MOEWN - Ad Astra (reprise)

Damn, I haven't had so much recent music to dive into and review on my to-do-list for a long time. So let's talk about an album from 2018! (respectively 2019 on vinyl)

"Ad Astra" is the swan song of Moewn (= artistic spelling of "seagulls") and I've actually written a short review of this album a while ago, when the already disbanded group tried to fund a vinyl pressing, but sadly didn't reach the full goal.

Fortunately, when their label Pink Tank Records returned from its own hiatus, the thing finally got made. Admittedly it escaped my mind for a while, but when I ordered the new Camel Driver (review soon!), I finally got this one too. And I must say, I even like it a little bit better than back then.

But in the name of laziness and because I've written that last review in German, I'll just recycle a translated and slightly updated version of it. 

MOEWN - Ad Astra (light blue opaque marbled black vinyl) (2019)

The maritime post rockers Moewn have unfortunately withdrawn to the bottom of the ocean two years ago. As a farewell after the debut "Acqua Alta" and the EP "Aestus" (released as a split with labelmates Camel Driver) they gave us this album.

"Ad Astra" continues the development of the previous works, which means there are still heavy riffs, but overall the music clearly moves away from the rough and brutal to the elegiac and dreamy.

As already seen live a synth player has joined bass, guitar and drums as a full band member. While the electro sounds don't push themselves to the fore in a particularly prominent manner, they do add an extra atmospheric layer to the already established Moewn sound.

As before the band's instrumental songs with seafaring titles (translating to "Keelhauler", "Logbook", "Storm Front", "Morning Mist", "Polar Light" and "Tides") do not reinvent the post rock genre, and you can also complain that the mood of all six tracks is pretty similar. A little more courage to explore and expand the limits of the conceptual framework would certainly not have harmed the album.

So the Hamburger Jungs didn't deliver a monument for the ages. But that shouldn't seriously be the normal expectation for the second full album of an underground band, right?

Nope, "Ad Astra" already is a very successful post rock album and a harmonious conclusion to the Moewn trilogy. Therefore - and not only because the once again great cover artwork by guitar player Ben Warnecke deserved the big print format - I'm definitely happy to own this now.

As usual with Pink Tank releases the pressing and packaging are both of high quality and a relatively low price. The vinyl colour compliments the artwork and on top of that the record comes with a nice little poster.

MOEWN - Ad Astra

Die Maritim-Postrocker Moewn haben sich dieses Jahr ja leider auf den Grund des Ozeans zurückgezogen. Zum Abschied gibt es auf Bandcamp aber noch das nach "Acqua Alta" und der als Split-LP mit Camel Driver veröffentlichten EP "Aestus" ein posthumes Album zu hören.

Auf Wunsch von Fans soll das Ding nun auch in kleiner Vinyl-on-demand-Auflage veröffentlicht werden. Für fünfzehn Euro (plus Versand) kann man sich noch bis Jahresende eines der zweihundert Exemplare (inkl. Download) sichern, welches dann voraussichtlich im März aus dem Presswerk kommen soll.

MOEWN - Ad Astra (download / LP pre-order) (2018)

"Ad Astra" setzt die Entwicklung der Vorgängerwerke fort, d.h. es kommen zwar durch aus noch heavy Riffs vor, doch insgesamt geht die Musik deutlich weg vom grob Brachialen, hin zum elegisch Verträumten.

Wie letztes Jahr live zu sehen hat sich zu Bass, Gitarre und Drums ein Synthie-Spieler als vollwertiges Bandmitglied gesellt. Besonders auffällig in den Vordergrund drängen die Elektroklänge nicht, doch sie addieren stets eine zusätzliche atmosphärische Schicht zum bekannten Moewn-Sound.

Nach wie vor erfinden die seemännisch betitelten Instrumentalsongs der Band den Postrock nicht neu, und man kann auch bemäkeln, dass sich die Grundstimmung aller sechs Tracks schon ziemlich ähnelt. Ein bisschen mehr Mut, die Grenzen des konzeptionellen Rahmens weiter auszuloten bzw. zu dehnen, hätte dem Album sicher nicht geschadet.

