Evocative soundscapes capturing the fall of the Berlin Wall pressed to vinyl

The Vinyl Factory collaborate with sound artist Lutz Becker to release percussive montages of the Wall being torn down.

Twenty five years since the Berlin Wall was first breached, German sound artist Lutz Becker has released his series of soundscapes recorded in the aftermath of the 9th November 1989 on vinyl for the first time.

Dismantled by the people of East and West Berlin themselves in the ultimate act of mutual liberation, Lutz Becker captured the piecemeal deconstruction of the divisive barrier at crucial points across the city as it reverberated for weeks with the gentle and determined clink clink of hammers and pickaxes. This was the real sound of freedom, and in Becker’s hands it has both retained its historical significance and become eerily rhythmic – the kind of political sonic experience that would have Matthew Herbert salivating at his sampler.

Formed into five evocative soundscapes, Becker’s work is entitled After The Wall: A Sound Sculpture and was first exhibited at the 1999 exhibition After The Wall, but has now been revived and pressed to vinyl by The Vinyl Factory as part of the Fragments of Empire exhibition at Berlin’s Momentum gallery.

Pressed in an edition of 25 copies, the vinyl release will be available from the gallery in Berlin’s famous squatted Kunstquartier Bethanien and soon via The Vinyl Factory online shop.

Click here for more information on the gallery and here to download the audio files now.

Last month we visited Berlin-based artist Jonas Burgert’s studio to talk about the city’s incredible underground music scene, which you can watch here.