This soundtrack is comprised of newly created music during filming, original tracks, new mixes, and later edited material of Gudrun Gut’s miniseries for rbb TV.
It’s always refreshing to share news about Gudrun Gut. The iconic German producer has too many accolades worth mentioning: from funding Malaria! in the beginning of the 80’s rise of new wave to being an early member of Einstürzende Neubauten, running the Monika Enterprise label and also constantly collaborating with other artists through her vast trajectory, to name a few. In an attempt to give a brief glimpse at all of this, she’s the co-director of GUT, a mini documentary about herself made for German TV; it consists of three episodes taking place at her country estate in the Uckermark region, not far from Berlin.
As expected coming such a polyfacetic artist, in the soundtrack we found all sorts things: There’s techno, either with a tinge of pop like in ‘Garten (Edit)’ or ‘Lover (Edit)’, or tracks ready for a futuristic dance floor, stripped, morphed and filled with rhythmic details: ’How Can I Move (24 Mix)’. Raw electro can also be a blast on a dance floor, particularly with the new version of ‘Kaltes Klares Wasser’, Malaria!’s song from early 90s revisited in 2021 with Bettina Köster and Manon Pepita.
Our picks from the album have slower BPM’s, there’s the sensual new remix of ’Biste Schon Weg (23 Mix)’, a downtempo gem with a break, smooth bass melodies, trippy processed effects, Gut’s evolving and comforting voice, and in-and-out atmospheric pads. It hits all the right places, and would fit perfectly as a guest set at the Roadhouse in Twin Peaks.
And we’ve been quite obsessed with ‘Nostalgie (Akkordeon)’, one of our top pieces this year. Perhaps due to the holistic narrative in such a short amount of time, or the way she handles the mixture of field recordings with acoustic and digital elements, or the juxtaposition of folk traditions with modern explorations in perfect balance. An electronic ode with a hint of tribal wisdom and reverb. ‘Nostalgie’ was developed from the live recording during filming.
Another favourite is ‘’Monika Werkstatt: Werkstatt Gut (live)’, a sonic voyage contrasting with transistor-like sounds and grainy, filtered synths submerging into our subconscious to project a calm, immersive yet distant atmosphere. This was part of the concert with Monika Werkstatt in Gut’s garden with Pilocka Krach and Midori Hirano.
There’re many interludes and short tracks on the EP too, sometimes trippy and techno like in ‘Freischneider’ and sometimes ethereal, with soft harmonic shifts and field recordings like in ‘CR78’ or the cinematic and cathartic closing with ‘Reflektion (Natur)’ and ‘Wäsche’, both reminiscent of intense things that had just happened. Tuning in different frequencies and experimenting with vocals like in ‘Weisses Blatt’ or going deeper and thicker like in ‘Brot’, which makes us think of kosmische music.
And also brief works for the ‘wish it was longer’ list: the instrumental version of ‘Brot’, and the magnetic ‘Shuttle Service’, taken from her record ’Moment’; or our favourite ‘E Bike’, psychedelic, vaporous, and delightful.
It’s over 4 decades and going, and to showcase such a path in the shape of a soundtrack is not easy, but like we said, it’s always refreshing with Gudrun Gut. Here the effort and attention in showcasing a wide array of influences and parts of her creative quest results in an admirable blend of genres, with more than one cherry on top.
