YAZZ AHMED - Shinrin-Yoku

So achingly beautiful! Yazz Ahmed's music is always a dream, no matter if it comes in long conceptual albums like "Polyhymnia" or "A Paradise In The Hold" - or as an EP with the simple premise:

Music celebrating the healing power of the natural world.

YAZZ AHMED - Shinrin-Yoku (12" vinyl EP) (2026)

Where are the High Fidelity nerds sorting their record collection by themes? If I was insane enough to do so, I'd probably have a Pandemic Recordings section by now. And appearantly those still keep coming, as Yazz Ahmed brings us this little collection of four songs recorded at home and remotely with friends during the height of anti-covid isolation measures in 2020.

The Japanese have at least two words I know of, which can very much be seen as approaches to the pandemic isolation situation. "Hikikomori" (="pulling inward, being confined") is one I already knew from songs of that name by Zola Jesus and Trialogos. It refers to the social phenomenon of people isolating themselves from all social contacts, living as recluse hermits inside their own four walls.
The healthier alternative is "Shinrin-Yoku" (="forest bathing"), which describes the practice of therapeutic relaxation in nature, while focusing on and connecting with your surroundings.

On this EP the British-Bahraini Jazz musician captures the latter as stunningly in her music as her congenius longtime illustrator Sophie Bass does in her once again amazingly fitting artwork.

The base of all pieces are trumpets, flugelhorn and performed or programmed electronics by Ahmed, on three of the four tracks accompanied by her partner and fellow trumpet / flugelhorn player Noel Langley.

The opener "Dawn Patrol" begins with a repeating horn and synths pattern reminiscent of The Comet Is Coming, while the dynamically grooving drums of Josh Blackmore soon stir it into Sons Of Kemet waters and Samuel Hällkvist's first atmospheric, later funky guitar complete these wonderful seven minutes of complex Jazz Fusion fire.
The title track "Forest Bathing" is the most stripped-down song, recorded by Yazz alone. It basically is a meditatively meandering flow of Electronic Ambient with a slow, patiently blooming flugelhorn solo on top of it.

On "A Moment To Be Free" the guitar returns and two further guests provide additional richness of both programmed and natural percussion. With Ahmed  playing one of her mictrotonal horns this adventurous back and forth between her naturally jamming side and the spirit of her remix EPs most obviously features her signature mixture of traditional Arabisms and (Future) Jazz.
"Questions Not Answers" finally is another quieter track, a horn / trumpet duet between Yazz and Noel before an Ambient backdrop with increasingly experimental live sampling of the instruments.

This EP surely is one of those purchases where my memory blinded out the price including shipping immediately after ordering. But I just couldn't resist this treasure - and it will amortise soon enough. Maybe it already has. A just all-around wonderful release.  

Sshhhh... if you need more Yazz Ahmed, you definitely need to check out her appearance on French TV, where she recently presented a live re-imagination of Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew":

 

CYNIC - Audiotree From Nothing

If you've ever read anything here you should know how much I love Cynic. I mention it in every second sentence. Well, almost... If you missed it I kindly recommend to read my reviews of "ReFocus" or their brilliant show in Hamburg this March!

But back to here and now: Audiotree just released a beautiful and insightful twenty minute interview / live session video with the exceptional Progressive Far-beyond-just-Metal group. And as always the audio of the music is available as a digital EP on Bandcamp.

CYNIC - Audiotree From Nothing (Download) (2024)

Honestly, I first and foremost understand this little write-up as a service annoucememnt in case you missed this release. So the best thing you can do right now is just skip the rest of this and go watch the thing on YouTube!

Of course you can skip that too if you want, since the eleven minutes of music alone are already a worthwhile experience. The interview with Paul Masvidal however is quite interesting, moving and profound, so the video should be watched at least one. And then - not to forget - there's of course also seeing the musicians play.
The short set features one song of their eternal classic "Focus", one track from the comeback with "Traced In Air" and one from "Ascension Codes", the goodbye to Sean Reinert and Sean Malone, who both passed in 2020. Other than during the European tour, the session line-up includes Max Phelps on guitar and guttural vocals.

On first listen I thought the production should have been a little dryer, because this sounds very open, but hearing this on headphones reveals quite a beautiful left-right-separation of both guitar, which makes it very clear, who plays which parts of the amazing complex, yet highly memorable arrangements.

Of course this should have been longer, but I guess that doesn't only apply to many other Audiotree Sessions, but also to everything Cynic in general.

harineweekly 33/52

This week I continued right where I left off last week, when my attention was captured by an ant road. But these couple of vague Digital Harinezumi 3.0 pictures, for which those little fuckers are much too fast, aren't really the main event of this post. That follows below them...

