The Temple of Godpipo

Lets talk Experimental or Music:
  Once upon a time I wrote reviews for the webzines Gothtronic and Mal-occhio, but that was a long time ago as things happend between Gothtronic and myself. Things which I don't want to talk about anymore have happened in the past, but they wheren't pretty, merry and very pleasant to be a part off.  In the later days I have placed all of reviews for Gothronic and Mal-occhio on this weblog so there always will be place for them on the World Wide Web. These days I created a new platform for Experimental Music, because I hate sitting doing nothing and just listen to music. Visit us on the only entirely Dutch platform for Experimental music, visit us on Schaapswrak!

And as there can be only one, only one review, only one love. Love under will, love as the law. We never Capitulate, we are Sheepwreck!

The Legendary Pink Dots - ancient daze

When we have to think of a very productive band, The Legendary Pink Dots spring to mind right away. They released a lot of albums in the twenty-five years of their existence and besides the regular Pink Dot-albums the individual band-members also created a nice pile of solo-albums. These days it’s near impossible to own a complete collection of Pink Dot-albums. Especially when you just recently got acquainted with their music, but not to worry. A lot of their albums have been re-released or old tracks appeared on other albums. So maybe it’s impossible to collect The Legendary Pink Dots it certainly is possible to own a ruff selection of the musical history of the band.

Ancient Daze isn’t a new album of The Pink Dots either. It’s a collection of tracks released in the very first days of the band. Very old track one can say, a few tracks of Chemical Playschool 1+2 and a lot of tracks from only dreaming, completed with some unreleased tracks. In other words, the early history of The Legendary Pink Dots is present on this album. The only problem with this album are the tracks itself. The Chemical Playschool-cassettes aren’t the most interesting pieces of music to have in your collection, neither is Only Dreaming. The tracks don’t posses the glare and depth the later Pink Dots-tracks have. So Ancient Daze doesn’t got it either, although is nice that there is finally an album with tracks from the early days. Tracks that were impossible to add to the collection because these cassettes are long out of print, but I can’t say there is much need in finding them.

To say it frankly I don’t get exited from Ancient Daze although I love the music of The Pink Dots. Maybe it would have been better if these tracks had never seen the light of day again. Just to let them be buried in the remains of ancient history. It’s nice to hear the first notes and songs of The Legendary Pink Dots once in your lifetime, but I don’t think one would listen to them ever again.

For Gothtronic

Death in June - when we hace each other we have everything

Not to worry, this isn’t yet another new release of Death in June. “When we have each other, we have everything” is the re-release of the classic album “The Wall of Sacrifice” and I can say this re-release is rather beautiful. The tracks are polished and remastered to give the original recordings a warm lovely sound and added a long out of print single to give the album a nice length. On its own this already should be enough for a real treat but there is more. The cd was given an extra piece of flair in the form of a DVD which features one of the very first performances of Death in June.

In those early days the band consisted of Douglas Pierce, Patrick Leogeas (Sixth Comm/Mother Destruction) and Tony Wakeford (Sol Invictus). In this setting they stood at the cradle of the Neo-Folk movement as we know it today. With the ending of Crisis the men started all over again with a new band with a totally new sound. Where Crisis sounded like a classic punk-band, Death in June in these early days sounded like militaristic wave. Death in June had his rough edges, but edges that were very pleasing for the ears.

“The Wall of Sacrifice” is one of the first live-albums that was released in the lengthy musical career of Death in June. It was and still is an album that can compete easily with the regular studio-albums, the well-known tracks were poured in a live setting and stand like a house. Twenty years after the first release tracks as “Till the Living Flesh is burned” or “Heaven St.” still sound fresh and rock like never before.

The added DVD got a more nostalgic value. The images aren’t of the greatest quality and the sound isn’t that great either but it is great to see how a classic band as Death in June looked like in their earliest days. The venue in which they performed is pretty empty but the band seems to have fun in performing. The interaction between the members just is great fun to look at. This DVD is a nice extra but not really interesting for the people not familiar with Death in June. It is more something for the collectors of Death in June material. But who cares, it’s all about the music and that’s great as ever.

