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Posts mit dem Label Amanda Palmer werden angezeigt. Alle Posts anzeigen
Posts mit dem Label Amanda Palmer werden angezeigt. Alle Posts anzeigen

2026-08-09

AMANDA PALMER live in der St.-Gertrud-Kirche, Hamburg (08. August 2026)


Wird es allmählich zur Gewohnheit? Nach der Wintereinbruchsshow von Marissa Nadler und dem Tribut an La Monte Youngs "Composition 1960 #7" während des Roadburn Festivals war Amanda Palmers gestriger Auftritt bereits mein drittes Kirchenkonzert innerhalb eines Jahres.

Obwohl ich mich ansonsten so gut wie niemals in dieser Gegend aufhalte, war die St.-Getrud-Kirche am Kuhmühlenteich östlich der Außenalster mit dem Auto leicht zu finden. Ich hatte mich ja auch vorbereitet und wusste genau, welche Straßen - inklusive jener direkt am Ziel - ich auf Parkplatzsuche abfahren musste. Ok, Quatsch. Durch die Vollsperrung einer Zufahrtsstraße war es auf einmal super kompliziert geworden, den Weg zum Gotteshaus zu finden. Zunächst einmal brauchte ich Ewigkeiten, um überhaupt in die Nähe zu kommen, bin sonstwohin abgeschweift und sogar einmal - "Scheiße, das wär's gewesen!" - direkt an dem richtigen Rechtsabbieger vorbeigerauscht. Einfach umkehren konnte man dort leider nicht. Ich befand mich also wieder auf einer Umfahrung jakobswegschen Ausmaßes, als ich - immerhin auch nur einen Kilometer entfernt - spontan eine sich auftuende Parklücke nutzte.

Natürlich sah ich nicht nur auf dem Fußweg zur Kirche zahlreiche mich höhnisch angrinsende  freie Parkplätze, sondern erst recht direkt vor der Kirche selbst. Vermutlich ist dieser Flecken momentan tatsächlich eine der isoliertesten Ecken Hamburgs. Under der Veranstalter Kampnagel hatte noch gewarnt, wegen Parkplatzmangels lieber gleich mit den Öffis anzureisen. Ähem.

Das war natürlich zurückblickend alles halb so wild - trotzdem begleitete mich das gesamte Konzert über eine gewisse Grundnervosität, da sich eine halbe Stunde vor Beginn der Show der Parkvorgang auf meiner easypark-App einfach selbstständig beendet hatte und ich natürlich nicht mal eben draußen nachschauen konnte, ob alles in Ordnung war und meine Kiste noch dort stand.

Und falls dich das alles einen Scheißdreck interessiert und Du einfach nur über Amanda Palmer lesen möchtest - tja, Du hättest den ganzen Sermon überspringen können!
Anderseits empfinde ich es auch nicht als ganz unpassend, einen Bericht zu dieser selbst gerne lange Geschichten erzählenden Künstlerin mit etwas Vorgeplänkel zu beginnen, bevor es zur Sache geht. War jetzt halt nur doof, dass ich nichts spannenderes oder relevanteres als diese Banalitäten anzubieten hatte. Sorry?


Die Bankreihen plus Extrabestuhlung an der Seite des neugotischen Kirchenschiffs hatten sich gut gefüllt, als sich nach einem orchestralen Intro vom Band aus Richtung Eingang der Klang einer einsamen Ukulele näherte. Amanda Palmer schritt im schwarzen Kleid durch den Mittelgang und begann schließlich ohne Mikrofon, sogleich die brilliante Akustik des Raums demonstrierend, Radioheads "Creep" zu singen. Sicherlich nicht die alleroriginellste Wahl eine Coverstücks, doch als sie die hohe Kanzel hinaufgestiegen war und inbrünstig laut mit unglaublich langgezogenen Noten den Refrain intonierte, war dies mehr als leicht zu entschuldigen.

Es sollte nicht das einzige Fremdmaterial des von hieran am Konzertflügel bestrittenen Abends bleiben. Und Stücke ihres eigenen Duos Dresden Dolls wie das mit brillianter Performancecomedy angereicherte "Coin-Operated Boy" zähle ich hier gar nicht mit.
So folgten später im Set noch ein Track vom Soundtrack zum Barbie-Film (Ich kann Amandas Aussage nur unterstreichen: "If you haven't seen it: It is not what you think it is!"), nämlich Billie Eilishs Ballade "What Was I Made for?" und zum Abschluss der Show - passend zur Location - Leonard Cohens Klassiker "Halleluhjah".

