Strotter Inst.

Strotter Inst. is the project of Swiss artist Christoph Hess. Since 1999 he has been creating music with modified Lenco turntables, which he alters and manipulates in countless ways. Rubber bands are stretched across the rotating platters and plucked by the stylus; records are taped in patterns to produce textured rhythms; live wires carry electrical current to the needle, generating pulsing feedback. Hess then sculpts these raw materials with effects pedals, yielding warm, dense sound masses, looping, rumbling grooves and multilayered, fractured beats. The music of Strotter Inst. is closer in spirit to the anti-electronica of Pan Sonic and the early minimalism of Steve Reich than to the work of experimental turntablists such as eRikm, Philip Jeck or Christian Marclay. Hess’s roots lie not in free improvisation but in industrial culture, the electronic avant-garde and electroacoustic composition. Christoph Hess is also a member of the post-industrial band Herpes Ö DeLuxe (since 1995) and has performed live with artists including Sudden Infant and Maja Ratkje. Strotter Inst. has played across Europe, China, Russia, the United States, Japan and Bolivia.

Bern, Switzerland