ARCHIVE - Call To Arms & Angels Live EP

Now this is an easy one to review! Says most of what's important already in the title: a selection of tracks from the fantastic 2022 album "Call To Arms & Angels", recorded live in Paris in November 2023.

ARCHIVE - Call To Arms & Angels Live EP (12") (2024)

It's also a rather unnecessary one to review, since this EP (which is still over forty minutes long!) is a limited vinyl-only release and of course long sold out. It's also pretty great.

According to my memory from Hamburg the four songs selected here were the new pieces, which had the biggest imprint on the character of the show among the new material: the multi-faceted "Enemy", the ballad "Surrounded By Angels" which introduced new singer Lisa Mottram, the new huge epic "Daytime Coma" and the strange but intriguing "The Crown".

Great tracks, perfect live renditions. You'll survive if you couldn't get your hands on this EP, but it's definitely a very nice item to own. It comes with a print of the show's whole setlist, which includes the obligatory misspelling "Daytime Corma", while on the label of the 12" itself it's made into a running gag with the variant "Daytme Coma".

The only thing I disliked is that the record was so statically charged that it was almost impossible to get it outside of its paper sleeve - and there are also so many micro particles on it, which produced a shitload of cracks and pops. Very annoying when you're recording you own personal copy, especially since there's no alternative digital version out there. That could have been avoided I think.

The as always uncategorizable Electronic Progressive Trip Hop Rock (just to cite what Discogs suggests for this one) music is of course absolutely brilliant.

ARCHIVE und RUSSEL MARSDEN live in der Markthalle Hamburg (15. Oktober 2023)

Mein letzter Besuch in der Markthalle:

September 2019, Deaf Forever Birthday Bash

Mein letztes Archive-Konzert:

November 2016 im Docks

Beides, also Archive und Markthalle zusammen:

Noch nie.

Es war also mal wieder allerhöchste Zeit - eigentlich schon vor fast genau einem Jahr, doch das damalige Konzert wurde ja wegen der glücklicherweise rechtzeitig erfolgreich behandelten Krebserkrankung von Keyboarder Darius Keeler auf diesen neuen Termin verschoben.

Bis zur Show hatte ich allerdings noch ein Wechselbad der Gefühle zu überstehen. Dabei spielten zunächst autobahnvermeidende LKWs, das Ausweichen auf die längere A7-Strecke wegen gesperrter A23 und dann die Höhen und Tiefen des Stadtverkehrs eine Rolle - und natürlich die elende Parkplatzsuche. Ich habe lange nicht in dieser Gegend gestanden und war eingermaßen schockiert, als die Park-App mir vorrechnete, dass meine gewohnt kostenlose Straße nun ein Dutzend Euros für den Abend fressen sollte! Ich bin zwar dann noch auf einen kurzen Parkstreifen zwischen zwei Bezahlzonen gestoßen, doch da ich dort zunächst alleine stand, traute ich dem Braten nicht so recht und ging (letztendlich zum Glück unbegründet) mit einem super verunsicherten Gefühl zur Markthalle.
Dort angekommen setzte ich mich, da die Erstreihenplätze eh schon vergeben waren, zunächst auf die Stufen und wurde nur Minuten später dafür bestraft, als jemand sein Bier auf mich fallen ließ und meine Klamotten komplett im Aroma, welches man als Nichttrinker besonders innig liebt, einsaute. Wunderbar. Ich brauchte trotz Bemühen doch den kompletten unerwarteten Supportact, um Stress und Angepisstheit komplett abzustreifen. 

RUSSEL MARSDEN

Der mir bisher unbekannte Russel Marsden von der mir nur namentlich bekannten Band of Skulls spielte, ausgestattet mit Sampler, Mikro und Gitarre, ein Soloset. Der Mix von Rockgitarre, Elektrosamples inkl. sehr unverhohlen programmierten Drums war so ein bisschen wie die bluesigere Fußgängerzonenversion von Archive, zumal der Gesang stilistisch schon ziemlich ähnlich war.

Insgesamt nett - und in den gelungensten Passagen auch durchaus deutlich mehr als nett. Länger hätte das kompakte Set aber auch nicht sein müssen. Dass die folgende Umbaupause flott und ohne künstliche dramatische Herauszögerei vonstattenging, war auch sehr löblich.