Davor gab es durchaus auch Momente, in denen man dachte, dass eine katholische Kirche dieses Programm wohl nicht hätte durchgehen lassen. Damit meine ich nicht nur gelegentliche explizite *räusper* Anzüglichkeiten, sondern vor allem ein neues, noch unveröffentliches Stück, in dem Palmer mit größtmöglicher Intensität zu kraftvoll gehämmertem Klavier forderte "Get Divorced!" (was in einem späteren Lied sogar als Reprise noch einmal auftauchte). Natürlich hat der Song Kontext, doch alleine in einer Kirche die Forderung zu stellen, sich scheiden zu lassen, fand ich ja schon erfrischend blasphemisch.

Die ersten - ich schätze mal - zwei Drittel der Show bestanden aus etablierten und leicht obskureren Überraschungen, wie einem mit erfreulich amerikaner-untypischen Akzent im Kabarett-Duktus vorgetragenen deutschprachigen Titel. Dazwischen hatte die Künstlerin natürlich einiges zu erzählen, allerdings nicht in dem Ausmaß, wie sie es auf ihrer noch stärker emotional aufgeladenen 2019er Tour zu "There Will Be No Intermission" getan hatte. Ich hatte die Gelegenheit, sie damals in Hamburg zu sehen, zwar leider nicht wahrnehmen können, hatte die damalige Tour aber zumindest in gleich zwei separaten Livestreams verfolgt.

Von jenem Album - nach wie vor dem einzigen, welches ich wirklich von ihr kenne - war leider gar kein Material in Amandas Setlist vertreten. Doch auch wenn ich z.B. zumindest das überragende "Drowning In The Sound" (oder "Death Thing" oder "The Ride"...) schon durchaus gerne gehört hätte, war dieses Konzert auch ohne jene vertrauten Töne von vorne bis hinten mitreißend und brilliant. Sowohl stimmlich als auch an den Tasten war ihre Darbietung tatsäch noch deutlich besser als ich erwartet hatte.
Einzig die immerhin für einige Lacher verantwortliche "Lightshow" (Saallicht geht zufällig an und aus) wäre definitiv noch ausbaufähig gewesen. 

Mein liebster Teil der Tragik und Humor balancierenden Show - und auch die beste, nur durch die beinahe ununterbrochene Abfolge von Songs erzählte Geschichte - war für mich jener Block am Ende, in dem sie eine ganze Reihe brandneuer Stücke präsentierte. Dafür dass diese noch work in progress waren, klangen sie schon verdammt ausgereift und versprechen jetzt schon ein sehr starkes Studioalbum - wann immer dieses auch aufgenommen werden wird.

Das Publikum bedankte sich für das kurzfristig lange nach Veröffentlichungen des offiziellen Programms des Kampnagel Sommerfestivals angesetzte Konzert mit lange anhaltenden Standing Ovations. Amanda Palmer, die aufgrund des Dramas rund um die Anschuldigungen gegenüber ihrem Ex-Mann mit sie nicht promotender Presse und in Amerika und Australien mit gecancelten Shows und Touren zu kämpfen hat, zeigte sich von diesem Ausgang der Veranstaltung sichtlich gerührt.

Es war ihr zu gönnen. Große Gefühle, große greifbare Kunst.



Ach ja, mein Auto war natürlich noch genau dort, wo ich es abgestellt hatte. Für die Rückfahrt bin ich einfach geradeaus gefahren, bis mir etwas bekannt vorkam - und das war wahrscheinlich die kürzeste mögliche Route. So leicht kann es manchmal gehen.





2019-12-06

MUSIC 2019: TOP 22 albums





Ok, here we go again! It's time for my favorite studio albums of the year.

This list only contains releases which came out in 2019 and are in my property in some form.

Why 22? Because it just seems like a reasonable number in relationship to the total of new stuff in my collection, even though with a couple of extra slots I could have included more very much worthwhile albums (Black Bombaim, Bees Made Honey In The Vein Tree, Videodrones...). But at some point you have to cut, right?

