Klimek

by Jason BirchmeierKlimek is one of many monikers employed by German electronic music producer Sebastian Meissner, who used this particular alias to release experimental ambient productions fittingly described by a Spex magazine writer as "violently sad sounding music." Born on September 27, 1969, in Czenstochowa, Poland, Meissner became involved with electronic music while living in Frankfurt, Germany, where he met Achim Szepanski, the founder of the seminal German techno label Force Inc. and its several offshoots. In 1999 Meissner made his recording debut in partnership with Ekkehard Ehlers as Autopoieses, La Vie à Noir, which was released on Szepanski's Mille Plateaux label. In the years that followed, he released a series of solo albums under a number of monikers: Random Industries (Selected Random Works, 2000), Random_Inc (Jerusalem: Tales Outside the Framework of Orthodoxy, 2001; Walking in Jerusalem, 2002), and Bizz Circuits (The Very Best of Bizz Circuits, 2002). Meissner made his debut as Klimek in 2002 with Milk & Honey, a double-sided 12" release on Kompakt; additionally, two Klimek tracks -- "Milk & Honey" and "Sun(Rise)" -- were compiled later in the year on Pop Ambient 2003, an installment in Kompakt's annual series of ambient compilations. Subsequent Klimek releases on Kompakt include the full-length Milk & Honey (2004), the 12" Listen, the Snow Is Falling (2005), and the full-length Music to Fall Asleep (2006). Plus, Klimek productions were regularly featured in the Pop Ambient series, including the 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 installments. In 2007 Meissner moved his Klimek project from Kompakt to Ezekiel Honig's Anticipate Recordings for the release of Dedications, a full-length album.