TROUM

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"There is a psychedelic edge to their music that goes right into the brain, creating a massive headspace." [Frans De Waard]


"Troum (an archaic translation of "dream" from the duo's native German) mines the nether regions of the subconscious to create waking replications of the nightly visions. Their recordings are far from mere transcriptions of dreams to tape; they are the gossamer residues of once vivid memories, passed through mesmeric filters to slowly dissolve present reality into soft focus fragments of thought. Musically, these translations fall both on the sublime and, at times, on the malevolent side of the ambient fence." [Jim Haynes]


"TROUM is a duo located in Bremen, Germany, established in early 1997. The two members "Glit(s)cH" and "Baraka[H]" were active before in the influental ambient industrial group MAEROR TRI (which existed from 1988 to 1996). TROUM is the old german word for "DREAM". The dream seen as a central manifestation of the UNconscious symbolizes the aim of TROUM to lead the listener into a hypnotizing dream-state of mind, a pre-verbal and primal consciousness sphere. TROUM uses music as the direct path to the Unconscious, pointing to the archaic "essence" of the humans inner psyche. TROUM tries to create music that works like a direct transformation of unconscious matter.

TROUMs creations are influenced by post-industrial, minimal and drone-music. Both members use guitar, bass, voice, accordion, balalaika, flute, mouth-organ, melodica, gong, field recordings, pre-recorded-tapes and a diversity of sound-objects to build a kind of multi-layered and highly atmospheric dreaming-muzak. Their sound could be described as dark atmospheric ambient industrial, "transcendental noise" or just Tiefenmusik. TROUM doesn't work with synths, samplers or computer-soundsources, the sounds are created "by hand" to reach a broader sensibility. TROUM uses a spiral as their logo, expressing the trance-inducing potential of the music and the wish to reach inner, deeper spheres of the mind with it. Music as a door to unknown & alien dimensions. Music as an expression of the mystery of existence itself.

Live appearances: TROUM played several times at various venues and did small tours throughout Europe, Russia, USA & Canada, and played or toured with SPEAR, TARKATAK, VANCE ORCHESTRA, ULTRASOUND, BAD SECTOR, SUNN O))), AEOGA, AIDAN BAKER/NADJA and others.TROUM also performed at several bigger festivals like: NURSERY INJECTION - Stockholm (1998), LIEU UNIQUENantes (2000), ARTOOZ-Limoges (Fr) (2001 & 2003), TOON Haarlem (NL) (2001), ARCHAIKA & TECHNOLOGIYA - Moscow (2002), SEE[H]EAR-Festival Den Haag (2004), WROCLAW INDUSTRIAL FESTIVAL (2005), SCHIPHORST-AVANTGARDE-FESTIVAL (2006), BRAINWAVES-Festival (Boston, 2006).
TROUM runs their own label TRANSGREDIENT Records for CD-outputs, but has also releases on many other labels." [official info]

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TROUM DREAMS - ESSAY for TROUM TRANSFORMATION TAPES double CD, July 2018, by LUTZ SCHRIDDE
"It is sound, navigation and prior to translation. Here is abroad."

quid aeternis minorem
consiliis animum fatigas?
Cur non sub alta vel platano, vel hac
pinu iacentes ....
(Horatius, carm. 2,11,13)
Why lying on dying, never we'll be
with eternity,
Hear no evil, no bad under this tree,
Lay, see and be, here, no worry
with me.

