Auch

by Jason BirchmeierAfter starting out as part of the experimental digital music duo Autopoieses, German producer Ekkehard Ehlers went solo as Auch, releasing two EPs (International Breakfast, Laptop Ethics) in early 2000, before his debut full-length Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye. While his Autopoieses work wasnt at all geared towards the dancefloor, Ehlers work as Auch moved closer towards traditional techno aesthetics, integrating a steady sense of rhythm. Yet calling Auch conventional is erroneous. Granted, it was much more accessible than his work in Autopoieses, but Auch was still quite experimental, exploring the then-uncharted territory of laptop-produced techno. Given this aesthetic and Ehlers integration of the clicks and cuts so often associated with laptop techno (particularly that released by Force Inc), Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye received plenty of attention and praise from critics, mostly, as well as the small yet growing niche of listeners tuned into the innovative clicks and cuts style. In 2001, Force Inc followed up Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye with an album of remixes titled Remix Tomorrow Goodbye. Though the album was marketed as an Auch album, Ehlers actually had little to do with the album, remixing only one track; in fact, an ensemble of Force Inc-affiliated artists such as Sutekh and Jasper were given files of the Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye album and then manipulated the music in whichever way they pleased, resulting in a variety of departures from the original Auch aesthetic.