Once again I stitched a couple of short videos together - this time in close-up mode - and used an old 4-track recording which I think I did back in 1999 as the soundtrack. I hope you dig it, because I filmed this stuff in an unhealthy position and I'm paying the price with an enduring terrible back pain right now:

harineweekly 27/52

For this week's dose of Digital Harinezumi 3.0 stuff I recorded a couple of little videos in the near wind park today, stichted them together and scored them with a couple of synth / percussion 4-track tape recordings I did whoknowswhenexactly in the late 1990s:

harineweekly 16/52

Here I am back in the real world after a mind-altering Roadburn Festival. I've taken tons of Harinezumi 3.0 pictures there, but those will see the light of this blog later.

So for this weekly series I decided to do something different and also brought my Digital Harinezumi 4.0 with me to record some tourist videos in the dunes nearby my hotel with it. The camera is still broken an thus unreliable; you have to connect it with the power bar while shooting, and the energy is gone again very fast. It was enough to shoot some shaky 360° vids and just randomly stitch them together.

And because it's too boring just to hear the wind on the microphone for five minutes, I dug out a silly old synthesizer 4-track thing called "Übertür", which I had recorded approximately 24 years ago. Damn, it sucks how fast we're getting old.

And I also took a couple of associated pictures:

MAGMA dans Ground Control (ARTE concerts)

While slowly things begin to happen again and at least the vaccined among us are contemplating where and when to return to some kind of live music live, all with the menacing possibility of new mutations shutting everything down again, watching shows on the screen remains the primal surrogate for now.

Yesterday the French Arte TV premiered a stream of one of the best live bands (still) in existence of all times with a nothing short of mind-blowing rendition of their classic "Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh", recorded with a line-up including monster bassist Jannick Top's son Jimmy and six singers (plus one keyboard player on vocals and drummer/mastermind Christian Vander having his Coltrane-worshipping vocal improvisation solo) in Paris on July 22nd.

Just watch the video below my faux (screenshot) live photographs and witness a band founded in 1969 still at the top of their unmatched game!

There is just nothing in the world like it. Period.

DRUTURUM - Druturum VII: enigmAoFrelativitY

"Geil. Das Anhören dauert länger als das Spielen."

(mein Bruder beim ersten Hören von "Druturum VII")

Ja, das erste Album im Jahr 2021 erschienene Album, über das ich hier schreibe, ist tatsächlich nur wenige Wochen nach "Druturum VI: Tightrope Walkers on the Junction of Memory, Dream and Oblivion" eine neue - wie immer rein digitale - Veröffentlichung meines eigenen Projekts DruturuM!

Der Kompositionsaufwand war diesmal ähm... leicht geringer als sonst. Wir haben Montag Abend einfach eine Stunde lang improvisiert, woraus ich dann nachher sechs Tracks extrahiert habe. Und für "druturum VII-IV" habe ich Dienstag noch ein paar Minuten zusätzliches Bildmaterial für die Videoversion gedreht.)

Das Setup bestand aus einem Tisch, einer Bassdrum, Glockenspiel, Klangschalen, WahWah-Tube und Glöckchen. Nein, das ist definitiv kein Metal, besitzt aber seinen eigenen speziellen Charme, hat atmosphärische Passagen und überraschende Action, sowie hör- und sichtbaren Spaß zu bieten.

Ob "Druturum VIII" noch reduzierter und improvisierter ausfallen oder aus noch mehr Tracks bestehen wird? Das wissen wir noch nicht. Aber da Konzerte ja noch längere Zeit illusorisch bleiben dürften, ist bühnenuntauglichst experimentellen Eskapaden natürlich Tür und Tor geöffnet. Ich mache ich hier allerdings keine Versprechungen bzw. Androhungen. ;)


Alle sechs Tracks von "Druturum VII: enigmAoFrelativitY" kannst Du dir hier auf YouTube anschauen:




Und wie immer gibt's das Ganze natürlich auch auf Bandcamp zum Streamen und Downloaden:

DRUTURUM - Druturum VI: Tightrope Walkers on the Junction of Memory, Dream and Oblivion

 

Und da ist sie seit gestern nun endlich, die neue Veröffentlichung von DruturuM!

Da diesmal ja von Anfang an klar war, dass es keine Liveversion vor Publikum geben würde, sondern dass die im Proberaum aufgenommene, mit Videomaterial aufgehübschte Aufnahme die alleinige, endgültige Version sein würde, haben wir auf einen Zusatz wie "home session" verzichtet.

Eingespielt wurde natürlich trotzdem alles live, wobei wir allerdings nicht alle Tracks am Stück angegangen sind, sondern "druturum VI-II" eine Woche später aufgenommen haben.
Hier können Filmfehler-Nerds dann auch einen continuity error finden, weil die Drum-Kamera leider nach fünf Minuten aufgegeben hatte und ich somit später etwas Bildmaterial vom vorigen Take verbraten musste. Man muss aber schon genau hinschauen, hehe.