ARCHIVE

Als Archive dann mit "Mr. Daisy" loslegten, war zunächst Headcount angesagt: Keyboard, Keyboard, Drums, Bass, Gitarre, Gitarre, Gitarre. Die übliche Grundformation also, natürlich inklusive der beiden Frontmänner Pollard Berrier und Dave Pen. Es war also nur die Frage, wie viele ihrer potentiellen Sängerinnen die Gruppe noch mit im Gepäck hatte. Dass gleich das zweite Stück "Numbers" nicht von Holly Martin, sondern von Berrier gesungen wurde, x-te dann gleich eine Kandidatin aus.
Tatsächlich war - was zur starken Konzentration auf Material vom aktuellen Album "Call To Arms & Angels" passte, auch Maria Q abwesend, also nur noch das Bandküken Lisa Mottram mit von der Partie. Doch das ist schon vorgegriffen, denn ehe ihr Akt eröffnet wurde, spielten Archive schon, was bei anderen Bands als volles Programm durchgehen würde.

Anderthalb Stunden plus klingt natürlich nach einer fetten Hausnummer von Showlänge, doch die Setlist zusammenzustellen ist sicherlich dennoch eine Herausforderung. So viele neue Stücke, so viel Backkatalog - und darin gleich zwei epische Longtracks, welche die Fans einfach jedesmal hören müssen. Ich bekenne mich hier ebenfalls schuldig. Und so war ich natürlich froh, als der erste dieser Epen, das genial langsam aufbauende "Lights", bereits im ersten Block zum Zuge kam, welcher u.a. auch noch die Uptempo-Hits "Bullets" und "Conflict" enthielt.

Doch Archive haben ja auch neue, stilistisch noch experimentellere Mammutstücke in petto. "Daytime Coma" war wie zu erwarten ein Großereignis, nach dessen Ausklang tatsäch endlich mit "Surrounded By Ghosts" die Sängerin auf die Bühne kam - und für mehrere Stücke mit ihr als Lead- oder Harmoniestimme blieb bzw. wiederkehrte. Darunter war auch der unerwartete, weil doch sehr kauzig-sperrige Riese "The Crown", welcher eine elektroschockend aggressive Energie ausstrahlte. Sehr geil.
Überhaupt brachte die irgendwo zwischen Postpunk und eleganter Mystik schwebende Stimmfarbe Mottrams eine interessante neue Facette in die Genre als Fremdwort behandelnde Archive-Formel.

Es folgte eine weitere Highlightparade inklusive "Fear There & Everywhere", "Enemy" und "The Empty Bottle", ehe die ausverkaufte Markthalle laut stampfend klatschend jubelnd kreischend das Zugaberitual einläuten durfte, während die endlose Synthschleife von "Gold" bereits von manischer Lichtshow begleitet die Bereitschaft der Band zur Wiederkehr signalisierte.

Als Zugabe gab es dann zwar "nur" einen Song, aber dieser war natürlich "Again", bei dem sich Dave Pen wieder einmal Gänsehaut erzeugend die Seele aus dem Leib quetschte. Einfach ein Meisterwerk - und als solches der würdige Abschluss eines wieder großartigen Auftritts.

Archive sind und bleiben einfach eine singuläre Gruppe, ihre Shows ein Gesamtkunstwerk irgendwo zwischen Post- und Prog Rock, Trip Hop und der Popmusik eines alterniven Universums. Ganz groß!

MUSIC 2022: TOP 22 albums

Here we go again! As you could already see in my TOP 5 reissues, TOP 7 live albums, TOP 13 live shows and TOP 6 non album releases I'm trying to keep my end of the year lists short.

And what a year I've chosen for that decision! It was hard, a lot of ins and outs, but I ultimately stuck to just twenty-two favorite albums! No sneaking in of extra recommendations under each entry like last year, just a plain TOP 22. As always these are only studio albums which I own in physical format. So I know that there are tons of stuff out there which I just didn't indulge in yet, Kendrick Lamar and The Mars Volta just being two of the most popular examples. (Oh, there's sooo much more like Brutus, Chat Pile... ok, don't even get me started, haha.)