As experience has told me, it doesn't necessarily mean much whether I rank an album as 5 or 19 in the long run anyway. This is just how I feel right now. The point of a list like this is not a winner's podium, but to recommend great shit.
So yes, I snuck in a couple of extra paragraphs with "similar artists", and even before that the number twenty-two isn't totally correct, since two bands get diligence points for putting out two albums. 

Of course there are also some hot candidates for the list, which are simply too fresh for me to put them in the ranking. (see some of the following reviews!)


I have out-sourced my favorite concerts this time, which means that there will be another post coming soon. And after that one I'll also write about my favorite EPs, live recordings and whatever else might come to mind.




ALBUM TOP 22:




  1. WASTE OF SPACE ORCHESTRA - Syntheosis


    What happens when you put the two Finnish psychedelic black/death metal superpowers Dark Buddha Rising and Oranssi Pazuzu in a room and let them compose more than an hour of commissioned music, to be performed by ten people (including two drummers) on the Roadburn Festival main stage? - I daresay a mind-blowing once in a lifetime show. "Syntheosis" was such a success that it couldn't in good conscience be limited to this exclusive live performance, so consequently The Waste Of Space Orchestra went into the studio to tweak and polish the suite into a colossal dark monolith of an album, which in its epochal abyssal majesty is much grander than the sum of its parts.

     
  2. LINGUA IGNOTA - Caligula


    Hypothetically, if you wanted to take only one single lesson from this record, it would surely be:  Don't fuck with Kristin Hayter! But even though the woman-NOT-behind-the-curtain-BUT-right-center-stage of Lingua Ignota unleashes a frightening amount of rage here, you shouldn't reduce "Caligula" to its aggression towards her abuser, which is only one facet of the merciless exorcism, through which she frees herself from the helplessness of trauma. She pushes every lyrical and musical idea to its bleakest and most painful point and beyond. Between baroque neo-classical piano and downright obscene, cacophonous noise "Caligula" never allows you to rest. Beauty appears only as a cynical counterpoint or as an unattainable goal: "All I want is boundless love. All I know is violence."  While the revolt against a personal nightmare and the reversal of power therein could count as a positive backbone of "Caligula", this album remains horrifying on a profound and real level most artists don't ever dare nor even know how to touch.


       
  3. MAGMA - Zëss (Le Jour Du Néant)


    I know I'm repeating myself here, but ranking stuff you love is hard. You don't want to know how often I have switched the order of the first three entries in this list around! The main reason - and maybe even the only one - Zeuhl legends Magma didn't make it to the very top is a sense of sportsmanship, since "Zëss", the tale of the end of all ends, has already been performed in several unfinished versions for decades. And while I can understand why some fans prefer those earlier, sweatier and more rock-oriented incarnations of this at the same time minimalistic and excessive piece; this final version with The City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra fully integrated and mastermind Christian Vander on full French, Kobaïan and ad lib lead vocal duty is Magma at its peak cinematic. If this is indeed the last studio album of the fifty years old group, then they are going out with a Big Bang!


    [Since Vander is known to be one of the most obsessive worshippers of once-in-a-century artist and jazz giant John Coltrane alive, this is surely the proper place to appreciate the new "lost" 1964 album of the saxophone player. Partially used as the soundtrack for a Franco-Canadian Arthouse movie "Blue World" offers a wonderful insight into the only time the iconic Quartet went back to the studio to re-interpret already established material.]

      
  4. LOUISE LEMÓN - A Broken Heart Is An Open Heart


    Ten tracks of mostly synthie- or piano-dominated, melancholic soul with a vintage noir undertone. Easily overseeable song lengths, simple verse-chorus-schemata and almost always the voice being clearly in the foreground. That voice belonging to a blond Swedish pop / blues singer with a Francophile burlesque stage name. On paper the premise of Louise Lemón's "A Broken Heart Is An Open Heart" sounds like something that could maybe be nice... interesting... but most likely - let's be honest - just a weak European version of Lana Del Rey that's a little too late to the game.  In reality however Lemón's "death gospel" is an outstanding revelation. What makes this album so addictive above everything else is personality. And it's not only the charismatic touch of the singer / songwriter herself, but equally as important the personalities of both her producer and low frequency expert Randall Dunn and her band. While seldom anything remarkably flashy is played, the instrumentals are always on point right in the feels.


