Allerseelen / Neutral / Otzepenevshiye – Georg Trakl (cd 2008 ewers tonkunst)
My girlfriend wanted to have this cd because she ones wrote a paper about the Austrian poet Georg Trakl and Heidegger’s analysis of his symbolic texts. With three tracks of each band, this nicely packed album makes about 50 minutes. The Allerseelen tracks are not bad, but like usually with Allerseelen, the tracks start with a nice idea, but keep repeating it until the tracks end. Neutral has tranquil piano tracks with the poets spoken on the background. Otzepenevshiye is a strange project with strange tracks. Not a bad cd, but certainly no masterpiece.
Links: Allerseelen, Neutral, Otzepenevshiye.
The Eastern Front has released a very nice double cd compilation with a whole range of famous bands on the first cd, most of them not from their own label. Cd 1 (“Grief”) has bands such as the resurrected Belborn, Cold Fusion, Cawatana, Kammer Sieben and Horologium and includes a cooperation between H.E.R.R. and Von Tronstahl. Most tracks are bombastic and militant, sometimes more orchestral, sometimes more neofolky and in most cases quite enjoyable. The second cd (“Birth of Psyche”) has mostly more minimalistic and ambient tracks from Artefactum, Rose Rovine, Shining Vril, Bisclaveret and a range of projects that are new to me. This cd surely isn’t bad, but less interesting than the first cd, but the projects Wach and Sitra Ahra offer a nice surprise. Both cds have a running time of well over an hour, so you get what you pay for! The simple but very nice booklet looks good, like we get used to from this label and also the limited amount of 1000 copies goes for this compilation. I noticed that it is available from about every descent mailorder, so it shouldn’t be too hard to lay your hands on a copy.
I probably don’t have to tell you, but November Növelet is another project of Haus Arafna and Galakthorrö is mr. and mrs. Arafna’s label. It is only since a few years that I got to know and appreciate Haus Arafna. I hadn’t really listed to November Növelet yet, but what I heard it seemed that this was the Arafna harsch noise project while Haus Arafna evolved towards a more accessible sound. This assumption turns out to be wrong, because “Magic” is more ‘easy listening’ than anything that has been released under the monicker Haus Arafna (as far as I know). The album opens with minimalistic and even atmospheric sounds as it can be only made by the couple Arafna, but as the album continues the sound goes more towards 80′ies synthpop with of course an odd twist. It seems that the Arafna’s undergo a similar evolution as for example Thorofon who also started as a harsch noise project, but later got a sound that some call “antipop”. This album of November Növelet will appeal to people who enjoy the last Thorofon album, Dogpop, Geneviéve Pasquier and the like. Also where in earlier days mr. and mrs. Arafna were always shown with gasmasks on, they now can be seen in both projects with their real faces and for “Magic” even with an “Austin Powers”-like photoshoot! I must say that I enjoy this development in industrial music, the older the musicians get, the crazier it seems. The music is easy to listen to, but strange enough to avoid the masses (also because of the names they are released under I guess), so if you share that weird musical sense of humour, you might want to get a copy of “Magic”.
Around since at least 1986 with dozens of releases, yet (I think) this is the first time that I hear them. 16 Tracks and 71 minutes with music as strange as Oblivion Ensemble (see below), but Sigillum S doesn’t just make weird soundscapes, because besides theses collages of sounds, samples and voices, there is also pretty loud industrial rock that may even appeal to people who like Marilyn Manson, NIN or Ministry. There are also more jazzy things. The larger part are the soundscapes, either or not with an industrial or noisy edge, but with the completely different tracks there is variety enough to make this an interesting album.
Yesterday the first day of the Tesco Festival took place in Antwerpen with Ure Thrall, Dogpop and Galerie Schallschutz. Unfortunately I cannot go to see Genocide Organ, Janitor and Post Scriptvm tonight. I was interested to see Dogpop. Their “Popgod” debut 12″ may not be brilliant, but it surely is refreshing and interesting so I was curious what these industrial veterans would do on stage. Well, the LP contains strange experiments with a sound somewhere between old synthpop/electro and industrial and maybe what some people like to call “antipop”. If you know Thorofon and Geneviéve Pasquier, you might be able to get an idea of the sound. What was most remarkable yesterday, was that the sound is much more (back to) industrial with almost noise tracks even. Also there were silly tunes. Maybe for their tour, Dogpop released a “live without band” cd, limited to 100 copies with 11 years of material (!!). I don’t know if this cd is only sold at concerts. Also on this cd, the sound differs a bit from the LP, but of course the music remains that weird Dogpop sound with dance, acid, synthypop, etc. sounds and industrial, ambient and a bit of noise, all in all: Dogpop. Very nice and interesting enough to keep an eye on.
