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Elektronaschlag #8


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Elektronaschlag #8 Altenburg 30/31/03.07

Elektroanschlag, the eighth edition, and well... machines spoke once again propelled by imagination, sensitivity and invention of the invited artists. the festival lasted for two days – Friday and Saturday - seventeen projects presented their output and let me state it at the very beginning, it was a really exceptional event... as Carroll once wrote "Take care of the sense, and the sounds will take care of themselves" and as for me that's how most of it worked – the artists surely had something to say so the music they presented was simply amazing and what's more meaningful. .. with its originality, brilliant settings and general impression it made.. but let's proceed...

The festival was started by the project THE_EMPATH, which we didn't see for we were late (I know... don't say it:) the_empath aka Mike Erkau has been creating music since 1993 and his output oscillates somewhere at the borders of ambient, electronic and industrial with addition of samples and strong visual backup. http://www.myspace.com/theempath http://www.empath.erkau.de/

CERVELLO ELETTRONICO
http://www.cervelloelettronico.com
http://www.myspace.com/cervelloelettronico

Fortunately, we had a chance to watch/experience/listen to the nest concert, namely the one of CERVELLO ELETTRONICO – the name means 'electronic brain'. the project was established by David Christian aka Snarf. Influenced by the 80's CE creates a kinda cocktail of power noise, EBM and techno.
As I said the concert was a real sonic blast: fabulous combinations of sounds that 'click' on the spot; hard hitting and yet dancy and energetic. We were fell into a delicate trance and I must say it was a ravishing feeling: quite a treat for the lovers of dynamism in un-controllable, un-repeatable and un-usual version. For me it was a cascade of sounds of pig iron, rumbling background and beat that built up the tension of thrilling melodies. Just a blade in your brain – what's the feeling, check for yourselves, the recent album's name is "Negate The Instigator"
Setlist: Intro, Plastic Face, Asphyxiate, Negate The Instigator, Drop The Bomb, Rock Your Cage, Stolen Memories

TALVEKOIDIK
http://www.myspace.com/talvekoidik

unit299_09 of s.k.e.t. created something completely of his own under the name of Talvekoidik. The music he plays is quite different from what you may hear at e.g. "Baikonur"; it's far more hypnotic, slow, meditative and emotional, coming from somewhat deeper layers and making impression, namely of silencing, concentration and disappearing within sounds. I'd say it's music of a search (and not necessarily for 'vast perhaps':). What you may feel while listening is invigoration and yet some sort of monastic concentration, at times it's like looking into the abyss. The music is very beautiful and if you let it reach you, you may expect great effect. All in all, the output seems to me as the one where the saying "music starts where words end" is completely applicable.
As to visualizations that accompanied the concert it was a set arranged to interchange the images of modern city and a desert, all based on contrast, so it pictured the way music developed very nicely.
Setlist: rough baltic shore, eismeer, sandstorm,atlas, goodbye of the certainty, silent reflections, power of eclecticism

FRAGMENT KING
http://www.myspace.com/fragmentking
http://www.nexialist.com

Next, Fragment King appeared on the stage afterwards could make you think of Idiot Saint Crazy if you still remember that concert at WIF06'. The music is noise kept on quite a long leash, irregular, smashing sounds, infiltrating deep down you brain and then rambling there mercilessly (and at times giving you painful raps). It's not the music you would call consumer friendly if I may speak openly, but I suppose it's not the case, it's more about astonishing, shocking (a snake-monkey effect:) and then ramming with the flood of sounds. So that's how I felt after the gig – as if after a close contact with a steamroller.

SONIC AREA
http://www.myspace.com/sonicarea
http://audiotrauma.music.free.fr

But the help in a form of balsamic music was on the way and the project Sonic Area started his gig. SA was formed in 1997 and since then he was creating a music being an experiment on reality where every sound is treated separately and reflects duality.
For me the concert was interesting for the change of sonic wave approaching the audience with a capricious pace, leaving impression either of indefatigable energy or threat and destruction. A bit of the usual techniques like a changeable trance blended with an add of original samples and inverted passages plus dynamically unfolding musical story altogether gave a very fine effect. Especially that the artist himself seemed to be captured in some sort of trance that released his creative forces.

