kurt korthals, the one-man team behind the buddy system, discovered electronic music through fellow skateboarder dave fuller (a.k.a. buckminster fuzeboard) after 15 years of moving through logging camps with his father in southeast alaska. Until he left the islands to pursue a degree in computer sciences, he experimented with equipment and sounds in a self-made closet studio in his dad's trailer. since then bewildered texans have benefited from the buddy system's consistent live performances, radio appearances, and friendly cd and mp3 sharing. labels across the globe are taking note as well with music released by u-cover records (belgium), psychonavigation (ireland), carpark (usa), awkward silence recordings (uk), and o-parts (japan).

"transitions" was written over the winter and spring of 2002 while kurt was living and touring germany and the surrounding areas. this release is his most personal and mature yet chronicling transitions in his life. it is rich but not excessively dense, complex but not lost, colorful and coordinated; embracing catchy melodies and depth reminiscent of early-era mouse on mars. the buddy system composes with the precision of a computer programmer, but with the soul of the alaskan wilderness!

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Press:

"... Transitions is less about getting you to dance than about taking you from your body and leading you through new galaxies; it's sonic science fiction..."
   - Erasing Clouds

"....like all good ambient, Transitions sends you where you want to go, and it possesses some knock-you-on-your ass surprises in structural shifting..."
   - Tiny Mix Tapes

"...every "song" has two loosely connected "movements". The end of one bleeds into the next, leaving fewer and fewer traces of itself as the second section begins to come into its own...."
   - SPLENDIDEZINE.COM

"Danke, Notenuf Records aus Texas, dass ihr ein Album von Kurt aka Buddy System veröffentlicht. Kurt ist nämlich ein Guter, nicht nur, weil er ständig in Berlin abhängt und auf Texas scheißt. Sehr verträumt melodiöse Tracks, die fröhlich auf dem Sinus wellenreiten, wie man es in Texas eben so macht, die immer an mehr oder weniger bekannten Stellen ansetzen und dann doch alles anders machen."
   - de-bug.com

"... Renowned local electronic craftsman Kurt Korthals returns as the Buddy System, releasing Transitions for new local abstract electronic label Notenuf. A serene center recalls the ambience of Harold Budd or Robert Rich, adding color to ebullient and accessible pockets of Warp or Rephlex Records-type glitch..."
   - Austin Chronicle