Luka Baumann

Despite growing up in a country consumed by war, Luka has always been consumed by music. When he was a kid he joined music school, which eventually turned out to be a disappointment – during the year he spent there not once did he touch a musical instrument. Soon after, he discovered that a computer might be a useful tool for experimenting with sound and so began to learn technical aspects of music production. High-school period played a vital role in young Luka's musical education, as he discovered what was later to become his biggest inspirations: Steve Reich, Autechre, Surgeon and Coil. That was also the time of huge fascination over John Cage's theoretical works and Italian futurism, from which he drew influences on how music could be created. Luka’s works are often created by capturing rhythmical patterns from environment and implementing them to his music: I venture out and record certain rhythms or patterns to be found in our environment, taking them to my studio to work around them. I always try to leave these recordings as unprocessed as possible. This is like taking bits and pieces from my reality and use them to build musical structures. Luka is interested in the primal aspect of human kind: elements buried deeply below the surface of culture, which take the lead role in various aspects of human behaviour. Therefore, he sees techno as a way of making direct contact with that primal substance. His music deeply reflects this attitude: it's raw, fierce and impetuous, yet always leaving an open space for listener's interpretation. Originating somewhere between Birmingham techno and industrial (Coil, Nurse With Wound, Boyd Rice et al), Luka also draws influences from a vast pool of eclectic music. Variety works perfectly for Mr Baumann, who always transmits his message clearly and leaves no listener indifferent. 2004 was a breakthrough year, as Luka's works saw the daylight for the very first time with his first EP, 'Poslije' on his own label, PSNZ. Shortly after, more releases followed on labels such as Mainout, Infecta, Arms and - of course - Emergence. Collaboration with Grovskopa was as much unexpected as it was unavoidable; thus Brethren/Los Jovenes was created (with their first releases on shortly-lived Hispania Records and Emergence sister label - Pohjola). Both Luka's and Mika's vinyl releases focus mostly on harder edge of techno, so a digital platform with more experimental edge was created - Emergence sublabel IOUMP3. Five digital releases have been issued since, with music varying from warm ambient sound-scapes to industrial drones. Discography Releases: Mrznjica (R.A.S. Records) Luka Et Al (MainOut) Nuances Dawning (Emergence Records) Poslije (PSNZ) Driftworks (Emergence Records) Emergence Nine (Emergence Records) Brethren/Grovskopa Ensimmäinen Runo (Pohjola) Juan Rico/Los Jovenes Mens Sana In Corpore Sano EP ( (Hispania) Non Serviam! (Emergence Records) As We Drift Apart (Biomechanics) Tracks Appear On: VA - Madrid 11 Marzo 2004 (Heritage) (Jaxx Records) VA - Eternal Soldiers EP (Son Of A Dawn) (ARMS) VA - Tsunami Aid Volume Three (Rodd) (Abiotic Recordings) VA - Mirror Reflection (We, The Decaying) (Infecta) Grovskopa - Mika Et Al (Oscar Mulero - 180" (Brethren Remix)) (Audio Assault) Grovskopa - Emergence Seven Remixes (Archae, Reducer, Luka Baumann, Brethren live) (Emergence Records) Audio Assault 5 Years Anniversary Compilation (Son Of A Dawn) (Audio Assault) Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.