Ein Monument für die Ewigkeit haben die hamburger Jungs also nicht abgeliefert. Aber das sollte ja auch nicht ernsthaft die normale Erwartungshaltung an das zweite volle Album einer Undergroundband sein, oder?

Nee, "Ad Astra" ist schon ein sehr gelungenes Postrock-Album und ein stimmiger Abschluss der Moewn-Trilogie. Von daher - und auch weil das erneut tolle Coverartwork den Sprung vom Bildschirm in den großformatigen Druck verdient hat - würde ich mich auf jeden Fall freuen, wenn die nötigen Vinyl-Käufer bis Silvester zusammenkämen. Mein Exemplar ist jedenfalls reserviert.


Also Freunde des Wellengangs, hier geht's lang:

VORBESTELLUNG AUF DIGGERS FACTORY


 

Highlights: Polarlicht, Gezeiten, Sturmtief

PINK TANK Festival HEIDE • 26. Oktober 2017, Rosengasse (mit SULFUR GIANT, LOST MOON, MOEWN u.a.)

Lost Moon

Fünf Bands an einem Abend. An einem Donnerstag. In Heide! Oder auch "mehr als sonst im ganzen Jahr kommen" (ein lokaler Besucher).

Das kann nur bedeuten, dass der rosa Panzer mal wieder an die Westküstenfront gerollt ist, um sich für die in den nächsten zwei Tagen folgenden Pink Tank Festivals in Hamburg und Kiel warm zu machen.

Die Heider dankten es mit für den Tag schon ganz beachtlicher Anwesenheit. Die Intensität meines Passivraucherhustens am nächsten Morgen sagt mir, dass mehr Leute gekommen sind als im Vorjahr.

Da Camel Driver, die mich letztes Jahr sehr begeistert hatten, leider wegen Krankheit kurzfristig absagen mussten, war das Line-Up des Labelfestivals diesmal komplett anders als 2016 und für mich waren tatsächlich fast alle Bands neu.

Einzig den Opener hatte ich bereits 2015 in Itzehoe gesehen:

Moewn

Die monothematisch maritimen Moewn haben sich in den letzten zwei Jahren hörbar weiterentwickelt. Soweit keine Überraschung, da dies ja auch schon auf dem hervorragenden Split-Album mit Camel Driver nachzuhören war.

Die Instrumentalband fokussiert sich inzwischen noch mehr auf ihre epische Postrockseite, ohne dabei jedoch ihre Brumm- und Schranzkraft zu vernachlässigen. Wichtige Neuerung ist, dass man sich zum Quartett erweitert hat, um nun auch allerhand atmosphärische Synthieklänge auf die Bühne zu bringen. Ein exzellenter Auftakt.

Bees Made Honey In The Vein Tree

Da ich trotz diesem Internet plus der Comiplation-CD, die es auch dieses Jahr wieder zusammen mit dem Festivalticket gab, nur so mittel vorbereitet war, wusste ich zunächst gar nicht ganz sicher, wessen Gemisch aus überwiegend instrumentalem Psychedelic Rock, Doom und Prog uns danach beglückte. Bees Made Honey in The Vein Tree entpuppten sich als ziemlich spielwitzige Gruppe, was sie u.a. in einem durch einen Gitarrensaitenriss bedingten Jam, der sich beinahe nahtlos ins restliche Set einfügte, unterstrichen.

Schwer, dies wirklich treffen zu labeln - zumal Fuzz und Wah Wah ja auch bei allen anderen Bands des Abends eine zentrale Bedeutung hatten. Aber gut war das definitiv.

Aux

Bei der dritten Band des Abends wusste ich anfangs noch nicht so recht, worauf das hinauslaufen sollte. Aber manchmal hilft es, wenn das Publikum verlangt, mehr vom Sänger im Mix zu hören.

Die als Ersatz für Camel Driver eingesprungenen Fuzz-Progger Aux lieferten anspruchsvolle Kost. Schwerer Prog mit einem Drummer, der stets mit einem Arm oder Fuß am wirren Off-Beat vorbeikloppt und einem sehr eigenständigen Sänger, der jenes gewisse Radiohead-Gefühl ins Spiel bringt. Obwohl eine der nur zwei Gruppen, in denen im "normalen" Maß gesungen wurde, waren Aux hier wohl die am schwierigsten zugängliche Band. Sich in sie reinzuhören lohnte sich allerdings.

