Traffic
07 Fourty-Five to Ninety 
08 Your Village 
09 Autobahn A2
10 Interrupted

Credits
Composition and performance: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Klingenthal Studio)
Recording: Sebastian Selke (Klingenthal Studio)
Mix: Edward Sikorski (Studio B)
Master: Edward Sikorski (Studio B)
Artwork: Daniel Selke (Design), Matthias Rehling (Design & Layout)
Form: LP, DL
Label: Oscarson
Publisher: Kick The Flame Music Publishing, Leipzig
Distribution: Kick The Flame, Norman Records/Bis Aufs Messer/The Business/Motorpool & Tobira Records [physical]
Date: November 11, 2022

Packaging
LP:
Limited 12-Inch black vinyl, handmade and -numbered 300g blue cardboard sleeve with photograph on printed tip-on cover and artist/album in silver, credits and dedicated text, double-side printed insert featuring one more photo and liner notes using 2 original fonts from the communist-era GDR recommended by Torsten Posselt, edition of 250

SPECIAL EDITION:
Limited 12-Inch black vinyl, handmade and -numbered 300g grey textiled gatefold book sleeve hot foiled in blue with photograph on tip-on cover and artist/album in silver, double-side printed insert featuring one more photo, liner notes, credits and dedicated text using 2 original fonts from the communist-era GDR recommended by Torsten Posselt, edition of 13

Jakob Lindhagen – Memory Constructions (w Sebastian & Daniel Selke)

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Following the warmly-received “Paces” (1631 Recordings/Decca Publishing) and the collaborative “Stadsbilder” (Time Released Sound), Swedish composer and multi-instrumentalist Jakob Lindhagen presents his second solo full-length album “Memory Constructions” on Piano & Coffee Records.

Recorded together with East German brother-duo Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS), whose collaborations also include Ólafur Arnalds and Spitfire) and longtime artistic collaborator Sofia Nystrand (Vargkvint), the album merges elements of neoclassical and ambient music, with a foundation of intimate piano works paired with violoncello and vocal synth, expanded with musical saw, kantele, bowed glockenspiel and sound experiments, recorded to analogue equipment.

“Memories are an equally complicated as fascinating aspect of the human mind. After realizing a couple of memories from my childhood surroundings simply didn’t add up – the timeline didn’t make sense so I couldn’t have been in that place at that time, or a block of houses not being placed where they actually were – I became slightly obsessed with memory research. Our memories play such a huge part of our identities, yet they are extremely unreliable, change and fade over time, and are easily influenced and manipulated. And yet I couldn’t help myself also finding beauty in the fact that I both completely trust and distrust my own memories, that make up who I am. So digging from these slightly contradicting feelings, and from where my own memories are either constructed, fading, forgotten, rewritten, made up or completely true, this album was conceived.” 
– Jakob Lindhagen

 

01 Tomorrow
02 Under Water
03 They Were Never Really There
04 Here, Before
05 Timeless
06 Resurfaced
07 Rewritten
08 Remembered


“Memory Constructions” has been supported by the Swedish Arts Council, and is coming out digitally and on limited edition vinyl on the 23rd of September, featuring artwork by Sofia Nystrand and desing/layout by Celia Bayo. 

Released on Piano & Coffee Records September 23, 2022.

Projekt Aufklärung – four-part Arte documentary “Project Enlightenment“

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Science and reason, democracy and human rights.
Three centuries ago, the era of the Enlightenment began. It brought freedom and progress - and laid the foundation for modernity. But what about the Enlightenment project in the 21st century? In this four-part ARTE documentary series, we embark on a road trip around the globe between past, present and future. It's a snapshot through the lens of the Enlightenment, around the ideas of justice, responsibility, freedom and knowledge.

"Project Enlightenment" gathers the important Enlightenment thinkers of our time. We visit them in West Africa and in the USA, in Europe and in China, in the Middle East and in the Caribbean: At the same time we take a look back at the time of the historical Enlightenment, meet the Königsberg philosopher of reason Immanuel Kant, the French encyclopedist Denis Diderot, the freedom fighter Olympe de Gouges and the US-American founding father Thomas Jefferson. The four films will be presented by Norwegian AI expert Anita Schjøll-Brede, best-selling French author Emilia Roig, Austrian philosopher Armen Avanessian and German actress Pegah Ferydoni.

PE #1: Where does responsibility begin?                    April 13, 2022, 22:00
PE #2: How does knowledge become cognition?       
April 20, 2022, 22:00
PE #3: How does a just world come into being?         
April 27, 2022, 22:00
PE #4: what does freedom mean in the 21st century?
May 04, 2022, 22:00

Producer: RBB, SWR, Radio Bremen, SR for Arte
Idea: Dominik Bretsch & Simon Hufeisen (Weltrecorder)
Director: Michael Schmitt, Max Langfeldt, Thorsten Glotzmann, Katharina Woll
Director of Photography: Nicolai Mehring, Carmen Treichl
Format: 4x52min
Music: Brueder Selke (CEEYS), Nepomuk Heller (We Are Modular)

Arte
“30 years of ARTE, 30 program highlights: In May 1992, the Franco-German culture channel went on air. This documentary series is part of the special anniversary program - outstanding productions offered by ARTE on TV and in the media library to mark its milestone birthday.”

Brueder Selke (CEEYS)
“Here, for the first time, music from our catalogue 2016-2022 was used.
That is why we want to thank Thorsten Glotzmann, Simon Hufeisen and Everyone at Weltrecorder for giving us the chance to combine our music with this historic Wendepunkt.”

Sohnarr – Coral Dusk Reworked – Melomania (Brueder Selke Rework)

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In May 2020 Patricia Vanneste released her debut album “Coral Dusk” under the name Sohnarr. A record that she composed and recorded in the most remote places in Sweden and Norway. Back in the civilized world, Patricia seized the opportunity to give her music an additional meaning. Out of a deep conviction that human interaction is permeated by inspiring and being inspired, Patricia not only invited various visual artists over the past year to use her music as a starting point for new work, but also each track of the record was given a new musical life thanks to the hands and minds of 8 diverse artists.

Each of them was asked to use one song from Coral Dusk as a source of inspiration for a personal reworking. No rules, no formats, but complete carte blanche. The artwork also received a complete rework thanks to artist Kasper Baele. For his paintings, he drew inspiration from both the music of the record and the original artwork, photos drawn by Patricia Vanneste at the place where every song came to life during her journey.

 

01 Tiptoe (Reworked by Ansatz Der Maschine) Sohnarr / Ansatz Der Maschine
02 The Road (Reworked by Avondlicht) Sohnarr / Avondlicht
03 The Mermaids of Bergsjon (Reworked by Outer) Sohnarr / Outer
04 Radar (Reworked by Benjamin Desmet) Sohnarr / SX
05 Playing Hard To Get (Reworked by Chantal Acda) Sohnarr / Chantal Acda
06 Melomania (Reworked by Brueder Selke) Sohnarr / Brueder Selke
07 11.10 (Paulette Verlee) Sohnarr / Paulette Verlee
08 Ostmark (Justin Lockey) Sohnarr / Justin Lockey

 

Released on Pias March 4, 2022.

Kinbrae – Birl of Unmap (w Sebastian Selke)

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Full Spectrum and The Dark Outside are pleased to present “Birl of Unmap”, the first collaborative album from Kinbrae – the project of twin brothers Mike and Andy Truscott – and writer / artist Clare Archibald. Hailing from the Kingdom of Fife in Scotland, the trio has forged a new practice in creative dialogue and sonic experimentation, exploring abstract notions of 'place' and deconstructing its innate rhythms and sonic totems.

For the unfamiliar, a bit of vocabulary context may be required – “birl” is a Scots word that means to spin or whirl.

To wit, “Birl of Unmap” is an attempt to unravel the dynamic layers that make Fife an area of both artistic and physical interest, as well as interpreting something of the perceived language of the place. Sitting across the water from the cities of both Edinburgh and Dundee, yet also adjacent to the open North Sea, the Kingdom of Fife is both connected to the greater world and resolutely of itself. It can be reached from all directions by iconic bridges and yet is not an island, but such a landscape permits the existence of half-seen truths and spaces. “Birl of Unmap” is a response to one such place - a place of several pasts and many names in West Fife that has existed as an open cast mine, the long gone pit village of Lassodie, and most recently as a not-quite-fully realised land art vision of the post-modern architect Charles Jencks.

Drawing on academic research, oral histories, and the experiences of other Fife-based artists, as well as former miners and residents of the site, “Birl of Unmap” stands as more than the sum total of aesthetic tropes, embodying an ambitious call to consider how we balance our own experiences and understandings with those of others. This is an invitation to wander through the layers and perhaps find something more of ourselves within them.

 

01 Excavate of Other (the unknowing)
02 Haul into Being
03 Undersouls
04 Warm Water Burn
05 Carbide Fizz
06 Half Seen Truths of the M90
07 Peer
08 Excavate of Other (the continuing)

 

Music composed and arranged by Andy and Mike Truscott.
Words written and/or arranged by Clare Archibald.


Andy Truscott – synthesizers/piano/electronics/percussion/abletonlive/fieldrecordings
Mike Truscott – cornet/tenor horn/bass guitar/metallophone
Clare Archibald – words/vocals/harmonium/spinning top/fieldrecordings/oral history          

recordings / research
Sebastian Selke – Cello

Produced by Ben Chatwin & Andy Truscott.
Recorded by Ben Chatwin & Andy Truscott in Ceres, Fife.
Mixed by Ben Chatwin at The Vennel Studio in Ceres.
Artwork by Niall McCormack.
Layout & Design by Gretchen Korsmo.
Mastered by Andrew Weathers.

 

“Birl of Unmap” will be available in full on February 11, 2022. Cassette editions are available through Full Spectrum in the US by pre-order and The Dark Outside in the UK on release day. There is also a limited edition CD available for pre-order (shipping from UK).

All physical versions will share artwork elements whilst each having an individual and unique aspect.


Released on Full Spectrum and The Dark Outside February 11, 2022.

Brueder Selke – Prepared Piano

220101

Recorded using two upright pianos, this sample pack combines classical composition with the percussive elements of prepared piano. Pioneered by avant-garde musical composer John Cage, prepared piano involves various objects being placed on or between the strings of the instrument to create unconventional sounds, and has been used extensively in the alt-chamber music scene. Recorded by German cello-piano chamber duo Brueder Selke (aka CEEYS), the performance also uses delay, tape echo and dual spring reverb effects to create a unique atmosphere.

The end result is everything you’d expect from a grand, experimental piano recital, distilled into royalty-free loops and samples that are ready to use in your next track.

“This first work ever under our real name Brueder Selke for LandR, meaning left and right, the stereo channels, shows up our equal need for collaborations a balance in itself. Here we not only share the stage but we invite like-minded friends to use these essential building blocks as kind of teleporter material to virtually collaborate with us, these are our starting point for jamming and composing, too. And it is definitely an invitation to musicians from all kinds of different genres to use these sounds in their productions to create an intense bond of music lovers in these rather hybrid times. From windy drones to raw analog rhythm boxes, from fluid arpeggios to aggressive resonating filters, from acoustic instruments to analog synthesizers we try here to build carefully curated sample packs and internally call it the GO EAST Series. Now this is part 2.”
– Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS)

Credits
Composition and performance: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Klingenthal Studio)
Recording: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Klingenthal Studio)
Mix: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Klingenthal Studio)
Master: LandR
Photography: LandR
Artwork: LandR
Form: DL
Label: LandR
Publisher: LandR
Distribution: LandR
Date: 2021

Listen here

Sebastian Selke – Year Change Mix 21-22

220101

This is “Year Change Mix 21-22” by Sebastian Selke. He has compiled this first part of a double bill mix with his brother Daniel which will be continued with an upcoming “Year Change Mix 22-23” by Daniel Selke at the end of 2022. A swapping dualism between Alpha & Omega, beginning and end: “While the world is going crazy we mixed bright and intense pieces by some of the most inspiring contemporary composers, uploaded in the beginning of 2022.”

– Sebastian Selke

01 Alex Stolze – Sinai
02 Hannu – Valtarmeri
03 Midori Hirano – Night Traveling
04 Alev Lenz – Rise
05 Sarah Neufeld – Where The Light Comes In
06 Selke – Flowers in the Rain
07 Mario Batkovic – QUIS EST QUIS           
08 Nils Frahm – Über
09 Galya Bisengalieva – Zhalanash
10 Brueder Selke – QP (hidden)
11 Mabe Fratti – En Medio
12 Holland Andrews – Gloss

 

Compiled by Sebastian Selke at Klingenthal Studio, Potsdam.

There are two forms of compilations: a double bill Year Change Mix and the official compilations for Q3Ambientfest.

Self-released January 1, 2022.

Edward Sikorski – Basic Colours (w Sebastian Selke)

211203

“This record is a bit out of character, as I am usually more into making music as simple and pure as possible. Not that I don’t like proper arrangements. It’s more my impatience that forces me to get things done quickly. But most important: I am simply not skilled enough to play all these beautiful instruments I constantly have in mind when I think about some lovely harmonies and melodies.

Well, somehow this little record turned out to be the first one full of childish musical experiments I wanted to realize for a while.

