And what can I say? We already know that it's one of the best albums of 2021. But these physical versions of the LP and the accompanying 10" EP are extra dope:
How fitting that when the parcel service brought my Pelagic Records package, I was just rewatching yesterday's premiere of the album's release show. Half an hour of the band in trio format, playing in the church in rural Norway Sweden (damn, you bastards had me confused!), where they not only shot the cover photograph and several videos and played a great unplugged streaming show in September 2020, but where they actually live and preach the religion of Rock'n'Roll.
Even though I'm missing a little of the bass brutality from the record, it's pretty awesome.
From a critic's point of view minimalism is really a glass half full / half empty thing:
On one hand it's hard to actually write about artists, who are grounded in a simple and very clearly defined formula. They only need to adjust their approach in little details from album to album to achieve a powerful effect and give it a distinctive vibe.
On the other hand it saves you from writing a whole novel. That's cool, too. More time for other stuff. Like working. Cursing the summer weather. Or listening to Big|Brave.
BIG|BRAVE - Vital (transparent olive LP) (2021)
So here's a new album from my favorite Canadian drone rock trio. [Insert the usual Swans/Sunn O)))/post something/no wave/punkishbjörkish female vocals description here.]
As always with this band it's fascinating how two guitars barely playing one and a half chords per song and desperately avoiding to appear too musical, drums despising groove and vocals feeling the same about the leash of melody can do this to such a degree of success, that those very ideas are almost completely turned on their own head, because it feels so big, so brave, vivid, vital, that your ears automatically assume that it all must be there in spades.
Big|Brave are just incredibly skilled at the maybe two most important aspects of music:
Pauses and sound.
The sound between their pauses has always been a crushing force, sharp and rich at the same time. It's like if you pressed your ear to a table surface, on which a circular saw blade is spinning - specifically that split-second of brutal buzzing before it comes to rest.
As always the band finds new subtle nuances within that sound. Not through inclusion of guest musicians this time, but mostly through the perfect layering of notes and frequencies within their noise. It's a you know it when you hear it thing, trust me!
And the bells. How bells are integrated into the rhythm here and there increases the dramaturgy so much!
The icing of the cake are the lyrics, in which Robin Wattie deals with very personal issues like the struggle of mixed-race identiy. I must admit though that I have to read along to understand her accent and intonation, which doesn't try to make it easy for none-native speakers. But that's ok, because the pain and the sound are so pure and raw.
I loved this band from the first minutes of seeing them live for the first time on, and every following encounter - on stage or on albums - only gave me reasons to love them more.
With "Vital" this trend continues as strong as ever. Love this band. Love this album.
Only very recently I discovered the works of a jazz big band called Travis Sullivan's Björkestra, which exclusively plays long jazz renditions of - surprise! - Björk classics. It's quite brilliant. And it has nothing to do with the record I'm reviewing here.
Well, at least almost. Obviously this is also very jazzy. But then also when I heard it for the first time, with the Björkestra still fresh in my ears, I couldn't help but think that the chorus melody of the opener and title track "Days As Echoes" very much reminds me of "Venus as a Boy".
And now that I got this observation from my chest, let's see what else the Misha Panfilov Sound Combo has in store!
MISHA PANFILOV SOUND COMBO - Days As Echoes (LP) (2020/2021)
Led by Misha Panfilov, who makes the Estonian music scene look like a one man job, as he is also part of the krautrock group Centre El Muusaand the once funky, now rather space doom-jazzyEstrada Orchestra, the Sound Combo touches on some of the directions of his other projects, yet also adds some more.
While each of the six mostly instrumental tracks explores a different nuance, I think it's pretty save to overall categorize the album as a mixture of psychedelic rock with spiritual jazz, ambient sounds and library music. My teenage self would probably rather have rolled his eyes based on this description than be intrigued by it - and thus have prevented himself from listening to a brilliant piece of music. Sounds like Fickfilmmusik. Yet today especially the jazz in combination with library music part stirs my interest. Rightfully so.
Panfilow himself handles all synths, pianos, guitar, bass and more duties like percussion and "cassette effects". He is accompanied by two alternating drummers, a female vocalist , flute, saxophone and on one track also trumpet. Half of his bandmates here also performed on Estrada Orchestra's "Playground", which should already count as a guaranteed seal of quality.