About Horatius we read in Nietzsche's "Gtzen-Dmmerung" that in his poetry we find 'sound', 'position', 'term', what is with the words (Klang, Ort, Begriff) . This German romantic appreciated the artistry and effectivity, and he considered his own wording equal. Today, I feel free to take 'sound, position, term' to put compositions of Troum into the context of romanisation of German language what informed the romantic metaphor of music as a language. The challenge of translating Horatius into other languages, as Nietzsche had accentuated, is not to fail such artistry and effectivity. What I want to say is that compositions of Troum are more than romantic translations, beyond music as a language. Troum is sound, yes, and then listening is navigating, and listening then is without translation.
The German romantics claimed art to be not of purpose, no, art were autonomous and a value in itself, so were a genius. Does that mean the compositions of Troum when not dubbing it romantic have a purpose? Troum's navigations are taking the listener beyond such question. It is not about purpose or autonomy, Troum is two composers together, Stefan Knappe and Martin Gitschel. Their collaborative compositions is band-work, there is no solo. Like technical stereo-navigation of pilots in early airplanes, their navigations are even not communicating questions or answers. Following and listening here is about sharing their state of navigation, their state of mind.
Stefan contacted me in 1997 and told me about the end of Maeror Tri and a new project he had no name for at the time. I had collected most of Maeror Tri and contributed liner notes once. Moreover, Stefan was irritated how I could identify his hidden solo compositions on my own. Actually, after my time as a connoisseur of music I entered the sphere of musique concrete and drones for sort of cultivating my mind. I had already learned about the righthandedness of European music, had even read Wolfgang Scherer's dissertation "Babellogik" on the matter. Maeror Tri always seemed a soundtrack to my search for a new vantage point. Stefan liked my approach to revaluate the implicit morale of music, himself a lefthanded. When he told me Maeror Tri was disbanding and the new project needed a name, that occured right in time to jump to the new vantage point.
Musique concrete and post-punk creativity had affected me, and Maeror Tri all that time reminded me of the restrictions of surreal or psychogeograhic composition some people like to dub the French and British accomplishments. Maeror Tri - cassette by cassette since 1988 - shed some sound on that fashion, sometimes ambient, sometimes industrial, sometimes drone. To me, the fascination came through a sense of game and improvisation, often leaving any boundaries of the genres behind. Some of their early cassettes seemed informed even by the very wish to stay beyond boundaries, an approach to go for a change of any game before. Reading the reviews in Vital Weekly, I find a similar appreciation with the editor. Such exploration of composition may have resulted in new awareness and reflection then in 1997, disbanding Maeror Tri and a new project may explain itself. And as I see it today, the new project went on to explore and navigate beyond any boundaries of genres.
Changing games is a skill of the lefthanded. And again, Stefan was surprised watching me identifying his hidden solo compositions. I am righthanded, touched by surreal music and post-punk creativity, I am not a composer. And I will not out his solo compositions here, no. Nietzsche was a lefthanded, his skills surfaced in writing, and he was seemingly not selfaware of this natural skill and tending to curious vanity. His opinion about Horatius shows that in particular. Nietzsche never learned about the giveness of his skill when running his revaluation of all values. He was with the German romantic tradition all the time. And he had a certain selectivity who he liked to value, all were lefthanded (Goethe, Ceasar, Bismarck, Napoleon), all game changers, very skilled. In romantic music, Beethoven and Mozart were skilled brilliantly as such. In visual art, we may call Paul Klee an example. When Stefan needed a name for the new project, I was ready to try.
I said "Traum". In English, dream. By 1997, my search for a new way of composition beyond the genres of 'improvised', 'free jazz', 'world music', 'industrial', 'ambient', 'noise', 'drone', 'musique concrete' and else had already ended in sort of disappointment. I was sure, that the romantic tradition and its relative surrealism encompassed my search well, but at the time I had little in hand. My short essay "Noise Culture" in Vital Weekly Supplement in 1996 was a result of my search. Then talking with Stefan, and by intuition I avoided consideration of material or procedure what is behind the genre division. During that talk I threw myself out of that and looked for the location in musical anthropology. I looked for the essence of the genres and opened gain. So it became "Traum".
Stefan liked that immediately. He made it "Troum", just as if he knew the game change behind. To be clear, Troum is no music for Nietzscheans. And I am not a Nietzschean, although I have mastered in philosophy and know about him. His approach is restricted to values and valuation, in his case furthermore to the 'game' the values are framed by. That spoke to his nature and his romantic vanity. It happened, that I decided to leave Germany and I am teaching in China for eight years now. Here, musical anthropology is still a vantage point, and I am listening to Troum in Xian at the eastern end of the Silk Road.
Troum had done great things, I like the long-trackers "Sen" and "Mare Idiophonica". The Tjukurrpa-trilogy is also with me here, and allow me to highlight the collaboration with Martyn Bates and raison d'tre. My current favorite of Troum is "Acouasme".
And if you know Horatius, yes, then you may be the right one to try Troum. It is sound, navigation and prior to translation. Here is abroad.
Lutz Schridde, Xian, China, April 1st 2018

Horatius in German:
Wozu, da er doch nicht gewachsen ist Ewigkeitsgedanken,
willst du deinen Geist damit plagen?
Warum wollen wir nicht unter der hohen Platane oder
unter dieser Pinie liegen sorgenlos, ....
This German translation is taken from Bernhard Kytzler, Horaz. Eine Einfhrung, Stuttgart 1996, page 176, on Nietzsche and Horatius see same page.
The English version above is mine.