 As I loved this breathing sound of a cello since I was a little boy, I ever wanted to make a record with some lovely cello lines. Lucky me that I met the very talented Sebastian Selke by coincidence. I showed him a few of my recordings and asked him to just improvise a few takes along them. The result is simply wonderful. Warm and mysterious. I loved Sebastian's sound from the first moment on. To make it a principle for this record, I invited my good friend and awesome musician Philipp Friesel to jam along my sketches and experiment a bit with his guitar and some pedals. He came up with these charming rhythmics and wonderful textures I couldn’t have realized that easy with my own instruments. We talked a bit later, and I told him that I would absolutely love to finally have a groovy brass player improvising a few notes to one of my tracks, and he said: ‘No big deal! My brother could do that job’. So, we showed the track to Jonas Friesel, and he played the most amazing flugelhorn improvisation I could imagine for this piece of music. That boy really lost his mind! 

You can hear all these guys together, including me, on the second track of side A. This track then delivered the album it’s title as well. For me, every single one of these elements represents a part of my musical preferences. A result of my listening experiences so far. Compared to the visual world, these elements would most likely be my BASIC COLOURS.”

– Edward Sikorski 


Written and performed by Edward Sikorski.
Cello Sebastian Selke
Guitar Philipp Friesel
Flugelhorn Jonas Friesel

Recorded and mixed at Studio B.
Mastered by The EmU.

 

01 Exit
02 Basic Colours
03 Further
04 Laika
05 Reeds And Old Tapes

 

Released on Oscarson December 3, 2021.

CEEYS – Musikhaus

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Top 11 Alben

Marco Fiebag, Black Online Magazin

 

The intimacy of CEEYS', Brueder Selke music is miraculously placed in the creative hands of a musical and carefully grown circle of friends with the album MUSIKHAUS. As a result, the reworks sound new and multifaceted on the one hand and comfortingly familiar on the other!

Axel Sandig, ByteFM

Musikhaus zeigt auf, wie progressiv klassische Musik in der modernen Zeit die Tragsäulen Ton mit Gefühl verbinden kann. Best of 2021.

André Schönauer, Gezeitenstrom

 

“After their debut LP ‘The Grunewald Church Session’

in 2016, Brueder Selke, East Berlin-born brothers, now Potsdam-based poly-instrumental composers Sebastian & Daniel Selke, also known as award-winning cello-piano duo CEEYS, released a trilogy of LPs dedicated to their personal reactions to the fall of the Iron Curtain, the Berlin Wall, in combination with stories from their early classical apprenticeship in the centre of life and training that was a modern socialist Plattenbau.

On ‘Concrete Fields’, ‘Wænde’ and ‘Hiddensee’, the duo combined their cello and piano setup with other traditional instruments of the communist era, including many varied and quasi-antique synthesizers.

Originally conceived as a trilogy and subsequently reimagined as an anthology, the CEEYS catalogue in total could also be split into three dilogies: ‘The Grunewald Church Session’ & ‘Concrete Fields’ (from sketchy childhood fragments to the 1980s), ‘Wænde’ & ‘Hiddensee’ (the historic turning point in 1989 and the vague 1990s). In 2020 the two released a pure acoustic album from the present ‘Hausmusik’. Recording a chamber music session from their home studio, it is based around their main instruments cello and piano. Now it feels organic that ‘Musikhaus’ changes the point of view and follows in the form of a carefully curated rework album.

Thus ‘Hausmusik’ and ‘Musikhaus’ form the third dilogy of the two.

The album title not only mirrors the original but converts the cosy chamber music idea into the vision of a house of music what is here closely connected to the brothers’ Q3Ambientfest, a boutique music festival that blends established and emerging artists from diverse genres and origins and invites open-minded music lovers to discover today’s contemporary spectrum.”

– Daniel Cole

 

“The catalogue of our work under the anonymous CEEYS does not solely serve a narrative from the past and the division of the world into East and West at that time, but is in constant dialogue between apparent controversy and aspired harmony in the interplay of our long-term duo collaboration and paves the way for releases under our own name.”
– Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS)

 

01 Vice Versa (Pascal Schumacher Rework)
02 Reunion (Thor Harris Rework)
03 Im Fenster (Midori Hirano Rework)
04 Circa (Marina Baranova Rework)
05 Belka (David Allred Rework)
06 Strelka (Simon Goff Rework)
07 To Open a Door’s Inner Frame (Arnold Kasar Rework)
08 Fallen (Ben Lukas Boysen Rework)
09 Yes, Brick By Brick (Mara Simpson Rework)
10 No. Eins (Hoshiko Yamane Rework)

 

Original music written and performed by
Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS).


Played on a cello from Klingenthal and a piano from Gotha.
Reworks by Pascal Schumacher, Thor Harris, Midori Hirano, Marina Baranova, David Allred, Simon Goff, Arnold Kasar, Ben Lukas Boysen, Mara Simpson and Hoshiko Yamane.

Mastered by Mandy Parnell at Black Saloon Studios, London
Lacquer cut by Andreas [LUPO] Lubich at Schnittstelle, Berlin.
© Published by Kick The Flame Music Publishing, Tracks 3, 5 & 8 by Kick The Flame & Erased Tapes Music Publishing Ltd., Track 9 by Kick The Flame & Manners McDade Music Publishing
All rights reserved.

‘Sebastian’s Left Hand’ photograph by Daniel Selke.
‘Daniel’s Right Hand’ photograph by Sebastian Selke.
‘Sebastian Selke’ portrait by Kasia Borek.
‘Daniel Selke’ portrait by Roman Koblov.
Design by Daniel Selke and Adam Heron.

Ltd. 180g 12-inch record in a 300g cardboard case featuring photographs, portraits, liner notes, signatures, credits, dedicated text
and 1 double-side printed insert, using 2 original fonts from the communist-era GDR recommended by Torsten Posselt at FELD.

 

Released on Neue Meister October 29, 2021.

Nicolas Schulze & Joanna Waluszko – Colours (Brueder Selke – Dies & Das)

210813

“Colours” is the result of the German-Polish project “Hommage à Penderecki – Search for a New Sound and Format”.

 

As part of the Open Call penderecki@home, the Freundliche Übernahme Rechenzentrum association from Potsdam invited people to explore and reinterpret the piece Actions for Free Jazz Orchestra, the only jazz work by Krzysztof Penderecki, in the form of free composition.

More than sixty compositions from Germany and Poland were sent in and surprised with a unique musical diversity. Composers Joanna Waluszko and Nicolas Schulze arranged a sound composition from these instruments, and animator Yeni Harkányi created the video clip for “Colours”.

 

Sabeth Abraham, Sina Abraham, Ruben Außem, Bianca Baalhorn, Wenzel Benn, Bartosz Bogucki, Bonnie Josa Baalhorn, Zoryana Babyuk, Gregor Bartsch, Johannes Bert, Noah Buchholz, Stephan Busch, Janne Buschmann, Zofia Czekowska, Agnieszka Cywińska, Selin Can, Emma Diederich, Alina Diemann, Mika Ebe, Jurij Espenschied, Jana Fetzer, Sebastian Ferenczy, Agata Frankowska, Daniel Frese, Charlotte Maisha Goldammer, Melanie Görlitz, Magdalena Gawinecka, Jana Halilovic, Ferdinand Halsband, Hammond, Kolja Heins, Buchan Heiß, Mio Biermer, Milena J. Döring, Jana Feiler, Chris Firchow, Nikolas Flevaris, Marek M. Gasztecki, Till Hintersdorf, Mathias Illing, Daniel Kartmann, Conrad Katzer, Phillip Langer, Romek Lipa, Maxi Metz, Tadeusz Markiewicz, Moog, Carl Nicklaus, Joanna Nowicka, Freya Oostinga, Birka Pannicke, Mario Patron, Anette Paul, Aleksander Paczkowski, Gregor Pfeffer, Cecilie Raeithel, Frauke Röth, Ewa Rubinowska, Darek Rubinowski, Brueder Selke, Josch Siewert, Sebastian Sperl, Mikołaj Szulczyński, Krzysztof Szubiński, The Fabulous P-Boiz, Dawid Tokłowicz, Maria Lidewij van Dijk, Emma Charlott Ulrich, Joanna Waluszko, Andrea Werner, Robin Wittkowski, class 1c of elementary Neues Tor (class of 2020/2021)

 

Made in Kunst- und Kreativhaus Rechenzentrum in Potsdam

Team , Idea, Project coordinator: Anna Dejewska-Herzberg
A&R, Klangkomposition: Nicolas Schulze and Joanna Waluszko
Press: Andrea Werner
Videoanimation: Yeni Harkányi
Graphic design: HELLOGRAPH Designkollektiv
Funding | finansowane przez Bundesbeauftragte für Kultur und Medien, Ministerium der Finanzen und für Europa (Gefördert mit Mitteln des Landes Brandenburg), Stiftung für deutsch-polnische Zusammenarbeit
Partner Poland: Poznańska fundacja artystyczna

 

Self-released August 13, 2021.

Piano & Coffee – Realismo Mágico (Brueder Selke – Lotos)

210806

“The result is a heady sonic journey that is emblematic of the boutique label’s mission to be a home to artists whose work freely crosses the borders between ambient, electronic, and contemporary classical music.”

– Stationary Travels

“I have been loving this label since they launched five years ago.”

– Alex Ruder (Pacific Notions, KEXP)

“We’d love to hear more such music as piano and coffee enters its second half-decade, already hinting at an expansion of timbre.”

– A Closer Listen

“Brueder Selke, the artist’s name implying magical realism, closes the set with ‘Lotos’, defined as ‘a fruit that induces forgetfulness and a dreamy languor in those who eat it.’ If there is a piano and coffee sound, this is it: violins descending on black and white keys.”

– A Closer Listen

 

“Nelumbo nucifera, also known as Indian lotus, sacred lotus, or simply lotus,
is one of two extant species of aquatic plant in the family Nelumbonaceae.
It is often colloquially called a water lily. In GDR times there was also a type of boat called Lotos. We remember from stories that our father's father, who lives in the north on the Baltic coast, used to own a boat. He later exchanged it for a garden plot. Here, in turn, we spent a lot of time, especially during the big summer holidays, and experienced many idyllic evenings. But the idea of exploring the lakelands by boat still inspires us today, and so we like to rent a boat on warm days.”

– Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS)

 

This year, Piano & Coffee turns five, and to celebrate, we are releasing our first compilation: “Realismo Mágico” – a conceptual project featuring unconventional works by new and old friends we have made along the way.

Inspired by magical realism, an artistic genre in which realistic narrative and naturalistic technique are combined with surreal elements of dream or fantasy, this special release presents unheard material by twelve exceptional musicians – from experimental sound artist Martyna Basta to award-winning film composer Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres, and from poly-instrumental duo Brueder Selke to prolific pianist and producer John Hayes.

Each artist has contributed with a new track that invites the listeners to submerge into their very own musical universes, which, at the same time, have been re-shaped by their interpretation of magical realism. We start off on our journey with the delicate nostalgia of Tim Linghaus, passing through Jakob Lindhagen and Vargkvint’s modern take on the story of a Norse mythological creature, followed by the harmonic ambiguity in Simeon Walker’s pleasingly strong dialogue between felted piano and drums. Later on, John Hayes shares with us a chaotic composition born out of samples from an old clock in his parents’ garage and saturated voices, which precedes Lucy Claire’s processed hydrophone recordings of seaweeds and starfishes in Australian waters. Ondes Martenot, pump organ, zither, analogue synthesizers, vocal processing, musical saw, and bowed gongs are some of the unusual elements to be found on this eclectic yet coherently unified record.

01 Tim Linghaus – Saturn Days
02 Sjors Mans – Zosima
03 Jakob Lindhagen and Vargkvint – Bäckahäst
04 Simeon Walker – Saturine
05 Martyna Basta – Speaking Of Explosive
06 Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres – Fall Fly Run (feat. Josh Semans)
07 Gustav Davidsson – Above The Rain
08 John Hayes – Rituals
09 Lucy Claire – Kelp
10 Klangriket – Making Coffee_Imp 1.3
11 Ella Zwietnig – You Went Through Me, Truly
12 Brueder Selke – Lotos


Realismo Mágico has been conceptually crafted and musically curated by Peruvian composer Sergio Díaz De Rojas, and beautifully depicted by illustrator Jordan Amy Lee and graphic designer Celia Fernández González.
Mastered by George Mastrokostas. 

Released on Piano & Coffee Records August 6, 2021.

Jakob Lindhagen & Dag Rosenqvist – Stadsbilder (w Sebastian Selke)

210806

“Stadsbilder” (City Images) is the first collaborative album between Swedish musicians Jakob Lindhagen and Dag Rosenqvist. The composers have both made names for themselves within the contemporary music scene – Jakob as an award-winning film composer with solo music streamed in the millions on digital platforms, and Dag as a highly prolific musician and sound artist, having over 50 releases over the last 15 years in a vast array of constellations, both solo works and as part of the duo From The Mouth Of The Sun, as well as film composing and music for dance performances.

The music on “Stadsbilder” intertwines layers of organic and electronic sounds, with minimal piano melodies meeting vintage synthesizers, found sounds, harmonium, banjo, kantele, Fender Rhodes and saxophone, as well as cello (played by Sebastian Selke of CEEYS).