I tried to consider earlier releases which I might have neclected a little, but also took the risk of including some very recent material. And for the time being I am happy with it. Looking back on this a year from now I will have some changed opinions about the ranking anyway, because that always happens. Hell, if you compare this list with my TOP 5 albums on VEILOFSOUND.COM (which I had finished a couple of weeks ago), even those have changed a bit already!

From A as in Autopsy to Z as in Zola Jesus and back from Zeal & Ardor over The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble and Jo Quail to 300,000 V.K. so many artists I would have expected here didn't make it. But well, I guess that's just unavoidable if you don't do at least a TOP 36. But even then I would still feel bad about those albums who fell off the edge. So fuck them, right? No, don't fuck them! Music is awesome. Check out all my reviews from 2022 stuff and go listen to some music! 


But now without further ado....  here finally are my...

TOP 22 ALBUMS 2022:

1. VOIVOD - Synchro Anarchy
   
   
   
   No, it's no suprise that this is my album of the year. But while I suspected "Synchro Anarchy" to wind up here as soon as its first songs had been released almost a year ago, that has never been a pure matter of course. With so much great music coming out all the time I found myself more than once wondering whether Voivod really should take this spot. But than I listened to this masterpiece again and all doubts went to bed, because damn, this is so fucking good! After over fourty years the French Canadian sci-fi ProgPunkThrashers are still on top of their game, pushing the envelope with complex and catchy material that not only lives up to their own legacy, but actually couldn't be more relevant today. Yet another incredible show of force of the seemingly unstoppable SnakeChewyRockyAway lineup.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT - Spirit Of Ecstasy



The future of Extreme Metal and the apocalpyse of Jazz inseparably intertwined and mangled through the Manhattanite maelstrom of glorious dissonance. With guest musicians from Alex Skolnick to Kenny G, from Andromeda Anarachia to Voivod's Snake! It's one thing to sport a mind-blowing musical vision, yet a totally different thing to exceed oneself in it like the New York Avantgarde Black Metal trio did on "Spirit of Ecstasy". The ferocious mega city moloch rampages purposeful but more disturbingly chaotic than ever and it's indeed... ecstatic.









3. WIEGEDOOD - There's Always Blood At The End Of The Road
   
   
   
   Psychotic. Relentless. Devastating. Destructive. Misanthropic. Those were probably the keywords of my review for this monstrous Black Metal assault. If I had to pick out just one thing which makes this unique panic attack of an album special I would just say: those killer riffs! (And those hypnotic licks of course... and the tireless brutal highspeed drumming... and the abrasive vocals... and the occasional throat singing...) Fuck it, this just slaps!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. FORLESEN - Black Terrain
   
   
   
   What an epochal journey of Doom Metal is this? Consisting of past and present members of Botanist, Kayo Dot and Lotus Thief the band with the name that sounds completely different to German ears than its actual Middle English meaning "to lose completely" takes us through manifold musical worlds on this vast atmospheric future classic.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. ARCHIVE - Call To Arms & Angels / Super8
   
   
   
   Is this Archive's magnum opus? I'd rather not claim something like that, but the double album "Call To Arms & Angels" for sure is a huge earnest masterpiece in an undefinable place between soulful ballads, dark experimental electronics and epic Post Trip Hop Progressive Art Rock. With multiple singers and guest musicians the collective created a seventeen tracks strong soundtrack to the quarantine and isolation of the pandemic years. And if that wouldn't already be enough to take in, some versions of the album come with the equally great bonus of the whole score to the making of documentary "Super8".
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. MARC URSELLI'S STEPPENDOOM - SteppenDoom
   
   
   
   John Zorn producer Marc Urselli bringing together an international all-star ensemble of Doom, Stoner and Post Metal instrumentalists and indigenous  (Tuvanese, Mongolian and Inuit) overtone singers for a primal and  powerful fusion of styles that through its diversity also works as an almost anthropological overview of the art of throat singing. Ten years in the making this ambitious project transcends the promise of its premise and dooms and drones in an ancient place far beyond the origins of Doom itself.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. GGGOLDDD - This Shame Should Not Be Mine
   
   
   
