block 4 stops shipping

Due to the new regulations in EU concerning packaging recycling (PPWR, which we welcome) and the need to register in any EU country for a fee to report packaging (EPR, impossible for us), the ever rising postage costs while lowering the quality of service and the random tariff of the day we decided to stop any shipping. Every sale was actually a loss already (we were never in for the money) but now it doesn't make any sense anymore. We concentrate our physical sales via distributors and shops and of course you can buy our records on our events and concerts. Digital downloads remain available through Bandcamp.

Elektronengehirn: Hardware reviews

The new Elektronengehirn album Hardware was reviewed on Nitestylez and in Vital Weekly issue 1424

new Elektronengehirn album Hardware

Elektronengehirn released a new album Hardware on block 4, as download and first time for Elektronengehirn since the 2001 album e/a, in physical form as CD, as hardware.

Malte Steiner initiated Elektronengehirn in 1996 as an experiment to create music exclusively using software-based sound synthesis. Elektronengehirn is an old-school term from the 60s for computers, when they were referred to as electronic brains. What sounds trivial today was, back then, a pretty radical idea, especially when one lacked access to the computational resources of institutions like universities. Computer sound synthesis for the masses was in its infancy, and not much was possible in real time. Initially, Steiner used Csound in non-real-time mode to create complex soundscapes. Later, with more powerful computers, he also employed Pure Data and Max/MSP, which both run strictly in real time.

Meanwhile, block 4 studio added more and more hardware, like the ever-growing Eurorack Modular system since 2002. It became silly to ignore all the equipment and not incorporate it into the electro-acoustic world of Elektronengehirn. With the album 'Hardware,' it was time to break with the original concept and combine all the possibilities: software and hardware, digital and analog, virtual and physical.

Notstandskomitee review in Vital Weekly

http://www.vitalweekly.net/1406.html

Vital Weekly reviews the new Notstandskomitee album The Doomsday Layout

Side-Line reviews

Side-Line made nice reviews the block 4 releases THX 1971: Minimal ist meine Wahl and Notstandskomitee: The Doomsday Layout

An interview with Malte Steiner is in the works.

Tina Mariane Krogh Madsen new CD and concert at Lasher Fest

block 4 released the new album compounds by Tina Mariane Krogh Madsen as download and limited edition CD. The album consists of tracks created and produced between 2015 and 2023 in Fljótstunga & Seyðisfjörður (IS), Berlin (DE), Aalborg (DK), and Helsinki (FI). As an album, it moves across the conceptual, to intensity, noise and silence where each composition embody multiple entities, as compounds, in both their sounding and wording.

Madsen performs a concert at the Lasher 23 Fest at Musikkens Hus Aalborg (DK) with condensation , an electroacoustic noise performance on the 16. September, 18:00.

The Doomsday Layout review

Nice review on Nitestylez of the current Notstandskomitee album The Doomsday Layout:

http://www.nitestylez.de/2023/07/notstandskomitee-doomsday-layout-block4.html

new Notstandskomitee album out

The new Notstandskomitee album is out. The Doomsday Layout, available as download or limited edition CD in Digipack. Dystopian, between IDM and Industrial. The soundtrack for these times.