Lost Moon

Oops. Stimmt ja gar nicht, dass ich nur Moewn schon einmal gesehen hatte. Da Lost Moon in der endlosen Marathonnacht mit sieben Bands im Atzehoe allerdings genau auf meine größte Müdigkeitsphase getroffen waren, konnte ich mir allerdings keine nennenswerten langfristigen Erinnerungen an das Trio erhalten. Deswegen ist das da oben gar nicht komplett falsch und ich korrigiere ich es auch nicht.

Neben den bei allen Gruppen zelebrierten Gitarrenorgien boten Lost Moon die geradlinigste Rock'n'Roll-Attitüde. Das konnte man nach zwei tendentiell eher verschnörkelteren Gruppen nun auch gut gebrauchen. Tanzbar, gute-launig, gut.

Der Bassist hatte seine Effektpedale übrigens auf ein Pizza-Brett montiert. Logisch, ist ja schließlich eine italienische Band.

Sulfur Giant

Auch die letzte Gruppe war aus Südeuropa angereist und an diesem Morgen um vier Uhr aufgestanden, um nun in Heide auf der Matte zu stehen.

Von Müdigkeit war in ihrer Musik aber nichts zu spüren. Die insgesamt geschätzt acht Zeilen Gesang im späteren Teil des Sets mal vernachlässigend, möchte ich Sulfur Giant aus Portugal hier mal als psychedelische Instrumentalprogrockgruppe bezeichnen. Causa Sui meets 70s-Hardrock-Twin-Leadgitarren könnte man auch sagen. Überwiegend ging das zwingend nach vorne und ausnahmslos war es großartig gespielt.

Auch wenn mein norddeutsches Herz natürlich stark für Moewn schlägt - an einem Abend ohne Ausfälle geht meine persönliche Trophäe für die Show des Tages an den Schwefelriesen.

Und anders als letztes Jahr durfte der Headliner sogar unbehelligt von der Polizei sein Set zu Ende bringen. Was kann man mehr verlangen?

Naja, Bone Man vielleicht... aber dafür hätte ich die Ausgabe in Kiel oder Hamburg besuchen müssen. Und ich hatte mich nun mal aus Gründen für das Heider Pink Tank Festival entschieden.



Abschließend bleibt mir hier nur noch ein ganz und gar eigennütziger Hinweis, da diesen Text ja durchaus der eine oder andere Dithmarscher lesen könnte:

Nächsten Samstag (4. November) ist DOOM+NOISE FIGHT mit Eject Noise Fix und meiner Advantgarde/Doom(Noise/etc.-Band DruturuM im Rock's, Windbergen!
Wir spielen ein exklusives, einmaliges Set. Für mehr Information einfach den Lärmhinweis oben rechts klicken bzw. direkt bei DruturuM (natürlich auch auf facebook) vorbeischauen! Wir freuen uns über jeden Besucher, der Bock auf unser krankes Zeug hat. Danke sehr!

Moewn:

Bees Made Honey In The Vein Tree:

Aux:

Lost Moon:

Sulfur Giant:

MUSIC 2016: top EPs, live recordings and various other stuff

I've already covered my favorite albums and live shows of this year. But what about EPs, split releases, live recordings? Those - as well as some other categories - follow here in the second part of my music retrospect 2016:

EP TOP 5:

1. ZEAL AND ARDOR - Devil Is Fine
   

   

   Chain gang gospel and blues meets black metal meets electronica and - hold your breath! - musical clock, as the African slaves in North America rebel in the name of Satan. So the riverbed runs red with the blood of the saints and the blood of the holy. Sounds as reasonable as a film plot by The Asylum? Well, it really works on this EP, which joyfully bends and tears down all genre boundaries.

2. VOIVOD - Post Society

   

   Snake, Chewy, Rocky and Away at the top of their game. More than half of this CD is also featured on their split singles with At The Gates, Napalm Death and Entombed A.D., but that doesn't make this EP obsolete. These four songs (plus the Hawkwind cover "Silver Machine") truly belong to the best material the Canadians have ever recorded.

