tracklist

01 bed

02 sparkle

03 chamber pot

04 wild blue yonder

05 valid bed

06 rouge absolu

07 la ronde at the top

08 dead jerk

09 invalid bed

10 backyard maud the fraudian fairy

11 midgets

all tracks written and produced by harald nono and me raabenstein,
mixed by me raabenstein

mastered by shapemod, berlin

artwork by simonraabenstein.com

distributed by nonine recordings

harald nono and me raabenstein come at us with an album, which is truly boundless and interminable. a sound which while very new, will never age in its revered memory. while most albums keep the listener in a separate place than that of which they are trying to portray, this one will cast your mind fluently into its significance, which never ceases. “bedtime stories“ mustn‘t be sifted through for elements which connect the listener, as it will certainly find you, look you straight in the eye and keep you in its exquisite, even handed grip until the very end.

taub takes you on a rare journey. a timeless meander through half conscious daydreams, toying with abstractions, playing with our senses and all we have formally come to recognize as music.
each abstract figure, note and fragment very gently connects to another, creating a harmonious chord derived from unknown habitats. tracks that slip so gently in and out of one another, that one would never look to distinguish when or where it should end. the ideas and sentiments that taub seamlessly emotes are imbedded with intelligent contrasting maestoso bulbous. it is simply an album and experience not to be missed, with moods and rhythms we‘ve only seen while timelessly ambling through our future memories.

with tracks like „la ronde at the top“ one can see the beginnings of some elegant entity beneath a beautiful translucent cherry blossom skin, keeping the listener in some sun stroked awe from its beginning to its unbridled end. …and of course with the track „midgets,“ which is something like existential nouns beaten with bags of mercurial arts, you will see it deserves all of the praise and then some… after the album; catch a mirror glimpse of your jaded peering eyes, whose look of recherché you will seek unceasingly and yet never quite distinguish, as its only season will be this album.
liner notes by david ennio minor

enjoy the melody !!!

feedback

verschlafen tagträumende, langsam mäandere beats und drüber hallen wundervolle klavierakkorde., dann wieder entfalten sich scheinbar zwiegespräche zwischen instrumenten und maschinen. spannend…
alfred pranzl, skug.at, austria 12/08

bedside stories is the new release by taub, aka me raabenstein and harold nono. it is a work of haunting sonic landscapes and fragmented realities, glued together with precision and beauty. it will lull you into worlds of spacious minimal sounsdcapes and sonic cinematic journeys, which constantly resolve back to a single sound event or just quiet. i was recently introduced to harold nono’s music by a friend of mine who was playing his last album to the river lounge. as we were mulling over the lush textures and depth of what is actually very little in terms of complexity, i was unknowingly being given an insight into the aesthetic which very much informs his contribution to bedside stories. of course of equal note and regard is the other half of taub me raabenstein, who apart from being the founder / curator of the nonine label is also well known for his prolific creativity as evidenced in a string of his own acclaimed releases. their collaboration starts on the basis of their commonalities in art (they are also both painters) and ‚discovering each others work via the internet‘, started working together remotely from berlin and edinburgh by sending mixes to each other. after a gestation period of nine months the album was complete and taub was born.

though their instincts are very similar, what they bring together in bedtime stories is two different sides of the same coin. it is a work of haunting sonic landscapes and fragmented realities, glued together with precision and beauty. on a psychoacoustic level it lulls you into transcendental worlds of spacious minimal sounsdcapes and sonic cinematic journeys, which constantly resolve back to a single sound event or just quiet. the mixture of timbres is also interesting, particularly in bed(track one), where a cold steely guitar motif is cushioned in bubbling soft electronica that just oozes sensation, making the hair on the back of your neck stand up. with a heady mix of off kilter accordion, arpeggio like piano cycles, and layered fripp-esque guitar, backyard maud the fraudian fairy is my favourite. as the penultimate track it also serves to take you into the farthest reaches of a somnabulists journey, returning to the waking world through quick fire audio visual collages of sonic rapid eye movement. bedtime stories is available through the nonine label, which also features a host of extremely interesting releases and a great selection of artists videos.
roger mills, furthernoise.org, australia 11/08