01 Den Första Staden
02 Längs Husen
03 Under Hamnen
04 Gasljus
05 Östersjön
06 Skinnarviksberget
07 Gamla Drömmars Stad
08 Spökstad I
09 Spökstad II
10 Omvägen

 

Music composed, recorded, produced and mixed by Jakob Lindhagen & Dag Rosenqvist.
Cello on “Under Hamnen” and “Gamla Drömmars Stad” by Sebastian Selke.
Artwork and design by Colin Herrick.
Mastered by Taylor Deupree, 12k Mastering.

 

“Stadsbilder” will be available in two distinct vinyl versions. The first comes in a limited, handmade edition of only 50 individually unique copies, each with hand done analog collages made from original vintage prints of views of the American southwest, antique interior design prints, and cut out, 100 year old industrial engravings and other paper ephemera. Each of these is mounted on the front of heavyweight, recycled kraftboard record jackets.


A heartfelt thanks to Fabian Rosenberg for lending his Rhodes in time of need, David Bennet and Anton Ericsson for letting us sample and play around with their respective saxophone and contrabass recordings, Ryan Powell for an outstanding video, Sofia Nystrand for endless love, support and inspiration, Ulla Skagerlund for patience, love and all kinds of stupidity, Maria Chenut for so many things, all family and friends, and both modern and old school technologies for making this record possible!

Released on Time Released Sound August 6, 2021.

Brueder Selke – QP

210611

The format involves separate tracks of equal length laid down by Sebastian and Daniel respectively which are then meshed together into a third ‘hidden’ track which brings the two sides of their dialog together in a sonorous multi-layered piece that shows the telepathic musical connection they have developed over the years.

Brian Housman, Stationary Travels

The brothers Sebastian & Daniel Selke grew up during critical times – back in the 1980s when the former GDR was slowly starting to dissolve – in the far east of Berlin-Hellersdorf. The newly built prefab estates that marked this area were named with different types: Q3A, QP and QX. Following the Q3A EP, QP is the second part from a planned trilogy. The simple but intense tonality of Sebastian’s emerging figures and string textures merge with Daniel’s seemingly observant conversation between melody and noises. Like in Q3A, this ultimately allows for a dialogue between their childhood pianos, coming together in a volute to reveal something utterly moving and beautiful – the hidden piece, QP, is revealed when the two tracks are layered. In addition this third track and full EP is released under the brother’s new sigil: Brueder Selke.

“With Fuer Daniel (to Daniel), the A-side marks Sebastian’s second solo piece to be released under his own name. This time he plays his felt-prepared upright piano manufactured by Alexander Herrmann and VEB Deutsche Piano - Union Leipzig. The repeats of a left and right panned ping-pong delay run through a sequenced analogue filter. For the first time you will also notice 2 violins, a viola and even Sebastian’s Klingenthal cello. But here all sounds come from the virtual instrument once created by Ólafur Arnalds. Its samples are based on recordings from Viktor Orri Árnason and Sebastian. Daniel, on the B-side, is playing his restored childhood upright made by Steck, a brand name of the Aeolian Piano company that was used on player pianos produced in the early twentieth century. A large number of Steck pianos were produced in Gotha, Germany. The factory named Gothaer Piano-Hofmanufaktur was purchased in 1905 from Ernst Munck and renamed Steck in 1906. In his solo piece Dear Sebastian, he combines it with sampled percussive piano noises that build a subtle rhythm.”
– Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS)

Tracklist
01 Fuer Daniel
02 Dear Sebastian
03 QP (hidden track)

Credits
Composition and performance: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Klingenthal Studio)
Recording: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Klingenthal Studio)
Mix: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Klingenthal Studio)
Master: Edward Sikorski (Studio B)
Photography: Harald & Gabriele Selke (Zeiss Ikon, Reflekta II)
Artwork: Daniel Selke (Design), Matthias Rehling (Design & Layout), Torsten Posselt (Typography)
Form: EP, DL
Label: Oscarson
Publisher: Kick The Flame
Distribution: Kick The Flame, Norman Records/Bis Aufs Messer/The Business/Motorpool & Tobira Records [physical]
Date: June 11, 2021

Packaging
EP:
Limited 7-Inch black vinyl, handnumbered gatefold cardboard sleeve with printed die-cut cover, 2 double-side printed covercard inserts featuring liner notes, dedicated text and credits using 2 original fonts from the communist-era GDR recommended by Torsten Posselt, edition of 300

Joanna Gemma Auguri – 11 (w Sebastian Selke)

210423

Joanna Gemma Auguri's new album was recorded on tape during the first Corona Lockdown. The number 11 stands for dreamers and idealists – and for new beginnings. One and one makes two, but each number remains alone, like two people who ultimately stand for themselves in this world, no matter how close they get.

The songs are an examination of loss, identity, and the ruptures we experience during our lives. The album is an analogue recording with as little editing as possible, and the use of nostalgic equipment conjures up the spirits of old times. Joanna`s voice is the axis around which everything revolves. It is mainly accompanied by the accordion, whose sound resembles a church organ and creates an orchestral and spiritual tension, or the zither and cello, which wind themselves around the depth of her words. The throbbing slowness and the sparse arrangements seem almost cathartic. There is a distinctive nature in her way to sing to the audience, an invitation into a private world where a broken heart can beat at its own pace. The result is as intimate as a live concert, an authentic and pure work with delicate and disarming honesty. Joanna Gemma Auguri breaks out of traditional songwriting and invents her own form of expression.

 

01 Confession To A Future Lover
02 The Snow
03 Molecules Of Light
04 You Hurt
05 Moje Usta
06 Dear, I See You
07 Women Of Golm
08 Childhood Days
09 Ma Ganga
10 On The Beach
11 Outro

 

Vocals, Accordion, Percussion by Joanna Gemma Auguri
Cello by Sebastian Selke
Recorded and Mixed by www.kozmicsound.de
Mastering by Arne Albrecht www.oakfield-mastering.de
Photography by Andrea Wolf www.wolfsmomente.de
Coverart by www.manekineko.de
All Songs by Joanna Gemma Auguri
℗ & © 2021 Lavender Music / Tracks United
All rights reserved, made in EU
www.joannagemmaauguri.com

 

Released April 23, 2021.

CEEYS – Trockendock (Inspired by “The Outlaw Ocean” A Book By Ian Urbina)

210409

“Since we first heard about the book ‘The Outlaw Ocean’ by Ian we felt a close relation to all the dangerous situations and individual stories people lived through. But when we noticed the big collaborative idea behind the according music project we truly felt in love with the full approach of the project. Maybe this creative output can give a positive balance to all the dark terrifying chaos we mostly dont know much about.

Brueder Selke grew up in the last decade of the former Communist-era German Democratic Republic we know very well what it means to work with the lack of material and to organize a life with hope and humour behind the Iron Curtain in those paper thin prefab estates where everybody could listen to your whispering. Only the music helped us out to give this life a chance as we hope here to send via our tracks.

 

We call the little album ‘Trockendock’ – drydock which is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, and repair of ships, boats, and other watercraft. Feel free to draw your parallel lines.”

– Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS)

Ian Urbina is an investigative reporter who writes most often for The New York Times, but is also a contributing writer for The Atlantic and The New Yorker

We made the album called ‘Trockendock’ inspired by his New York Times bestseller ‘The Outlaw Ocean’ (2019), based on more than five years of reporting, much of it offshore, exploring lawlessness on the high seas. As a journalist, Ian's investigations typically focus on human rights, worker safety and the environment, and he has received a Pulitzer Prize and a George Polk Award, and has been nominated for an Emmy.

 

01 Beyond the Frontier
02 From Outer Noise
03 Trockendock
04 A Reframed Group
05 Unten, Oben, Cleared

Written and performed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS).
Recorded by the same two guys. Mixed and mastered by Sebastian Selke.

Artwork by Halie Brown.

 

Released on Synesthesia April 9, 2021.

Piano Day 2021 (Brueder Selke – Junctions)

210329

“‘Junctions’ is based on our sample library ‘Prepared Piano’ on Canadian content provider LandR (meaning Left and Right – the stereo channels) and inspired by our duo-piano album ‘Marienborn’. It features two sequenced pianos and prepared rhythmic sounds from the piano‘s physics.”
– Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS)

Released on Piano Day March 29, 2021.

Bigo & Twigetti – Consonance (Brueder Selke – Alpha & Omega)

210326“Consonance” is a collection of positive, reflective and harmonious ambient and neo classical tracks from established and up and coming artists and composers. The compilation was created to act as an antidote to the current turbulent conditions being experienced by many people around the world through the creation of consonant affirming music. Each track is a personal response from the artist to express how they feel in the current climate and what they are choosing to focus their energies on.

01 Laura Masotto – Togetherness
02 Blurstem – Focus On The Moment
03 Philip G Anderson & Ardie – Through The Mist
04 Glowworm – Kindred
05 Dobrawa Czocher – Loving Kindness
06 Danny Mulhern – Frozen
07 Brueder Selke – Alpha & Omega
08 Norvik – Hundred

 

Written by Laura Masotto, Blurstem, Philip G Anderson & Ardie, Glowworm, Dobrawa Czocher, Danny Mulhern, Brueder Selke and Norvik.
Mastered by Bigo & Twigetti. Artwork by Bigo & Twigetti.  

Released on Bigo & Twigetti March 26, 2021.

Brueder Selke – Soviet Era Synthesizers

210120

Soviet Era Synthesizers brings out unheard sounds from the East European hemisphere.
A handful of restored organs, the Piano-Strings, the E-Piano and the Synthesizer plus the "Soviet Tank", the dual oscillator Polivoks and the polyphonic Faemi all developed and manufactured in the former Communist-era German Democratic Republic or the Soviet Union and build to last the next nuclear fallout. But this is just the tip of the hat of what treasures to raise in that ammunition crate because in addition to these ancient monsters some handselected experimental instruments from contemporary manufacturers are included.

To complete this episode the two brothers shot 20 drums made with an original rhythm box from the 70s and dedicated kick and bass lancet modules from our times. This charming simple boutique gear has been paired with a sensitive feel for asymmetric time signatures, minimalist patterns and allowed mistakes but also with solid knowledge and interest in today’s electronic music drifts using 4 highly versatile bpm.

The project has been live performed and produced by longtime collaborators East-Berlin born, Potsdam-based poly-instrumental composers Brueder Selke also known as award-winning cello-piano duo CEEYS.

It was recorded in their very own Klingenthal Studio and with a wink using an essential set of paired effects like a ping pong delayed tape echo and a dual spring reverb conducted through a quartet of custom made RFZ preamps.
All this comes well-thought and follows the two brothers idea of finding harmony as musicians and people through a constant balance of things. This personal approach of reduction is transported to today’s sample production aesthetics and is mainly based on the historic remembrance of the two brothers growing up in the streets of East-Berlin and being limited through the experienced lack of material behind the Berlin Wall.

In consequence and with the pandemic of 2020 in mind, experiencing a lockdown, and after 5 albums under the CEEYS alias, this library with all its fragments and building blocks felt the right moment and project to finally start releasing under their own name.  

“This first work ever under our real name Brueder Selke for LandR, meaning left and right, the stereo channels, shows up our equal need for collaborations - a balance in itself. Here we not only share the stage but we invite like-minded friends to use these essential building blocks as kind of teleporter material to virtually collaborate with us, these are our starting point for jamming and composing, too. And it is definitely an invitation to musicians from all kinds of different genres to use these sounds in their productions to create an intense bond of music lovers in these rather hybrid times.
From windy drones to raw analog rhythm boxes, from fluid arpeggios to aggressive resonating filters, from acoustic instruments to analog synthesizers we try here to build carefully curated sample packs and internally call it the GO EAST Series. Now here is part 1.”
– Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS)

Credits
Composition and performance: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Klingenthal Studio)
Recording: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Klingenthal Studio)
Mix: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Klingenthal Studio)
Master: LandR
Photography: LandR
Artwork: LandR
Form: DL
Label: LandR
Publisher: LandR
Distribution: LandR
Date: 2021

Marlena Molitor – Sort of Grown Up

210101

Summer 2019 in Berlin. Above the rooftops of the city, Aimee and Anissa reflect on their lives: When is one actually an adult? How does good sex work? And what's the plan after high school? The same questions are also on Lea's mind. Similarly disoriented about her future, she first graduates from high school and works in a supermarket while at school. The 18-year-old only feels really free on the dance floor.

The documentary accompanies Aimee, Anissa and Lea to the Späti, to the lake and through the streets of Berlin, providing intimate insights into the minds of the three young women on the threshold of adulthood.

Producer: Marlena Molitor
Director: Marlena Molitor
Director of Photography: Moritz Fehlder
Camera Assistant: Esra Tanriverdi, Nano Rodriguez  
Edit: Jana Briesner
Sound: Vanessa Heeger
Music: Brueder Selke (CEEYS), Monkyman, Julius Rippberger, Markus Dröse

Hof International Film Festival
“We are delighted to be able to award the first Jury Short Film Award donated by the City of Hof at the 55th Hof International Film Festival 2021. Philipp Budweg (producer), Sylke Gottlebe (co-director Filmfest Dresden) and Olaf Held (director, author, dramaturge) form the jury, which has now decided on a winning film after viewing all 41 short films submitted from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The prize is endowed with 2,500 euros.”