AlbumFormatLabel & Cat. Number DescriptionYear Price (incl. 19% VAT)  
Tjukurrpa (part two: drones) CD Transgredient Records TR-01 (b) Second part in the Tjukurrpa-trilogy, again in circle cover design 2002 €13.00 Order it!
Tjukurrpa (part three: rhythms and pulsations) CD Transgredient Records TR-01(c) third & last part of the Tjukurrpa-trilogy 2003 €13.00 Order it!
Ryna CD Transgredient Records TR-04 re-release of debut-album from 1998 ! digipack with artwork by Tilmann Benninghaus 2006 €12.00 Order it!
AIWS CD Transgredient Records TR-05 first full-length album in many years, studio-material rec. 2002-2005, stunning artwork by ALAN MC. CLELLAND. 6-panel full-colour digipack. 2007 €12.00 Order it!
Nargis 7inch VivaHate Records VHR-45-002.1 the dark & roaring side of TROUM; ed. of 500 / part one of the "Landscapes Single Series" / full-colour artwork & inlay designed by MARS WELLINK (adVANCED); last copies back in stock, now SOLD OUT at label! 2007 €6.00 Order it!
Symballein CD Small Voices SVR07024 a collection of rare & early tracks 1997-1999 from Troums very archaic & droney sounding begin. 6 pieces from long deleted compilations. Nice textured cardboard-cover. 1000 copies pressed. 2007 €10.00 Order it!
Ljubimaya / Daur CD Abgurd AB-38 re-issue of the very first TROUM release (the 3-track 10" vinyl-only "DAUR" from 1998, Cohort Rec), plus the LJUBIMAYA 10" from 2003 (Waystyx 03); cover pictures by Dmitry Chistov aka HUM; lim. 500 2009 €12.50 Order it!
SIGQAN CD Transgredient Records TR-06 re-issue of the long deleted album from 2003 (Desolation House), comes with new artwork feat. UV-high gloss spots, designed by Alan McClelland. 2009 €13.00 Order it!
Autopoiesis / Nahtscato CD Zoharum ZOHAR 012-2 finally a CD version / re-issue of the two vinyl-only releases AUTOPOIESIS (pic-LP from 2004) and NAHTSCATO (12" from 2005); plus two unreleased versions / bonus-tracks recorded 2003; 6-panel digipack, edition of 500 copies 2010 €12.00 Order it!
Seeing-Ear Gods CD ZOHARUM Zohar 017-2 re-issue of this very rare CDR released originally on URE THRALLs Discorporeality Recordings; recorded "live in the studio" in Palo Alto, California, on 15. March 2001 at KFJC-Radio-station. New cover, re-mastered, lim. 500 2011 €12.00 Order it!
Grote Mandrenke CD Beta-lactam Ring Records mt238 2nd part of the POWER ROMANTIC trilogy after 'Mare Idiophonika' - back in stock! - "an aural hallucination on the events that occurred January 15-17, 1362 at the Friesian North Sea coast" - GROTE MANDRENKE is an oceanic & waving, but also dramatic & mournful journey symbolizing the nature's dominion over man; one long track in 5 movements, comes in oversized gatefold-cover; LAST COPIES - LABEL INACTIVE 2012 €15.00 Order it!
Mare morphosis CD Transgredient Records TR-09 the third & final part in the "Power Romantic" trilogy - "Mare morphosis definitely gives Troums music a new dimension, reflecting ancient waves, amplifying the power of Sehnsucht, drumming the drowning heart." [Denis Boyer / Fear Drop]- lim. 1000, 8 panel fold out cover. IN STOCK NOW !! 2013 €12.00 Order it!
Syzygie CD Cold Spring Records CSR183CD a collection of nine rare tracks from lost & deleted compilations, recorded 1999-2002, the follower to 'Symballein' (2010) => "unbearably beautiful drones, multi-layered transcendental noise, and highly atmospheric dream-muzak"; stunning cover-artwork by ABBY HELASDOTTIR (GYDJA), re-mastering by MARTIN BOWES (ATTRITION); edition of 1000 copies 2013 €13.00 Order it!
Dreaming Muzak CD Zoharum ZOHAR 074-2 "The soundtrack to your Dreams" - re-mastered re-issue of TROUMs first full length release (came out as lim. MC on Cling Film Records, at the same time as the RYNA CD in Oct. 1998) with recordings from 1997, for the first time as regular CD => two long amorph droning soundtracks to be played during your dreams in endless mode... lim. 350 copies with new cover artwork 2014 €13.00 Order it!