„wake up to this album… and you won’t stop dreaming.
so begins this album’s press release. considering the album’s title as well as the presence of „bed“ in several of the song titles, it’s pretty obvious that this album is about sleep, dreaming, and the abstract ideas and concepts that emerge while in those states. musically, the band mixes electronic and acoustic elements sort of reminiscent of the way mum does, but mostly doing without that band’s more childlike elements. a few incidental distorted voices or skittery beats emerge, but just as soon as in a dream, they mutate and give way to something else and you might have trouble remembering them later. perhaps the most constant, reoccurring musical element is the lullabye-like piano that grounds the melody in several of this album’s songs. i suppose it probably feels like i’m beating you over the head by reminding you of how much this album feels like a dream. that’s probably the intention of this album. it certainly nails that dreamlike quality, though, so it really just depends on whether or not you’re up for this type of bizarre, dreamlike trip. 7/10
paul simpson, foxy digitalis, usa 11/08

wir haben nonine, das berliner label für elektronische musik außerhalb ausgetretener pfade, hier ja bereits erwähnt, nun liegt mit taub’s “bedtime stories“ schon wieder ein beachtenswerter release vor. wenn ein album, wie vorliegendes, vom privatradio offensichtlich komplett gemieden wird, sich aber die öffentlichen kultursender drum reißen, tracks wie den titelsong dieser platte spät nachts ihrem treuesten publikum, denen, die richtig zuhören, zu präsentieren, dann ist etwas genau richtig gelaufen.

in diesem fall für harold nono (edinburgh) und me raabenstein (berlin), die die abstrakte mathematik ihrer maschinen zu einem von jazz und ambient inspirierten album verarbeiten. als hörer fühlt man sich einem stetigen wechselbad aus an- und entspannung ausgesetzt – perfektes training fürs seelische immunsystem. bevor es mit “midgets“ so richtig gruslig wird…
tina manske, titel-magazin.de, germany 10/08

perhaps the busiest bugbear in electronic music is expectation. if artists can escape its predictable clutches then they have a head start on all the other goblins too. nonine label head me raabenstein is a chance-taker with sound deployment. he’s unafraid to hold a silence for a few beats beyond comfort or splotch an austere, ambient microgroove with sudden dayglo colours. as the duo taub, the berliner brings on board edinburgh ambient artist harold nono in the role of accomplice and foil. both treat the world of electronics as anything but a closed system, either temporally or instrumentally. tracks like “chamber pot” hold the synthetic sounds under the dominant piano lines, gradually building both up onto an equal platform of pulse, echo and modification. “wild blue yonder” plays with space and volume within a minimal framework of sound, surprising the ears with sudden nearby piano strikes while an emotive theme wipes across the further fields. it’s a recording that seldom plays it safe and it’s these risks that help avoid any lazy categorizing.
eric hill, exclaim.ca canada 10/08

zerbrechlicher mikropop, taub erschaffen eine filigrane melancholie aus kleinststücken.
die welt von harold nono und me raabenstein besteht aus splittern. zerborsten und in die ferne getrieben bringt sie die verbliebene gravitation wieder näher und kittet sie zu ungeschliffenen konglomeraten. der edinburgher und der berliner verdichten nach und nach pianotasten mit umherirrenden clicks & cuts und ausrollenden bassbewegungen. schicht um schicht entstehen daraus unebene electronica-balladen aus mikrostaub. die einsamkeit und zerrissenheit der einzelteile zieht sich zugleich durch die neukompositionen als roter faden. die stücke hinterlassen stets das gefühl des unfertigen und temporären, als könnten sie jederzeit erneut auseinander brechen. eine schwere unsicherheit gepaart mit erschöpfter melancholie entsteht in den zwischenräumen, die taub nicht zu ändern scheinen wollen. es ist eine seltsame welt, in der sie leben. eine kreation, deren unvollständigkeit eine entrückte schönheit ausstrahlt, mit lücken, in die man unversehens stürzen kann.
jens pacholsky, goon-magazin.de, germany 10/08

he doesn’t stop, the guy me raabenstein, from berlin. boss of the nonine label, co-author of the very good sqaramouche album reviewed in these very pages last month, he releases under the name taub, in collaboration with scot harold nono, the sixteenth (!) release of his label, with a dream chosen with much aptness. like a long reverie spent in the bars of rutger zuyderveldt – say maschinefabriek to sound civilized – the eleven tracks of these bedtime stories oscillate between electronic drowsiness and acoustic languor, sometimes laid on a few notes of electric piano, including the terribly moving ‚wild blue yonder‘, at the crossroads of sylvain chauveau and julien néto. at times more abstract, the music also lets itself – and thankfully so – flow into jazztronica gargoyles escaped from a pinball machine (‚valid bed‘), lets a 1960s french film dialogue (rough estimate) fill lento gaps between ennio morricone’s western music and minimalist contemporary jazz (‚la ronde at the top‘), with the whole revealing a mastery of restorative atmospheres that is not that common.
fabrice vanoverberg, rifraf, belgium 10/08