    [And speaking of Lana: With "Norman Fucking Rockwell!" Miss Lizzy Grant has released a more than respectable new album as well. Forgoing the "feat." guest singer/rapper excess of the previous record and relying on a mostly balladic sound with 60s and 70s vibes meeting dream pop, piano, acoustic guitar, but also serious psychedelic rock influences, she has delivered her most coherent work since "Ultraviolence". This new double album showcases how fucking great pop music can be - if it only wants.]

      
  5. SUNN O))) - Life Metal
    SUNN O))) - Pyroclasts


    One could argue that the drone metal giants played it very safe by going back to the roots on "Life Metal" and I wouldn't even disagree. Most of the four tracks on four record sides are mainly the core trio of Stephen O'Malley, Greg Anderson and Tos Nieuwenhuizen on droning guitars and Moog. But then there's also a short, but very important list of guest contributors, of which Hildur Guðnadóttir on Halldorophone, cello and vocals is the most vital. What makes this album stand out immediately however is the live recording approach and the fabulous production by Steve Albini. What a fucking sick, yet warm and sexy guitar sound! Damn, this is a Sunn O))) album which already sounds amazing if you listen to it in moderate volume.



    Created by the same people during the same recording session the band followed "Life Metal" up with a smaller twin called "Pyroclasts". These four eleven-minute-tracks are meditative improvisations over one note each, which Sunn O))) used to get into the right mood at the beginning of each recording day. They showcase the band at their most loose and ambient - and on the same creative level as their more composed work.

    Both albums wouldn't exist in the way they are without the other, and since they not only match in personnel, sound and layout, but are also both graced by spectacular paintings from Samantha Keely Smith, they form an impressive Gesamtkunstwerk of Sunn O))) in 2019.

      
  6. YAZZ AHMED - Polyhymnia


    Anyone who is familiar with Yazz Ahmed's previous album "La Saboteuse" or has seen her perform live, should already have noticed that the British-Bahraini trumpet and flugelhorn player is a unique driving force in the contemporary jazz fusion scene. On "Polyhymnia" the sound of her band gets even wilder, more complex and maximalist, with bass clarinet and vibraphone taking a back seat in favor of saxophone, piano and guitars. And even though her own instrumental skills are indisputable fantastic, her greatest strength might actually lie in her brilliant musical storytelling as a composer. Each track is a carefully thought-out tribute and takes you through the struggles and victories of one inspiring female figure from past or present, from civil rights icons Rosa Parks and Ruby Bridges, over Saudi-Arabian film director Lahan Al-Mansur, the Suffragettes and Paraphernalia / Colosseum saxophonist Barbara Thompson to Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who's illustration by Sophie Bass (who did vivid work for all of the album's muses) also graces the cover of "Polyhymnia".


      
  7. THE CLAYPOOL LENNON DELIRIUM - South Of Reality


    Great minds think alike? I'm not sure about that, with individuality being a crucial part of greatness and all. But in case of The Claypool Lennon Delirium I'm at least sure that the individual quirks and geniuses of Primus bass monstrosity Les Claypool and more-than-just-the-offspring-of-famous-parents Sean Ono Lennon add to something wonderfully odd and enjoyable, which despite its stratospheric class never takes itself too serious. The chemistry between them is unmistakably stronger than on their 2016 debut and it more than ever feels like the Primus bass was a time machine, which leads our heroes on an excellent adventure, which includes jams with King Crimson, Pink Floyd and of course the post Indian enlightenment Beatles.

       
  8. CHELSEA WOLFE - Birth Of Violence


    After floating more and more within thick electronic drones and walls of sludge and guitar riffs and noise on "Abyss" and "Hiss Spun", Chelsea Wolfe returns to a more minimalistic approach on "Birth Of Violence". Yet even though it focuses mostly on her voice and acoustic guitar and presents itself more accessible than her early doom folk releases, this selection of dark Americana is still soaked in mesmerizing eeriness.

    [A related American gothic atmosphere and vocal performance - yet at a slower pace and with more of an ambient soundtrack vibe - can be found on "Droneflower", the collaborative debut of Marissa Nadler and Stephen Brodsky.]

