With the physical release of "Love Is Still Alive", the Cherry Red reissue of "Nova Akropola" and the retro-recontextualizing new album "Sketches From The Red Districts" 2023 already shapes up to be a year of much great and varied Laibach content, so before I'm getting hopelessly behind, here's a triple review of even more recent releases!
We're starting with the most unsavoury and definitely very badly timed one, which is only one track on a compilation that surely won't find its way into my collection. But since the thing is out there in this internet to listen to anyway...
We're starting with the most unsavoury and definitely very badly timed one, which is only one track on a compilation that surely won't find its way into my collection. But since the thing is out there in this internet to listen to anyway...
LAIBACH - Amerika (stream) (2023)
Of course the planning of the release and the recording of this song precede the devastating exposure of (not only) backstage scandals, but still being part of a tribute sampler to Rammstein right now leaves a very foul taste.
Aside from that the fact that basically Led Zeppelin are paying tribute to Greta Van Fleet here is of course quite ironical in itself. At least - and who would have expected less? - Laibach seem to have been very aware of that and chose a rather weak tune from Rammstein's repertoire, which they not only already did better several times themselves on "WAT" and of course with the track "America" from "Volk", but which also was half a cover itself, borrowing its chorus from The Sounds' "We're All Living In America". They turned it not into something stomping and military (if you expected that you've clearly been out of the Laibach loop for a while), yet into a female-led Country song. That probably was very convenient, since the band was in that sonic mode recording "Love Is Still Alive" anyway.
With the given off-taste I struggled a while to even check it out and I would have survived if I didn't do it. It's ok, has the usual Laibach layers, which make it listenable even now, but it's a far cry from the band's tribute to Kraftwerk, where instead of covering Laibach just reworked their own "Brat Moj" into the kraftwerkian "Bruderschaft".
So let's rather turn our attention to Laibach's latest original single:
Of course the planning of the release and the recording of this song precede the devastating exposure of (not only) backstage scandals, but still being part of a tribute sampler to Rammstein right now leaves a very foul taste.
Aside from that the fact that basically Led Zeppelin are paying tribute to Greta Van Fleet here is of course quite ironical in itself. At least - and who would have expected less? - Laibach seem to have been very aware of that and chose a rather weak tune from Rammstein's repertoire, which they not only already did better several times themselves on "WAT" and of course with the track "America" from "Volk", but which also was half a cover itself, borrowing its chorus from The Sounds' "We're All Living In America". They turned it not into something stomping and military (if you expected that you've clearly been out of the Laibach loop for a while), yet into a female-led Country song. That probably was very convenient, since the band was in that sonic mode recording "Love Is Still Alive" anyway.
With the given off-taste I struggled a while to even check it out and I would have survived if I didn't do it. It's ok, has the usual Laibach layers, which make it listenable even now, but it's a far cry from the band's tribute to Kraftwerk, where instead of covering Laibach just reworked their own "Brat Moj" into the kraftwerkian "Bruderschaft".
So let's rather turn our attention to Laibach's latest original single:
LAIBACH - The Engine Of Survival (download) (2023)
Is it you, Steve von Till? The first verse of "The Engine Of Survival" almost made me ask this question, before I was assured to listen to an unexpectedly beautiful duet of Milan Fras and Donna Marina Mårtensson.
Laibach's last standalone digital single had been their fantastic rendition of Leonard Cohen's "The Future". Plugged from this song's line "Love's the only engine of survival" they now present their own continuation of it. Facing the bleak outlook of Cohen with the defiance of love is a motif actually not new in Laibach's reference-laden cosmos. The dramatic bloom and unabashed sincerity of this piece still is a remarkable moment in Laibach's ever-rolling Kunstmachine. It's just gorgeous!
In classic maxi single style the album download includes the standard version of the song, a slightly edited Single Version, the Pas De Deux acoustic version which is performed by Mårtensson just with guitar alone and finally the Instrumental version (which de facto still features some background choirs, if we desperately want to split hairs).
And last but not least Laibach have of course also finally released the full soundtrack to "Iron Sky 2 : The Coming Race":
In classic maxi single style the album download includes the standard version of the song, a slightly edited Single Version, the Pas De Deux acoustic version which is performed by Mårtensson just with guitar alone and finally the Instrumental version (which de facto still features some background choirs, if we desperately want to split hairs).
And last but not least Laibach have of course also finally released the full soundtrack to "Iron Sky 2 : The Coming Race":
LAIBACH - Iron Sky : The Coming Race (CD) (2023)
Yes, I could have written this review earlier.
But given that many of the movie's gags and plotlines where already dated when the sequel to "Iron Sky" started shooting, and how a plethora of catastrophes, legal disputes and the following bankruptcy of the production company delayed the release of "The Coming Race" for years and years, and on top of that we had to wait four years for the release of Laibach's official soundtrack... it actually feels like I should have waited a couple of months longer to tackle this.