DETRITUS
http://www.endogenous.co.uk/biog.htm
http://www.myspace.com/detritusdave

The gig of Detritus was the one that got my ears/eyes/attention completely. The project was formed in 2002 when the demo "Martyr", being a result of industrial/drum n bass, was released. Next publishings were another demo "Sense" and the first album "Conjugate"- a split with Antigen Shift. The concert was an explosion of dynamic melodies totally deprived of vocal part, rich in original arrangements, vibrant and highly catchy fragments which made the audience move. The whole was interwoven with trance melodies that gave the material of Detritus music power to hit senses of every possible side.
Setlist: Desolate (5-htp Mix), Collide, Detrimental, Inside Blue Ice, Interrupted, Day One, U(s), Fragments, Melting Snow

CATHOLIC BOYS IN HEAVY LEATHER
http://www.roger-rotor.ch/catholic
http://www.myspace.com/catholicboysinheavyleather

After the sonic feast there was a change of settings as it was time for CATHOLIC BOYS IN HEAVY LEATHER gig. While describing the two-men project it's hard to skip its visual aspect. It's in the specific style of the 80's, precisely arranged and chosen: black leather, flat caps, chains, megaphones and police transceivers. The show seemed to entertain the audience a lot and the version of "Daddy Cruel" evoked mass enthusiasm, but, well, what can I say, I'm not up to such stylistics and moreover my noise resistance limits are still located somewhere low... far too low for the said gig. So I escaped to the other hall to look through the new releases and lazy around in a less destructive manner...And to collect my strengths to the nest concert which was the one by

AH CAMA-SOTZ
http://www.myspace.com/ahcamasotzbatsandcats
http://ahcama-sotz.com

This concert was the crown of the first day of the Fest. Ah cama-sotz is a project that gets inspirations from many sources, e.g. mythology, occultism or bloody history, while musically from electronic, ambient and techno. We had a chance to experience a dancy qualities of Ah Cama-sotz music during Wroclaw Industrial Festival 06', but Herman Klapholz accompanied by Sal-Ocin of Empusae achieves a totally different quality. Extras in the form of rhythmically (and fast) beating side drums added dynamism and power to the music, they also strengthened the impact of the sounds so as a result it was very hard to keep from dancing (not that I would try:). Fast, dancy pace, the beat that was regulating and polishing the melodies surface, samples and the music being a combination of gloomy soundscapes and dance floor madness enchanted me to the core.
Trance, catchy stream: music that flew through our brains without a single break and stimulated our addition in which we have been stuck hopelessly since "Terra Infernalis". The Mexican bat smashed us off the ground where we try to remain bravely up to the encore (and encore was, ha! " hungrr-ah" of course, it's good I spared some energy for that moment:). Setlist: lustt, har-rhem, exxtrrminate (my way to heresy 2005 ce-mix), deo gratias, estigmas, the blood is red, corridors of the unseen (slowmovingorientalmix), nachtzehrer, armitangosh, your darkest soul, thermonuclear, hungrr-ah

As we didn't even look like living people after the gig had finished we resigned of an after party and dragged to our festival lair, poor destroyed party animals:)


SATURDAY 31.03.2007

100BLUMEN
http://www.myspace.com/100blumen
http://www.100-blumen.de

The second day of the festival was a continuation of energetic antics: the first project – 100blumen - provided a mass attack of sounds whose intensity was bearable only for caustic industrial lovers. Well, we bore it, what's more we were delighted. The contrast was really fine – at the side of the table there was a pot, inside the pot there were flowers and out of the machines the music hell straight from the ninth circle of noise was creeping out. It doesn't mean the music lacks dynamism or dancy elements – there are to be found in the music of 100blumen, just they're not that obvious.
Setlist:
flowers-capitalism 1:0, a las barricadas, flagburner, mystic of foambath, taliban, barricades, punk was..., what kind of man are you, enduring freedom

NULLVEKTOR vs. MC1R
http://www.bodyfunk.de/nullvektor
http://www.mc1r.de
http://www.myspace.com/mc1r

The performance number two was the one of NULLVEKTOR vs. MC1R - the first is Stefan Böhm, who also plays in Pzychobitch, S.I.N. A and in the past was a member of Mono No Aware, while the second – MC1R - is tEuToN (ruler). Everything clear, right?:) And now seriously: their show was one of the best during the Festival – sparkling with energy and dancy beats so we were completely devastated after it ended. Very pleasant feeling.
The whole was developing in a form of a dialogue between the two artists and it was rather violent artistic expression.