      
  9. SWANS - Leaving Meaning


    Gira disciples rejoice! It may have been hard to say goodbye to the longest-lived Swans incarnation in history, but that doesn't mean you have to fear a weak album now. "Leaving Meaning" is carried on the shoulders of a larger line-up, which varies from track to track, meaning that alongside new faces like lead vocalist on "The Nub" Baby Dee, the whole avantgarde jazz trio The Necks or the unmistakable ghostly-excentric background choir vocals of the Von Hausswolff sisters Anna and Maria, there are still lots of contributions by the likes of Thor Harris, Norman Westberg, Phil Puelo or Kristof Hahn. This double album is more vocal-centric than its humongous predecessors and doesn't reach their larger than life song lengths and convulsing noise peaks. But honestly - what does that really mean? This is still Swans, so it's large and viscerally thrilling beyond any ordinary scale.


      
  10. MONO - Nowhere Now Here


    Mono celebrated their twentieth anniversary this year. And the Japanese post rockers' recent double album is monumental evidence that they are showing absolutely no sign of weariness or will to do things in smaller, mortal proportions. From the haunting singing of Tamaki Kunishi in "Breathe" (the first vocal performance of a band member ever), over calm piano moments to orchestral interludes, from heart-wrenching lead guitar cascades to slow-building progressions exploding into harshest noise climaxes - there is not one dull second on any of the ten tracks of "Nowhere Now Here". Post perfection.

    [In case you want your dose of escapist instrumental transcendency in a rawer, more metal and riff-based form without all the orchestral sparkle on top, I strongly suggest to take a listen to the new record of Russian Circles, who made 2019 their "Blood Year".]


     
  11. BIG|BRAVE - A Gaze Among Them


    Great music doesn't necessarily need much of anything. Just one or two guitars. Just one or two chords. Just some gain and volume knobs turned to maximum. Just some drum hits at the right time. And fuck it, I don't even need to understand that weird accent or whatever of the singer, if she's as expressive as Robin Wattie. The Canadian trio Big|Brave once again makes the best of its decidedly limited toolbox and crafts a post no wave drone rock masterpiece which hammers you to the floor exactly like you know you always wanted it. And by the way: Everything is ok, your speakers are not dying in a crunchplosion. That's just the subtle guitar distortion.


      
  12. MOTORPSYCHO - The Crucible


    The style and gigantic size of the cover artwork already suggest that this new album of the hardest working band in Norwegian rock business is closely related to last year's masterpiece "The Tower". And it's indeed very true that you could view these three epic tracks as side E and F of said album. Even more on point you can understand them as a concentrated version of the most epic and crimsony "Tower" material, with even more ingredients from the whole Motorkitchen in each track. My favorite "Lux Aeterna" might be one of their most beautiful songs of all time - at least until it goes batshit crazy. "The Crucible" is Motorpsycho at peak mammoth prog. Masterful yet still cool as f...jord.

      


  13. Dylan Carlson (guitar/bass) and Adrienne Davies (drums) gracing the cover artwork of the long awaited new Earth album must be read as a statement. Just like back on "Hex; Or Printing In The Infernal Method" the band solely consisted of the core duo for this recording, yet this time even without any guest musicians. So above all "Full Upon Her Burning Lips" is a showcase of the chemistry and musical synergy of the two. The patience and coolness they are exuding here is unmatched. Music for cowboys to comb their beards to.


       
  14. DEAD NEANDERTHALS -Ghosts


    Oh those delightfully brutish Dutch cavemen! My favorite drum and sax abuse duo has released yet another full album again, but this time with the transatlantic help from Scott Hedrick (Skeletonwitch), who gives it a very distinct touch with his contributions on guitar and piano. The result is one of the best works in their busy discography, maybe even THE best. For fifteen minutes "Bone Hill" is a minimalistic, only very subtly changing nerve-shredder  in the vein of "Womb Of God", until the guitar elevates it into the realm of glorious post black metal. Meanwhile "Death Bell" opens up totally new sonic paths with a tense groove and feel that makes it nothing short of the best post-reunion Swans song not written by Swans. And in case you're missing those impregnable walls of noise on "Leaving Meaning"; Dead Neanderthals give you an absolutely swans-worthy omniferous noise explosion with a trilling soprano saxophone on top. Fuck yeah!


