Walter Robotka.
Bringing music back into the world.
Walter Robotka on Klanggalerie, ten years of patience with the Mnemonists and the joy of recordings thought lost.
In conversation with Walter Robotka
Walter Robotka spent ten years trying to convince the Mnemonists to reissue their old records. When it finally happened, it meant more to him than adding another release to the catalogue: music that had been part of his life since the eighties became available again. For SCENE:ID, he discusses those lasting connections, new discoveries and friendships that grew out of working with the Residents.
At Klanggalerie, new recordings sit alongside reissues, spanning jazz, rock, noise and electronics. Robotka talks about what draws him to that range and how Vienna’s Rhiz and Porgy & Bess have shaped his listening. Five questions answered by email, lightly edited and translated from German.
Bringing music back into the world.
Klanggalerie releases new recordings alongside reissues. Can you remember a record you really wanted to make available again? What drew you to it?
There are so many. I have been listening to these kinds of music for over 40 years. Much of what I have loved since then was not available on CD. The Mnemonists albums are a current example. Wonderful music that had a profound influence on me, and now I am bringing it back into the world. That is a lovely thing.
Something has to connect.
You have just released Chuffdrone and a Mnemonists reissue: two very different musical worlds. What does music have to make you feel before you say: I want to release this on Klanggalerie?
It has to grab me in some way. I think Chuffdrone are one of the most exciting Austrian jazz bands around at the moment. The four members play in some fantastic ensembles, including two of them in Other:M:Other, another favourite band of mine whose two full-length albums I also released. The Mnemonists have been with me since the mid-eighties. It took me ten years to convince them that their old records should be released again. That makes it all the more wonderful that it has finally happened.
What a privilege to be able to release them.
Collaborators become friends.
Which release took a completely different path from the one you initially imagined? Perhaps because of a chance encounter, an unexpected meeting or material nobody thought still existed.
When I first had the opportunity to work with the Residents, I would not have imagined that they would become good friends and that we would work together for many years. Material thought to be lost keeps turning up, which is a particular joy. For example, there were alternative versions of Snakefinger albums that nobody remembered existed. What a privilege to be able to release them.
Vienna remains a reference point.
You work from Vienna with musicians from many countries. What does the local scene mean to you in that context? Is there a place or an encounter in Vienna without which Klanggalerie would be different today?
I am also part of the concert collective Liccht. We work with Austrian musicians a great deal. I have also collaborated with many fantastic Austrian musicians in improvised music and jazz, and I still do. Many decades ago, Rhiz was certainly the place that shaped my musical sensibilities most strongly. Today, perhaps it is Porgy & Bess.
No single record for everyone.
If someone had never heard of Klanggalerie, which record would you hand them first, and what would you tell them before they listened?
That depends entirely on what the person likes listening to. We have many different styles on the label, from jazz and rock to noise and electronics. I would definitely not hand everyone the same release.
Walter Robotka
Interview by email · Editorial and image art direction: SCENE:ID. Courtesy of Walter Robotka