bedtime stories released under the project name taub, is a product of the collaboration between two musicians, me raabenstein (berlin, germany) and harold nono (edinborough, uk). these two musicians discovered each other’s music over the net and realizing they were aiming at similar sounds, decided to work together. calling this release bedtime stories may sound suitable to some, as it is quite quiet, calm, peaceful, yet with traces of tension and stress in the melodies. however, i would think of these eleven pieces more as daydreams, sometimes incomplete or not fully developed musings; this is not to reflect on the music itself, as to me it sounds well crafted, perfectly suiting free time reveries. at times the music sounds like a minimalist soundtrack to a silent movie while at others like a slightly frantic electronic escapade. using electronic instruments and effects, at times exercising an electro-acoustic route, this album has a special bewitching sound.

sparse and abstract, dream-like and dreary, the overall impression i get as the album flows through my ears is that of pace-changing scene-based soundtrack depicting the two composers’ vision of tales told in the late hours of the night. the degree of non-figurative melody and tunes changes between tracks, sometimes being more bold and daring, while others being more subdued, taken aback. this type of dynamic “story-telling” adds an additional layer of complexity and reaffirms the tale-like nature of this album. if you’re after evocative yet tame melodies or ambience, if you’re into the experimental use of electronics and sounds you will find something to delve into in this album.
assaf vestin, sonicfrontiers.net, usa 10/08

taub’s bedtime stories is, not surprisingly, dreamscaping pushed to evocative extremes. a similarly intensive manipulation of material occurs in this context too, with raabenstein and nono recording material and then pulling it apart, reconfiguring it, and stitching it back together again with the outcome a fifty-minute travelogue where myriad sounds (strings, piano, guitars, accordion, electric piano, electronics) and broken melodies slip-slide in and out of focus. ghostly piano melodies haunt “wild blue yonder” and ululating voices, when not sliced into stuttering patter, wail and shudder through “invalid bed” while “backyard maud the fraudian fairy” sounds as disturbed as a stalker sequence in a slasher soundtrack. the bedtime story also must have extremely disturbing for it to have prompted the sickly lurch of “rouge absolu” where a mix of sampled film dialogue, drooping strings, and roasted guitar generate nightmarish ambiance. the ultra-woozy “la ronde at the top” sounds equally diseased. the pieces that succeed best, however, are those bearing strongly defined structures that the listener can latch onto, one like “sparkle,” for example, where a recurring string stab establishes a foothold that enables beat elements, clavinet, and electric guitars to leave fleeting traces of their presence. material such as bedtime stories that—by design, presumably—meanders so much desperately needs some amount of ballast to keep the work from feeling like it’s floundering.
ron schepper, textura.org, canada 10/08

think of it as a soundtrack to a children book. once again, me raabenstein is co-writing. this time with david hillary (aka harold nono). if nono sounds familiar to you, that’s because we’ve previously mentioned him twice over. what makes this collaboration interesting is that nono is scottish, and with the internet, this teamup is possible. i liked the piano and weird noises on „chamber pot“ (there’s definitely a lot of pianos and keys throughout the album, i’ll have to add). towards the end of this song, you’ll notice some sort of singing that sounds like children dying(!). as soon as i heard lyric-type singing (it’s not actually someone singing, it’s more like distorted vocal samplings) they made the songs more memorable. at least to me. like „rouge absolu“ feels like a french film, especially with the dialogue at the beginning. i’m not even sure it was french, come to think about it. speaking of french, my favorite song on here is „backyard maud the fraudian fairy“, it sounds like scary circus music. the „la ronde at the top“ song seems to be two songs in one. the first part has a middle eastern feel to it, but the second half sounds chaotic.
vu nguyen, weheartmusic.com, usa 10/08

in similar tracks, taub, which consists of me raabenstein and edinburgh native david hillary (who also makes music under the name harald nono), spins its web. i get the sense that the collaboration has developed at a distance, perhaps they’ve never met. there’s a flow that depends less on interaction than on them sharing musical taste and technique. like slowcream, taub is about the interweaving of acoustic and digital sounds through a technique where both parts, so to speak, lose control of their territory. while the electronica never drifts into techno, dub, or glitch, the sampled sounds from piano, electric guitar, banjo, and rhodes never lead to a finished acoustic form.