     
  15. AMANDA PALMER - There Will Be No Intermission


    "I'm sorry that this story's gotten long / and that everybody's crying in this song" Amanda Palmer pleads for forgiveness in ironic self-awareness in "A Mother's Confession". But truly she has absolutely nothing to be sorry for. We are all adults here and can decide when we are in the right mood to listen to her magnus opus. Based mostly on piano or ukulele and her voice, but always ready to blow up in orchestral bombast the ten songs (plus ten classical interludes) on "There Will Be No Intermission" are an almost impossible task to listen to without at least coming close to tears at some point. It's not only Amanda's emotional honesty and the strength of vulnaribilty in her performance causing this, but also the choice of painful but necessary topics and the profound humanity with which she tackles them. Seldom have I heard an artist being such an empathic listener, ally and storyteller.


      
  16. RADARE - Der Endless Dream


    Despite the admittedly weird denglish title of "The Endless Dream", which probably somehow ties neatly into the unwritten narrative of this instrumental album, Radare have matured to songwriters, who can easily look eye to eye with the very best in post rock. While some of the similarities to Earth and Bohren und der Club of Gore, which had already been established on previous works, are still alive, the band has not only sped up the average tempo, but has also spiced it up with Badalamenti, library music, Carpenter and above all lots of Ennio Morricone. Arranged with standard rock instrumentation plus organ, keys and brass Radare have created a wide and suspenseful kaleidoscope of emotions which cannot leave you unmoved.

      
  17. MISþYRMING - Algleymi


    Fuuuuuck! When it comes to black metal that always keeps its originality and avoids all the worst clishés, but still is a hundred percent pure and true in its spirit, I can't help but immediately think of the raw Islandic inferno called Misþyrming. The relentless harsh brutality of "Algleymi" makes you want to reach into a volcano with your bare hands, mold balls of lava and through them around to destroy the world of those feeble mortal humans. And beyond that these guys are really good songwriters with a sense for effective melodies to counterpoint the in-your-face destructiveness. Misþyrming present everything that can make black metal fucking awesome with a crispness that feels like they had just right now invented the genre.


     
  18. LUCY IN BLUE - In Flight


    Speaking of amazing young bands from Iceland sounding so fresh and enthusiastic, you could believe they invented their particular genre: I give you Lucy In Blue and their accurate but very much their own creative take on early prog / jazz rock and above all psychedelic pre-"Dark Side Of The Moon" Pink Floyd. Just listen to these harmony vocals almost out-gilmour/wrighting Gilmour and Wright! And those are only one small portion of an album mostly filled with great instrumental ideas and arrangements. A perfect homage to an era long before the band members themselves were born, yet at the same time much more than that. And way more than you can seriously demand from a debut album.

      
  19. SABA ALIZADEH - Scattered Memories


    You may or may not have heard of it until now, but by recent regulations of the internet police AOTY lists which don't include at least one entry featuring the Iranian spike fiddle can be legally charged. Luckily for me kamancheh master Saba Alizadeh has released this album, on which he interweaves the ghostly spike fiddle sound with electronics and further Persian instruments, as well as vocal samples and field recordings, to create a compelling, mystically droning soundtrack for his home city Tehran.


    [And while you're already at it, you also need to check out another Karl Records release with oriental connotations: On "Kosmik Bazaar" the Turkish avantgarde free jazzers Konstrukt and Chicago scene saxophonist Ken Vandermark embark on a wild ride which takes them all over the place through everything that's way too artfully insane for the regular radio consumer.]

      
  20. THEON CROSS - Fyah


    Anyone wanna get into the hot tuba tub? No, the Sons Of Kemet haven't dropped a new album this soon yet, but their tuba wizard Theon Cross has done so, and his solo material doesn't stray too far from the sound of the band. Most of it is infectiously grooving trio work with his phat brass bass lines accompanied by drums and saxophones, with a few sparks of extra percussion, trombone or electric guitar here and there. The bridge between very traditional New Orleans jazz influences and modern beats and licks is so smooth that you could probably timetravel to any right party in the last hundred years and do the Marty McFly - but without embarrassing yourself. This shit is totally on fire!


    [Truth be told, this spot on the list had initially been reserved for another Son Of Kemet, who only very scarcely lost it. King Shabaka Hutchings' even more out there psychedelic electro fusion future jazz trio The Comet Is Coming has released a murderously good new album including a noteworthy guest appearance by rap poet Kate Tempest: "Trust In The Lifeforce Of The Deep Mystery".]