And "Days As Echoes" fully delivers on this promise. Actually quite similar to playground in that regard, we hear a flawlessly performed combination of musical styles, without the technicalities of instrumental skills and categorization standing in the way of enjoying the main attraction, which is the mood.
A mood which is rooted in longing melancholy, yet ultimately feels light and breezy like a feather. So the main takeaway of this album is mainly an overwhelming: CHILL!!!
And chill I must. It's just wonderful.
Something that mood-wise easily sits between Futuropaco's self-titled debut and the sheer beauty of Miles Davis' "Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud".
"Days As Echoes" was released 2020 and I have no complaints about the recent (simply black) second vinyl pressing from this year. The cover looks awsome too, so all in all Misha Panfilov's Sound Combo has earned my full recommendation.
SONS OF KEMET - Black To The Future (orange vinyl 2LP) (2021)
I've said it before and I'll say it again: art thrives with urgency.
That's no brand-new wisdom at all, yet when I look at my record collection and weigh the albums of this millenium by the social importance of their message, it is strongly confirmed. I'm not at all saying that there shouldn't be axe-wielding metal bands singing about dwarves, dragons and shit, but when it comes to true burning relevance of content, it's hands down undeniable that a lot of the artists standing out today are fighters for feminism, LGBTQ rights, gender and race equality. (And if you're reading this and rolling your eyes about some white dude from rural Northern Germany being "woke", then you're clearly part of the problem(s) and I'm kindly suggesting that you'd better eff off.)
Enter Sons Of Kemet!
Armed with saxophone / flute, tuba and two drumkits the London-based quartet around Shabaka Hutchings (also The Comet Is Coming) and Theon Crosscontinues its exploration of African diaspora and Black identity through a musical lense which melts together bebop jazz, funk, hip hop, Carribean and tribal music in the most infectious way imaginable.
On "Black To The Future" they are accompanied by more guests than before. Besides additional wood wind and brass players expecially the first half of the double album is informed by its rapping vocalists, among them Moor Mother and returning partner from "Your Queen Is A Reptile"Joshua Idehen.
With vocals on almost every track the Sons are almost showing some kind of restraint on the first of the two discs, leaving the brightest spotlights for their contributors. Even though most of the lyrics are not by far as wordy as a feature album of the respective rapper would be, what is said has weight and makes the first half of "Black To The Future" feel like a hip hop album with an extremely vivid live instrumentation.
But then on side C comes "In Remembrance Of Those Fallen". And "Let The Circle Be Unbroken", "Envision Yourself Levitating" and "Throughout The Madness, Stay Strong", all longer tracks than on the first album half, all instrumental pieces, on which only through the combination of music and titles some of the most evocative and complex stories of the album are told.
It's here that Sons Of Kemet reach a level of timelessness that exchanges experiences with John Coltrane and Miles Davis, yet with a decidedly distinct stylistic approach.
It's sad and should make everyone of us angry that the struggles which fueled classic albums from over half a century ago still remain so frustratingly relevant today. It certainly saddens and angers Sons Of Kemet themselves.
Yet they still channel it through danceable positivity.
In a way Idehen describes the whole approach of the band in his final outcry "Black", which closes the double album, when he says:
"This black sorrow is dance
These black prayers is dance
This black struggle is dance
This black pain is dance
This black struggle is dance
And this black blaze is dance"
Released by impulse! - and on which label would this belong more rightfully? - the orange double vinyl in a gatefold cover looks and sounds great all around. No nitpicking about anything from me.
And since "Your Queen" already was a masterpiece and "Black To The Future" as a whole finds an even better balance and rhythm and also improves on the compositional qualitiy, especially during the amazing second half, there doesn't need to be any discussion: of course this is one of the most important albums of the year, in contemporary jazz and beyond.
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.
As some of you may or may not know, I'm living in a small Northern German village with a population of a little over seven hundred people. You can imagine my surprise when I recently went on a Sunday stroll and discovered that there's a part near the village centre which appearantly I had never been to before.