The Jury Short Film Award
“The film portrays Aimee, Anissa and Lea in the phase of transition from puberty to adulthood. A successful selection of episodes and unobtrusive camera work overcome the distance between the screen and our cinema seats, so offering us an immediate experience of the protagonists' everyday life. In this way, the director succeeds in opening up a cinematic space for three young women in which they can speak openly and surprisingly directly about sexuality, Instagram and the future. Mayor Eva Döhla presented the short film award to Moritz Dehler, cameraman of the winning film SORT OF GROWN UP, on behalf of director Marlena Molitor.”

Durban International Film Festival
The documentary will be screened at Durban International Film Festival as part of the Isiphethu Programme! Director Marlena Molitor:
”Having lived in South Africa for a while myself, I've got a very special bond to this beautiful country - therefore I'm delighted with joy that our documentary will celebrate its South African premiere at the Durban Int. Film Festival in July.”

Falling Leaves

210101

Winifred Thompson suffers from tuberculosis. The disease, known as the "white plague", can hardly be treated effectively at the time, so her doctor Dr. Headley diagnoses her with imminent death - as soon as all the leaves have fallen from the trees. Her little sister Trixie takes this statement literally and reattaches the falling leaves to the trees in the garden using twine, while Dr Headley feverishly searches for an antidote.

Producer: Alice Guy-Blaché
Director: Alice Guy-Blaché
Director of Photography: Alice Guy-Blaché
Music: Brueder Selke (CEEYS)

 

Filmmuseum Potsdam
“Since January 2018, Filmmuseum Potsdam presents FLIMMERKONZERTE, dedicated to all open-minded film and music lovers. The boutique series of film concerts is carefully curated and organized by Brueder Selke, the brothers Sebastian and Daniel Selke, also known as the award-winning cello-piano duo CEEYS, founders of Q3Ambientfest. In the first online edition, the curators of the series accompany live the silent film Falling Leaves by Alice Guy-Blaché (USA 1912). Alice Guy-Blaché (* 1 July 1873 in Saint-Mandé; † 24 March 1968 in Mahwah, New Jersey) was a pioneer of film and the world's first female film director. She made her first film, La Fée aux Choux, in 1896, making her one of the first directors ever to create a fictional film. She later became her own producer as well. Alice Guy-Blaché, one of numerous silent film pioneers who - long forgotten as film historians regularly attributed her early work to male directors - is finally being rediscovered in recent years, was the world's first female director. She emigrated from France to the USA in 1908, where her later work was made, including Falling Leaves, arguably one of the first cinematic explorations of the search for a cure for an epidemic disease.”

Daniel Selke – Year Change Mix 20-21

210101

After the “Year Change Mix 19-20” by Sebastian Selke uploaded at the beginning of 2020, his brother Daniel has compiled this second part of the double bill mix which will be continued now with this “Year Change Mix 20-21” by Daniel Selke. A swapping dualism between Alpha & Omega, beginning and end: “While the world is on the loudest peak we mixed smooth and silent pieces by some of the most inspiring contemporary composers, uploaded at the end of 2020.”

– Daniel Selke

01 Library Tapes – Silhouettes
02 Matt Stewart-Evans – Horizon
03 Anna von Hausswolff – The Miraculous
04 midori hirano – Night Traveling
05 Kinbrae – Isolated Sketch
06 Lorenzo Masotto – Hermitage
07 Sarah Neufeld – Where The Light Comes In
08 Jade Berg – Tölt
09 Jakob Lindhagen – Tema
10 Marina Baranova – La poule
11 Takeshi Nishimoto – Straßenlaterne
12 Nils Frahm – Über
13 Brueder Selke x Eric Maltz – Crossing
14 Peter Broderick – Eyes Closed And Traveling
15 Rauelsson – Hourglass I
16 Aidan Baker – The Sea Swells A Bit 2006 (Full Album)
17 Vargkvint – Utåt
18 Julia Kent – Heavy Eyes
19 Marie Awadis – Lounas Waltz
20 Anne Müller – Heliopause
21 Hoshiko Yamane – Threads
22 Grand River – All There Now
23 Diane Barbé – Terra Sonus

 

Compiled by Daniel Selke at Klingenthal Studio, Potsdam.

There are two forms of compilations: a double bill Year Change Mix and the official compilations for Q3Ambientfest.

Self-released January 1, 2021.

Listen here

Brueder Selke x Eric Maltz – Zero Crossing

201211

This is a quietly sublime piece of music located somewhere in-between the crack of night and day.
Magazine Sixty

A point is infinite. As a waveform crosses the zero the exact moment of its transformation from one polarity to another lasts a fraction of an eye blink - or it lasts until the end of time. Waves in suspended animation, the magnification of a moment. These pieces exist in a time which stands and stretches simultaneously.

This waveform has two sides. The first being Brueder Selke, brothers Sebastian and Daniel, also well-known as CEEYS, a contemporary cello-piano duo who call Potsdam their home. The second is Eric Maltz, an NYC recording artist now residing in Berlin. These two sides collaborated, creating parts in their own spaces, their own studios, and allowed for the combination to take place in the space in between. Dream melodies unfold at a languid, smoke rolling pace. Cellos, pianos, synthesisers, sub drums pulse in and out, each enjoying their freedom, their full length of existence to stretch out and unfurl at will, unaware of a grid, of a time, of a place. These sounds have never existed anywhere else. Only at the Zero Crossing.

Eric Maltz is a recording artist and live performer. He is very active in the avant-garde electronic scene, having played at Berlin Atonal, and with releases on labels like Possible Futures, Novel Sound, and his art label Flower Myth. He oversees the muzine Acoustic Jaguar, creates original composition and sound design for film and art installations, and has collaborated with a wide variety of international musicians and artists.

Written by Eric Maltz, Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS).
Produced, mixed and mastered by Eric Maltz. Artwork by Clovis Wieske/Nordland.

01 Zero
02 Crossing

Released on Flower Myth December 11, 2020.

Alev Lenz – Fishermen (Brueder Selke Rework)

201104

Reworked and performed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS).
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Sebastian & Daniel Selke at Klingenthal Studio, Potsdam.

To mark the 1 year anniversary of Alev Lenz’s album “3” Spifire Audio Recordings launched a brand new competition series – Recompose. The SA community was asked, to submit their own re-imagining of one of Alev Lenz’s songs from “3” – with the help of Alev’s sheet music which she made freely available.

A panel of judges – Martin Phipps (Peaky Blinders, The Crown), Alev Lenz & SA Recordings selected winner and two runners up.

Brueder Selke received an honorable mention by the composer.

Original artwork by Aspa Founti.

Released on Spitfire Audio November 4, 2020.

Kerim König – Miniatures Reworks – Immerse (CEEYS Rework)

201023

“Immerse” is a song by Kerim König from the album “Miniatures” originally released on Hey!blau Records.

Reworked and performed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS).
Recorded and mixed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke at Klingenthal Studio, Potsdam.

This rework is part of a collection of pieces by contemporary composers, reworked and performed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS).

 

After the release of Kerim König's solo piano album “Miniatures”, which he recorded himself for the first time, an EP with the title “Miniatures Reworks” is now being released. These six reworks by the artists Barbara Morgenstern, CEEYS, Garreth Broke, Cito Kaling, Max Filges and Heftiq span the fields of electronic, neo-classical and ambient.

 

01 Immerse (CEEYS Rework)
02 Breakable (Max Filges Rework)
03 With Ease (Cito Kaling Rework)
04 Gone to Pieces (Garreth Broke Rework)
05 Circles (Barbara Morgenstern Rework)
06 Vagabond (Heftiq Rework)

 

Released as part of Miniatures Reworks on Hey!blau Records October 23, 2020.

CEEYS – Hausmusik

201009

This is such an intrancing, immersive album. Absolutely gorgeous!

Rick Stuart, Blues and Roots

 

Das Ergebnis ist eine wundervolle Mischung aus Beklemmung, Entspannung, Depression und Euphorie. Sehr Empfehlenswert. Best of 2020

André Schönauer, Gezeitenstrom

CEEYS is the extreme synthesis of an artistic dualism, an intoxicating acoustic dialogue between two talented brothers. Technically, Hausmusik is impeccable, intoxicating, involving.

Radioaktiv

 

I love the vibe of it.

Sam Hughes, Scala Radio

 

Hausmusik is an album by the Selke brothers – Sebastian on cello and Daniel on piano – who trade under the name CEEYS. On tracks such as Fallen they create metronomic, Nyman-ish miniatures that sound as if they’ve been plotted on graph paper; tracks like Reunion see them jabber rhythmically, with Sebastian playing pizzicato; elsewhere they explore texture – creaking strings, bashed wood, triple stopping – over minimal one-chord drones with a horror-movie intensity.

John Lewis, The Guardian

 

Das neue sonnig-sorgenvolle Album bewegt sich, das Elektrische zurücknehmend, zwischen Max Richter, Roedelius und Kasar. Aber konkret verortet in Berlin.

Stefan Hochgesand, Album of the Week, Tip

 

Es ist ein Genuss, den beiden zuzuhören. Schlicht, einfach und doch irgendwie anders und vor allem sehr tief gehend.

Zoom Lab

 

HAUSMUSIK is a retreat into a pure acoustic world and stands for a serene yet modest dynamic mood. Compositions at times feel familiar, but remain refreshingly, invigoratingly unique, mirroring the myriad sounds to which Sebastian and Daniel have been exposed to throughout their lives.

“Our creative process of rediscovering the past shapes the way in which we see the world today – a renaissance of supposed resolved conflicts in a new disguise – new borders and walls, the revival of the Cold War, turning away from friends, discriminating against dissidents, new forms of tyranny. Yet, despite the historical hardships and challenges, our childhood was a place and time of spiritual importance for us. Despite the tensions therein contained, we bring forth the search for balance and harmony in the present.”
– Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS)

Tracklist
01 Vice Versa
02 Reunion (Extended Version)
03 Im Fenster (Extended Version)
04 Circa
05 Belka
06 Strelka
07 To Open A Door's Inner Frame
08 Fallen (Extended Version)
09 Yes, Brick By Brick
10 No. Eins

Credits
Composition and performance: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Klingenthal Studio)
Recording: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Klingenthal Studio)
Mix: Martyn Heyne (Klingenthal Studio)
Master: Martyn Heyne (Klingenthal Studio)
Photography: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Daniels right hand & Sebastians left hand), Kasia Borek (Sebastian Selke), Roman Koblov (Daniel Selke), Mizuki Kin Tachibana (Triangel)
Artwork: Daniel Selke (Design), Adam Heron (Layout), Torsten Posselt (Typography)
Form: 2LP, 2CD, DL
Label: Neue Meister
Publisher: Kick The Flame
Distribution: Kick The Flame, Edel [physical]
Date: June 14, 2019

Packaging
LP:
2x12-Inch black vinyl, 300g gatefold cardboard sleeve featuring photographs, portraits, liner notes, signatures, credits, dedicated text using 2 original fonts from the communist-era GDR recommended by Torsten Posselt and 1 double-side printed insert with photograph TRIANGEL

CD:
2x Compact Disc, 300g gatefold cardboard sleeve featuring photographs, portraits, liner notes, signatures, credits, dedicated text using 2 original fonts from the communist-era GDR recommended by Torsten Posselt and 1 double-side printed insert with photograph TRIANGEL

Tatort – Ein paar Worte nach Mitternacht

201004

A youth photo of crime victim Klaus and his brother Gert has disappeared from the dead man’s flat. Does the murder have anything to do with the two brothers? One is an economic miracle child and winner of the Wende – the other is a Stasimajor, SED functionary and loser of the Wende. Two post-war paths that diverged with the division of Germany and could not be reunited even after ’89.

Meret Becker, Mark Waschke
Director: Lena Knauss
Director of Photography: Eva Katharina Bühler
Music: Brueder Selke (CEEYS) – Sagres

Brueder Selke (CEEYS)
“In 1996, we travelled to the land of Prince Henry the Navigator. Just like the destinations Algarve, Setubal, Lagos, Albufeira and Lisbon, the family was drawn to the furthest part of South-Western Europe – to Sagres. In previous centuries, this place – due to it exposed location – served as a point of departure for many sea voyages into the unknown and, eventually, the New World. A secret treasure in the 1980s and 1990s for individualists, dropouts and those in need of relaxation, huge building projects started to emerge from 1998 on, which resulted in many hotels and accommodations adapting to the nature around them. The track is driven by swaying cello duplets, multiplied by echoes. They bestow the song with an all-natural pulse of its own and bring to mind gentle waves over a deep sea. It seems as if we were drifting among the harmonious vastness of the Atlantic blue all by ourselves. The cliff and its roaring surge in sight – where waves break into foam on bizzare cliffs – Daniel on the piano follows a distant call, both contemplating and with delicately syncopated figures: AHOI!”

Composition and performance: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Klingenthal Studio)
Recording: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Klingenthal Studio)
Mix: Martyn Heyne (Lichte Studio)
Master: Martyn Heyne (Lichte Studio)
Copyright: Neue Meister 2019
Published by Kick The Flame

Mario Verandi – Remansum (w Sebastian Selke)

200628

After what seems like months working on the packaging for the new absolutely beautiful release from Argentinian composer/musician Mario Verandi, his new album ‘Remansum’ is here! In Spanish the word ‘remanso’ (backwater) comes from the Latin ‘remansum’, meaning the action of stopping and remaining in place, especially in an inherently idyllic place, where beautiful music such as this can be heard!

