From The Archives #4 Modelbau

 Whilst waiting for the restart of MuhMur Radio broadcasting and building playlists I have taken the time to sort out some old boxes of tapes and CDs and re-arrange some of the records and listen to some releases I have not heard in years ... 

Ten, twelve or so years ago the 3" CDR was the zeitgeist with labels such as SoundHoles, Sheepscar Light Industrial and Small Doses leading the way. I always wanted Dieter Müh to be released on 3" CDR and was grateful when SoundHoles proposed a release on that format back in 2015. "Live At Gängeviertel" is part of their 'Sound Holes Live Editions' series. But, even more extreme than a 3" CDR was the CDR Business Card. The card contains somewhere between 5 and 7 minutes. A fetishtic item. One of my favourite Modelbau releases is the 2015 business card 'Keynotes'. Released on Record Store Day. 28 November 2015 in The Netherlands. 

From Frans de Waard's "X" book on the history of Modelbau : "I'm probably the last person who picked up on the notion that besides 'Record Store Day' and 'Cassette Store Day', there was something called 'CDR Store Day'. As an early adopter of CDRs (I started Bake Records in 1999 while working for Staalplaat), I thought I'd better not miss the opportunity. I think you had to sign up to participate 'officially', but I never did and made a small number of copies of a business card CDR that was only available on the 28th of November 2015". 'Keynotes was limited to 17 copies only. 

'Keynotes is six minutes and seven seconds long, it begins very (a)tonally. A single pitch before the voices start to enter the head (through the ears ... of course). Inuit chanting, Mongol-Tuvan throat singing, Yodelling, Moroccan singing and the Bulgarian women's choir all sonically blend into a hypnotic state fading to thirty seconds of insects riding across the tundra. Beautiful. I have no idea how I have come to own this masterpiece, this piece of audio-art, I was nowhere near The Netherlands on the 28th of November 2015 (and I have papers to prove it). I'm glad I have it though ... 

"X" can be got by contacting Frans via : https://fransdewaard.com