Music

Music Review - Bernhard: "Live in New Jersey 2011" (2011)

I owe Bernhard one: he offered that I download this album about a week before its public release date so I could help him write a bit of English-language blurbery to help promote the album. I liked the music so much (full disclosure: that usually happens to me with music Bernhard is involved in) that I suggested I write a clandestine pre-release review and post it on various web sites. Unfortunately, things involving a one-eyed cat, seasonal affective disorder and an obscure, metaphysical concept named "life" happened, and it's now almost a month after "Live in New Jersey 2011"'s wide release. There's still time, right? Right?

So, as it happens, Bernhard Wöstheinrich usually tends to separate his solo output into the monickers Bernhard–ambient electronic music–and The Redundant Rocker–electronic pop. On his live tour down the eastern seaboard of the USA, during which he played live sets in front of physically present audiences and to radio audiences worldwide, his two oft-separate musical styles seem to have merged a bit, to surprisingly pleasing effect. It's ambient pop, so to speak, and "Live in New Jersey 2011" is fit for listening to while lounging on a lazy afternoon, but it's just as appropriate to enjoy during the morning commute.

Daemons: a new musical experiment.

Well, life seems a little slow at the moment, especially when looking at the English version of my blog. The German branch is working out just fine with one or two blog entries a month, at least--even though that's still way less than I'd imagined I'd blog--but it might be time to stock up on a few more English-language posts. I just need to feel like writing, and the split between keeping content pertaining to German politics in German, musical and technological content in both English and German, isn't really helpful at generating written stuff. I'll try, I promise.

So, I'm starting with my new music cycle called Daemons. You can listen to it over on my Bandcamp page, and I'll post a page about it on my web site as well when I find something interesting to write about it. The catch with this album: it's not really an album in itself, but a collection of single-composition albums. So, the first entry, titled "Vepar", is an improvised and heavily treated composition of almost 50 minutes in length. It'll test your endurance and your acceptance of oddly-pitched sounds all the way throughout. I love it. Perhaps I should try to license it for a horror movie soundtrack?

A bit of a music update...

I'd decided in early Februrary that I'd put my music projects on hold for a while. The thought behind this is pretty grim: I'm nearing an age milestone in my life and feel like I still haven't got even the most basic parts figured out (more on that later here or on the German site). Music is still on hold for the most part, but I can't stay away completely completely. So, a little bit of a tally of where things are today:

Music Update: The BW+NH live album is about to actuate.

BW+NH - On the Fluidity of MotionIf you've been paying attention to musical events, you may remember that Bernhard Wöstheinrich and I had played a two-hour concert on Codos Traumreisen at the Dortmund university radio station eldoradio* in December 2010. We'd called it On the Fluidity of Motion, and it turned out to be quite a study on that title. Now it's time for a little update on the fabled release of this show.