As usual, this release comes in two distinctly different physical versions. The first deluxe, limited edition version, in an edition of only 75 copies, comes in the form of a hand made, 12 inch lathe cut record in an extensively handworked, heavy weight, recycled chipboard jacket. Each jacket has been uniquely collaged on the front with torn and reassembled photographs from a 100 year old book on travels in Spain, each in the form of an original and architecturally modified and mysterious landscape. Each collage is then surrounded by a frame of tissue thin vellum that has been painstakingly sized, cut out and meticulously applied. The vellum is then stamped with a set of vintage, pastoral French rubber stamps, and each is individually hand titled/stamped as well. The artist’s name has been hand typed on an antique typewriter, and neatly attached to the spine of each jacket.

 

01 Riven In Time
02 Hazy Sun
03 Smalls Wings Behind
04 With Eyes Hiden
05 Ayes
06 Bosque
07 Melted Horizon
08 A Tear On The Desert
09 Now And Always 

All tracks written, produced and mixed by Mario Verandi.

Mario Verandi plays piano, digital pianos, guitar, synths, electronic processings.
Dina Bolshakova plays cello on tracks 1,4,8,9.
Sebastian Selke plays cello on tracks 2,6.
Rafael Velasco plays bandoneon on track 6.
Mastered by Ian Hawgood.
Artwork and Packing design by Colin Herrick.

Released on Time Released Sound June 28, 2020.

7K! – String Layers (CEEYS – November)

200529

No.15

Billboard charts

“We brought you ‘Piano Layers’ in 2019 and in 2020 we’re presenting our latest project ‘String Layers’. It is an 18 track compilation of new or unreleased compositions designed and created by string instruments. Featuring 18 incredible artists from far flung corners of the globe, ‘String Layers’ combines classical, indie and drone and oozes with timeless melodies and innovation.”

– Carlo “Jarno” Garré

01 Simon Goff – Secret Sitter
02 Echo Collective – Wistful Breath
03 Damla Bozkurt – Enough
04 Dobrawa Czocher – Within
05 Hior Chronik – Pay No Attention to the Boundaries
06 Innerwoud – Tebreken
07 Vito Gatto – First Light
08 Laura Masotto – Before the Rising Sun
09 Effe Effe – Sleepwalking
10 Bryan Senti – Turan
11 CEEYS – November
12 Aaron Martin – An Indistinguishable Presence
13 Nikola Melnikov – Waiting for Your Steps
14 Darian Thomas – Marble
15 Tobias Preisig – Falling
16 BOW – Bryanbaum Variation
17 Himmelsrandt – Entrückung
18 Zeynep Ayşe Hatipoğlu – Maersk

Released on 7K! May 29, 2020.

CEEYS x Constant Presence – Thesis 17

200402

Als Gesamtkunstwerk ist es eine weitere Nuance im Genre, die zeitlos die Dimensionen überdauern mag.

André Schönauer, Gezeitenstrom

“Thesis 17” w/ CEEYS (Brueder Selke) & Constant Presence (Peter Broderick, Daniel O’Sullivan) in a time where everything closes you can get a beautiful inspiring handmade vinyl by the gifted hands of artist and Thesis Project owner Gregory Euclide. The Thesis Project, now on its 17th release, has set about on uniting two different artists together to create limited, custom designed bodies of music. Uniquely crafted and designed by Gregory Euclide, each 10 inch black vinyl, acrylic record sleeve and jacket for “Thesis 17” consists of laser cut-etched designs portraying brutalist architecture and atomic structures folded and glued on top of airbrushed designs that use the homemade black walnut ink that Euclide made himself from the trees on his property, then letter pressed on sheets of acid free Canson Fine Art Paper with the Thesis logo.

 

Each record is hand numbered in an edition of 300, and was planned to be available on the second day of Q3Ambientfest, where it was intended to get the record hand-signed by the artists. During the second day of the festival Constant Presence should have shared the stage with CEEYS, for a unique performance that juxtaposes the notion of duality and harmony yet further, in a show that would combine professionalism with liveliness, method with lightness of touch, and efficacy with flexibility.

 

While this astral release is still closely linked to Q3Ambientfest, its tracks “Nothing Special” and “Special Nothing” are a tip of the hat to the wisdom teachings of Shunryu Suzuki (1905-1971) the most famous Soto Zen monk of the 20th century. He was the very first Zen master who gained popularity in the Western world for his teaching of Zen Buddhism outside of Japan: the Far East.

01 Nothing Special
02 Special Nothing

All music written and produced by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS) at Klingenthal Studio, Potsdam and Constant Presence, Peter Broderick and Daniel O’Sullivan’ in their respective studios.

While Sebastian Selke played on cello with effects and mono + kick lancet, Daniel Selke played on piano and pipe synthesiser with effects, while Peter Broderick talked, sang, played violin, piano and effects, Daniel O’Sullivan sang, played organ, synthesiser, clarinet, viola and effects.

Mastered by the gifted hands of Martyn Heyne at Lichte Studio Berlin.

2020 ©
Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS) &
Constant Presence, Peter Broderick and Daniel O’Sullivan
2020 ℗
Thesis Productions


Design & Artwork: Gregory Euclide
Assistance: Gabor Kerekes

Released on Thesis Project April 2, 2020.

Lady Blunt Records – Mediterraneo (CEEYS – Plans)

200303

Their piece “Plans” has a rather raw, almost folky sound with the cello contributing to this feel with it’s earthy, scratchy, droney sound, while the piano feels somewhat wrapped in cotton wool. It is quite the contrast of sounds between raw and protected. The piece has an open feel, like it doesn’t necessary lead you in a particular direction or vein, instead it opens up possibilities of interpretations.

Drifting, Almost Falling

“We are celebrating our first year of life announcing a very special release dedicated to the Mediterranean Sea.”

– Laura Masotto

 

Lady Blunt has commissioned 15 international artists with the intention of giving life to a choral work capable of launching a message of unity, inspired by and dedicated to the sea, using music as a means of connection. The Collection includes music by: Philip G Anderson, Laura Masotto, Christine Ott, Jim Perkins, Fiona Brice, CEEYS, Snowdrops, Lorenzo Masotto, Daniela Savoldi, Anna Yarbrough, Eleuteria, Cabeki, Glowworm, Luca Longobardi.

“Mediterraneo” is a tribute to a sea that suffers, that is now the scene of profound human and ecological drama. For this reason, all proceeds from the project will be donated to two Italian NGOs involved in the Mediterranean Sea, both on the environmental side (MareVivo Onlus) and the humanitarian side (Mediterranea, Saving Humans). 

 

01 Philip G Anderson & Laura Masotto – Waves
02 Christine Ott – Herons
03 Jim Perkins – Tribute
04 Fiona Brice – To a Place of Safety
05 CEEYS – Plans
06 Snowdrops – Lost Island
07 Laura Masotto – Mirage
08 Lorenzo Masotto – Rebirth
09 Daniela Savoldi – Vite di Traverso
10 Anna Yarbrough – Murmur
11 Eleuteria – On a Boat
12 Cabeki – Hic Sunt Leones
13 Glowworm – Coastlands Hope
14 Luca Longobardi – The Lighthouse

Master by Alberto Gaffuri at X-Land Studio.

Artwork by Alessandro Lugoboni.
Video by Alessandro Lugoboni.
Trailer music composed and performed by Laura Masotto.

Released on Lady Blunt Records March 3, 2020.

Sebastian Selke – Year Change Mix 19-20

200101

This is “Year Change Mix 19-20” by Sebastian Selke. He has compiled this first part of a double bill mix with his brother Daniel which will be continued with an upcoming “Year Change Mix 20-21” by Daniel Selke at the end of 2020. A swapping dualism between Alpha & Omega, beginning and end: “While the world is going crazy we mixed bright and intense pieces by some of the most inspiring contemporary composers, uploaded in the beginning of 2020.”

– Sebastian Selke

01 Aidan Baker – The Sea Swells A Bit 2006 (Full Album)
02 Takeshi Nishimoto – Straßenlaterne
03 Kinbrae – Isolated Sketch
04 Anna von Hausswolff – The Miraculous
05 Jakob Lindhagen – Tema
06 Julien Marchall – INSIGHT XVIII
07 Lambert – The edge off
08 Lorenzo Masotto – Hermitage
09 Matt Stewart-Evans – Horizon
10 Midori Hirano – Night Traveling
11 Vargkvint – Utåt
12 Julia Kent – Heavy Eyes
13 Martyn Heyne – Sparks
14 Marina Baranova – La poule
15 Jade Berg – Tölt
16 Library Tapes – Silhouettes
17 Sarah Neufeld – Where The Light Comes In
18 CEEYS – Wanda
19 Peter Broderick – Eyes Closed And Traveling
20 Rauelsson – Hourglass I

 

Compiled by Sebastian Selke at Klingenthal Studio, Potsdam.

There are two forms of compilations: a double bill Year Change Mix and the official compilations for Q3Ambientfest.

Self-released January 1, 2020.

Simeon Walker – Mono (Reworks) – Drift (CEEYS Rework)

191115

“Drift” is a song by Simeon Walker from the album “Mono” originally self-released.

 

Reworked and performed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS). Recorded and mixed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke at Klingenthal Studio, Potsdam.

This rework is part of a collection of pieces by contemporary composers, reworked and performed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS).

 

01 Breathe (Luca Longobardi Rework)
02 Drift (CEEYS Rework)
03 Letters (Tim Linghaus Rework)
04 Turn (Jakob Lindhagen & Vargkvint Rework) 

Original music composed, performed and produced by Simeon Walker.

Mixed and mastered by Andrew Glassford.
Artwork by Gregory Euclide.
Mono (Reworks) is available digitally.

 

Released as part of Mono (Reworks) self-released November 15, 2019.

Carlos Cipa – Retronyms (w Sebastian Selke)

190823

“Retronyms” is the third album of the Munich-based composer Carlos Cipa. After 2012’s “The Monarch and the Viceroy” and “All Your Life You Walk” put a focus on the piano, Cipa exponentially expands his artistic approach as well as his colour palette on “Retronyms”.

The eight pieces see Cipa bring together his background as a classically trained pianist and composer with his interest for pop music, jazz and electronic music in all its diverse facets. Each note on this album is meticulously thought through and yet “Retronyms” radiates with visceral liveliness.
Cipa invited musicians from vastly different backgrounds for the recording of

“Retronyms” and combined highly modern digital studio technology with analogue hardware, blended brasses and woodwinds or electric guitar with piano sounds and more.

 

01 fanfare
02 senna’s joy
03 mame
04 and she was
05 awbsmi
06 slide.
07 dark tree
08 paon

Composed, arranged, performed, recorded and produced by Carlos Cipa
Co-produced by Martin Brugger
Mastered by Christoph Stickel
Mixed by Martyn Heyne
Artwork & Design by Daily Dialogue
Photography by Johannes Brugger

Released on Warner Classics August 23, 2019.

Tobias Thymian Thiele – Chamber Light (w Sebastian Selke & Daniel Selke)

190819

01 Living My Dream
02 Todi
03 Three Colours Blue
04 Spring
05 Waltz Light
06 Serenity
07 Fateful Encounter
08 Limp
09 Waltz De Resignation
10 Frisky Cuteness
11 Climax Chamber 

Released on Roba Musikverlag August 19, 2019.

CEEYS – Hiddensee

190614

Sebastian und Daniel Selke bestätigen ihre Sonderstellung im Rahmen der sogenannten Neo-Klassik; die Kommunikation zwischen ihren Instrumenten steht für eine ganz eigene (kammer-) musikalische Sprache.

Vinylkatalog

 

Rhythmically surprising, gentle in the cliffs, rich in nuances sliding with plucked and stripped cello, subtly enriched by a few winds of electronics and reverb - this "Hiddensee" lies in the impressions right next to the real one.
Andreas Körner, DNN

Hiddensee. Recommended!
I Heart Noise

A record for the calm and most private moments and an experience, that surly covers the listener even more in a live performance.

Abhilash Arackal, NBHP

 

The album illuminates a fascinating period of personal, political, and cultural history.

Brian Housman, Stationary Travels

As East Germany opened itself in the 90s, the brothers would find themselves traveling out of their homeplace to the rest of the world and while grateful for their newfound freedoms, they would also come to miss their childhood Eden.