3. MYRKUR - Mausoleum
   

   

   Myrkur interprets songs from her black metal debut album plus some new material including a Bathory cover in one of the most sensitive live settings imaginable. Inside the Emanuel Vigeland Mausoleum, where every cough in the small audience could destroy the recording, her mystical voice is only accompanied by piano, acoustic guitar and a handful singers of the Norwegian Girls Choir. A magical record, fair and beautiful.

4. WATCHTOWER - Concepts Of Math: Book One
   

   

   Remember the wait for Guns'n'Roses' infamous "Chinese Democracy"? Fans of late 80s prog metal pioneers Watchtower could only laugh bitterly about those in the end only fifteen years. But now they have finally released an EP with new material and it's a highly diverting mindfuck fest of ultra-technical borderline-insane prog thrash. Hopefully "Book Two" comes earlier than 2043!

5. DER BLUTHARSCH AND THE INFINITE CHURCH OF THE LEADING HAND - Sucht & Ordung
   

   

   These three untitled tracks, recorded live in the studio while rehearsing for actual shows, really capture the intoxicating psychedelic pull of Der Blutharsch And The Ridiculously Long Name, as I had witnessed it at this year's Roadburn, each putting its own twist on the genre and not shying away from some surprisingly harsh parts.

TOP 7": 

 

CHELSEA WOLFE - Hypnos / Flame

The queen of the new goth church follows last year's album "Abbys" with a seven inch of two rather quiet non-album tracks from the same sessions. The packaging includes a lyric sheet and as a bonus you get the digital version with three demo versions of familiar songs. Value for money - and oh so mesmerizing.

TOP 10":

 

WANG WEN - In Course Of The Miraculous

Well, there are no other 10" records in the race this year. But this amazing package (including a photo book, four records and a DVD of a unique free ambient performance on a flooded film set) surely deserves to be featured here. My most luxurious - and probably also music-nerdiest - purchase of the year.

Split TOP 3:

 

1. CAMEL DRIVER / MOEWN - Rites Of Passage /  Aestus
   

   

   Northern german instrumental music rules supreme on this advanced lesson in how to do a split release. Conceptually held together by the mirrored cover artwork and matching intros / outros the progressive desert rock of Camel Driver from Kiel and the sludgy post metal of Hamburg's Moewn work together perfectly.

2.  BONE MAN / BURN PILOT - Psychedelic Sellout
   

   

   Double win for Pink Tank Records in this category. The cover artwork / concept (and especially the packaging of the "Heavy Cash Rock Edition") of this strictly commercial stoner rock split is totally hilarious. With six heterogeneous tracks including Bone Man covering Burn Pilot and the other way around you can't complain about the music either.

   
   
3. CULT OF LUNA / THE OLD WIND - Råångest
   

   

   Swedish double pack of sludgy post metal (which yes is a term I just used a few lines above for Moewn - hey, I can't make up something new for everything), including the Amebix cover "Last Will And Testament". This beautiful 12" could be a little bit longer, but all in all it's a well rounded release.

TOP soundtrack / film score:

ENNIO MORRICONE / VARIOUS - The Hateful Eight

Well, another case of a category, where I don't have that much contestants. But let me ignore this and the weak points in the manufacturing of this vinyl edition, because this first full original Morricone score for a Tarantino movie can't be ignored here. Such a perfect horror soundtrack! An Oscar well deserved.

Live recording TOP 3:

 

1. AYREON - The Theater Equation

   

   Ayreon's "The Human Equation" is probably my favorite rock opera concept album of all time, and I wish I could have been there, when Arjen Lucassen's masterpiece was brought to life in a dutch theater with a shitload of musicians, choir and original singers like James LaBrie and Devon Graves (or stellar replacements like Anneke Van Giersbergen). Luckily there is this document of the event. Even though the filming of the video isn't by far as professional as it should be, "The Theater Equation" is still highly entertaining. The audio recording (and thus the included CD version) is absolutely flawless.