For Gothtronic

Alan Sparhawk - solo guitar

“Do you want to hear the solo-album of Alan Sparhawk?” Alan Who? “Alan Sparhawk, the guitar player of minimal popband Low and these days also known as member of angst-ridden blues orientated The Black-eyed Snakes.“ I had never heard of either bands, never found a note played by one of them the time to tickle my eardrum. And there I was, finding myself in the unique position to listen this album without any biased presumptions. Yes, let me listen this album of Alan Sparhawk.

The album is called “Solo guitar” and for a guitar-player this is a very hazardous name. Solo guitar, in my opinion, can only lead to a person playing boring and endless pieces of guitar music. An instrument on which these musicians seems to be interested in showing their skill in playing pieces which sound difficult but are nothing more than a load of boredom. In my opinion all solo-guitar pieces with the intension to make an album is not a good idea, especially not if the guitar player resides in a popband.

But Sparhawk was careful enough not to go down the same pitfalls as his predecessors did before him. His “solo guitar” is originate more on an experimental base then the basic showing-of-the-skills you would expect. Through the possibility of loops and reverb he entwined his music into drone-like pieces of music. A fair goal, but there is a slight problem. The entire album is improvised and therefore recorded in just one take. This makes it nothing more then a live-album of Sparhawk touching his guitar. Maybe it all was in the studio, but still it was recorded in one take and there we also find the flaw within the album. I would be the last to deny Sparhawk’s potential in making great music or even lacking the knowledge to make beautiful drone-based music, but this album can’t even be compared with the real genius of drone musicians. Alan Sparhawk certainly can play a nice pop of music, but when it comes to making experimental guitar music it’s better if puts some effort into re-working his recordings. “Solo guitar” just misses the tension I like to hear in drone-based music and beside a piece like “How the freighter comes into the harbor” it made me fall asleep with boredom.

on Gothtronic

Blumen des Exotischen Eises - karawane der mystiks

Have you ever received a recommendation for hospitalisation? Just a great sounding advice to go living separated from the normal world. Maybe for a few months having the possibility to find yourself again in creative therapy and group sessions. Filling your days with tinkering with clay, paper and music instruments. It sounds like a lot of fun, but I don’t think you have ever received such an offer. Neither did I and I presume a man like Alfred Ottensteatter is still a sane man in his own way and isn’t hospitalised somewhere right now.

That is, when we don’t listen to his music. When we hear the sounds he produced you might think it’s possible he was hospitalised for a few moments in his life. It’s possible and I don’t mean this with any disrespect, more like a compliment. I found the re-issue of Blumen des Exotischen Eises Karawane der Mystiks on my door mat. My mailman probably didn’t know what was inside the envelope otherwise the whole story could have a different ending, but I was in luck that day. I found a envelope on the door mat and I discovered the music of Blumen des Exotischen Eises.

In 1986 Alfred Ottensteater released the album Karawane der Mystiks through his label Dead Eye Records in print of 100 vinyl copies. It contained music which originated through spontaneity in playing, different instruments and a lot of overdub. Just a few song where recorded with the help of friends, in all the other Ottensteatter is the one wielding the instruments. Blumen des Exotischen Eises sounds like the world is dumped in an eastern mental institution. A situation preferred above what we where doing before we heard this kind of music. There is no possibility to go back to the normal state of being, for ever you’ll find yourself in the world resembling the paintings of Adolf Wölffi. The world of a genius, but only reachable by diving completely in to let the genius lead you by hand without questioning. It’s a good thing this re-issue is made.

