Markus Guentner is an artist with whom I have been musically connected for as long as with few others. Even in the early Kompakt days we were label colleagues, had the honour of appearing together on the first ever Pop Ambient compilation and, as young artists, were able to watch the then relatively new Kompakt label grow with and through us.
A few years later, our paths crossed again when I founded my own label Affin. He was with me from the first EP onwards, a label artist from the very beginning. In 2011, he sent me a stunning album called “Crystal Castle”. It is still one of Affin’s best releases, can be seen as a timeless classic and still sounds as new and interesting as it did 10 years ago.
In a conversation we had recently, it struck us that in addition to the label’s 15th anniversary, this album is now a decade old. For this reason, we decided to give the project a proper setting, because in the beginning we released everything exclusively in digital format. Now the arrival of the limited CD edition of “Crystal Castle” is imminent. From 15 December onwards, the pre-orders that have already arrived are to be sent out…
To mark its tenth anniversary, the album “Crystal Castle” by Regensburg-based artist Markus Guentner is now being released for the first time as a physical recording in limited quantities.
“Crystal Castle” has lost none of its topicality and beauty in this decade; the pieces stand for a musical and artistic quality.
Joachim Spieth 