2. KATE BUSH - Before The Dawn

   

   Another theater-related live release is this huge album in three acts, which has been recorded 2014 during the three week Hammersmith Apollo residency of Kate Bush in London. The performance, which interweaved her classics and newer songs with acting passages surprisingly isn't available on DVD, but is rather presented as a kind of radio play with the audience mostly muted. A good decision, allowing the whole magic to breathe properly.

3. AGUSA - Katarsis

   

   Psychedelic retroprog masterclass with Agusa, who perform just two songs, one a regular and the other a bonus track from their debut "Högtid". The jam is strong in these instrumentals, so the live versions are six and fourteen minutes longer than the studio recordings. As always the Swedish band's music is nothing but pure blissful  joy.

TOP download (digital only):

 

LISERSTILLE - Midnight Wave

The adventurous avant-garde Liserstille are still my favorite band from Denmark, in fact even more so after this live recording, which would also be in my live TOP 3, if I hadn't outsourced it to this "download" category. It is only available in digital form and can also be viewed in its full glory of almost two hours on Youtube.

TOP Tape:

MENHIR - Hiding In Light

Honestly I still haven't freed the tape from its meteor rubber shell. Luckily it came with a download. Only three tracks, but the astro sludge of Menhir kills!

I only bought two new cassettes this year, so let there also be a shoutout to their fellow Dutchmen Dead Neanderthals, who released their great and hilarious free jazz excess "Live At Roadburn 2016" (which almost made it both into my TOP festival concerts and TOP live recordings) on tape!

TOP top categories you hopefully don't miss:

 

• top 12" singles
  

  I only bought one, and there will be enough reason to write about Dool  in 2017 anyway.

• top flexi discs
  

  Flexis don't stand for quality. And my copy of Subrosa's "Key Of The Eidolon" is just too bad, so I prefer to stream the song.

• biggest rediscovery

  Had this category in previous end-of-year reviews, but can't think of someth... well, actually there's Laibach's "Kapital", which I finally bought in all versions. --> See on my tumblr.

• top re-issues / represses

  Even though I don't do all those gigantic 20 LP luxury box-sets which are blocking the pressing plants, there are certainly some records worth to be mentioned, like Spock's Beard "Snow", Cirith Ungol's "Paradise Lost", some jazz classics or just recently Tori Amos and Dead Can Dance.

•  top flea market / second hand record

  That could actually be interesting. Maybe next year or as a general standalone post.

• most cringy second hand trash

  I mean, like this shit. Same as above. 

• best packaging, most beautiful cover etc.

  No, I just can't decide...

• anything not strictly music-related

  This was 2016. Didn't everything out of music suck balls as fuck? 

 

 

 

DISAPPOINTMENTS 2016:

Clashes!

I sold my ticket for King Crimson, because the doom lord granted me the wish of Subrosa touring with Sinistro on the very same day. I don't regret my decision, but the clash still annoys me.

I've been complaining for years now about the almighty Voivod not visiting Northern Germany on their tours. And now they finally came to Hamburg again, but only as support of Entombed A.D. - and also on the same day as the possibly strongest tour package of the year with Mono, Alcest and pg.lost. So I had to pass. Don't regret that one either.

And then there was the Hell Over Hammaburg Festival with Sulphur Aeon, †, Ram and Skepicism, which I couldn't visit, because I couldn't bring myself to sell my first row ticket for Dream Theater. My bad.

Which brings me to the overblown "The Astonishing" album, which I reviewed pretty mildly back in February. And I still think that most songs on each own are good or have at least potential. But the size of it all and the cringeworthy story have detained me from listening to it for half a year now. I won't be at the "Images & Words" anniversary tour (too expensive and a seated concert again), but I sincerely hope Dream Theater will recover in the process.

ANTICIPATIONS / HOPES 2017:

Well, there are several things I'm already really excited about and looking forwards to. Only I feel like I don't want to jinx any of them now, so there's no outlook here this time.

But one thing in general, 2017: Please, don't be an asshole like 2016! Just think for one moment that most of the people born in this millenium probably already think that all this bullshit everywhere is normal! This is not normal!

Also, take less music legends for fuck's sake! Goes for actors and the last decent politicians as well. You can't reap all the good ones, while the fate of all mankind I see is in the hands of fools.

Disagree? Then fuck you already, 2017!