| Gig
Review - Der Blutharsch / Deutsch Nepal / Anenzephalia 14/03/01 |
| Our thanks to Raven Kaldare for this interesting piece, originally written for the Cambridge Goth mailing list. |
| The venue: Slimelight - moved from The
Garage due to concerns about anti-Nazi protestors. Some of the bands - not Deutsch Nepal,
not sure of the others - are known to use some Nazi-esque sentiments in their music,
perhaps as part of the shock tactics of said bands, perhaps as part of the 'expand your
mind and think for yourself' ideas they often push, and perhaps because they are Nazi type
people.1 This is a review of the music that night, not the
politics/whatever behind of the bands, capiche? I must admit I was only there for Deutsch Nepal - I've been a big fan of Lina Baby Doll (who *is* Deutsch Nepal) since I got my first DN album (Benevolence) back in *mumble mumble*, as part of my exploration of other forms of 'dark' music. Anenzephalia I had heard only a small amount of, which was almost pure noise, and didn't grab me at the time. I'd never heard any of Der Blutharsch's music before Wednesday night. I might just say at this point that Slimelight was a good venue for this gig. There were a fair few people there - perhaps around 60 - 100 2 - which for something like this gig I thought was not half bad a turn out at all. Slimelight was able to hold the crowd comfortably. The sound system appeared to be able to produce the required sounds without too much distortion, and the general atmosphere of the place was pretty relaxed. First up was Anenzephalia - two chaps, distorted vocals, and a lot of noise. I was just sipping my first vodka near the bar when they came on, and the first thing one noticed was that one's insides were being 'gently' massaged by the low-frequency rumbling noise that tended to underpin their music. The music they played was far more structured than what I had heard from them previously. In essence, their music that night was a three pronged attack on the audio senses: deep bass noise that thrummed and beat at you like a violent storm, suggestion of structure deep within, but generally chaotic; giant slabs of high-frequency noise which were the audio equivalent of a seizure, which formed a counter point to the low-frequency musical component; and in the middle was the massively distorted vocals of the band members. Fucked if I know what the hell they were saying 3, but I can tell you this: there was some anger. These guys were very angry. No two ways about it, and their music reflected it. A brief break with some nice fill-in music by the DJs (DJ Penguin for the most part, but I'm sure another was in the booth too 4), and then second up was Deutsch Nepal (yay), who started up subtly - have to admit I thought it was someone checking if the mike still worked after Anenzephalia's set, until I turned around and realised that that someone was Lina! DN has an amazing musical style, which involves complex layerings of audio soundscapes, loops and feedback, and is thus usually a far more rich and flowing experience. DN started simple that night: a simple word repeated over and over (which word? I know not - my second beer was in hand), with a gentle droning sound in the background that started as something as ignorable as speaker hum, and then slowly you began to realise it was dominating the performance, at which point other soundscapes could be heard hovering in the periphery, and DN began to weave his magic. DN's performance was more ambient than either Anenzephalia's or Der Blutharsch's, but that is not to say that it wasn't harsh! DN can thread noise into the music weave just as well as any other piece of audio. I mean ambient here in that it flowed around you, gently coaxing you to sway and flow to its inner rhythms, persuading you that is was a good idea to end up piled in the back of the room in a tangled heap of bodies, rather than, say, just walking up to you and kicking you in the head. It also has to be said that DN was drunk, or if not drunk then... well... bloody drunk! 5 Still, I have great respect for anyone that can tell a room full of people who paid money to see him that we're all prostitutes 6 over and over, and then have those same people clap and cheer at the end of his performance. Another brief break, more music supplied by the DJs, time to get another drink, and then Der Blutharsch was on stage. By the crowd's sudden desire to be a little closer to the stage, DB were the band they were here to see 7. And I don't think they were disappointed. DB appears to be a female and male working counter point to each other and the music. 8 The sets were short and sharp, the smoke thick in the air (did I mention the band members appeared to be holding two pieces of wood that were well and truly burning for part of their act?). 9 Alas, I could not understand them (by this stage my ears had all but shut down from the abuse they had received), 10 but I got the impression they were beyond pissed off. Deep thumping bass noise seduced you into a tribal trance, making you more receptive to the harsh powered noise from their music and their vocals - absolutely thrilling. Each set left you shaken, stunned, wanting more. And when the last set was played, the stage lights switched off, that was all you could hear (apart from the high pitch whine in one's ear) - the people in the crowd pleading 'more! more!'. Indeed, I'll take more any day. This review was brought to you by the letters Raven, Tristan, Martin, and by the drunk bitch Fluffymark, who drank the vodka, wouldn't share, squeals like a girl-pig combo on the tube when I have to adjust his weight, and is a total bastard. 11 Editorial Notes 2. Ticket sales and takings indicate in excess of 100, but we're not sure of exact numbers. Suffice to say, we succeeded in breaking even (hurrah!). 3. It was intensely distorted, but the samples from 'THX-1138' (Spielberg's early film along the lines of Brave New World / 1984 - 'increase productivity!') and Pasolini's 'Salo - the 120 Days of Sodom', together with the backing film, may have given some idea of where they were coming from. 4. This wasn't planned beforehand, but I was joined in the booth by DJ Fross, who turned up on the night and asked nicely! 5. Believe me, this was relatively sober by Lina's standards. :-) 6. This was a cover of 'We Are All Prostitutes' by The Pop Group, or so Mike Dando from Con-Dom told me. It appears on the last of the three Deutsch Nepal 'Silence' cassettes on Old Europa Cafe. 7. This was very much the impression we got, and lots of Der Blutharsch CDs were sold on the night. 8. There was also another guy hidden in the fog behind Albin and Martina, providing percussion on various (real) drums among other things. 9. These torches are a regular feature of Der Blutharsch live sets and appear on their gear list for promoters. :-) 10. Ha. Wimp! :-) These ear-damaged comments may give the impression this band is much noisier than it actually is - sounds are mostly manipulated orchestral and vocal samples and real instruments, and lead vocals are completely 'clean'. 11. Erm...no comment. |