Maybe Karawane der Mystiks isn’t something a lot of people would appreciate, I even dare to say that most people would run screaming when hearing the music. But when you’re into strange, krautrock-like and improvised music this album is a God, the Godfather of all Improvised Music. Let us bow in it’s presence.

on Gothtronic

The Missing Ensamble - hidden doors

As I walk through the room two Victorian dresses ladies look in my direction and start whispering between each other. I don’t think there is much good on their minds as I notice the deformed almost claw-like hands. Nothing but terrible deformities on arms and hands, as the girls are beautiful in their dresses. I pick up a book, thin in its shape nevertheless important by content. Two stories about doors, lost doors, hidden doors. The characters dance in front of my eyes. I can’t concentrate on the contents. The book falls to the floor as I penetrate the room even further.

A door opens in front of me. A hidden door I wonder as I step over the floor of sound. A lengthy drone keeps my footsteps find firm ground each time I take a step. Far away in the distance I hear music. Cheerful music like a carnival far away in a town somewhere. Or maybe the Victorian ladies found an orchestra willing to play for them. It sounds cheerful, cheerful but always on a distance. I start walking in the direction of the music but it’s never getting any closer. I find nothing except another door. Again I find myself in a room. It’s filled from top to bottom with clocks, a room obsessed with time. The time it takes to walk through, the time to stand still. The ticking of the clocks fills the space and I start thinking they are communicating with each other. Talking about me on a way I can’t understand. A dismal squeaking sound travels from on side to the other and back again as the endless ticking continues. As I’m standing there it frightens me and I start running. I race through the room followed by the ticking of the clocks and their communication. Suddenly I fall through the next door.

Yet again an open space in front of me. It’s a room for moths. An endless supply of moths, moths are covering the walls, the ceiling and some even crawl over the floor. There wings rustle and with a load flapping sound they take to the air. I walk gently through the room. Careful setting my feet on the ground so I don’t step on a moth. The sound of the moths comforts me; their rustle and flapping give me a warm feeling. I proceed into the room, penetrating the space with my presence. Without warning the moths catch fire. Flames are everywhere as the scorched remains drift down. More and more moths catch fire. In panic the fly everywhere to get away from the fire. But it is all in vein, the flames devourer as the ashes fall on my head and body. My tears mix with the ashes leaving stripes of black on my cheeks. The tears and ashes start making their own sound. The sound of a new room, a new door.

The missing Ensemble are responsible of these eerie thoughts as I listen to their album “Hidden Doors” A beautiful album seen from all perspectives, the cover with a painting of Ray Ceasar.The small book with two stories tucked inside and especially the music of The Missing Ensemble. This is something for every fan of drones, microsounds en soundscapes. It’s really beautiful enough to bring tears to your eyes.

on Gothtronic

Dustmuffin & the aluminimun Cans - essential recordings 1984 - 2001

Call your band something like Dustmuffin & the Aluminum Cans and I’ll bet you will have my personal attention in no time. It’s a name that stands for fun, humour and a attitude that does care shit about what people think. Off course we have to question ourselves if I would like your music, but I can say that Dustmuffin passes even this test without worries. He gives the world strange minimal wave with waltzes, Moogs and dysfunctional lyrics. Lyrics about creeping and crawling things called The Crumbs, the niceness of the Hiphop-heart of Dustmuffin, the United States of America and feelings made possible with soup. To make it easy we can say the entire world of Dustmuffin passes by within forty-five minutes (and a bit more)

Now does the title of the album gives the distinct feeling it’s a collection of songs we are holding in our hands and we couldn’t be more right. The album really is nothing more than a collection of songs by Dustmuffin & the Aluminum Cans. Songs which where recorded between the short period of fifteen years on tapes and wax cylinders, then presumably been destroyed in a fire and recovered again. The story sounds to beautiful not to mention, but because it is nothing more then a collection of songs the album lacks a body. It nothing more than a random collection of songs, and Dustmuffin deserves better. The music is cheer brilliant in it simplicity. Frankly everyone should listen one Dustmuffin song a day, just one track to give the day a bit of more glance. One song to accompany your cornflakes and you go out smiling.