STROPS
http://www.myspace.com/stropslv

Strops was formed in 1998. the manifesto of the project is to break the domination of the media that infect human brains.
Their concert at Elektroanschlag consisted of making sounds (hitting pipes?), electronic melodies plus a moderate image. Effect? Slightly chaotic sounds running wild, crossed by samples (e.g. TV news), beats and industrial sounds that created the atmosphere of threat.

TWINKLE
http://www.myspace.com/twinkleaudiotrauma
http://audiotrauma.music.free.fr

Twinkle, is a project whose members are Yves Cornu and JB LeDuc. Their concert followed the energetic and dynamic path which was actually a prevailing manner of the Fest. The author appeared wearing body make-up (black with the straps where body wasn't covered with paint; it made an impression of a lace pattern reflected on human skin) which image made me think of T.Baginski's film "The Cathedral" (actually the moment the hero is consumed by the cathedral). But that was only a moment: the concert was not about meditation, but about energy and overpowering magic of dynamic sounds, so we allowed the music to take control. The music of Twinkle is wild and uncontrollable, I can't imagine a leash that would keep it from kicking and biting. It's vibrations were overwhelming and the sounds were moving to and fro in such a wicked pace we felt dazzled. Real feast of distorted, capricious sounds with given by inspired shaman.
Setlist:
1 Introduction 2 La dictée (processing industry_audiotrauma006) 3 Le passage (rythm for decay_infekted sound) 4 Les voix contaminées* 5 Les passages oubliés (compilation Elektroanschlag n°3) 6 Ton style* 7 Interdiction absolue (processing industry_audiotrauma006) 8 Tu as perdu (processing industry_audiotrauma006) 9 Twinkle Star* 10 La danse du bruit (processing industry_audiotrauma006)
* (the title isn't definitive. Tracks unreleased for the moment. Tracks present on "Le jouet" in september 2007.)

ZERO DEGREE
http://www.zero-degree.de

Zero Degree played good, energetic concert, however, it lack some kind of a 'divine sparkle' to attract my attention for longer. It's just a piece of dancy music, but I wouldn't set fireworks to appraise it. At least not yet.

THE INCREDIBLE THREE

three musicians who presented some sort of 'six hands (plus one naked male torso:)' show. Musically it stuck to the convention of "EA8" - lively, energetic and dynamic, so we had fun during the concert.

ESPLENDOR GEOMETRICO
http://www.geometrikrecords.com
http://www.myspace.com/esplendorgeometrico

EG are real giants, they've been present on the scene since 1978, and their roots reach back the beginnings of Spanish industrial scene. The history of the band is quite changeable, there were times it existed as a duo or trio, but the music they create is unforgettable, which definitely is the cause for many artists searching for inspiration in their artistic output.
As to their concert at EA 8, it was a performance whose power could be compared to the destructive forces of a tornado...I felt similar when I first saw Ministry playing live – it was a sonic shock, and the reaction was amazement, disbelief and then enchantment. enough to say the sounds the vocalist produced made some of us wonder if reaching such a register is possible and stood in amazement thinking of the dramatic and incredible effect that was achieved by means of the vocal power.
Not to mention that the vocalist jumped into the crowd at some point, imagine what the reaction was.
The music, though it was a background to the vocalist performance, was highly penetrating and acute.
the asks for encore weren't listened to and another project appeared on the stage, namely:

HEIMSTATT YIPOTASH
http://www.myspace.com/heimstattyipotash
http://www.heimstatt-yipotash.de

H Y played on the final of EA 8 and it was another music dialogue. Two gentlemen – as the name suggests – Heimstatt and Yipotash – let us know what dynamically running industrial is all about. It was a lethal dose, I must admit, a poison whose constituents were great sonic battles, chaotic, distorted passages and energetic melodies. Add to it quickly changing images as a visual part and you'll get the general image of the concert which all in all was very interesting.

And so that's how the eight edition of Elektroanschlag - an event centred round ambitious, intelligent music for the demanding (and noise resistant) ended. We're looking forward to what comes next.

http://www.elektroanschlag.de

The text published under permission of yesternight.pl


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Translator: khocico
Add date: 2007-04-05 / Live reports


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