Musikalisch ist es super ruhig und reduziert geraten, so dass ständige Nebengeräusche wie Tastenanschläge und Hockerknacken zur Performance dazugehören. Dafür konnten wir das Ganze ganz geringaufwendig mit nur einem Stereomikrofon aufzeichnen.

So ein bisschen kann man sagen, dass es sich bei den drei Stücken um eine Mischung aus Post- und Psychrock, Doomjazz und Elementen von Earth und Anna von Hausswolff in minimalistischer Hausmusikadaption inklusive einer gesunden Prise Dilletantismus handelt - was aber einige erstaunlich große Gefühle nicht ausschließt!

Nicht zuletzt durch das Video-Editing ist die Instrumentaltrilogie auch zu einer Art Requiem für unsere Großeltern geworden, die beide während der Zeit, in der "Druturum VI" entstanden ist, verstorben sind.


Dies sind die Videos:

Und während ich während einer der letzten Besuche im großelterlichen Garten noch Material für einen Trailer schoss, passierte ganz antizyklisch zur Grundstimmung noch etwas witziges:

Den Stream / Download von "Druturum VI: Tightrope Walkers on the Junction of Memory, Dream and Oblivion" gibt es wie immer auf Bandcamp, wo auch noch weitere englischsprachige Liner Notes zu finden sind.

Außerdem ist dort auch der im Video zu sehende 60 x 60 cm Leinwandruck des Covers als einmaliger Merch-Artikel zu erwerben:

MUSIC 2020: a cyberspace odyssey - recommended streams & favorite downloads

Back in March/April I was still playing with the thought of ranking my favorite live streams, but for several reasons I soon gave up on that. Even though I've seen some great live stream performances, it is just not the same as being there in the flesh, and the formats and possibilities in which artists do them are just as different and unfair to compare as my personal attention span while watching stuff happening on the screen.

Some bands are low-fi broadcasting from their rehearsal rooms or just doing unplugged sessions from their kitchen, others have high quality production values with multiple cameras and shit, others just have one angle, while they are playing in empty concert venues.

Many live streams aren't really live, but prepared recordings. Which is all fine, but just makes it impossible to put them in a list. And then I also happened to stumble over some good stuff, which I couldn't include, because I don't remember the artist's name...

So here's just a couple of recommendations of streams, which are still available online right now!

And while we're already here in the internet, below that this post also contains my TOP 10 downloads, as in: music releases of all shapes and sizes, which where mainly or even exclusively available in digital form.

ORANSSI PAZUZU performs "Mestarin Kynsi"

One of the best live bands in metal right now playing one of the best metal albums of the year in full. Consequently all that could go wrong in this stream was the production, but hell no: Sound, direction, effects and camera work (all shifting a little from track to track) are almost ridiculously awesome, matching the flawless performance of the Finnish psychedelic black metal masters. What a maelstrom!

ELECTRIC MOON live at Vortex Surfer Musikclub Siegen

This was one of those live streams where the band just plays on the stage of an empty live club with a couple of cameras filming. This concept often feels sad, especially when the musicians are used to rock in energetic exchange with huge crowds.
Luckily jam-based krautrock like Electric Moon is among those styles of music which lend themselves to session situations with just the performers on their own anyway. With a special four-piece lineup due to pandemic seperation from their regular drummer, half of the band had never actually played together before, which gives this show an extra boost of adventurous exploration.

VILE CREATURE performs "Glory! Glory! Apathy Took Helm!" 

This duo (with guest musicians) is long overdue to receive some praise here, not only because their sludgy doom is the shit, but also because they don't take themselves too serious in a refreshing way. When this full performance of their recent album went live, you could enjoy it as a full music club simulation by choosing between multiple camera angles. Those included a balcony view, the merch booth, backstage (cuddling with cats) and most hilariously "tall guy in front of you", which basically meant there was one guy filming the band from the empty floor and another dude standing behind him to film his back for the whole show. Apart from some canned applause the still available master cut doesn't include all those shenanigans, but it's still one of my favorite streams I've seen this year.

CENTRE EL MUUSA - sunrise concert in Aidu windmill park

So far I haven't seen any band taking social distancing further than Estonian krautrockers Centre El Muusa on this recently released live video, which shows them jamming it out from darkness to dawn in the giant scenery of a wind energy park. Cut with drone views of the environment this video is pretty breathtaking, which makes it easy for me to forgive that some passages of the music are - while not bad at all - a bit too one-dimensional for my taste.