But I’m forgetting the video’s the album is holding. There are moving pictures, little video’s made for five tracks featured on the album. Little specks of happiness one only can see on the computer, but this inconvenience only contributes to the feelings Dustmuffin carries with him and his songs. Sunshine in a cardboard box, cornflakes with a smile on a sunny Sunday morning. The only thing it’s missing is a feeling of consistency, the album isn’t an album and that makes the cornflakes a bit gloomy.

on Gothtronic

Graumahd - cheru

Organs, it always starts wit organs. Sometimes just an accordion, but most of the time it’s an electric organ. As always there must be organs to start with. Hammond would be proud of his legacy or he should be proud. Organs are the perfect beginning for an album. Graumahd is the one who justifies the use of organs again to start an album. It may seem easy to start your album with organs, it may be the right way but what about the rest. The beginning is gone before you know and then the album started, but Graumahd got what it takes. The blast their way into the rest of the album with guitar and organ. Acoustic guitar that is.

Listening to Cheru, the album of Graumahd I expected this would be a band with a respectable discography but could I’ve been misled more by ones sound? This is only the debut-album and what kind of a debut! Graumahd takes us right back to the roots of Neo-folk en beyond. All the way back into the late sixties when the psychedelic folk presented itself to the world. It seem that the members of Graumahd listened a lot to bands like Comus, Magna Carta or Tir Na Nog. Their influences can be found on the debut of Graumahd. Beautiful psychedelic folk mixed with the equally beautiful tradition of German Neo-folk. This album is for the lovers of German Neo-folk. For the lovers of the early years of the folk music and for the lovers of the organ. Beautiful music in the style of the Forseti-albums that everyone loves. The mix of psychedelic and Neo-folk was present long before we knew it, but Graumahd finally let it spring into life. They stand their ground and created a sound in which they can last a lifetime.

on Gothtronic

Various Artists - C21H23NO5: Diacetylmorphin

Diacetylmorphin or to put it in other words Heroin, a addictive substance that brings the user in sort of euphoric state of ecstasy. A state of mind which many people search for and never seem to find. Heroin isn’t something I would like to try and I’ll never will, but besides that it’s also the name of this compilation with power electronic bands I’m holding in my hand. I wouldn’t go as far in saying this collection of music is an ode to greet the dawning of this substance, just the tracks deal about heroin and it’s devastating effects. Sometimes to glorify it in all it’s power and on the other hand to curse it into hell because of these effects. Heroin is what we are listening and therefore all tracks are exclusively for this album, which enhances the exclusiveness of this little precious.

The album starts with two tracks by Tardive Dyskinesia, a German one-man formation specialised in ambient soundscapes brewed from a noisy starting point. Both tracks float through the room like the drugs through your veins. Producing a kind of drowsiness like it wants you to fall asleep while they are nibbling away your ear-drum. De voice of Tardive Dyskinesia possesses the same hypnotic sound which enhances the feeling of relaxation, but the fear remains. Always the fear remains. Music to stay awake!

Atrox & Ms’sM delivered just one track to be featured on this compilation, a track called “14min Delirium” which really last 14 minutes. It seems and sounds to be a ode to ecstasy of heroin. The happy state of being and the music generated with it. A pulsating beat floated from the hands of Atrox and he gave this life with the help of little sounds, squeaks and noises. Especially for this track Ms’sM lent her voice to tell the story of the effects by heroin. It’s become a very clinical track, cold but beautiful.

The Musick Wreckers take off where Atrox dropped the stick. Maybe this is an exaggeration, The Musick Wreckers step in from a totally different direction then Tardive and Atrox & Ms’sM. Where the two first bands expelled in ambient landscapes, The Musick Wreckers try to get some body parts moving. They are the latest incarnation of Thorofon, now I shamefully have to admit I have never heard a note of Thorofon. Therefore I can’t say if there is anything different, any progression, between these two incarnations. But I can say The Musick Wreckers bring enough weight into the discussion to know there must be great. The tracks featured on this compilation are beautiful in their minimalism, electronics and atmospheres. The best tracks this album has to offer us are right here.