      
  21. KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD - Fishing For Fishies
    KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD - Infest The Rats' Nest



    Stu Mackenzie's Australian insane train has thrown two albums into the world in 2019, which both share environmental themes and many typical mannergizzms like the love for odd time signatures, but are also two very different sides of a coin.
    "Fishing For Fishing" is not as unbearably sweet as the firstly released title track might have suggested, but an album wish features very different genres and various levels of heaviness, held together by the concept of most of it being based on... boogie of all things. Who would have thought with song titles like "Boogieman Sam", "Plastic Boogie" and "Cyboogie"? Even though you really have to be in the mood for harmonica, this is a great addition to the fast-growing Gizzard discography.



    "Infest The Rats' Nest" however is a completely different beast with a stylistic choice that is surprising even for these notorious genre-hoppers. Apart from two tracks which are more 70s hard rock and Sabbath worshipping stoner doom, everything on this record is pure fucking thrash metal! King Gizzard embrace all the necessary go-tos of early Bay Area and German thrash and make them their own by performing sophisticated riff work with a garage punk attitude. And it fucking slays! A short, but extremely sweet headbanger.


      
  22. TWIN TEMPLE - Twin Temple


    Remember back in the 1950s, long before there was Heavy Metal, when we were swinging, jiving, singing and praising Lucifer to the organ- and saxophone-laden sound of Doo-Wop? What? You don't even remember that particular music style somewhere between rhythm and blues and big band jazz with those signature harmony vocals that gave it its name?
    Well, Alexandra and Zachary James, high priests of the cult and band called Twin Temple do remember. And they turned this idea into an entity, which is highly funny and entertaining, but also carries serious massages. But above all the quality of the pure musical performance is already good enough to make it work beyond the satanic shtick.






2019-09-04

AMANDA PALMER - There Will Be No Intermission

Das ist doch mal eine eindeutige Ansage: 

So sieht's aus. So sehe ich aus.

Es geht jetzt vier Schallplattenseiten lang um mich.

Um privaten Kram, um Kleinkram, um existentiellen Kram, menschlichen Kram, Weiberkram, Kinderkram! Um all die Dinge ("All The Things"), das Ding mit Dingen ("The Thing About Things"), dieses Ding mit dem Tod ("Death Thing").

Ja, viel anstrengender Dingskram. Außerdem viel Klavier und Ukulele. Ja, Ukulele. 
Da musst Du jetzt durch! Unterbrechungen gibt es leider keine.

"There Will Be No Intermission"





AMANDA PALMER - There Will Be No Intermission (2LP) (2019)


Ok, zwei Dinge vorweg, um dem Leser gleich etwas die Angst vor dem aktuellen Album der ehemaligen Dresden Dolls-Sängerin zu nehmen:

Erstens meint sie das Ding mit der Unterbrechung nicht ganz ernst. Die Entscheidungsgewalt darüber, das Album in seiner stattlichen Gänze oder etappenweise zu hören, kann sie dem Hörer ja eh nicht entreißen. Außerdem entpuppt sich jeder zweite der zwanzig Albumtracks als zwanzig- bis maximal hundertsekündiges Zwischenspiel - also Unterbrechung -, in dem ein Kammerorchester das Thema eines Songs variiert. Das letzte davon trägt sogar passenderweise den Titel "Intermission Is Relative".
Und selbst der Titeltrack entpuppt sich als Intermission in der Mitte des Albums.

Zweitens: Nein, Amanda Palmer legt zwar offensiv und verletzlich ihre Seele offen, doch dies ist zum Glück kein so hart an die Grenzen der Hörbarkeit stoßender radikaler Exorzismus wie Lingua Ignotas "Caligula". Nicht, dass wir uns hier falsch verstehen, ich liebe jenes Album noch immer. Aber für zwei Ungetüme jenes Kalibers innerhalb so kurzer Zeit ist mein Körper einfach nicht bereit.


Dabei haben beide Werke durchaus klare Gemeinsamkeiten. Die Songs bauen auf einer einfachen Basis aus Klavier (oder hier halt auch mal Ukulele) auf, aus der heraus sie zu gewaltiger Größe explodieren und wieder auf intime Nähe zusammenschrumpfen können. Amanda Palmer landet dabei allerdings nicht in geradezu menschenfeindlichem Lärm, sondern in orchestralem Bombast.