AMANDA PALMER live in Hawke's Bay, Aotearoa NZ

Not as thematically heavy as her ginormous "There Will Be No Intermission" programme, this show found Amanda Palmer in a different place. Quite literally indeed, since after being stranded there during lockdown, she spend most of the year in New Zealand, which is probably one of the safest places to be during pandemic times. So this stream from an opera house in November actually features a real, even maskless audience. And of course this a brilliant, heartfelt and humorous tearjerker. To say it with one of her finest songs: It's a ride.

Chaos Theory livestream music show feat. ÅRABROT, JO QUAIL and COMA WALL

You want it even more talkative between songs than Amanda Palmer? Well, this stream was basically an interview show with three groups / artists and prepared clips of special acoustic quarantine performances.
If you don't have two hours of time on your hands you can skip over all the other stuff though and just enjoy the music, which is quite a left-field, but above all extremely beautiful and cohesive gathering. Be it Årabrot with their dramatic post punk gothic country charme, cellist Jo Quail going fully classical, yet remaining as exciting as ever, or the enchanting vocal harmonies in the doomy grunge of the revived Coma Wall (aka the acoustic side of Undersmile) - this is all amazing stuff reminding me of why I fucking love music. 

ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF - "All Thoughts Fly" release concert in Örgryte New Church

"All Thoughts Fly" is a special, magical album and seeing it played live in the church and on the pipe organ of its recording adds another dimension to it. It's quite interesting to realize how much this is actually a band performance, even though everyone's just playing (or processing the sounds of) that one huge instrument. Of all streams here (except the following of course) I have watched this one by far the most. Despite two of the three cameras showing almost no perceptible action. Mighty!

DRUTURUM - "Druturum VI: Tightrope Walkers on the Junction of Memory, Dream and Oblivion"

Yes! Despite all obstacles of this year DruturuM is finally releasing a new live session on December 26th.
Of course I'm going write a post entirely devoted to this one later, but forgive me that I also have to plug it here! If you like Anna von Hausswolff, Earth, psychedelic rock and doomjazz, but performed in a very stripped-down fashion, including the use of toy instruments and a pinch of dilettantism mixed with great emotions, we've got you covered. Definitely our most calm and introspective work so far and we're quite proud of it. (Watch a trailer HERE!)

TOP 10 DOWNLOADS:

1. TOBY DRIVER & NICK HUDSON - Black Feather Under Your Tongue
   
   
   

   An early favorite from the distant "before times" (=February) this collection of  four avant-garde duet improvisations by Toby Driver (Kayo Dot) and Nick Hudson (The Academy Of Sun) is a true testament to the musical chemistry of these musicians and never ceased  to mesmerize me as a calming yet still stirring companion through all the troubled times this year had to offer. Piano, guitar and vocals formed to a piece of art that has a good place on Bandcamp, but would rightfully deserve to be pressed on vinyl by a label like Denovali or RareNoiseRecords.  
   
   
   
   
2. ZOZOBURN: OLD MAN GLOOM + ZOZOBRA live at Fiesta Roadburn



Always such a shame what phenomenal shows you miss at every Roadburn! This 2019 live recording from the mighty Old Man Gloom and their alter ego Zozobra is absolutely killing it, as the hardcore/sludge/doom apes Aaron Turner, Nate Newton, Stephen Brodsky and Santos Montano were totally levelling the 013 venue to the ground. Brutal and punishing, but also quite versatile and just plain fucking fun, this makes being screamed and punched in the face an addictive joy.     



3. ARCHIVE - 25 Live
   
   
   

   I must admit that I haven't really felt a great interest in the physical releases of Archive's 25th anniversary year yet. Which probably is a little ungrateful from my side, given that the band gave us this free download for a couple of weeks in February/March. It's a high-quality compilation of a whopping twenty live recordings, including several long epics like "Lights", "Again", Controlling Crowds" and "Dangervisit". Enormous!
   
   
   
4. THE YAZZ AHMED QUINTET - When We Were Live
   
   
   
   The "high priestess of psychedelic Arabic Jazz", composer / trumpet and horn player Yazz Ahmed released a couple of Bandcamp Friday things, among which this live recording from the summer of 2018, including tunes from "La Saboteuse" and "Polyhymnia" is my clear favorite. One of the most important contemporary jazz fusion artists killing it with a phenomenal quintet. What more do I have to say?
   
   
   
5. DOOLHOF - Doolhof
   
   

   

   Yet another Roadburn live album, probably the hardest release to listen to on this list - and without a doubt the one with the laziest cover artwork. After this experimental electronic ambient and drone plus vocal weirdness trio of Dennis Tyfus, Will Brooks (Dälek) and once again Aaron Turner (Sumac, Old Man Gloom) had cleared the audience at Roadburn 2019, I knew that I wanted to re-experience their performance as a live album. Finally here it is and it's fantastic unsettling shit! 
   