with an album titled „bedtime stories,“ it’s no surprise that the music sounds dreamy, nostalgic, cinematic. but the images that spin in my mind are not of 16mm-filmed family outings or cute children’s room coziness. instead, it’s a designed urban jungle with sounds from acoustic instruments woven into the digital mix. it sounds especially delicious when recognizable instruments are struck, but not developed as expected. on „chamber pot,“ the piano is hammered against a tape-less funk bass, and towards the end, a child’s voice emerges, pounding out incomprehensible words as if sampled through a typewriter. in familiar yet foreign territory, „backyard maud the fraudian fairy“ sways between circus and horror film, music as playful as it is unsettling. me raabenstein is behind several of the label’s latest albums, at least three in collaboration. neubau, however, is the austrian arno steinacher’s solo album, an odd one in the releases. sure, it’s electronic and acoustic, with beats and jagged sound fragments. but what sets neubau apart is the link back to—brace yourself!—50s serial music. steinacher completely skips the structures of pop and techno for a stone-dead compositional technique. with today’s means, it becomes—well, interesting in an incomparable way.

sven rånlund, soundofmusic.nu, sweden 10/08

the minimal style continues to captivate electronic manipulators, ready to work by subtraction and create melodic lines with a few sound elements. ‚bedtime stories‘ is no exception, the work by harold nono and me raabenstein under the moniker taub, where liquid beats and digital interference meet at regular intervals against a dense background of silence. seemingly inspired by the releases of the talented agf, but certainly much less elegant and surprising, this album has the merit of using the sound of the piano with a retro style that is not annoying. everything is used sparingly, in sharp contrast to the saturations and fillers of this period, but the result is enough to give us a pleasant yet fleeting listen. 6/10
michele casella, rockerilla, italy, 09/08

although it is a relatively new label, nonine is really not bad. so far, of the four or five releases I have heard, none were particularly banal, in fact, they were generally assembled with great taste for sounds, melodies, and rhythms: in the electronic field, it’s almost like saying they were well-made in everything. taub are harold nono from edinburgh, whom we recently reviewed, and me raabenstein from berlin (who is also the label boss). staying true to the fine recent (and not) history of british and especially „made in germany“ electronics, they consistently maintain a good quality level, great taste, and typically nocturnal atmospheres, as the title itself suggests (on the other hand, england and germany will not go down in history for their sun and beaches). melodic electronic music but not strictly idm, in fact, the rhythms are present but usually fragmented or only hinted at, and not at all epileptic, soft melodies that remind a bit of some things by plaid and from a distance also plone, although far removed from their childish, video game-like imagery, but above all with updated sounds from the end of the first decade of the millennium. vocoder used sparingly and tastefully, synthetic sounds yes, and electronic drums too, but still warm even when it seems like entering a landscape more suited to a gameboy, between more flowing rhythmic carpets and less suspended sounds that bounce back, contrapuntally playing off the rhythms—a classic of the genre.

melodic electronics but not vocal, as apart from a few sampled voices here and there, which are still relegated to the background, there’s no vocalist living up to this name, and I would say that’s a good thing since they don’t seem to need the „extra help.“ perhaps still to be developed in some particulars and arrangements, but it is an excellent debut (even though neither are newcomers).
andrea ferraris, sodapop.it, italy 09/08

young gentlemen shining in the electronic meanders with guitar-pop harmonies, taub offers electronic pop, a musical approach that sidesteps between classicism and electro. piano flights and skin-deep melancholy, the atmospheres combine influences from the cerebral pop of spoonfed hybrid and the atmospheric poetry of fingernail. composed of finely crafted rhythms and the mysteries of morning fog. soft atmospheres, nocturnal themes, nonchalant bleeps, and discreet guitars.
laurent guerel, station service, strasbourg / france 09/08

taub is the collaboration between the berlin-based me raabenstein and the scottish-born harold nono, two young unknowns in the electronic world (the latter released an album on bearsuit in 2002) capable of telling a story on bedtime stories made of idm, trance, and hints of future funk. music, mostly nocturnal and enveloping, built around simple and impactful melodies. it’s the typical long-distance collaboration where each musician added their personality to the track sent via email by the other. the result is less fragmented than what is usually expected in such cases, and on the contrary, among the melodies of this music, ideas and solutions seem to shine that could overshadow many more famous similar collaborations.
roberto mandolini, losingtoday.it, italy 09/08