Mit der Stimme verhält es sich ähnlich: Vom unbedingte Aufmerksamkeit einfordernden Wispern bis zum nur noch sehr knapp harmonischen Schreien lässt sich an Amanda Palmer nur selten vorbeihören. Sie führt dies jedoch nicht auf eine maximal überhöhte Ebene wie Kristin Hayter bei Lingua Ignota, sondern bleibt naturalistischer und dadurch zugänglicher, für nicht auf Avantgardelärm geschulte Ohren einfach hörbarer.

Das bedeutet allerdings keinesfalls, dass ihre Geschichten weniger emotional packend wären.

Oh nein, denn gerade durch ihre leichte Nachvollziehbarkeit (wenn man nicht gerade den super-empathiebefreiten Obermacho spielt) werden sie so effektiv. Und Amanda Palmer ist einfach eine hervorragende Lyrikerin mit einer Introspektive, die es schafft, mehr als eine selten ausgesprochene Wahrheit über unser Dasein in Worte zu fassen. Vor allem aber findet sie auch Themen, auf die viele Hörer tatsächlich - vielleicht ohne es zu wissen - seit Ewigkeiten vergebens gewartet haben.

Ganz vorne darunter steht natürlich "Voicemail For Jill", ein insbesondere im Zusammenhang mit seinem Video immens einfühlsames Stück über das gerade in den USA aktuell extrem aufgeladene Thema Abtreibung, welches sich nicht um all das überflüssige Rauschen, sondern einzig um die Betroffene selbst kümmert: "You don’t need to offer the right explanation / You don’t need to beg for redemption or ask for forgiveness / And you don’t need a courtroom inside of your head / Where you’re acting as judge and accused and defendant and witness"

Doch selbst der zunächst scheinbar "kleinere" (tatsächlich mit beinahe elf Minuten längste) Song "A Mother's Confession" über die Beinahekatastrophen ihrer jungen Mutterschaft (Refrain: "At least the baby didn't die") entwickelt eine unerwartete Tiefe.

Beide Stücke sind auch wunderbare Beispiele sowohl dafür, wie Amanda Palmer ihre zuweilen schwere Kost ironisch bricht, ohne ihr dabei die Ernsthaftigkeit zu nehmen, als auch für liebevoll eingewobene persönliche Details, die sich auf dem kompletten Album verbergen.
So bietet sie in "Voicemail" etwa auf der Party, die sie für Jill schmeißen möchte "Ukulele by request" an.

Und in "A Mother's lament" erkennt sie, dass sich der kabarettbeeinflusste Vortrag etwas hinzuziehen droht und reagiert: "And I’m sorry that this story’s gotten long / And that everybody’s crying in this song". An anderer Stelle, als sie vom Akkordion spielenden Patenonkel des Babys erzählt, spielt eben jener tatsächlich Akkordion.


"There Will Be No Intermission" ist spürbar ein über lange Zeit mit immenser Liebe für das kleinste Detail entwickeltes Werk. Bleiben trotzdem ein paar Längen?

Ja und nein. Für die Länge der "Confession" oder des Openers "The Ride" muss man schon in Stimmung sein, ebenso für die Tiefe nicht nur von "Voicemail", sondern auch vom über acht Minuten lang in fast niemals anhaltendem, atemlosen Gesang vorgebrachten "Bigger On The Inside". Anderseits zwingt einen ja niemand, das Album stets komplett ohne Unterbrechung zu hören, nicht wahr?

Ja, ein, zwei Tracks fallen für mich schon ein wenig ab. Aber selbst wenn ich das berücksichtige und mich bemühe, die Stimmigkeit des gesamten künstlerischen Pakets, all die großen und kleinen Ohrwürmer und die Dankbarkeit für den Einblick in Amanda Palmers Seele als unwichtig zur Seite zu wischen, so muss ich doch wenigstens die Macht des "Single-Hits" respektieren und das Album schon für das Stück "Drowning In The Sound" alleine lieben.

Denn dieser sicherlich poppigste Song hat eine Klasse, die ihn auch im Repertoire von Tori Amos oder Kate Bush als Highlight bestehen lassen würde.


Es gäbe noch so vieles, auf das man hier eingehen könnte, doch letztendlich läuft es eh nur auf das eine mögliche Fazit hinaus, nämlich dass Amanda Palmer mit "There Will Be No Intermission" ein lautleises Album von cineastischer Qualität geschaffen hat, welches sich bei Bereitschaft, sich darauf einzulassen, als echter Opus Magnus entpuppt.

There will definitely be many plays.