   
   
6. LINGUA IGNOTA - various tracks / The Caligula Demos

   
   

   

   Kristin Hayter was also busy unleashing several Bandcamp Friday tracks, and as always it's all emotionally hard-hitting material. From a new recording of her known Dolly Parton cover "Jolene" over her deconstructions of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" and Eminem's "Kim" to her own mighty "O Ruthless Great Divine Director" and the very uncomfortable experimental collage "Failed Forest // Golden Grid" - what Lingua Ignota touches is great oppressive and painful art.
   
   

   

   And of course shortly after I had written this paragraph there was the final Bandcamp Friday of 2020 and the artist not only shared one more track, but twelve of those, being "The Caligula Demos" whech led to the later album, "fragments, motifs, repetition, cuts, warts and all". Similar but also quite distinct from what it became later, this material is already extremely fascinating and mesmerizing on its own.

   
   
   
7. DARK SKY BURIAL - De Omnibus Dubitandum Est
   
   
   
   I know, I know, I don't have that new Napalm Death album yet, even though what I've heard from it so far is awesome. But speaking of awesome, ND bassist Shane Embury's experimental electronic ambient/industrial solo project Dark Sky Burial more than makes up for this shortage in my collection with a debut album overflowing with creative eclecticism. Definitely among the most fitting soundtracks to the overall mood of this year.
   
   
   
8. EMMA RUTH RUNDLE - Staying Power
   
   
   

   The only reason this is not higher up in this list is the lack of quantity, as "Staying Power" is just one single song with a regular four minutes length. But boy, what a song it is!
   Well, it is a previously unreleased track from the "On Dark Horses" sessions, and just like everything on that album Emma Ruth Rundle's performance on voice and guitar is deeply moving, strong and vulnerable in her unique beautiful way.
   
   
   
   
9. NITELIGHT - Nitelight plays: Death's Symbolic / Zombie Ritual
   
   

   

   Yeah, what this Italian duo does is pretty much on the nose and it sounds exactly like the best imaginable version of what the cover artwork promises. Chuck Schuldiner goes instrumental synthwave, as Nitelight cover the whole "Symbolic" album and in translating it into a totally different musical language prove once again, just how good these compositions are.



Unsurpringly if you dig this you also can't possibly say no to the single Helloween bonus track "Zombie Ritual", which sees the "Scream Bloody Gore" Death classic get the same irresistable Carpenter Brut style danceable makeover.




10. ESOCTRILIHUM - F'htansg
    
    
    
    Speaking of Helloweeen, that was also the occasion for French avant-garde black metal working animal Asthâghul aka Esoctrilihum to drop this three-track EP.
    And just like on his full albums so much is happening during the (in this case) twenty minutes that you're tricked into thinking the actual playing time is much longer. I called this the "Altars Of Madness" effect - which is also a good stylistic reference, especially for the final track "Lugalugkuh". All in all "F`htansg" is a great nice little demonic black/death inferno and probably a good entry point into the cosmos of this project. 
    
    
    

ELECTRIC MOON - You Can See The Sound Of... Electric Moon (extended version)

Wo man auch hinsieht, bröckeln in Zeiten von Covid-19 die Synapsen. Da beginnen irgendwann auch die spacerockenden Berufshippies, den inneren Mond anzuheulen und in den Chor des irren Geschwurbels einzustimmen.
Gebadet in esoterischem Hall wie die suggestive Hirnwäscherstimme eines Selbsthypnosevideos bläut die schlechteste Bassistin Deutschlands uns da ein, nicht auf "sie", nicht auf "die Lügner" zu hören und unsere eigene Wahrheit zu finden. Macht den irren Vegankoch zum Krautrockkönig!

Manchmal stelle ich mir vor, ich sei ein Riesenarschloch.

Dann wäre das gerade Geschriebene der Kern meiner Rezension.

Kann ich aber natürlich nicht machen. Nicht nur natürlich, weil die Dame und die Herren von Electric Moon feine Kerl(inn)e(n) sind, die sich nur maximal einmal im Monat Kinderblut injizieren, sondern auch weil es sachlich total falsch wäre, die vorliegende EP LP in Bezug zu irgendwelchen aktuellen Masken und Verstand verweigernden Hirnis zu bringen. Immerhin wurde die Musik ja bereits 2012 aufgenom... ... ... Moooooment!

Die wussten also damals schon bescheid.

Elon Musk, übernehmen Sie!

ELECTRIC MOON - You Can See The Sound Of... Electric Moon (extended version) (2013/2020)

"You Can See The Sound Of... Electric Moon" ist die Wiederveröffentlichung einer 10" EP, allerdings erweitert um drei bisher unveröffentlichte Tracks aus den selben Sessions. Durch den verdoppelten Inhalt hat sich die Schallplatte dann auch auf das erwachsene 12"-Format  und eine Dreiviertelstunde Spielzeit vergrößert.