At first I thought that there was a flea market, because the street was getting narrower and filled with shacks and people hustling around them. There were strange smells and spices in the air already from afar, and when I got there it was undeniable: There was indeed a whole Asian quarter, which I had always overlooked! When I entered I soon found myself inside a vast puzzling maze of markets, bars and restaurants under the dark shadow of enormous buildings with uncountable inhabitants.
Overwhelmed by all these new impressions, yet still trying to soak it all in, I saw an old man - surely far in his nineties - pointing at me from beside the doorway of an ancient building, which was flanked by statues of a huge dragon and another weird creature which reminded me of a toad with a horse body. I was irritated. Had I done something wrong without knowing? Had I broken some unwritten cultural code? Luckily not, as the man - a short thin figure, clad inside a robe which seemed at least two sizes too large -, made a friendly face and beckoned me over to him. Still a little hesitant I walked over, and just when I wanted to ask him what he wanted, he pointed towards the buildings' entrance. It stood wide open, yet I could barely see what was inside, because plumes of red glowing smoke - not caused by fire or any other source I could explain - hindered my sight. I took a deep breath and dared to walked into the mystic fog...
The last thing I remember was that after some moments of adjustment my eyes could catch sight of some kind of altar, on which a square red object was presented. Wait! This is a record, right?
What happened after that I don't know. I suddenly found myself at home, while an invisible hand had already dropped the needle on the record. Had all this just been a dream?
MONG TONG 夢東 - 台灣謎景 Music from Taiwan Mystery (LP) (2021)
Even though it probably wouldn't be too hard to guess that this record has been released by WV Sorcerer Productions, who already added several amazingreleases to my collection, I somehow wish I could erase the specific memory of buying Mong Tong's enigmatic album "Music From Taiwan Mystery" from my mind, just to increase the uhm... yes, mystery around it.
Just how intriguing would it be to get your hands on this without any foreknowledge? If you just look at the whole artwork of the gatefold, the obi strip, the poster that comes with it, there is barely any information other than the artist and title, at least if you cannot read Chinese ideographs.
The music itself also doesn't give you the straightest answers about what this actually is either.
Yet the collage character of almost clishé traditional Taiwanese folk, samples, field recordings, Asian takes on Kraftwerk and other modern electronic music snippets, drones, noise and cosmic waves and some at the point of its entrance almost surprising psychedelic rock, suggests that this is a kind of soundtrack to a journey through Taiwan, with radically shifting sights and moods alternating between modernism, tradition and anachronism.
Maybe this is a kind of homage similar to Saba Alizadeh's experimental ode to Tehran "Scattered Memories"?
Indeed that's not too far from the truth. Mong Tong, two brothers who form are a cross-media duo, centered mostly around sample-based electronic music, have released two art books collecting "Taiwan's cultural and mystic attractions, including special temples, purgatory facilities and Buddhist mummies". Those books were accompanied by soundtrack cassettes, both in a very limited run.
So technically "台灣謎景 Music from Taiwan Mystery" is a reissue compilation of those two tape EPs, but given the in itself mosaic-like nature of this music and how its timelessness defies pedantic format questions, it's probably also fair to (re)view this as an album, just like I am doing it here.
And as such I just find it utterly fascinating and captivating. It throws me into the middle of a story, which I don't even come close to deciphering, yet it still transfixes me from beginning to end. Even though those may not even exist.
Magical mystery.
With the strong potential to positively affect Taiwanese independent tourism.
Und während - wie immer - auf YouTube schon die Videos zum nächsten Album ("Butterfly 3000") laufen, schneit das aktuelle offizielle Studioalbum (muss bei der Band ja besser genau angeben) von King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard herein.
Als direktes Schwesterwerk von "K.G." ist natürlich klar, dass auch hier die mikrotonalen Sperenzchen mit speziell arabisch gestimmten Instrumenten weiter ausgereizt werden.
KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD - L.W. (Static Pikachu Edition - yellow vinyl with black swirls LP) (2021)
Ganz ähnlich wie der direkte Vorgänger ist auch "L.W." wieder beinahe verboten dicht mit Ohrwürmern vollgepackt. War die Mikrotonalität zuletzt allerdings etwas subtiler im modernen Psychedelic-Rock-Gewand verpackt, stehen die Arabismen nun wieder weit mehr im Vordergrund, mit Getröte und allem.
