Frank Bretschneider - LAb[au]

Frank Bretschneider

Frank Bretschneider works as a musician, composer and video artist in Berlin. His work is known for precise sound placement, complex, interwoven rhythm structures and its minimal, flowing approach. Described as „abstract analogue pointillism", „ambience for spaceports" or „hypnotic echochamber pulsebeat", Bretschneider's subtle and detailed music is echoed by his visuals: perfectly translated realizations of the qualities found in music within visual phenomena.

After studying fine arts and publishing several graphic editions, he began to satisfy his obsession for electronic music in 1984 by starting his first tape experiments and running a cassette label. With the founding of AG.Geige in 1986 - a successful and influential band which came out of East Germany's musical underground - he began to explore the possibilities of an exchange between visual art and music through various means such as film, video or computer graphics. After the fall of the wall and the split of the band Bretschneider continued producing music and in 1996 he and Olaf Bender founded the record label Rastermusic which finally merged with Carsten Nicolai's Noton to form Raster-Noton in 1999. Since then he has released his work through several record labels including 12k, Mille Plateaux, Quatermass, Staalplaat or Whatness and has contributed to some well received compilations like Clicks & Cuts on Mille Plateaux or Raster-Noton's 20' To 2000 series.

He has performed at music- and new media festivals such as Ars Electronica, Cut & Splice, Mutek, OFFF, Sonar, Steirischer Herbst, Transmediale and Ultima. As a remixer he has worked for Richard Chartier, Ekkehard Ehlers, Hauschka, Meat Beat Manifesto and Rechenzentrum. In addition to his solo work he has cooperated with Taylor Deupree, Olafur Eliasson, Steve Roden and Ralph Steinbrüchel. With Olaf Bender and Carsten Nicolai he is part of Signal, another Raster-Noton project. And recently Bretschneider entered new territories when he was invited to collaborate with Copenhagen based contemporary music ensemble Contemporánea.