Mit gelegentlichen Gesangstexturen zeigt sich das ansonsten wie gewohnt überwiegend instrumentale Krautrocktrio hier von sehr definierter und knackiger Seite, mit einem Basssound, der mich mehr als sonst an Ego Sensation (White Hills) erinnert, und einer durchgehend guten Balance zwischen Heaviness und Verspieltheit.

Electric Moon spielen ja immer Musik, die weitaus mehr über den Bauch als den Intellekt funktioniert, und beim Hören dieses kurzweiligen Albums fühle ich mich einfach wohl.

Ok, ich bin natürlich gesetzlich wie moralisch ohnehin dazu gezwungen, Fan dieser Scheibe zu sein, erinnert mich der Beginn des letzten neuen alten Bonustracks "Mushroom Cloud No. 4" doch irgendwie enorm an das Intro und Outro von "100 mi.", einem der ersten Songs einer gewissen Band, in der ich mal Schlagzeug und Mikrofon bedient habe. Sollte ich vielleicht auch beizeiten mal auf Bandcamp hochladen.


Doch ehe ich hier noch weiter von Electric Moon ablenke, erlaube man mir, off topic von dieser Reissue abzulenken und darauf hinzuweisen, dass die Band neulich im Vortex Surfer Musikclub in Siegen eines der bisher besten Geisterkonzerte der aktuellen endlosen Streamingsaison gespielt hat.

Zwar traten Sula Bassana und Komet Lulu nicht wie heute sonst gewohnt mit Pablo Carneval an den Drums auf, da dieser aus bekannten Gründen Österreich gerade schlecht verlassen kann, doch das erstmalige Zusammenspiel mit gleich zwei anderen Musikern gibt der Show auch ihre eigene spannend kreative Note, wie man auf YouTube immer noch nachschauen kann.

Es lohnt sich, diese 85 Minuten sind exzellent investierte Zeit:





"You Can See The Sound Of... Electric Moon" erscheint nächsten freitag (29. Mai 2020) und ist erhältlich auf Platte und CD über Sulatron Records und überall, wo es gepflegte psychepilzige Musik gibt.

ORANSSI PAZUZU - Mestarin Kynsi

Dools "Summerland" im betreffenden Review zum Album des Monats April zu küren, war an sich eine ziemlich einfache Übung. Dennoch gibt es in meinem Besitz bereits mindestens zwei weitere Werke, die ihm im Kampf um diesen Titel so gut wie ebenbürtig - und je nach Tageslaune sogar überlegen - sind.

Eines davon kommt aus Finnland und stammt von einer der eigenständigsten Extremmetalbands der Gegenwart, den vor allem auch live (siehe ihr "Live At Roadburn") sensationellen Oranssi Pazuzu.

ORANSSI PAZUZU - Mestarin Kynsi (CD) (2020)

Sobald dieses Album richtig losgeht, braucht man wohl nur wenige Augenblicke, um zu erkennen, um wen es sich hier handelt, denn die Trademarks des Quintetts werden alle massiv gepflegt. Wir haben es also mit hemmungslos überschäumendem, immer an der Grenze zum kakophonischen Chaos brodelnden, mit halluzinogenem Krautrock vermengten Black Metal zu tun, der sich ausdrücklich zum Ziel gesetzt hat, dem mürbe gekneteten Zuhörerverstand eine bleibende Psychose zu verpassen.

Ein zentrales Mittel, um sich durch die Großhirnrinde zu bohren, ist zweifellos das oft in krummen Takten ritualistisch hämmernde Drumming, welches in "Taivaan Portti" selbst einem Blastbeat durch geschickt akzentuierte Breaks eine Trance heraufbeschwörende Note verleiht.

Sänger Jun-His bleibt der Andy Serkis des Black Metal. So vielfältig und ausdrucksstark krächzen kann nicht jeder. In der Trat bringt seine Kehle bisweilen gleichzeitig jaulende und gurgelnde Laute hervor, die ich so noch bei keinem anderen Vokalisten vernommen habe. Dass die Texte wie immer komplett auf Finnisch ausgeworfen werden, bestärkt diesen Eindruck sicherlich auch ein bisschen. Absolut krank und beeindruckend.

Man merkt allerdings an der Selbstsicherheit, mit der Oranssi Pazuzu ihre Formel auf "Mestarin Kynsi" dann doch im Vergleich zum vorigen Schaffen verschieben, dass der Erfolg der waghalsigen Waste Of Space Orchestra-Kooperation mit Dark Buddha Rising (aka mein Album des Jahres 2019) sich irgendwo im Verständnis der Gruppe niedergeschlagen hat.