Ab und zu geht es auch in den ebenfalls nicht europäisch getonleiterten, ferneren Osten. Nicht nur die Stimmung, sondern auch die Stimmung (viele Falsettgesang über funkigen Grooves zu dunklen Themen; keine andere Band schreibt momentan so viele Songs zu Umwelt und Zerstörung unseres Planeten) hält dieses Album im Doppelpack mit "K.G." zusammen.
Folgerichtig ist der Rausschmeißer "K.G.L.W." auch ein wesentlich längeres Reprise des gleichnamigen "K.G."-Openers. Und nebenbei selbst mit dem Zusammenhang des Thrash-Albums "Infest The Rats' Nest" einer der heaviesten Gizzard-Tracks aller Zeiten. Doom!
Es bleibt dabei: Insbesondere dafür wie quantitativ gigantisch der Output der Australier ist, bleibt die Klasse der Alben enorm hoch. Gerade das mikrotonale Doppelpack der letzten beiden Alben ist königlichster Gizz und wizardiest Lizard!
Erneut kommt die LP in umweltbewusster Recycle-Papierhülle. Diesmal habe ich wieder eine bunte Scheibe abbekommen. Man sagt, aus einem Pikachu lassen sich etwa 50 Schallplatten pressen.
Ich bin ja eigentlich sehr wählerisch, was Presse/Promotion-Mails angeht. Was mich nicht spontan oder ohnehin als Fan brennend interessiert, landet für gewöhnlich gleich im Papierkorb.
Das hätte Mitte Mai mit dem neuen Album von Blessings auch leicht passieren können, aber ungläubig "Jetzt schon ein Roadburn Redux Livealbum?" denkend, habe ich mir natürlich sofort das Presskit gezogen und erst währenddessen geschnallt, dass zwar gerade die Streamingfestivalperformance der schwedischen Band auf YouTube veröffentlicht worden war, es sich bei dem beworbenen Tonträger aber immer noch das anstehende (inzwischen bereits veröffentlichte) neue Studioalbum handelte.
BLESSINGS - Biskopskniven(2021)
Pelagic Records gehört ja zu jenen Labels, die seit einiger Zeit ein Abo auf alle Neuveröffentlichungen anbieten. Für mich wäre das allerdings nichts, einfach weil es mir von einigen Sounds schlicht zu viel wäre.
Ich sage nur: brüllaffig aggressiver, aber auch episch erhabener, tonnenschwerer Post Metal. In diese Richtung geht bei Pelagic eine Menge, meistens für sich auch großartig, aber in der Summe zumndest für mich doch zu unausgewogenen.
Ab und zu kann man das aber durchaus sehr gut haben, vor allem wenn die Band neben diesen Grundkriterien auch noch andere Markenzeichen und Qualitäten aufweisen kann, die sie aus dem Einerlei abhebt.
Bei Blessings ist dies ganz klar eine super dreckige Punk-Kante, jede Menge Schmerz und Gefühl im Gebrüll und ganz wichtig: die Sprache. Die Texte sind nämlich entweder schwedisch - oder englisch mit so derbem Akzent, das man es glatt für schwedisch halten kann. Oder ist es tatsächlich schwedisch, welches ich fälschlicherweise für angeschwedigtes englisch halte?
Auf jeden Fall hebt dies Blessings ab.
Noch dazu - und das ist ja auch nicht so ganz unwichtig - sind die neun Stücke von "Biskopsknoven" aber auch einfach derbe guter Scheiß.
Wer auf Cult Of Luna, Neurosis und Post Allesmögliche (insbesondere aber Hardcore, Punk und Metal) steht, der wird hier verlässlich, aber mit klar wiedererkennbarer eigner Note bedient.
Dass die farbige Vinyl-Version ziemlich geil auszusehen scheint, muss ich bei Pelagic Records im Grunde ja gar nicht erwähnen.
Sitar-Drones eingeschaltet. George Harrison und Alice Coltrane gefällt das.
Gitarristenfuß aufs Delay-Pedal. So ist's gut, nicht runternehmen!