   Outside flowers claim it's spring - and inside Milena Eva works through her trauma in clear and stark words to come out of it with her head held high. Adding many new electronic elements while maintaining their roots in Post everything from Punk to Rock to Black Metal, the band formerly known just as Gold provides a perfect backdrop for one of the most important stories told this year. Profoundly touching.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. KEIJI HAINO + SUMAC - Into This Juvenile Apocalypse Our Golden Blood To Pour Let Us Never
   
   
   
   

   Is this rollercoaster a free jazz version of noise rock or the essence of metal dragged through the unfiltered existential chaos of the human condition?
   I've asked exactly this question before, but since I still haven't come close to a satisfying answer, it seemed appropriate just to repeat it. On their third album encounter Japanese experimentalist Haino and the North American Sludge trio Sumac unleash brutal improvised magic which defies explanation or classification - and ultimately this brilliant noisiest of all releases on this list doesn't need to answer any of my small mortal questions at all.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. AFTAB DARVISHI - A Thousand Butterflies
   
   
   
   Performed by various chamber orchestra constellations including a cello solo piece, the Stockholm Saxophone Quartet or the duet of piano and clarinet in the title track, the music of Iranian composer Aftab Darvishi melts Contemporary Classical arrangements with traditional influences from her home country and experimental Ambient ideas.  "A Thousand Butterflies" rewards the attentive listener with an immersive emotional experience. A precious musical gift that keeps giving. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
10. JOHN ZORN - Perchance To Dream
    
    
    
    No Bandcamp, no YouTube, no Soundcloud. On this one I'm afraid you just have to completely trust me, because you'll only get these wonderful compositions of John Zorn, performed by a quartet including John Medeski and Bill Frisell on this CD. Cymbals, chimes, organ, piano, Fender Rhodes... Soothing vibrations and light guitar breezes are the primary language of a dreamily Smooth Jazz experience. designed for nocturnal hours of either contemplation or just letting your mind drift to other places. On par with Aftab Darvishi this is one of the purest and most sincerely beautiful albums of 2022.
    
    
    
    
    
    
11. LAIBACH - Wir Sind Das Volk - Ein Musical Aus Deutschland
    
    
    
    In Laibach's half-theatrical work, which sees them collaborating with several stage actors and drum duo The Stroj,   Slovenian Retrogarde meets the texts of German playwright Heiner Müller and forms a kaleidoscopic stream of consciousness of German identity during and after the Second World War. Closer to the accustomed band sound and a little less deeply overwhelming than the live performance it is based on, "Wir Sind Das Volk" still is a very strong and serious experience burning with recent relevance.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
12. KIKAGAKU MOYO - Kumoyo Island
    
    
    
    The farewell year of the Japanese street musician collective turned world-acclaimed Krautrock phenomenon Kikagaku Moyo has been a joyful victory parade with celebrated live shows everywhere (including Berlin) and a final studio release which sparkles with variety, dynamic and visceral musical storytelling. Not only a wonderful album, but one which is always even a little better than I remembered from its last spin. And that lead guitar in "Yayoi, Iyayoi" lives rent-free in my head anyway.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
13. WORMROT - Hiss
    
    
    
    If you understand Grindcore more as a mindset than as one rather narrow specific style you can take it to the most unexpected places. Napalm Death have proven that many times, and so do the Singaporeans Wormrot. Being fluent masters in the language of Grind they allow themselves to take the twenty-one tracks on "Hiss" to the worlds of Punk, Post Rock, Thrash and Death Metal, Voivod worship, tribalistic and even symphonic parts without ever risking to lose their ferocious grindibility, summed up in the song title "When Talking Fails, It's Time For Violence". This is undoubtly among the very best Grindcore that has ever smashed my mug!
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
14. GOAT - Oh Death
    
    
    
    Dang! Both visually and sonically these Swedish masters of Psych ceremonies don't waste any time funking right into your face.
    Vivid and groovy, at the same time jazzy, tribalistic. folkloristic, krautrocky and post-punkish the jams on "Oh Death" fly by faster than you could ever die of a sudden bliss overload.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
15. SPINIFEX - Spinifex Sings
    
    
    
