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säge transformed by the empath
säge was originally released on 'the electric mandala' part one, 7' vinyl - hands 2002

the empath is mike erkau, leipzig, germany

mike erkau aka the_empath is dealing with electronic music since 1993. his music ranges from ambient over electronica to industrial. most of his tracks are soundscapes, mixed with networks of rhythms and experimental electronics, field recordings and ground loops. in 2004 he won the congress of media award in the category audio with his remix of ‘no protection’ (orig. by ‘utr’). he is working as video composer and vj for xabec since 2005.

"i decided to remix säge because I was overwhelmed by the dark mood and by the depressing power coming over me when i heard it for the first time. the track felt like a tank… that’s why i used sequences of the movie ‘gunhed’ for the included video. i used four single tracks and some rhythm samples for the remix work. they all were of a distinctive kind, as the rhythm track, the voices and the saw sound. my intention was to pick up the immense power of all these sounds. first i cut them into lots of pieces and alienated them with delays and distortions. later on i added several drum parts over one another. i tried to preserve the network of rhythm and filled the timeline, which i inversed, with many effected samples of the saw track and a bass arpeggio. i used ‘ableton live’ for the editing; the arpeggio came from my ‘virus indigo’. because i was about to move, i hadn’t set up good speakers. iherefore i asked manu to mix the track in his studio. he held some time, nerves and last but not least his speakers *g* at my disposal. that way the work got finished. it was a nice experience and a lot of fun. thanks and respect!"     mike erkau