ACOUASME CD Cold Spring Records CSR213CD new studio album with six long tracks of pestering transrational drones that sound like an aural psychiatric symptom, a humming hallucination leaving the stable reality - the surrounding acoustic world as perceived through the mind of a mentally disordered person, 'Acouasme' sets you deep into a world of strange and eerie aural occurences... "At the end of 'Acouasme', I can only walk away stating that I have experienced something that I do not fully understand as of yet." [Brutal Resonance] 2015 €13.00 Order it!
AIWS LP Backwards BW25 vinyl version of album from 2007; re-mastered by THOMAS DIMUZIO - the last Troum album that was recorded entirely analogue, on 8-track tape recorder; BLACK VINYL edition, 300 copies, stunning new artwork by PIERRE-YVES GIRARD "composed with guitar-drones and harmonic phrases that are processed in various ways creating an atmosphere of the sublime and emotional meditative states that transcend listener to immerse within themselves.." 2017 €18.00 Order it!
These are Dreams, dreamt by Dreamers, who are awake T-SHIRT Transgredient Records DREAMS-1 hypnotic circle with the slogan, printed 15 x 15 cm RED on BLACK on the chest => the accompanying T-shirt to the "Troum Transformation Tapes" anniversary, designed by THOMAS DOHMEN & silk-screen printed by Dirt Road Cotton in Utrecht (NL), with special 'Discharge printing technique' (the colour NEVER wears off the shirt because it discoulours the fabric instead of placing ink on top of it); 2nd edition of 50 copies, only ONE GIRLIE size left : M 2019 €12.00 Order it!
Autopoiesis / Nahtscato (re-press w. different artwork) CD Zoharum ZOHAR 012-2 re-press with slightly different cover (glossy spiral on backside) of about 300 copies: the re-issue of the two vinyl-only releases AUTOPOIESIS (pic-LP from 2004) and NAHTSCATO (12" from 2005); plus two unreleased versions / bonus-tracks recorded 2003;.."When suspending their drones as lugubrious slabs of sound, Troum emerge as a brooding doppleganger of the shoegazer ethos." [Jim Haynes /The Wire] 2021 €12.00 Order it!
Da-Pu-Ri-To-Jo Labyrinth / Spiral motive [ T-SHIRT Zoharum / Alchembria the labyrinth / spiral motive from the DA-PO-RI-TO-JO re-issue on Zoharum, white on black print on both sides, very good quality shirt, ask for available sizes 2021 €15.00 Order it!
DA-PU-RI-TO-JO (The Singles 2004-2016) CD Zoharum ZOHAR 218-2 re-issue of the BLACK MARA - box from 2017 - a compilation of TROUMs 7" vinyl releases (+ one digital only EP) through the years 2004 - 2016, all re-mastered and with stunning new artwork (6 panel digipak)... "12 dreamscapes that range from soothing, etheral and meditative through emotional and mysterious to dark, industrialesque and nightmarish." 2021 €13.00 Order it!
Symbiosis LP Auf Abwegen AATP93 first ever vinyl re-issue of deleted mini-CD, with solo-tracks by both TROUM members based on guitar-harmonies and "endless" circling structures, like in a painting of M.C. ESCHER... - this LP contains a sixth new bonus-track based on older material; lim. 300 VIOLET vinyl, artwork by SALT, using x-ray brain scans of both members ; comes with DL code 2024 €22.00 Order it!
EmphasYs CD Transgredient Records TR-15 / Cyclic Law an album that follows a special concept and needed many years to complete => 7 tracks based on 7 different instruments, moving through various stages, moods and realities... status: PRE ORDER!!! out in April 2026, also as double 12" 2025 €13.00 Order it!