Das Inferno aus Keyboard- und Gitarrenklängen ertönt diesmal weniger aus den mythischen skandinavischen Wäldern, sondern hat oft ein viel technologischeres, retrofuturistisches Flair.

Damit rückt der gesamte Sound der Band ein Stück in Richtung urbaner Dystopie, was sie in ihrer Wirkung deutlich den New Yorker Advantgarde-Jazz-Schwarzmetallern Imperial Triumphant annähert. Eine Karte, die Oranssi mit dem - wie eben jenes Trio - stark Fritz Langs Stummfilmklassiker "Metropolis" huldigendem Video zu "Uusi Teknokratia" im Grunde selbst ganz offen auf den Tisch legt.





"Mestarin Kynsi" ist Lärm gewordener Superlativ und zeigt die innovative Gruppe in Höchstform. (Ok, schwache Form gibt es bei Oranssi Pazuzu auch nicht wirklich.)

Ganz klar, und unabhängig vom Subgenre, ist dies Metal der besten Sorte. So viel kompromisslos radikale, singuläre Klangvision ohne unnötigen Imagequatsch oder peinlichen Kitschballast wird einem einfach nicht jeden Tag geboten.

Und wen ich alleine nicht überzeugen kann, in das Ding reinzuhören, der sollte sich mal den sehr professionell umgesetzten gestrigen Livestream anschauen, in dem die Band - wie eigentlich dieses Jahr in Tilburg geplant - das Album in ganzer Länge gespielt hat:

(Hoffen wir mal, dass der Stream noch länger online bleibt, damit ich diesen Text nicht später noch editieren muss.)

DRUTURUM - Druturum V: Wayfarer (home session)

Es war in letzter Zeit mangels leider ein bisschen schwierig, sich um meine eigene Musik zu kümmern, doch die Gebrüder Ohlsen sind fest entschlossen, mit DruturuM nun bald tiefer in die Komposition von "Druturum VI" (noch unbetitelt) einzutauchen.

In der zwischenzeit kann man sich auf YouTube die komplette home session von "Druturum V: Wayfarer" zu Gemüte führen. Dies sind Liveaufnahmen aus zwei Durchgängen des Programms (deswegen wird es bei "druturum V-III" draußen heller) vom 6. April 2019.

Unsere Audioaufnahmemöglichkeiten haben sich gesteigert, von daher klingt das Ding wesentlich fetter als unsere letzten Rehearsal-Mitschnitte!

Und da nur zwei Typen im Proberaum über eine Dreiviertelstunde doch etwas wenig sind, enthalten die drei Videos auch die Lyrics und ich habe einiges an Fotos aus meinem Archiv und Digital Harinezumi-Filmen als Schnittmaterial darin verbraten:

Und falls sich jemand fragt: Da fehlt doch was?

Ja, der Livetermin für die einmalige Aufführung dieses Programms steht immer noch aus. Notfalls machen wir das jetzt auch nach "Druturum VI". Wichtig war uns vor allem, das Ding nach der ohnehin schon langen Zeit endlich kreativ abzuschließen.

Den Stream / Download, sowie noch detaillierte Liner Notes kann man wie immer auf Bandcamp finden:

↯↯blitz↯↯ review : DAVE GROHL - Play

Ok, let's try something new here and let me just briefly babble about something I've just seen on this "internet" a couple of minutes ago.

Dave Grohl, drummer of Nirvana and mastermind behind Probot, among a couple of other gigs, has dropped something truly spectacular:

the invention of the 20+ minute instrumental song.

Are you still with me?

Yes?

Ok, then you should better leave now, because that's bullshit.

But anyway, here's "Play":

At least I assume that's also the title of the track, since it's embedded in a half-hour short documentary of the same name, about kids learning instruments. Which is cool, but seriously, who cares?

Do I care about Dave Grohl?

Nah, not so much. He surely is a great guy and musician, but he doesn't play in any band I'm particularly interested in. So naturally I was a little sceptical about this.


But hey, this is really something!

Considering how often I have listened to the tune now (which is exactly once), it's hard to acknowledge how much songwriting finesse went into the piece as a whole, so I won't go into that.
The technical structure however is easy to grasp. The song is divided into three acts, which are seperated by transitions in which Grohl changes from one drumkit to the next.

And that brings us to the main attraction of this whole thing.
It's not about playing an instrumental longtrack. Millions of musicians have done that.

No, the special thing is that this track is audio and video recorded in uneditet takes, meaning that the whole song is played on bass in one uninterrupted take, so if the bass player screws up at mark 19:00 minutes, he has to start all over again.

And since every musician here is Dave Grohl, he had to be recorded over and over again for this until he got every instrument right for the whole 20+ minutes. Boy, that must have been nerve-wracking.