Uhrencheck! Seht ihr diese Spanne? Wir nennen das eine Viertelstunde. Wenn ihr einen Song spielt, der kürzer als eine Viertelstunde bleibt, kreiert ihr ein kritisches Nexus-Ereignis und zerstört möglicherweise das Universum. Also immer schön drauf achten, ok?
Und los geht's!
ELARA SUNSTREAK BAND - Vostok 1 (2021)
Ein hoher Schrei hallt durch Gotham City. Robin kann es nicht fassen! Das muss er sofort über Batsapp mit dem Bat-Mobile an Batman schicken! Süddeutsche Psychpiraten haben sein Signal gekape... nee, Moment! Alles in Ordnung, der Bat-Scheinwerfer funzt noch. Ist ja nur der Mond, auf den die sich projiziert haben.
Das erklärt dann ja auch den Weedgeruch und die Stonerrockgeräusche. Und die Causa Sui-Gitarrenlicks. Und den eher aus Atmosphäre als auf Angeberei fokussierten Seventies-Prog.
In so einer von der Elara Sunstreak Band erfüllten Nacht passieren den Kosmos biegende Dinge. Im Orbit parkt ein orgelförmiges Raumschiff. Die Tür geht auf und Jim Morrison sagt: "Moin, ich hab Appetit auf elektrischen Aal."
Der Marktschreier möchte "hier!" brüllen, aber er darf ja nicht, wegen Corona und so. Komisch eigentlich, denn die baden-würtembergischen Sonnenstreichler rufen so inbrünstig über ihre Riffs, dass man es bis Wladi-Vostok hört. Naja, geht Jim eben einen Orangen Oktober trinken. On ice. Und in space to go natürlich.
Vier Tracks auf zwei LPs (bzw. einer CD), erschienen auf Sulatron Records, präsentiert uns die Elara Sunstreak Band auf "Vostok 1". Mal verträumt, mal hymnisch, mal im Äther schwebend, mal heavy durchs Kraut stampfend, aber immer dem Songwriting die Oberhand über den verlockenden endlosen Sternentrip gewährend, lässt das Trio die über siebzig Minuten Spielzeit vergehen, ohne dass irgendwann Langeweile aufkommt.
Ganz schön große Nummer. Nur das Cover finde ich schon ein bisschen cheesy, haha. Fehlt nur noch, dass ET mit dem Fahrrad vorübersilhouettet.
One aspect in which this year's Roadburn Reduxbarely differs from regular editions of the festival is that the review aftermath of it in my blog continues forever. Or at least until next April.
Ok, that's admittedly highly speculative, since there are still a couple of months to go until then. But at the moment I'm still waiting for the last items I bought from the virtual merch table to arrive. And of course there's the debut album of one of the biggest Redux discoveries, Trialogos.
TRIALOGOS - Stroh Zu Gold (LP) (2021)
Trialogos to noone's surprise is a trio. It consists of Conny Ochs, Sicker Man and Kiki Bohemia, or in other words: three seasoned musicians, of whom I previously had a little, none and even less knowledge. A mistake, as this record screams.
With a very wide array of sounds originating in the usual rock intrumentation plus analog synthesizers, cello, electronic beats, dictaphone tapes, autoharp, lap steel guitars and more, "Stroh Zu Gold", just like its Roadburn premiere, takes you on an exciting and more than once surprising journey. Especially given that most of this music dwells on very simplistic ideas, their execution and the stylistic bandwidth of the eight tracks turns this album into a very unique and quite outstanding kaleidoscope of experimental psychedelic music.
Ambient atmospheres, robotik krautrock, longing balladic tones, bluesy guitars, noise and devastating drone, the Far East meeting European classic, swansy no wave riff force and "Batdance" almost being a "Knight Rider" tribute. Trialogos play it all. And when you finally think that there couldn't possibly be added another thing to the mix, you realize that seven tracks being instrumentals doesn't mean, that they can't do it like Sunn O))) and Ulver on "Terrestrials" and send you off with some smooth Brendan Perry (Dead Can Dance) vocals. It's safe to say that even though everything before is already amazing the finale "Wellenreiter" lifts the whole work into an even higher level of memorableness.
