Lithops

Jan St. Werner records as Lithops when working alone, though most listeners recognize him from his longstanding partnership in Mouse on Mars, the well-known duo rooted in Köln and Düsseldorf. He also belongs to the abstract ambient project Microstoria, yet his Lithops output occupies an intermediate zone that merges the sleek digital eccentricities of the former with the blurry, asymmetrical rhythms and invitingly flawed surfaces heard on Mouse on Mars albums such as Instrumentals and Glam. The pieces probe the fringes of inferential electronics and frequently give the impression of having originated as spontaneous studio mishaps, their clumsy, wandering pulses surfacing through layers of subdued bass and overloaded synthesizer tones. Although St. Werner’s earliest Lithops recordings date only to 1995, a rapid succession of releases followed, beginning with the two-track single “Wackler”/“Khan,” issued on the small Köln label Eat Raw, and accelerating with two full-length albums that appeared in 1998. The first of these, the muted and hazy Uni Umit, came out on the vinyl-only Sonig imprint early that year; months later Eat Raw issued Didot. While Uni Umit lacked the wider initial exposure granted to the Thrill Jockey reissue of Mouse on Mars’ Instrumentals, it proved equally rewarding, enfolding dense, tactile surfaces around minimal rhythms, strange electronics, and robust, resonant low-end frequencies; a domestic CD edition followed later in 1998 on Jim O’Rourke’s Moikai label. Didot arrived with marginally sharper production values and more expansive rhythmic reach, yet the two albums remain comparably satisfying. A further 1998 release, the single “Turbino,” appeared on the unrelated Static Caravan label. The single “Sequenced Twinset” followed in 1999, after which Lithops returned in 2003 with the third album Scrypt on Thrill Jockey. In 2006 the compilation Queries surfaced alongside the debut installment of the Mound Magnet series; its successor, Mound Magnet, Pt. 2: Elevations Above Sea Level, arrived in 2008. Early the next year Ye Viols! collected material drawn from gallery installation soundtracks.