That's the first entertaining aspect of this. Secondly there is the bravery of including instruments he doesn't usually play. You can see that he isn't highly confident behind vibraphone, keys or some percussion instruments, and this display of vulnaribility is probably what I like most about this whole thing. It would be even better if he had centered more on this aspect.

Musically this is absolutely solid. The three acts are each made of multiple parts themselves and can mostly be described as modern punk'n'rolly version of classic prog. So there are lots of "unexpected" changes and style shifts. Nothing totally world-class-level overwhelming, but given that Grohl is tapping into new ground for him here, this is really more than fine.


There are only a few details which bothered me after my first (and only) listen: The transition from act II to act III was lame. I expected some other idea there. As I said a moment ago: more focus on the unfamiliar instruments would have made this even more charming.
Guitars and bass are great, only in a couple of parts the riffs are dragging a little, and since this isn't meant to be nihilistic minimalistic doom, that's not good.

The only instrument that bothered me here and there through the whole piece were the drums.

Yes, Dave Grohl is a fucking great drummer. The only problem is that he knows it, so doesn't want to hold back when it would be the better move. And I get it, it's understandable: He wants to show off that this is his ultimate comfort zone, the instrument that defines him as a musician. And that doesn't fit with the tone he sets on the other instruments.

So maybe he should have played the whole song like act II on a ridiculously small kit which challenges him even there in his "home".


That being said: Check the video out! It's probably the coolest viral thing from a musical artist of this profile which will be "dropped" this year.

And if it gets people into listening to instrumental long tracks, that's cool too, I guess.

Welcome Foo Fighter children to the world of prog, psychedelic, post rock, jazz, drone, film scores, doom, etc...!

DRUTURUM - Druturum IV: The Science Behind Angel Encounters

Nicht einmal zwei Wochen nach "Druturum III: Das Braune Rauschen" ging es für DruturuM in der rendsburger T-Stube weiter.

Mit einem halbstündigen Ein-Track-Programm eröffneten wir ein Dreier-Paket aus dem finnischen Ein-Mann-Projekt Horizon Of The Mute, dem Drone-Doom-Duo Father Sky Mother Earth und uns, das sich auf dem Plakat vor "D"s kaum retten konnte: Dark, Death, Doom, Drone, Duo, DruturuM:

Dass es als lokale Undergroundband mit unberechenbarer Randgruppenmusik nie einfach ist, in Line-Ups zu geraten, die als Ganzes hundertprozentig stimmig sind, ist für uns ja nichts neues. Umso erstaunlicher, wie gut es hier passte, mit drei Shows, die alle unter "special interest" laufen, einen starken Drone-Anteil hatten und dabei doch sehr unterschiedliche Seiten aufzeigten.

Father Sky Mother Earth haben das meditative Drone-Doom-Ding mit starker individueller Note einfach perfekt drauf. Und man staunt, dass Musik, die sich so sehr nach amplifier worship anhört, ganz leichtgepäckig ohne Verstärker auskommt.

Jani aka Horizon Of The Mute ist abseits der Bühne ein symphatischer Kerl, sein industrial-, black/death- und drone-geschwängerter Auftritt läuft bei mir allerdings unter "Singer/Songwriter from hell". Sehr abgründig, qualvoll und böse! Nice.

Und wir? Spielten ein knapp halbstündiges Drone/Elektro/Metal-Stück mit Scooter- und Verschwörungstheoretiker-Einfluss. Es kam auch gut an, weshalb mein im Vergleich zu sonst erhöhtes Lampenfieber im Nachhinein ungerechtfertigt erscheint. Aber es war wohl die neue Situation ganz ohne Schlagzeug und/oder Mikrofon, die mir dann doch einen kleinen Bühnentatter verpasst hat.
Schön unschön geworden ist es zwar trotzdem - dennoch gefällt mir meine persönliche Performance am Korg Monotron Duo in der Probeversion besser. Dafür klang mein Sample/Finger-Drumming live nicht wie ein besoffener Drumcomputer, hehe.

Wir empfehlen jedenfalls, in beide Versionen reinzuhören, dröhnen und umpffumpffumpffen tun sie nämlich beide gut.

Und hier nun die mediale Aufbereitung von "Druturum IV: The Science Behind Angel Encounters":

Video:

Audio:

Fotos:

(mehr davon HIER!)

Ok, damit ist dieses Kapitel geschlossen und ich habe ein egroße Ausrede weniger, endlich mein Review für den letzten Roadburn-Tag zu schreiben.

Und für DruturuM geht nun der ganze kreative Zyklus von vorne los. Wird es mal wieder musikorientierter? Spielen wir endlich flohmarktbühnentauglichen Dad Rock? Wir werden sehen! In ein paar Monaten irgendwo in Norddeutschland...