Marsen Jules

In the field of contemporary ambient music german composer Martin Jules is one of the outstanding and influential figures of the last decade. Whether with his electronica/ambient-dub project krill.minima or with the even more popular sound-poetics of his alter ego Marsen Jules, he always combines a classic approach to ambient music with a modern and unique sound-design. Starting with his highly aclaimed debut on the Thinner/Autoplate netlabel in 2003 he can already look back on ten full length albums released on labels such as City Centre Offices, Native State Records, Genesungswerk and Psychonavigation as well as his own label Oktaf Records. Beside he is a regular contributor to the annual Pop Ambient compilations on Kompakt. In 2009 he was honoured with the “Best Album” at the Qwartz Electronic Music Awards in Paris and afterwards worked for a two week residency at the legendary GRM Studios. With his interest in new technology and unusual composition techniques and his high aspiration for a unique artistic expression Jules follows a classic tradition of 20th century music innovators such as Steve Reich, Brian Eno or Arvo Pärt. Asked for the difference or similarity of his musical alter egos Jules describes: “Even if there are similarities in the results, both projects have a complete different approach. As Marsen Jules I take a few moments of sound and try to unfold the full musical universe which is already lying inside the original material. For krill.minima it´s the other way around. Here I combine all kind of different possible sounds and techniques to something which for myself seems like pretty interesting music.“ A third instance of Jules work can be seen in his live shows. Whether playing solo, with classical or jazz musicians or accompanied by live visuals, his sets are always based on a playful artistic freedom and a high devotion to the uniqueness of the moment.