Ursula Bogner - 2 Ton & Speichen

Ursula Bogner - 2 Ton from Marketa Vũ Trụ on Vimeo.

Ursula Bogner - Speichen from Marketa Vũ Trụ on Vimeo.

Ursula Bogner, as Jelinek explains in the compelling backstory that accompanies this record, was born in 1946 and died in 1994 and spent twenty of those years creating synthesizer music as a hobby. She never released any of her music, preferring to keep it to herself—a sort of Sunday producer who otherwise lived the normal life of a pharmacist and family woman. Nevertheless, she was at the very least a deep appreciator of early electronic composition; she built her own home studio and followed the theories and activities of early electronic music collectives such as Studio Für Elektronische Musik.

The story of how Jelinek came across these personal home recordings is no less intricate. Jelinek first heard about the recordings from Ursula Bogner's son, Sebastian, who happened to be sitting next to him on a flight. From there, the two began corresponding and eventually the son sent Jelinek his mother's tapes. The large collection of recordings Jelinek received betrayed a dabbler who spent over twenty years experimenting with different styles and possibilities, from exercises in oscillation and modulation, to the layering of rhythmic patterns, to simple electronic pop melodies.