“Enriched and irritated by the variety of impressions, also grateful and yet wistful, we finally all wished ourselves back to our little island in the middle of the Baltic Sea. We were looking for more familiar structures, on the one hand to feel the desire to travel and on the other hand the yearning for the familiar island.”
– Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS)

Tracklist
01 Trabanten
02 Leaving Wallbook
03 Sagres
04 All Airport Delays
05 Horizont
06 Helikopter
07 Lost And Found
08 Solar Sunny
09 0991
10 Wanda
11 Wanderer
12 Hiddensee

Credits
Composition and performance: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Klingenthal Studio)
Vibraphone: Masayoshi Fujita (Track 10, Studio Gruenauer 06)
Recording: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Klingenthal Studio), Antonio Pulli (Reverb Chamber & Tape, Funkhaus Saal 3)
Mix: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Klingenthal Studio)
Master: Martyn Heyne (Lichte Studio)
Lacquer Cut: Andreas [LUPO] Lubich (Schnittstelle Berlin)
Photography: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Zeiss Ikon, Reflekta II), Anne Krausz (Assistant), Harald & Gabriele Selke (AG8)
Artwork: Daniel Selke (Design & Layout)
Form: LP, CD, DL
Label: Neue Meister
Publisher: Kick The Flame
Distribution: Kick The Flame, Edel [physical]
Date: June 14, 2019

Packaging
LP:
Limited 12-Inch black vinyl, 300g cardboard sleeve with 2 double-side printed inserts featuring liner notes, signatures, credits and dedicated text using 2 original fonts from the communist-era GDR recommended by Torsten Posselt

CD:
Limited Compact Disc, 300g gatefold cardboard sleeve with 20-page booklet featuring liner notes, signatures, credits and dedicated text using 2 original fonts from the communist-era GDR recommended by Torsten Posselt

SPECIAL EDITION:
Limited 12-Inch black vinyl, 300g cardboard sleeve with 2 double-side printed inserts featuring liner notes, signatures, credits and dedicated text using 2 original fonts from the communist-era GDR recommended by Torsten Posselt, collection of 12 postcards matching the number of tracks, printed environmentally friendly with a risograph from Japan showing the island as depicted in a home video from 1986 shot on an original AG8 hand camera from the former CSSR, edition of 100

Sebastian Selke x Daniel Selke – Q3A

190329The brothers Sebastian & Daniel Selke grew up during critical times – back in the 1980s when the former GDR was slowly starting to dissolve – in the far east of Berlin-Hellersdorf. The newly built prefab estates that marked this area were named with different types. Q3A was short for Querwandtyp Nr. 3, Variante A (Cross-Wall Construction Type No. 3, Version A).

The two photographs – one of which can already be seen through the window in the record’s cover and a second other one on the inside – show a view from the balcony to the street where two children are playing in the courtyard. Both images were taken by their parents Harald & Gabriele Selke. Here Sebastian & Daniel learned cello and piano from an early age.

“This EP is a first in more than one sense: with An Daniel (to Daniel), the A-side marks Sebastian’s first solo piece ever to be released under his own name. Apart from his Klingenthal cello, which he only recently added to his setup, he for the first time uses handmade analogue kick and bass synthesisers from Erlbach. The never-ending repeats of the hard left and right panned ping-pong delay, which runs in triplets and through a synced analogue filter - once more expresses the joy that Sebastian finds in experimenting with dualism. On the other hand, Daniel plays the restored childhood upright in his debut For Sebastian, combining it with a heavily altered, organismic drone synthesiser. The piece was designed by a radio engineer and musician from the Ukraine. The simple but intense tonality of Sebastians intro recalls Johann Sebastian Bach‘s cello suites merge with Daniel’s seemingly observant conversation between piano and synthesizer. This ultimately allows for a dialogue between our original instruments cello and piano, coming together in a volute to reveal something utterly moving and beautiful - a third piece is revealed when the two tracks are layered.”
– Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS)

Tracklist
01 An Daniel
02 For Sebastian
03 Q3A (hidden track)

Credits
Composition and performance: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Klingenthal Studio)
Recording: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Klingenthal Studio)
Mix: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Klingenthal Studio)
Master: Martyn Heyne (Lichte Studio)
Photography: Harald & Gabriele Selke (Zeiss Ikon, Reflekta II)
Artwork: Daniel Selke (Design), Matthias Rehling (Design & Layout), Torsten Posselt (Typography)
Form: EP, DL
Label: Oscarson
Publisher: Kick The Flame
Distribution: Kick The Flame, Norman Records/Bis Aufs Messer/The Business/Motorpool & Tobira Records [physical]
Date: March 29, 2019

Packaging
EP:
Limited 7-Inch black vinyl, handnumbered gatefold cardboard sleeve with printed die-cut cover, 2 double-side printed covercard inserts featuring liner notes, dedicated text and credits using 2 original fonts from the communist-era GDR recommended by Torsten Posselt, edition of 300

Flying Horses – Reverie (w Sebastian Selke)

190222

01 Awake
02 Comfort
03 Absolution
04 Settled
05 Feerless
06 Migration
07 Homebound
08 Isolation
09 Stillness
10 Unsettled
11 Undercurrent
12 Sorg Sea I
13 Sorg Sea II
14 Asleep

Piano, Celesta, Vibraphone, Music Boxes – Jade Bergeron
Cello (All tracks except for Sorg Sea I & II) – Sebastian Selke
Vibraphone (Absolution, Stillness) – Jeff Kingsbury
Cornet, Drum (Sorg Sea I & II) – Charles Spearin
Cello (Sorg Sea I & II) – Alex Mah
Guitar (Sorg Sea I & II) – Kathleen Edwards
Double Bass (Sorg Sea I & II) – Brock Geiger

Piano, Music Boxes engineered by Alex Gamble at Union Sound Company in Toronto, Canada

Cello (All tracks except for Sorg Sea I & II) engineered by Daniel Selke at Klingenthal Studio in Potsdam, Germany

Vibraphone, Cornet, Drum, Cello, Guitar, Double Bass (Sorg Sea I & II) engineered by Nyles Spencer at The Banff Centre in Banff, Canada

Written and produced by Flying Hórses
Mixed by Nyles Spencer at The Bathouse Studio in Bath, Ontario
Mastered by Phillip Shaw Bova at Bova Lab in Ottawa, Canada
Artwork and layout by Patrick Buck
Flying Hórses Copyright © 2018

 

Released on Bonsound February 22, 2019.

Daniel Selke – Year Change Mix 18-19

190101

After the “Year Change Mix 17-18” by Sebastian Selke uploaded at the beginning of 2018, his brother Daniel has compiled this second part of the double bill mix which will be continued now with this “Year Change Mix 18-19” by Daniel Selke. A swapping dualism between Alpha & Omega, beginning and end: “While the world is on the loudest peak we mixed smooth and silent pieces by some of the most inspiring contemporary composers, uploaded at the end of 2018.”

– Daniel Selke

01 Anna von Hausswolff – The Miraculous
02 Alice Bacher – Kreisreise in Progress
03 Arthur Russell – Ocean Movie
04 Dustin O'Halloran – The Length of Shadows
05 Hania Rani – Esja
06 Peter Broderick – Eyes Closed And Traveling
07 CEEYS – 9891
08 Flying Hórses – 101’
09 Ben Lukas Boysen – Nocturne 2
10 Jakob Lindhagen – Tema
11 Sergio Diaz de Rojas – Paris
12 Matt Stewart-Evans – Horizon
13 Julien Marchall – INSIGHT XVIII
14 Christina Vantzou – Moon Drone (Francesco Donadello Remix)
15 Sarah Neufeld – Where The Light Comes In
16 Vargkvint – Utåt
17 Masayoshi Fujita – Apologues – 08 Requiem
18 Orson Hentschel – Florence
19 CEEYS – Neighbour II
20 Takeshi Nishimoto – Remembrance
21 Lubomyr Melnyk – Evertina – 02 Awaiting

 

Compiled by Daniel Selke at Klingenthal Studio, Potsdam.

There are two forms of compilations: a double bill Year Change Mix and the official compilations for Q3Ambientfest.

Self-released January 1, 2019.

Sergio Díaz De Rojas – The Day I Lost Her (CEEYS Rework)

181203

“The Day I Lost Her” is a song by Sergio Díaz De Rojas from the EP “December 03” originally released on Piano & Coffee Records.

 

Reworked and performed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS).
Recorded and mixed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke at Klingenthal Studio, Potsdam.

This rework is part of a collection of pieces by contemporary composers, reworked and performed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS).

 

“To celebrate our label’s first anniversary, we are releasing Sergio Díaz De Rojas’ EP ‘December 03 (Reworked)’, an outstanding collaborative project that will provide the listener with a varied collection of reworks, ranging from delicate piano and cello to soft electronic and ambient. This EP features CEEYS, Matt Emery, Elskavon, and Jakob Lindhagen. ‘December 03’ was composed and recorded in one afternoon, and released in the middle of the night, without any sort of promotion. Two years later, with the intention of giving these simple but meaningful piano pieces some recognition – and to close that particular phase of my work as a composer – I invited some of my friends to reimagine the four tracks on the EP, and decided to release it through my dear label.”

– Sergio Díaz De Rojas

 

01 The Day I Lost Her (CEEYS Rework)
02 Love (Matt Every Rework)
03 Dreams (Elskavon Rework)
04 For Bele (Jakob Lindhagen Rework)

 

Composed and mastered by Sergio Díaz De Rojas.
Artwork by Seraphina Theresa.

“December 03 (Reworked)” is available digitally and on limited edition cassette, alongside a remastered version of the four original piano pieces composed by Sergio.

 

Released as part of “December 03 (Reworked)” on Piano & Coffee Records December 3, 2018.

Klangriket – Björk (CEEYS Rework)

230101

“Björk” is a song by Klangriket from “Tjärn” and the second track from the EP originally released on Piano & Coffee Records.

 

Reworked and performed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS). Recorded and mixed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke at Klingenthal Studio, Potsdam.

This rework is part of a collection of pieces by contemporary composers, reworked and performed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS).

 

01 Björk (CEEYS Rework)
02 Björk (Jakob Lindhagen & Vargkvint Rework)
03 Ljusterö (Bonander Rework)
04 Skogsra (Elskavon Rework)
05 Skogsra (Joakim Alfven Waltzed Up Rework)

 

Released as part of Tjärn (Reworked) on Piano & Coffee November 2, 2018.

Masayoshi Fujita – Book of Life (w Sebastian Selke)

180727

Following on from his acclaimed works “Stories” and “Apologues”, Berlin-based composer and vibraphonist Masayoshi Fujita will release his new album “Book of Life”, the third instalment in a trilogy of solo vibraphone recordings, on July 27th via Erased Tapes. “Stories”, the first in the series and Masayoshi’s debut under his own name, will be re-issued by Erased Tapes at the same time.

With “Book of Life” Masayoshi continues his mission in bringing the vibraphone – a relatively new invention in the history of instruments often kept in the background in orchestras and jazz outfits – into the spotlight. Having trained as a drummer, Masayoshi began experimenting with the vibraphone, preparing its bars with kitchen foil or beads, playing it with the cello bow such as in Fog or using the other end of the mallets to create a more ambient texture of sound, as with the title track. Focussing on the vibraphone in this way sets Masayoshi apart, dedicating his artistic life to celebrating this fascinating and often under appreciated instrument and making his take on ambient and modern compositional styles a unique one.

“I think the vibraphone is capable of more interesting and beautiful sounds that haven’t been heard before. It’s quite a new instrument but it’s often played in a similar way.”
– Masayoshi Fujita

01 Snowy Night Tale
02 Fog
03 It’s Magical
04 Old Automation
05 Book Of Life
06 Harp
07 Mountain Deer
08 Sadness
09 Misty Avalanche
10 Cloud Of Light

Released on Erased Tapes Records July 27, 2018.

CEEYS – Wænde

180518

The intersection of the booming, rhythmic cello and a more thoughtful, searching, piano melody then shifts to create an air of mystery and melancholy.

Jon Buckland, Echoes and Dust

 

Wænde best of 2018

André Schönauer, Gezeitenstrom

The record is an incredible atmospheric work, an example of a beautiful minimalism. Music on WÆNDE represents the true nature of music somewhere between avantgarde and pop.

Mateusz Stypula

 

Je öfter man die Platte hört, umso stärker entwickelt sie ihre Kraft. Immer wieder entdeckt man neue kleine Details, die das Hören spannend machen. Das überzeugt und macht „Waende“ zu einem kurzweiligen, vielschichtigen Hörerlebnis.

Juliane Reil, NDR

 

The production is immaculate, and the listener is left with a sense of intention every second of the album. Cold and warm, motionless and still moving, WÆNDE makes an interesting point of antithesis and form, a work of disciplined quality, yet leaving room for plenty of turmoil.

Björk Óskarsdóttir, Piano and Coffee Co

 

Melancholie und Minimalismus – darin sind CEEYS einfach unschlagbar gut. Es sind die kleinen vertonten Geschichten, die dieses Werk zu einem beindruckenden Zeitdokument macht. Nebenbei-Hören funktioniert hier einfach nicht. Ich glaube, ich habe verstanden. Meisterwerk.

10/10
Jan Platek, Pretty In Noise

 

Their approach to classical music is fresh while staying true to its roots. The relentless staccato work coupled with beautifully bowed drones and piano recalls the waxing and waning of time and how we perceive it.

Nolan Keith Parker, Schmutz

 

Outstanding!

According to the press release, lifts CEEYS’ unmistakable style to new levels by forgoing the use of electronics, synthesisers, and effects, and moulding the sound using only the potential of their main instruments: cello and piano.

Son of marketing

 

Daniel and Sebastian Selke have created an intense, minimalist and pulsating composition that recalls Philip Glass and Steve Reich. It’s an intense and utterly captivating composition.

Tome to the Weather Machine

 

Cello trifft auf Synthesizer, Eingängiges auf Dissonantes - Nach „Concrete Fields“, einer Auseinandersetzung mit dem Aufwachsen in der Betonwüste Marzahn-Hellersdorf, ist Album Nummer zwei ein Spiegelbild des Wendejahrs 1989 geworden. Mehr noch: Ein Album voller Gefühle und Bilder, auf dem sich Cello und Tasteninstrumente in einer ständigen Diskussion befinden.

Friedrich Reip, Urbanite


After the remembrance on the brothers childhood during the 1980s, behind the iron curtain with CONCRETE FIELDS,
WÆNDE will be the next step following their impressions on the sudden fall of the wall in 1989, a year which brought so many changes.

