The ever progressing sophistication of the Internet brings with it not only many positive aspects but also a more and more tangled convolution of data threads, a twisted web that can, like bundles of tangled fishing net, make trawling for and distributing useful and meaningful information difficult or even impossible. Good thing there’s klingt.org, a clear, straightforward forum that for the past ten years has provided a community of musicians and artists with an Internet platform free of charge.

Handwritten letters with handpicked stamps have long since given way to electronic mail, rendering “beautiful mail”, as postmen call it, rare. Data transmission at klingt.org, however, still (remarkably) conveys the luxury of the personal touch. Why?

Analogous to his distaste for fast food and preference for doing his own cooking, dieb13 — together with his collaborators — has managed to give klingtorgians a digital home with the atmosphere of a virtual Viennese café: it is a place where you like to hang out, where you can find peace and quiet if you want, where you can talk to the other guests or chat with the unobtrusive man in charge, who offers practical advice and technical support for every digital difficulty.

Moreover, it also hosts the klingt.org jokebux, a jukebox stocked with surprises and new sounds for your browsing pleasure. Plus, klingt.org provides ample space for home­pages, thus giving its members the opportunity to express themselves without the threat of ending up in the dubious circles of musical Internet sects. Finally, once a year some of the klingt.org community leaves the World Wide Web and takes the stage to give an analogue performance and demonstrate the unparalleled power of live music.

The klingt.org platform is a striking example of how consistency and openness, clarity and provocation, precision and humour, unwavering beliefs and laissez-faire can be brought together in an elegant and congenial way.

Burkhard Stangl