The growth of electronic listening music is a trans-European phenomenon. While the club scene and its attendant 12-inch singles provide a commercial base and a seemingly limitless source of new ideas, the record labels that have sprung up alongside are also keen to nurture a persistently avant-garde musical culture. Outposts such as Warp in the UK, R&S in Belgium and Dance International in Holland are part of a new EEC - a European Electronic Community.

Meanwhile, at the core of the German scene is an organisation called Eye Q Music, formed by Heinz Roth in 1991. This is a stable with a keen sense of purpose. Feeding on the energy of clubs like The Omen in Frankfurt, Eye Q is also acutely aware of the legacy of groundbreaking German music and the importance of electronics within it. Consequently, three labels have been established to represent the breadth of new styles, from commercial (but by no means bland) dance, through innovative techno to 'mind' music.

Eye Q Records is the first, through which DJ Sven Vath - founder of The Omen - has become an internationally respected name. Harthouse, set up by Vath, has brought acts like Spicelab and Arpeggiators to wider acclaim. And the most recent launch was Recycle Or Die, a label committed to expansive instrumental music and challenging sleeve art.

A policy of unleashing the titles of Eye Q and Harthouse only on 12-inch vinyl has now been modified to acknowledge the wider listening audience. Recycle Or Die products reach you as beautifully packaged CDs, complete with specially commissioned cover art and sumptuous tracks seldom under ten minutes long.

Electronic soloist Oliver Lieb typifies the label. His album Constellation is a rich example of Eye Q's support for experimental artists and of the technology-friendly sounds now sweeping across this particular new Europe. Combining the digital edge of the Akai S1100 and Korg Wavestation A/D with classic analogue synthesisers, Oliver tracks his audio satellites with Cubase running on a PC.

"It gives me some control," he states, "but I still need more MIDI control over my effects. They all have MIDI controllers, and with all the sound sources there's too much. I'm looking at Steinberg's Shuttle 8."

The problem arises because, usually, everything is sequenced live directly to DAT. Oliver's technique would not normally require conventional tape multitracking.

"There is one piece on Constellation which was done on an 8-track," he reveals. "It was around and I thought 'how can I use this?' So I recorded all kinds of modulation from some really old synths onto each track. But most of the time everything can be done with MIDI."

The album's measured feel belies a mixture of careful preparation and improvisation.

"It's not that spontaneous, but then recording is completely different to performing live"

"I have the basic ideas for each track, and kind of jam with them. Once I decide which parts are working best, and how long each section should be, I put them into the computer. It's not that spontaneous, but then recording is completely different to performing live."

On stage, Oliver exploits the 32Mb of the S1100 to store most of the analogue sounds, which are played by a Kawai Q80 and mixed through a Soundcraft Sprint Folio. Mixing on the fly, and playing a Juno 106 with a Novation Bass Station acting as a master keyboard, he describes this as "a good compromise." In the studio, the sampler is only used for drum sounds.

"I don't find the Akai particularly good for creating new sounds. It's mainly for storing things. I'm really into programming the analogue synthesisers, and each new patch can be sampled and kept safe for as long as I like."

For ambient club dates, when Oliver is given carte blanche to chill everyone well and truly out, he'll take more synths and do everything completely live. On those occasions, he says, "I really don't know what I'm going to do. Programming, modulating, changing everything. But for regular club dates all I can really do is some modulation on the Juno, and change the arrangements using the mixer. That's all that people need, anyway. If you changed the material that people know from an album, they'd be confused."

Indeed. When you consider how much you could overhauls track using today's tools on stage, this is a very valid point. As the audience grows for the new European sounds, the electronic musician had better get used to pleasing the crowds.

"And," Oliver concludes, "as long as I'm gigging on my own, I'm not going to carry 20 flightcases wherever I go!"

Sven Vath album review - Monitor mix p.78