“Between his reputation as swift shifting improviser, concréte composer and turntable deconstructionist, Marseilles based artist eRikm has earned himself an enviable position in the European music community. With Stéme, his most ambitious and fully realised compositional work to date, he devolves and recontextualises the boundaries between sound source and sound media. In essence, Stème originates from a selection of ten one minute long sound pieces burned on a cd which was deliberately damaged. These media (music on modified media or field recording) formed the basis of multiple improvised session including multiple stages of construction and destruction of these acoustic matters using my different electronic real time live music systems (3k-pad system & md or cd-dj and electronics). The resulting sounds are truly distinctive – filigree like sonic details are brought into sharp focus, tuning the ears with their paced spatial movements. Occasional grabs of the source sound material appear and are erased equally as quickly. A genuinely powerful statement of compositional intent. eRikm has instinctively followed a relatively unusual, even risky, career path. Stemming from his interest in visual arts and his first musical experience as a rock guitarist, he has for some years now become steadily more and more renowned for his virtuoso turntabling and his use of electronic instruments and tools in an integrated scenic set-up eRikm has followed up musical collaborations with Voice Crack, Christian Marclay, Luc Ferrari, among others. He is certainly one of the better equipped artists of the new generation to actually demonstrate a relationship between rock music (in its widest sense) and contemporary music; hiding behind neither cultural camouflage nor an easy pandering to his audience. Note! Copies ordered direct from ROOM40 include a special 12 page fold out score edition from eRikm. An elegant flow chart of opportunity, chance and compositional choice.”