And then Leiche Rustikal, this artist also knows how to deliver the goods. He returns at the ambient landscapes started by the first two bands, only he sprinkles a little bit more noise on the cake. Rustikal treads onto familiar paths with his music, with his noise landscapes but the still can kick in with a good punch. Slowly the theme of the album disappears towards the background like the rush of the drugs would slowly fade in your veins. Nothing we will hold Rustikal responsible for, he was there to bring us the joy of music and he succeeds.

To put an end to it we have the formation Control. Personally this formation is the least what this album has to offer. Control is into noise, noise like it was made in the early eighties. Finding the distortion, pull it wide open with the noise generator and it’s blast-off time. It’s hard, misanthropic and very bleak. There is nothing wrong with Control’s sound, but there are artist who’ve done a better job with noise and things like that. Still it’s good ear-music, it just stands out after the ambient landscapes which floated through the room earlier.

on Gothtronic

Karol Schwarz All Stars - Greatest Hits

For some strange reason Poland isn’t know as a country where music is made, looking from a West-European view. Only a handful of Polish bands try to put their albums on our market. Sometimes there is a little example to find which travelled along with a passing truck, is send through mail or reaches the world with the help of the world wide internet. This is naturally a load of crap, the Polish are just as capable of making music as every other inhabitant of this world and it does find it’s way here easily. The only thing is we in West-Europe focus our self rather to stuff coming from the other side of the ocean then look at countries like Poland

For example, Karol Schwarz All Stars. A band formed around the person Karol Schwarz. In this formation they create a combination of dub, country, electronics and ambient. They have been doing this for year now and released quite a few albums. I haven’t got a clue if they are popular in Poland as every review and piece of text I could find was written in Polish. It’s obvious I can’t read any Polish neither do I know anybody in Poland. Yet did the Greatest Hits album of Karol Schwarz All Stars found it’s way to my doorstep, like they where saying “Look here we are, open your eyes for our music!” As it generally the case in Greatest Hits album we got a collection of songs from Karol Schwarz All Stars, already released on various albums

Their music doesn’t really fit any particular category, like I said before it’s a combination of dub, ambient, electronics and country. Not something I usually listen but with some additional mind-expanding substances it turns out to be quite amusing. Karol Schwarz All Stars know how to put the L in lounge. Hold on to your comfy chair, sit back with a beer, something to smoke and just have a relaxing evening with friends. It’s the perfect music to entertain and enhance the atmosphere or just something for listening during the late hours of the night when we’re all alone. The Polish lyrics you just have to take for granted, the voice of Karol Schwarz got enough body to keep us floating in our chair.

on Gothtronic

Geneviéve Pasquier - Lines

Genevieve Pasquier started her career in music in the recently deleted German power-electronics formation Thorofon. Now I wouldn’t pay Genevieve Pasquier much respect with saying Thorofon was the only thing occupying her mind. Her first solo-album “Virgin Thoughts” saw the day of light back in 2003, released as a vinyl only. After this album she set her mind on releasing a single a year, in which “Lines” is the last one in the line.

I’ve got acquainted with the music of Genevieve Pasquier through the split-10" with The Bastards of Love, released last year and pushed in my hands not long after that. The Bastards of Love where on this little piece of vinyl superior in everyway, but still I was impressed with the qualitiy her music possessed. It was a combination of eighties minimal electro, experimental and a pop-like voice. It was without saying refreshing to hear, something new under the musical sky.

“Lines” dates from the same year, again vinyl only and contains like the single released in 2004 three tracks. When I received the single I was under the impression it would be similar to the tracks on the Bastards of Love-split, but to my surprise Lines carries a much greater experimental sound. The title track breathes the minimal atmosphere which fits the voice and thoughts of Pasquier perfectly. It’s got a dance-able feel to it as the surroundings are filled with mild industrial noises. The other side contains two tracks which lean towards the side of power-electronics. Harsh experiments that support the voice of Pasquier as it floats over them. Both these tracks stay on the minimal side, but herein lays the power of Genevieve Pasquier. I dare everyone to disagree with me when I say she is truly one of the great between the German Minimalists.

on Gothtronic