Curd Duca

Curd Duca (born 14 March 1955) is an Austrian musician, composer and producer of electronic music.

Life and Work

He has played (1982–1991) in the experimental groups “Auch wenn es seltsam kingen mag / even though it may sound strange)“,“8 ODER 9 / 8 OR 9“ and “Skin“ (accordion, guitar, vocals, percussion).^[1] Starting in 1992, he has been working mainly on solo projects with electronic instruments (analog and digital synthesizers, computer).

Curd Duca is known for his work with audio samples (i.e. snippets of digitized audio material) that get altered, cut-up and "re-contextualised" (cut-up artist - Spin Magazine). The audio is taken from analog sources (acoustic instruments, orchestras, vocals, noise, bird calls, et al.) and mostly used without beats. Rhythmic structures are created, originally by loops, more recently by micro-cuts and improvisation with parameters of "granular synthesis".^[2] From 1996, his albums were released on the experimental/techno label Mille Plateaux.

Genre / style (All-Music.com database): instrumental, electronic, lounge, ambient, sample-based, contemporary, experimental, clicks & cuts, cinematic, electro-acoustic ...

Moods: melancholy, eerie, nocturnal, hypnotic, laid-back, mellow, trippy, ethereal ...

Albums

• easy listening 1
• easy listening 2
• easy listening 3
• easy listening 4
• easy listening 5 (LP, CD Normal, Bonn 1992 - 1997)

• switched-on wagner - "Richard Wagner compositions transformed beyond recognition" (CD Mille Plateaux, Frankfurt 1996)

• elevator 1
• elevator 2 (vocals: Carin Feldschmid)
• elevator 3 (vocals: Carin Feldschmid) - (LP, CD Mille Plateaux, Frankfurt 1998 - 2000).

Compilations

• Modulation & Transformation 3 (Mille Plateaux)
• Modulation & Transformation 4 (Mille Plateaux)
• Clicks & Cuts (Mille Plateaux)
• The Wire Tapper 5 (The Wire Magazine, London)
• The Eclectic Sound Of Vienna 2 (Spray)
• Mind The Gap vol 20 (Gonzo Circus)
• In memoriam - Max Brand (rhiz)

Reviews

De-bug, Spex (Berlin), Die Zeit (Hamburg), skug, Der Standard (Vienna), The Wire (London), actuel, nova (F), Spin, CMJ, Grooves (USA), Zürcher Tagesanzeiger (CH), Wired (Japan), et al.

Concerts

Vienna (rhiz, flex), Berlin (Volksbühne / Red Salon), Munich (Ultraschall), Zürich (Rote Fabrik), London (sprawl), Barcelona (Sonar), New York (ACNY), Miami (MLP), Luxembourg (Mudam), et al.

Various

Music for films: Flaming Ears (Scheirl, Pürrer, Schipek, first screening 1990 in New York), The Subversion Agency (Mark Boswell, 2004), et al.

Music for exhibitions: telepolis (Luxembourg, 1995), Installation Hedy Lamarr (ars electronica, 1998), "Dark Matter" by Eva Grubinger at baltic, Gateshaed, GB 2003), Videos by Ingeborg Strobl (2007).

Works for ORF Kunstradio / Art Radio: voices / cut-up hitler (1998), net/language (1999, with Armin Medosch)^[3]

He has been involved with the school of poetry (sfd.at), Vienna as a teacher and lecturer for sound poetry.^[4]

External links

• Der Spiegel - Review elevator 1
• DieZeit - Review elevator 2
• DieZeit - Review elevator 3
• Heise / Telepolis feature
• angbase.com interview
• Curd Duca on discogs.com
• Curd Duca on AllMusic.com

References

1. ^ http://www.sra.at/person/5253
2. ^ http://www.angbase.com/interviews/curd_duca.html
3. ^ http://www.kunstradio.at/BIOS/ducabio.html
4. ^ http://sfd.at/lehren-und-lernen/faculty/curd-duca

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