“At least in the beginning, this building project was full of good intentions. But the 80s were the last decade of the communist-driven GDR and the endless grey blocks of cold concrete and steel now merely communicate an atmosphere of anonymity and oppression. Then again, this is where we had our daily lives with friends, school and holidays. And it was during this time when we started learning our instruments. After the quiet revolution in 1989, the fall of the wall, and throughout the 90s, this area always kept an atmosphere of nervous departure and a vague feeling of melancholy.”
– Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS)

Tracklist
01 Based in East Berlin
02 Union
03 Waende
04 Winter Sleep
05 Rectangles
06 Neighbour I
07 Neighbour II
08 Eichenthal 302
09 Greys
10 Fall
11 9891
12 Zanzibar

Credits
Composition and performance: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Klingenthal Studio)
Recording: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Klingenthal Studio)
Mix: Martyn Heyne (Lichte Studio)
Master: Martyn Heyne (Lichte Studio)
Photography: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Zeiss Ikon, Reflekta II), Anne Krausz (Assistant)
Artwork: Daniel Selke (Design), Gerd Schröder/Groothuis (Layout), Torsten Posselt (Typography)
Form: LP, CD, DL
Label: Neue Meister
Publisher: Kick The Flame
Distribution: Kick The Flame, Edel [physical]
Date: May 11, 2018

Packaging
LP:
Limited 12-Inch black vinyl, 300g cardboard sleeve with dedicated text, double-side printed covercard featuring photograph and liner notes using 2 original fonts from the communist-era GDR recommended by Torsten Posselt, black inner paper sleeve with download code for the full album

CD:
Limited Compact Disc, 300g cardboard sleeve with dedicated text, booklet featuring three photos and liner notes using 2 original fonts from the communist-era GDR recommended by Torsten Posselt

Erased Tapes – 1+1=X (w Sebastian Selke)

180421

Erased Tapes rounds off a jubilant year of tenth anniversary celebrations with a very special release, “1+1=X”, a set of exclusive music from every artist on the label. Featuring never before heard tracks from Nils Frahm, Kiasmos and A Winged Victory For The Sullen, “1+1=X” sees Erased Tapes artists come together to make an album as a collective.

Sharing the same space, instruments and each others’ capabilities during a residency at Vox-Ton Studio in Berlin, they recorded 20 songs to mark the label’s 10-year history.

“It was important to create something communal and reflective of our time, to capture something of value using traditional recording techniques, experimenting and reacting to each other in real time, sharing the same space.”

– Robert Raths


“I suppose finding words and meaning to describe this release would be next to impossible. This recording was a real joy, to go back to our humble beginnings. To have the freedom to create art only for ourselves was truly sublime.”
– Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie



Between August 2016 and 2017, each artist arrived with a new composition or an improvisation to record at Vox-Ton. Run with much love and care by Italian engineer Francesco Donadello.

 

01 Qasim Naqvi – Brutal Moderna
02 A Winged Victory For The Sullen – Long May It Sustain
03 Rival Consoles – Ritual Song
04 Nils Frahm – Frau Dehlholm
05 Daniel Thorne – Iroise
06 Daniel Brandt – Blackpool Sands Forever
07 Douglas Dare – Darling
08 Michael Price – Eyn Hallow
09 Kiasmos & Högni – Zebra
10 Ben Lukas Boysen – Pending
11 David Allred – Ahoy
12 Anne Müller – Bel Tono
13 Lubomyr Melnyk – Palisade I
14 Hatis Noit – Inori
15 Masayoshi Fujita – Spaceship Magical
16 Högni – Mani
17 Peter Broderick – The Perpetual Glow
18 Arthur Jeffes & Nils Frahm – Up Is Good
19 Daniel Brandt – Blackpool Sands Forever (Rival Consoles Remix)
20 Penguin Cafe – Wheels Within Wheels (Greg Gives Peter Space Remix)

 

Produced by Robert Raths
Recorded and mixed by Francesco Donadello
Assistant Engineers: Antonio Pulli & Simon Goff
Production Assistant: Julie Blake
Mastered by Lupo at Calyx
Vinyl cut by Andreas at Schnittstelle
Photography by Claudia Gödke
Art direction: Robert Raths
Design by Torsten Posselt at FELD

 

Released on Erased Tapes Records April 21, 2018.

Tim Linghaus – Memory Sketches (w Sebastian Selke)

180330

What is a memory? Is it a residue of our past conjured into being by pictures in our minds? Is it our former self communicating with our present one or the other way around? Is it a recurring emotion or smell we notice in a déjà vu or a daydream? Is it an individual sum of those aspects?

What I know is that memories help me to define who I am. They establish connection between me and everything that is not present or future - sometimes sharp and palpable, more often soft and frail. Unfortunately, some memories fade away irrevocably. Hence, I am quite afraid of losing them.

The idea behind memory sketches is to give particular memories a form, to preserve them if you like. So I compiled a collection of my most precious memories like bringing our grandma to the hospital in an RV, crossing the inner-German border in Bornholmer Street for the first time shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the moment of coming home from graduation, my dad’s funeral and trying to communicate with him via a radio, just to mention a few. All in all, it’s a collection of intimate moments covering a time frame of roughly twenty years.

 

01 Looking For Dad In Radio Noises
02 Coming Home from Graduation Pt. I (Yearbook)
03 Drive Me Somewhere Nice
04 Crossing Bornholmer
05 Into the Darker Architecture Of Yours
06 C In Schoenhauser
07 RX
08 Me In Your Reare – View Mirror (Boys Don’t Cry)
09 D(e)ad Eyes
10 Grandma’s Deathbed, Pt. V (Roxy Music In The RV)
11 Funeral For Dad, Pt. II (It Was Nice To Have Known You)
12 We Will Never Come Back Here Again (Lament)
13 Adventure Park
14 Song For S
15 I Was Atoms And Waves
16 You In Our Reare-View Mirror (Cemetery Car Park)

 

Written and mixed by Tim Linghaus
Mastered by Emil Thomsen
Cello by Sebastian Selke
Recorded at Wallring Cabin

Artwork by Alexander Hanke / Zum Heimathafen
A&R by Akira Kosemura
Art direction by Shin Kikuchi
Sales promotion by Kazumitsu Yoshida, Romain Meril and Matthieu Burel
Production management – SCHOLE INC. & 1631Recordings

 

Released on Schole Inc. & 1631Recordings March 30, 2018.

Sebastian Selke – Year Change Mix 17-18

180101

This is “Year Change Mix 17-18” by Sebastian Selke. He has compiled this first part of a double bill mix with his brother Daniel which will be continued with an upcoming “Year Change Mix 18-19” by Daniel Selke at the end of 2018. A swapping dualism between Alpha & Omega, beginning and end:

 

“While the world is going crazy we mixed bright and intense pieces by some of the most inspiring contemporary composers, uploaded in the beginning of 2018.”

– Sebastian Selke

01 Colin Stetson – SORROW – a reimagining of Gorecki's 3rd Symphony – 01 Sorrow – I – Lento – Sostenuto Tranquillo Ma Cantabile
02 Takeshi Nishimoto – Straßenlaterne
03 Carlos Cipa – Secret Longing
04 Kinbrae – Isolated Sketch
05 CEEYS – Opal Glass
06 Hania Rani – Esja
07 Jakob Lindhagen – Tema
08 Illuminine – Patterns, Erase
09 Lisa Morgenstern – Metamorphoses (Moon Version)
10 Marco Caricola – Bright Star
11 Andrea Belfi – Oggetti Creano Forme
12 Christoph Berg – Grief
13 Vargkvint – Utåt
14 Masayoshi Fujita – Apologues – 08 Requiem
15 Martyn Heyne – Sparks
16 Marina Baranova – Suite in G Major, RCT 6_ No. 12, La poule
17 Nils Frahm – Über
18 Library Tapes – Silhouettes
19 Sarah Neufeld – Where The Light Comes In
20 Ólafur Arnalds – Raddir [feat. South Iceland Chamber Choir]
21 Peter Broderick – Eyes Closed And Traveling
22 Lubomyr Melnyk – Evertina – 01 Evertina

 

Compiled by Sebastian Selke at Klingenthal Studio, Potsdam.

There are two forms of compilations: a double bill Year Change Mix and the official compilations for Q3Ambientfest.

Self-released January 1, 2018.

Daigo Hanada – Silhouette (CEEYS Rework)

170317

“Silhouette” is a song by Daigo Hanada from the album “Ichiru” originally released on Moderna Records.

Reworked and performed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS).
Recorded and mixed by Sebastian Selke at Klingenthal Studio, Potsdam.

This rework is part of a collection of pieces by contemporary composers, reworked and performed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS).

Self-released March 17, 2017.

Nils Frahm – Kind (CEEYS Rework)

170226

“Kind” is a song by Nils Frahm from the album “Felt” originally released on Erased Tapes Records.

 

Reworked and performed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS). Recorded and mixed by Francesco Donadello and Antonio Pulli at Vox-Ton Studio, Berlin. Mastered by Sebastian & Daniel Selke at Klingenthal Studio, Potsdam.

This rework is part of a collection of pieces by contemporary composers, reworked and performed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS).

 

Self-released February 26, 2017.

CEEYS – Concrete Fields

170224

Concrete Fields best of 2017

André Schönauer, Gezeitenstrom

This one is mostly what would be called minimalist neo classic. It is mainly the duo of piano and cello, with sometimes some additions. Its mostly melancholic but not only, and is definitively worth listening to.

Thibaut Devigne

Noch nie war Beton so zerbrechlich. 4/5.

Stefan Hochgesand, Berliner Tonträger der Woche, Zitty

Concrete Fields is one of the most powerful records of the year. The brothers now walk in a warm, bright glow and not through dreary grey.

James Catchpole, A Closer Listen

Their album and photography project, CONCRETE FIELDS, is a personal reflection on both growing up in the dreary landscape of Europe’s largest prefab estate Marzahn-Hellersdorf, Berlin, East Germany, and their first musical contact with chamber music as an original duo playing cello and piano in the edgy last decade of the GDR.

“We know that, at least in the beginning, it was a well-intentioned development built to offer more accommodation space to families. But the 80s was the last decade of the GDR and the endless grey blocks of cold concrete and steel communicate only anonymity and oppression. On the other hand, we had our daily lives, with school, friends, holidays and we started to learn what was to become our main instruments, the violoncello and the piano. After the ‘quiet’ revolution in 1989 and the fall of the wall, and throughout the 90s, the region always kept a blend of an edgy feeling of departure and a vague melancholy. To carefully handle all the different facets of this time period we decided to release our musical version in the form of a trilogy spread across the next few years. CONCRETE FIELDS will be part one and is dedicated to our dear parents Harald & Gabriele Selke.”
– Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS)

Tracklist
01 Based
02 Based II
03 Concrete Field
04 Lumen
05 Rueber
06 Hover, Over, Me
07 Without Shelter
08 Rueber [feat. Martyn Heyne]

Credits
Composition and performance: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Vox-Ton Studio)
Recording: Francesco Donadello, Antonio Pulli (Vox-Ton Studio)
Mix: Martyn Heyne (Lichte Studio)
Master: Martyn Heyne (Lichte Studio)
Photography: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Zeiss Ikon, Reflekta II), Anne Krausz (Assistant)
Artwork: Daniel Selke (Design & Layout), Torsten Posselt (Typography)
Form: LP, CD, DL
Label: 1631 Recordings
Publisher: Decca
Distribution: Decca, Cargo [physical]
Date: February 24, 2017

Packaging
LP: 
Limited 12-Inch black vinyl, reversed 300g cardboard sleeve, double-side printed covercard featuring two photographs and liner notes using 2 original fonts from the communist-era GDR recommended by Torsten Posselt, black inner paper sleeve in a protected deluxe version with download code for the full album, edition of 300

CD:
Limited Compact Disc, reversed 300g cardboard sleeve, double-side printed covercard featuring two photographs, inner card wallet with dedicated text using 2 original fonts from the communist-era GDR recommended by Torsten Posselt, edition of 500

Die Turnerin – Official Trailer

170101

10-year-old Melia lives in precarious conditions with her single mother and her little sister Sofia. Her only passion is gymnastics. Encouraged by her coach, she prepares for the upcoming gymnastics competition. But everything turns out differently, as she has to take care of her sister on her important day of training.

Lena Reinhold, Gismara Heinz, Noemi Kämmerer
Director: Annkatrin Hausmann
Director of Photography: Annkatrin Hausmann
Music: Brueder Selke (CEEYS) – Without Shelter

Brueder Selke (CEEYS)
“We always wanted to present this song as our debut single. It concentrates on the sublime relationship between our main acoustic instruments: cello and piano. It has an A–B–A structure so that we can improvise easily and focus on expressing our shared memories. As you can imagine, we have to listen very carefully to each other just like we did when performing classical chamber music. Each note fills our conversation. It is all about how one player feels and shapes his sound and how the other reacts to it with his own possibilities. We are truly brothers because we can almost hint what the following tone could be. This acoustic piece in particular follows our discussed approach of performing complex experimental but accessible music with a limited setup.”

