Unguarded 1 - Piercing Touch Various Artists

Unguarded 1 - Piercing Touch is the debut release by Berlin based exploratory record label and art platform Unguarded, founded in 2020 by friends and collaborators Tim Roth and Philipp Hülsenbeck. Ranging from pastoral embraces of ambient, evocative electroacoustic ballads, hybrid vocal compositions, avant-pop songs to sinister digital synth manipulations and in-between, the compilation showcases a selection of tracks featuring a wide range of artists with ties to Berlins experimental electronic music scene. The music ebbs and flows with tension and release and carries a strong emotional tug, unveiling surreal, hard-hitting and morphing sonic works.

Amongst their own contributions, Hülsenbeck and Roth alias 1k Flower or Sin Maldita gathered a collection of genre-defying works by longtime collaborators Ella Zwietnig, Jungstötter, Johannes Weber and Modus Pitch as well as artists they bonded with in recent years such as Petra Hermanova, Arubu Avua, Laure Boer and M the latter three of which they met during their Amplify Berlin residencies. A connection that lets Unguarded 1 - Piercing Touch constantly escape from definition but through this diversity remains absorbing and compelling throughout.

The compilation’s artwork was grown, embroidered and given a final touch by Petra Hermanova, who also contributed her song ,Liquid Of The Eye’ featuring Hülsenbeck on pipe organ. Unguarded are currently preparing their second release, You’re Trouble by Tim Roths new experimental project Sin Maldita set to be released in late November 2020.

All proceeds earned from the compilation will be donated to Frauentreff OLGA (Notdienst Berlin e.V.), an organisation supporting women, trans*women and sex workers around Kurfürstenstrasse in the Berlin Tiergarten/Schöneberg area. (drogennotdienst.de/nur-fuerfrauen/frauentreff-olga/)