Kontakt Der Jünglinge 0

Thomas Köner’s uniquely bleak ambient — a template he most famously honed in 1993’s Permafrost — was already well formed by the time he met Asmus Tietschens, a producer from a generation earlier in German electronic music. The records they produced together in the early 2000s pushed even further into pure abstraction. On 1, -1, Σ, and most of all 0, they created single long pieces that sounded like the deepest undercurrents of industrial society — perhaps like a city deep in dream. To listen to 0 alone in the dark is one of the most profound experiences it’s possible to have with sound.