If you had to categorize "Stroh Zu Gold" it would technically fit best into the wide definition of psychedelic rock, yet while it surely displays joy of performing music, it also has that kind of experimentalism, perfectionalism and serious artisticedge to it, which sets them apart from your usual psychedelic rock band and which rather reminds me of Einstürzende Neubauten.
Trialogos created a peak creative album. Its production is perfect. And it also looks good.
In short: There's nothing left to be desired, I'm digging everything about this.
And of course, in case you haven't already done so - watch the Roadburn video:
Fuck yeah, here we are again! Just a couple of weeks after them playing "Nothingface" in full, Voivod just presented another stream from their Hypercube, this time dedicated to the previous album classic "Dimension Hatröss".
In itself this isn't quite as big as a deal as the last streaming event, since that album had been performed live before, most notibly of course in Tilburg in 2012, which started my own whole Roadburn Festival history, which led to countless doors to rabbit hole after rabbit hole opening...
This was still more than just worthwhile to watch though, because again the performance and production were just amazing. With all "Dimension Hatröss" songs having been in their setlists before, the band played even more seasoned and confident, while the filming and video production also stepped up a notch. But above all the sound, man! The sound was just crazy good again. It's no exegarration to say that these tracks have been heard so clearly and powerful before.
This time there was just one break in the middle of the album, in which Snake told the story of old gear boxes, which were stored at Jason Newsted's studio since the last Ozzfest show of the Jasonic era line-up in 2003. One guitar crate of the great late Piggy felt like a time capsule and included two still working space toy weapons.
In the live performance these two guns reappeared when Voivod played that one song they had switched against "Jack Luminous" at Roadburn eleven years ago, the "Hatröss" CD version bonus track, their infamous cover version of the good old "Batman" theme. Big fun including the fitting video projections.
Once again the Canadian sci-fi thrash legends made the absolute most of this whole streaming world we are (almost) all still living in. Should all these Hypercube Session be released as one Blu Ray/CD bundle or something similiar one day, that might just be not only the ultimate nostalgic release for old fans, but a great place to start the Voivod journey for beginners.
Ach, nur der Vollständigkeit halber und nicht, dass ich es vergesse... Ich habe da doch neulich einen Downloadcode für einen kleinen Sampler abgeerntet.
WEEDIAN - Trip to Germany (Sampler) (Download) (2021)
Weedianbringt davon aktuell eine ganze Reihe raus, Es ist immer eine Handvoll der besten Tracks der Genres Desert Rock / Stoner Metal / heavy Psych / Space Rock etc. aus jeweils einem Land.
Argentinien, Norwegen, Polen, Italien, Schweden waren bisher dran.
Und in dieser kurzen Sammlung findet sich halt Zeugs aus dem zugedeutschten Dröhnland. Kann man gut mal durchhören, wenn man zwischendurch mal ein paar Minuten Zeit hat. Lange Stücke gibt's in diesen Stilrichtungen ja eher selten.
Leah Buckareff und Aidan Baker aka Nadja räumen auf Bandcamp gerade ihre durch Liveaufnahmen, Kooperationen, Splits etc. überbordene Diskographie auf und sortieren sie auf unterschiedliche Kanäle. Ob's helfen wird, den enormen Output des in Berlin lebenden Duos zu überschauen? Keine Ahnung.
Dass dieses neue Album allerdings zu den wichtigeren A-Veröffentlichungen zählen muss, erkennt man schon daran, dass es nicht auf dem eigenen Label, sondern mit größerer Reichweite via Southern Lord erschienen ist.
Und dann gibt es natürlich noch die japanische CD-Version auf Daymare, für die ich mich entschieden habe.
NADJA - Luminous Rot (Daymare CD) (2021)
Die musikalische DNA von Nadja bleibt nach wie vor von einem gewaltigen Einfluss Justin K. Broadricks durchdrungen, vereint das Duo in seinem Gemisch aus dröhnendem Sludge/Drumcomputer-Industrial-Metal und unscharf verwaschenem Shoegaze doch beinahe alle Phasen, die jener mit Godflesh und Jesu durchlebt hat.