    "Spinifex Beats the Plague" had been among my favorite Jazz releases of 2021 and the Fusion sextet doesn't even for the blink of an eye think of cooling things down on its successor. Strengthened with the two amazing singers Priya Purushothaman and Björk Níelsdóttir interpreting Indian and Icelandic poetry, Spinifex are spinning a carousel of adventurous Free and Vocal Jazz, Jazzcore and what our forefathers called World Music, on which Mats Gustafsson's The End and Christian Vander's Magma are chasing each other's wiggling tails. Absolutely bonkers and brilliant experimental fun!
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
16. THE LOVECRAFT SEXTET - Miserere
    
    
    
    Jason Köhnen had a productive year releasing several albums with various projects, two alone with The Lovecraft Sextet. Other than den 80's synth of "Nights Of Lust" this one however can be described as a direct crossbreed of Bohren & der Club of Gore and Black Metal, just like White Ward's "False Light" - but it sounds completely different in every way! A sinister, often depressing, sometimes eery elegant mass of the most evil Darkjazz ever, drenched in cavernous screeches, organ, cello, Colin Webster's longing saxophone and crowned with opera singer Lilian Tong's soprano voice "Miserere" is a timeless horror score one of the most daring and possibly the most haunting entry in Köhnen's discography.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
17. ASSUMPTION - Hadean Tides
    
    
    
    Inspired by Death and Doom Metal greats like My Dying Bride, Sorrow, Paradise Lost, Mournful Congregation, but also classic Celtic Frost and Morbid Angel, this bleak new album from Assumption screams oldschool without ever sounding antiquated. Consequently the Italians don't let traditionalism hinder them from also incorporating Ambient and Neubauten influences  into their hugest and most exciting work so far.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
18. MOTORPSYCHO - Ancient Astronauts
    
    
    
    Side A: A powerfully rolling FuzzProg'n'Roll opener as we know and love it from the Norwegians. A short Yodok III style interlude. A half ballad / half freakout Mellotron epic. Side B: Just one cinematic 20+ minutes (almost) instrumental Krautrock score for an imaginary movie. Nothing more, nothing less. And done by Motorpsycho this is of course jawdropping stuff.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
19. LILI REFRAIN - Mana
    
    
    
    A mystic shaman and guardian to invisible realms beyond our perception? Or just a vessel of the unfiltered pure joy of music? No matter as which you understand Lili Refrain, there's no doubt that the Italian singer and multi-instrumentalist ultimately wields life-affirming magic on "Mana". On a loop-based backdrop of synths, drums and guitars her voice mesmerizes between incantatory whispers, Eastern European and Scandinavian Folk spheres and other-worldly Opera. Wondrous and spellbinding.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
20. LONDON ODENSE ENSEMBLE - Jaiyede Sessions Vol.1
    
    
    
    Whenever El Paraiso Records go Jazz, it's worth noticing anyway, but an album which is the culmination of what was growing on two albums of the Martin Rude & Jakob Skøtt Duo and a third extended to the Rude Skøtt Osborn Trio seems especially interesting. Bass, drums and saxophone now find themselves in the company of keyboards and guitar and together they burn a smooth firework of timeless Miles/Coltrane/Hancock worship between hippie Prog, Psych Rock and Latin Jazz Fusion with electronic sprinkles on top. Embedded in a warm dynamic production the chemistry and momentum of these sessions leave nothing to be desired. Volume 2 incoming soon...
    
    
    elparaisorecords · London Odense Ensemble: Sojourner
    
    
    
    
    
    
21. E-L-R - Vexier
    
    
    
    On their second full-length album the Swiss trio transforms mountains into riffs and lends the landscapes and ancient myths of the Alps an ethereal voice, incarnated through the levitating harmonies of their two female singers. "Vexier" is an escapist, dreamily headbanging monolith, which unifies Shoegaze, Doom, Post Rock, sludgy Post Metal and a pinch of Black Metal in elemental majesty.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
22. EMMA RUTH RUNDLE - EG2: Dowsing Voice
    
    
    
    So intimate yet so very strange. So experimental yet so pure and direct. Mostly inspired by traveling through Wales on her own for one month and recorded with minimal equipment Emma Ruth Rundle created an album she doesn't even try to sell as something equally as big and important as her regular work. But even though this wordless journey seems closer to Lingua Ignota, Jarboe or Diamanda Galas  being lost in the wilderness than to her usual sound, there is no reason to shrug this sinister subconscious twin of "Engine Of Hell" off! Dark and intriguing.