Also Galerie Schallschutz played in Antwerp last night. Amazing when you think of it that their last cd is of 2005. I (thought I) knew Galerie Schallschutz, I was even under the impression that I had one of their two albums, but when I wanted to play one last week, I discovered that I actually didn’t own anything of them… This German project gave away a nice show. There thematic dark ambient soundscapes has some industrial and sometimes noisy influences and works around the subject of secret governental projects to influence their citizens. The first cd HAARP is about high frequency experiments to use as a weapon, with the Montauk Project the US government supposedly tried to create ‘psychological weaponry’. Musically this is poored into dark and eerie soundscapes, that are sometimes a bit too monotous, but nevertheless pretty interesting. For the show of last night, the band seems to have combined the themes and the music of both albums and added a piece of theater in which they tried to create ‘a 1984 atmosphere’ with three actors, mirrors, light effects and night-vision live images of the audience. Like the music, the show was sometimes a bit too long, but interesting still. The cd, by the way, comes in a luxery DVD size digipack with quite some information about the thematics and one of these images that changes when you look at it another way. Well done, surely thoughtfull and interesting and I guess it is about time for a new album.
I have known Thorofon for years, but haven’t really known them. I have some tracks on compilations, but they never really caught my attention. A while ago an lp of Dogpop was announced which is described as: “between minimal cold electronic classics with a distinctive German voice and soundtrack-like dreams with a touch of antipop”. I was interested enough to order a copy, but I got a note that it was sold out (it seems to be available (again) from different distributors though), so I looked for it with P2P and actually found it too. Indeed, “Popgod” is a strange release with strangely accessible sounds somewhere between old-style industrial and electro/EBM, or maybe more a Neubauten sound. Nice, but not great, so I didn’t get myself the lp yet, but maybe when they play in Antwerp next week. In any case, probably because of the involvement of Thorofon in Dogpop, I apparently also downloaded “This Summer Suicide” and completely forgot to listen to it. When I later had to fill half an hour (I always play music when I am at home) and saw Thorofon I thought: “oh well, nobody has died yet from half an hour of power electronics” (usually I spare my girlfriend). I was still under the impression that Thorofon was one of these old noise/power electronics projects with chaotic sounds and screamed vocals. To my surprise I heard music that I had hoped Dogpop would sound like! From old fashioned (I mean: retro) industrial to nice accessible dance sounds (Neubauten-like?) and here and there some harder industrial and noise tracks. “This Summer Suicide” is really a great album, an industrial classic even! It all reminds a bit of the later material of Haus Arafna, balancing between harsch electronics and more ‘easy listening’ material, but with the difference that Thorofon’s accessible tracks are more accessible than Haus Arafna’s and the industrial parts have a more classical sound. To my surprise there are still copies available of the 500 that are pressed of this album (I got my copy from Steinklang) and it comes in a very nice A5 packaging too. If you are looking for a great industrial album with a refreshing sound, get “This Summer Suicide” (meanwhile I have downloaded another album which is more an old fashioned noise album with indeed chaotic sounds and screamed vocals) and maybe if you like the less-industrial tracks, you may want to listen to Dogpop and The Musick Wreckers (Thorofon is dead and they became TMW).
“This record is the end of Thorofon and the beginning of The Musick Wreckers. Anton Knilpert transforms to Dan Courtman. Sound transforms to Sound.” Thus says the back of this 7″. Thorofon delivers two rather typical and not too good industrial tracks, The Musick Wreckers come up with two weird tracks that are hard to describe. Batcave-like sung/spoken vocals, a strange sampled country-guitar and a weird poppy industrial sound. I don’t know what to call this. There are terms going around such as “antipop”, “angstpop” or “krankpop”, but I don’t know what people mean by them, so I cannot say if they would apply to The Musick Wreckers. Still I guess you can now form an idea of the music, being it only a bit.
This is the first DVD in a series of eight with ‘view and sound’ of the Steinklang festival of October 2004. The first half hour is for Operation Julmond, a not too appealing noise show, neither visually nor musically. The images and sound is good though, so watching the show it no punishment. Of Wappenbund I may have had too high expectations, but their hour on this DVD isn’t that interesting at all. The sound is by far not as good as with Operation Julmond, the music is mostly nothing compared the to albums and the show isn’t too appealing either. For both shows go that they have been filmed with several cameras and the montage is very well done. For the rest, this DVD is just live footage of industrial shows. They were probably better when you were there.
Steinklang again offers a cheap compilation with tracks of their own and befriended releases. III is not as II a double cd. The first half of the cd is filled with industrial, dark ambient and a violent noise track of Dissecting Table, the second cd with neofolk and other folky sounds. Just as with the previous two issues of the compilation there are some very good tracks here and especially bands that were new to me, so that is always nice.