Doch "Luminous Rot" - ein Titel, den ich Schlauberger schon vor Bestätigung durch ein Interview als Wortspiel mit der englischen und deutschen Doppelbedeutung von "rot" erkannt habe -, hat noch etwas anderes an sich, das es von dem mit bisher bekannten Teil des nadjaschen Outputs absetzt, was ich aber zunächst nicht bestimmen konnte.
Klar, insbesondere der depressive Überrunterzieher "Cuts On Your Hands" und der Stampfer "Fruiting Bodies" prügeln mit enormer Nachhaltigkeit ihre Mörderriffs in den Hörer hinein, doch gerade der an sich schon beinahe geflüsternd unverständlich wirkende Gesang hat doch irgendwie sehr effektive Ohrwurmqualitäten. Hier brauchte ich tatsächlich Hilfe durch ein Interview, in dem Baker, die letzten stark industrialgetränkten Alben der Psychedelic-Rocker White Hills gepriesen hat, um zu erkennen, dass er hier wirklich sehr nach deren Dave W. klingt.
Im Grunde interpretieren Nadja den Ansatz von "Splintered Metal Sky" hier in einer weniger zweizimmerapartmenthaften und dafür wesentlich größeren, schwereren und substanzielleren Form.
Auch die durchschnittliche Tracklänge von acht Minuten ist natürlich wuchtiger als der Schnitt der letzten White Hills-Alben, für die Verhältnisse von Nadja (man denke nur an die vierzigminütige Roadburn Redux-Performance von "Seemannsgarn"; jetzt HIER nachzuschauen!) allerdings eher kompakt, geradezu hitsinglehaft geraten.
Bleibt natürlich noch die Frage zu klären: Warum die japanische CD-Pressung? Und die Antwort darauf ist wie in so einem Fall üblich: exklusiver Bonustrack, den man auch nicht auf der regulären Downloadversion bekommt.
Mit über neun Minuten Länge hat "Ketene" dabei nicht nur reine Quantität zu bieten, sondern ist wirklich ein A-Klasse-Stück und großartiger Abschluss eines insgesamt annähernd perfekten, schwermütig dichten und vorzugsweise ultralaut zu genießenden Meisterstücks maximalbrutal erdrückender Introspektive.
Kurz nach dem rein digitalen Release "Evans City" hat das pennsylvanische Synthwave-Duo Zombi wieder eine anfass- und auflegbare EP rausgebracht.
Diese versteht sich dann auch mehr als Gegenstück zum letztjährigen Studioalbum "2020" und ist nach ähnlicher Formel entstanden.
ZOMBI - Liquid Crystal (Sky Blue vinyl 12" EP) (2021)
Demnach ist also auch hier neben dem Stamminstrumentarium aus Synthesizern, Bass und Drums wieder viel Gitarre zu hören. Kompositorisch sind Basslinien und Keyboardmelodien hier allerdings in den meisten Stücken wichtiger. Nur der heavy schleichende Longtrack "Turning Points" wird durch die konsequent monoton strummende Gitarre im besten Sinne heruntergezogen und am Ohr festgenagelt.
Im abschließenden "Black Forest" schwebt die Sechssaitige dafür wechselnd mit umso erhabenerer Anmut und mit funkigem Esprit über den Dingen.
Vom Aufbau her erinnert mich diese EP an das Album "Escape Velocity", was ich als gutes Omen werte, ist jenes doch das Zombi-Werk, welches ich am häufigsten auflege. Dabei hat es nicht einmal zwingend die beste Musik, jedoch eine ideale Portionierung, die kurzweilig bleibt und am Ende Lust auf mehr lässt.
Das ist auf "Liquid Crystal" ähnlich, wobei durch die durchschnittlich kürzere Titellänge das bereits erwähnte "Turning Points" noch mehr als dramatischer Mittelpunkt heraussticht.
Im Vergleich zu "2020" muss ich sagen, dass mir "Liquid Crystal" klar besser gefällt. Hier bleibt für mich einfach noch mehr noch zwingender hängen, die EP macht einen noch frischeren Eindruck auf mich.
Dazu trägt vielleicht auch das klar schönere Artwork bei. Und ein beim Abspielen so hübsch chrom-regenbogig funkelndes Label fehlte mir bisher auch in der Plattensammlung.