Composition and performance: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Klingenthal Studio)
Recording: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Klingenthal Studio)
Mix: Martyn Heyne (Lichte Studio)
Master: Martyn Heyne (Lichte Studio)
Copyright: 1631 Recordings 2017
Publisher: Decca

Brueder Selke – Illustration by Annkatrin Hausmann

170101

A few years ago we got a request from Annkatrin Hausmann to use music for the movie "Die Turnerin". The trailer and the theme of the film alone seemed fitting for our stories and so we agreed.

Only later did we discover that the director was also a talented illustrator. And so she drew one of our pictures.

Looking back, we are still happy about such organic collaborations and send our love to Annkatrin, whose last name Hausmann alone was worth the collaboration.

Rilke Ueberoffen

170101

Poetry Film Competition Vienna
The jury of the Poetry Film Competition Vienna is awarding the film „Rilke Ueberoffen“ by Sebastian and Daniel Selke for its perfect balance between emotion and abstraction, which manages to remain self-evident despite its minimalistic craftsmanship. The poetic film is not a one-to-one adaptation from the original by Rilke – and yet, it connects closely and truly to the poem on an emotional level.

Rilke’s rather nostalgic return to his early love Lou Andreas-Salomé is confronted by a nostalgic return to the days of youth in East-Berlin’s prefab estate in the 1980s. The film gives an authentic impression of the brothers’ personal coming-to-terms with their childhood in the concrete panel houses of Marzahn-Hellersdorf. Both Rilke and the Selke brothers focus on something that is lost forever – their youth. Accompanied by a certain kind of nostalgia, this makes for a retrospect filled with memories and a subtle but distinct feeling of pain. The jury was especially impressed by the timeless form of the film, whose principles could best be described by the words minimalistic, willingly unfashionable and unagitated. Another highlight is its intimate and fragile fusion of text and moving image established by the film’s score.”


Producer: Sebastian & Daniel Selke
Director: Daniel Selke
Director of Photography: Katharina Tress & Julia Grüßing

Composition and performance: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Klingenthal Studio)
Recording: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Klingenthal Studio)
Mix: Martyn Heyne (Lichte Studio)
Master: Martyn Heyne (Lichte Studio)
Copyright: 1631 Recordings 2017
Publisher: Decca

Daniel Selke – Year Change Mix 16-17 #2

170101

After the “Year Change Mix 16-17 #1” by Sebastian Selke uploaded at the end of 2016, his brother Daniel has compiled this second part of the double bill mix which will be continued now with this “Year Change Mix 16-17 #2” by Daniel Selke. A swapping dualism between Omega & Alpha, end and beginning:

“While the world is going crazy we mixed bright and intense pieces by some of the most inspiring contemporary composers, uploaded in the beginning of 2017.”

– Daniel Selke

01 Christina Vantzou – Moon Drone (Francesco Donadello Remix)
02 Matt Stewart-Evans – Horizon
03 Alice Bacher – Kreisreise in Progress xx
04 Greg Haines – Snow Airport (For Piano)
05 Jade Berg – Tölt
06 Anna von Hausswolff – The Miraculous
07 Julien Marchal – INSIGHT XVIII
08 Midori Hirano – Night Traveling
09 Dustin O'Halloran – The Length of Shadows
10 Ben Lukas Boysen – Nocturne 2
11 Marco Caricola – Bright Star
12 Andrea Belfi – Oggetti Creano Forme
13 Hildur Guðnadóttir – Iridiscence
14 John Kameel Farah – Calling (of the Sea)
15 Poppy Nogood – Music for Mourning – 01 i) do you
remember
16 CEEYS – Passepied
17 Martyn Heyne – Sparks
18 Sophie Hutchings – Anchor
19 Svarte Greiner – The Marble

Compiled by Daniel Selke at Klingenthal Studio, Potsdam.

There are two forms of compilations: a double bill Year Change Mix and the official compilations for Q3Ambientfest.

Self-released January 1, 2017.

Sebastian Selke – Year Change Mix 16-17 #1

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This is “Year Change Mix 16-17 #1” by Sebastian Selke. He has compiled this first part of a double bill mix with his brother Daniel which will be continued with an upcoming “Year Change Mix 16-17 #2” by Daniel Selke at the beginning of 2017. A swapping dualism between Omega & Alpha, end and beginning:

“While the world is on the loudest peak we mixed smooth and silent pieces by some of the most inspiring contemporary composers, uploaded at the end of 2016.”

– Sebastian Selke

01 Library Tapes – Silhouettes
02 Rauelsson – Hourglass I
03 Nils Frahm – Über
04 Hauschka – Late Summer
05 Peter Broderick – Eyes Closed And Traveling
06 Sergio Diaz De Rojas – My Old Green Shirt, Coffee and Cigarettes
07 Marek Votruba – Loner
08 Arthur Russell – Ocean Movie
09 CEEYS – Opal Glass
10 Sarah Neufeld – Where The Light Comes In
11 Flying Hórses – 101
12 Stefano Guzzetti – While you sleep
13 Kinbrae – Isolated Sketch
14 Ed Carlsen – Loose
15 Carlos Cipa & Occupanther – Trow
16 Orson Hentschel – Florence
17 Lorenzo Masotto – Hermitage
18 Lubomyr Melnyk – Evertina – 01 Evertina
19 Julia Kent – Heavy Eyes
20 Colin Stetson – SORROW – a reimagining of Gorecki's 3rd Symphony – 01 Sorrow – I – Lento – Sostenuto Tranquillo Ma Cantabile
21 Lambert – Excess – 08 The Edge Off
22 Ólafur Arnalds – Raddir [feat. South Iceland Chamber Choir]

 

Compiled by Sebastian Selke at Klingenthal Studio, Potsdam.

There are two forms of compilations: a double bill Year Change Mix and the official compilations for Q3Ambientfest.

Self-released December 31, 2016.

The Eye Of Time – Treblinka (CEEYS Rework)

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“Treblinka, Poland 2 August 1943” is a song by The Eye Of Time from the album “Acoustic” originally released on Denovali Records.

 

Reworked and performed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS). Recorded and mixed by Francesco Donadello and Antonio Pulli at Vox-Ton Studio, Berlin. Mastered by Sebastian & Daniel Selke at Klingenthal Studio, Potsdam.

This rework is part of a collection of pieces by contemporary composers, reworked and performed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS).

Self-released November 26, 2016.

Lambert – Nantes (CEEYS Rework)

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“Nantes” is a song by Lambert from the released album “Lambert” originally released on Staatsakt.

Reworked and performed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS). Recorded and mixed by Francesco Donadello and Antonio Pulli at Vox-Ton Studio, Berlin. Mastered by Sebastian & Daniel Selke at Klingenthal Studio, Potsdam.

This rework is part of a collection of pieces by contemporary composers, reworked and performed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS).

Self-released October 23, 2016.

Ólafur Arnalds x Nils Frahm – Four (CEEYS Rework)

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“Four” is a song by Ólafur Arnalds and Nils Frahm from the album “Loon” originally released on Erased Tapes Records.

 

Reworked and performed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS). Recorded and mixed by Francesco Donadello and Antonio Pulli at Vox-Ton Studio, Berlin. Mastered by Sebastian & Daniel Selke at Klingenthal Studio, Potsdam.

This rework is part of a collection of pieces by contemporary composers, reworked and performed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS).

Self-released October 23, 2016.

Ólafur Arnalds – Undan Hulu (CEEYS Rework)

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“Undan Hulu” is a song by Ólafur Arnalds from the album “…And They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darkness” originally released on Erased Tapes Records.

 

Reworked and performed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS). Recorded and mixed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke at Klingenthal Studio, Potsdam.
Mastered by Michael Schwabe at Monoposto, Duesseldorf.

This rework is part of a collection of pieces by contemporary composers, reworked and performed by CEEYS (Brueder Selke).

Self-released July 15, 2016.

Nils Frahm – In the Sky and on the Ground (CEEYS Rework)

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“In The Sky And On The Ground” is a song by Nils Frahm from the album “The Bells” originally released on Kning Disk.

Reworked and performed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS). Recorded and mixed by Sebastian and Daniel Selke at Klingenthal Studio, Potsdam.
Mastered by Michael Schwabe at Monoposto, Duesseldorf.

This rework is part of a collection of pieces by contemporary composers, reworked and performed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS).

Self-released July 15, 2016.

CEEYS – The Grunewald Church Session

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The best of the recent batch.

Richard Allen, A Closer Listen

 

An outstanding album. Talk about setting a high standard!

Peter van Cooten, Ambientblog

The space within is a heaven for reverb lovers, and CEEYS (Sebastian and Daniel Selke) make the most of it. CS know not to clutter the sound; their compositions are perfectly balanced. A ‘loose’ vibe runs throughout the music, which is professional and yet never stiff, the performance itself likened to a slightly improvised jam session.

James Catchpole, Fluid Radio

 

Their music is different from the overwhelming stream of ‘post-classical’ music released recently, because of their use of electronics, synth pads and field recordings. Not just the ordinary contemporary electronics, but the use of some original, restored electronic instruments by East-German company Vermona back in the 70’s and 80’s like the 1976 ER 9 rhythm box. This combination of sound, combined with the duo’s skills and experience, the live setting, and the well-recorded acoustics of the Grunewald church – all these details result in an outstanding album.

Mike Lazarev, Headphone Commute

 

Their debut, THE GRUNEWALD CHURCH SESSION, stays true to this idea and is a first recording of the duo‘s live setup in a church. Cello and a Boesendorfer Imperial are the main components.

A particularly special feature is the use of some original, restored electronic instruments made by GDR-based company Vermona back in the 70s and 80s. The tracks present the sensation of a sound-exploring performance in the inspiring atmosphere of an old ancient church. THE GRUNEWALD CHURCH SESSION is a jam session orientated live album which feels like a sketchbook for their studio album CONCRETE FIELDS.

A subtle sense for narrative, cinematic moments pervades the whole album.

“Our studio album CONCRETE FIELDS will be a remembrance of our childhood growing up in Europe‘s largest prefab estate – Marzahn-Hellersdorf, Berlin, East Germany. We tried to capture this in some first sketchy compositions. Now, we are very thankful to present even those first ideas in understandable chronological release order as our debut and even in a musically authentic form of a live album right before our studio album: THE GRUNEWALD CHURCH SESSION.”
– Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS)

Tracklist
01 Based
02 Passepied
03 Concrete Field
04 Without Shelter
05 Opal Glass
06 Hover, Over, Me
07 Angles
08 Traffic

Credits
Composition and performance: Sebastian & Daniel Selke (Grunewald Church)
Recording: Friedrich Stoermer (Grunewald Church)
Mix: Friedrich Stoermer (Komet Studio)
Master: Martyn Heyne (Lichte Studio)
Artwork: David Wenngren (Cover Photo)
Form: MC/DL
Label: 1631 Recordings
Publisher: Decca
Distribution: Decca
Date: May 27, 2016

Packaging
MC:
Limited labeled black music cassette, stamped cardboard mailer, clear single cassette case with lugs/pins, handnumbered j-card with printed cover photo featuring liner notes and download code, edition of 300

Carlos Cipa – Nocturne (CEEYS Rework)

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“Nocturne” is a song by Carlos Cipa from the album “The Monarch and The Viceroy” originally released on Denovali Records.

 

Reworked and performed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS). Recorded and mixed by Francesco Donadello and Antonio Pulli at Vox-Ton Studio, Berlin. Mastered by Sebastian & Daniel Selke at Klingenthal Studio, Potsdam.

This rework is part of a collection of pieces by contemporary composers, reworked and performed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS).

Self-released March 13, 2016.

Nils Frahm – Four Hands (CEEYS Rework)

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“Four Hands” is a song by Nils Frahm from the album “So/o” originally released on Erased Tapes Records.

Reworked and performed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS). Recorded, mixed and mastered by Sebastian & Daniel Selke at Klingenthal Studio, Potsdam.

This rework is part of a collection of pieces by contemporary composers, reworked and performed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS).

Self-released February 22, 2016.

Ólafur Arnalds Evolutions (w Sebastian Selke)

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A truly original and inspiring set of tools, conceived in Reykjavík, Iceland, recorded in Berlin, Germany and realised in London, England that draws on the talents on some true independent thinkers who are shining a new light on classical European instruments, how to play them, use them, abuse them and record and process them with a totally fresh approach.

Recorded in the ultra-cool surrounds of Vox-Ton Studio Berlin, Ólafur’s hand-picked quartet features the talents of multi-instrumentalist, composer, and oft co-collaborator Viktor Orri Árnason alongside the searing talents of cellist Sebastian Selke.

Each evolution was exhaustingly curated and produced by Ólafur Arnalds who also prescribed his strict and original approach to how Vox-Ton’s very cool selection of microphones, pre-amps and outboard should best be utilised for this project.
The net result is a deeply beautiful, if not haunting selection of tools that spring out of the box with delightful and refreshing unpredictability. If you’re looking for something cerebral, honest and unique then you’ll need go no further.

 

Released on Spitfire Audio November 26, 2015.

Peter Broderick – Something Has Changed (CEEYS Rework)

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“Something Has Changed” is a song by Peter Broderick from the album “Float” originally released on Type Records.

Reworked and performed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS). Recorded and mixed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke at Klingenthal Studio, Potsdam.
Mastered by Michael Schwabe at Monoposto, Duesseldorf.

This rework is part of a collection of pieces by contemporary composers, reworked and performed by Sebastian & Daniel Selke, Brueder Selke (CEEYS).

 

Self-released May 25, 2015.