It's not the first Laibach release on Mute Records, where the vinyl version foregoes a second record to fit all material in and instead provides the download version for the complete experience. In this case this results in only 27 (of 43) tracks on the 12", a ratio which again pushed me towards the CD, which at least has 41 tracks (plus one hidden bonus) on it, so only the digital bonus tracks "Перед восходом солнца" (Russian version of the "Also Sprach Zarathustra" song "Vor Sonnen-Aufgang") and a live version of the title track are missing on the actual physical medium.
It contains a booklet with extensive liner notes about the plot of both movies, as well as their production history and (extremely mixed) reception.
No matter how you judge both parts of this Space Nazi B-movie saga, the pretty common consesus is that the most important glue which holds them together is Laibach's score. All in all both soundtracks works when seperated from the visuals, even though they faced (different) challenges.
The first release of the "Iron Sky" featured a lot of voice samples from the movie itself, which made it easy to follow where you were, but also was quite annoying. I'm glad that the vinyl score of the Director's Cut didn't repeat that mistake.
The new soundtrack also keeps the instrumentals instrumental, with only two Udo Kier exceptions towards the end. Since the second movie is a lot more fractured and uneven, the soundtrack naturally doesn't have as much as a golden thread. There are a lot of short tracks which don't make much narrative sense on their own, whereas the first part had more cohesive suites which also due to the heavy referencing of Wagner and certain very popular film soundtracks was easier to access than what we're hearing now.
The most prominent musical quotes now are the James Bond hymn bombast of the opening credits, the John Carpenter "Dark Star" Country tribute "Love Is Still Alive" (which has already been extended to a full audio sequel on the EP of the same name) and several usages of Laibach's own beforementioned "Vor Sonnen-Aufgang" theme.
Other than that the score has a more original and experimental tone than the first part, so even if it doesn't flow as logically, it is still an intriguing, in parts even more interesting listening experience - and probably the most memorable and lasting thing about this funeral of the franchise in the long run.
It certainly cannot be judged by the same standards as a "regular" Laibach album - whatever that may actually be. However this is really good stuff, regardless of your personal stance on dinosaurs, Steve Jobs and ex-Moon Nazis.
Yes, I could have written this review earlier.
But given that many of the movie's gags and plotlines where already dated when the sequel to "Iron Sky" started shooting, and how a plethora of catastrophes, legal disputes and the following bankruptcy of the production company delayed the release of "The Coming Race" for years and years, and on top of that we had to wait four years for the release of Laibach's official soundtrack... it actually feels like I should have waited a couple of months longer to tackle this.
It's not the first Laibach release on Mute Records, where the vinyl version foregoes a second record to fit all material in and instead provides the download version for the complete experience. In this case this results in only 27 (of 43) tracks on the 12", a ratio which again pushed me towards the CD, which at least has 41 tracks (plus one hidden bonus) on it, so only the digital bonus tracks "Перед восходом солнца" (Russian version of the "Also Sprach Zarathustra" song "Vor Sonnen-Aufgang") and a live version of the title track are missing on the actual physical medium.
It contains a booklet with extensive liner notes about the plot of both movies, as well as their production history and (extremely mixed) reception.
No matter how you judge both parts of this Space Nazi B-movie saga, the pretty common consesus is that the most important glue which holds them together is Laibach's score. All in all both soundtracks works when seperated from the visuals, even though they faced (different) challenges.
The first release of the "Iron Sky" featured a lot of voice samples from the movie itself, which made it easy to follow where you were, but also was quite annoying. I'm glad that the vinyl score of the Director's Cut didn't repeat that mistake.
The new soundtrack also keeps the instrumentals instrumental, with only two Udo Kier exceptions towards the end. Since the second movie is a lot more fractured and uneven, the soundtrack naturally doesn't have as much as a golden thread. There are a lot of short tracks which don't make much narrative sense on their own, whereas the first part had more cohesive suites which also due to the heavy referencing of Wagner and certain very popular film soundtracks was easier to access than what we're hearing now.
The most prominent musical quotes now are the James Bond hymn bombast of the opening credits, the John Carpenter "Dark Star" Country tribute "Love Is Still Alive" (which has already been extended to a full audio sequel on the EP of the same name) and several usages of Laibach's own beforementioned "Vor Sonnen-Aufgang" theme.
Other than that the score has a more original and experimental tone than the first part, so even if it doesn't flow as logically, it is still an intriguing, in parts even more interesting listening experience - and probably the most memorable and lasting thing about this funeral of the franchise in the long run.
It certainly cannot be judged by the same standards as a "regular" Laibach album - whatever that may actually be. However this is really good stuff, regardless of your personal stance on dinosaurs, Steve Jobs and ex-Moon Nazis.
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen