Can listen here.
Edition | 2018
Label | RareNoiseRecords
Anguish is simply BRU-TAL! The cover is wonderful and the content addictive. Darla Jackson´s sculpture titled "They creep in... (rust)" is beautiful and is the perfect image for the cover. And now about the content. Yes, Mats Gustafsson is a sax machine and in partnership with Andreas Werliin they have everything we want to hear. I started to pay more attention to the two a few years ago at the Portalegre Jazz Fest, more specifically at the Fire! concert in 2014. Clinging to the fender rhodes without touching a single key and raze the room just with the effect pedals. This was the image I kept of Mats. This concert was undoubtedly one of the best concerts I've ever seen. He is a stage animal and a brutal musician. Back to the record.
Vibrations is the beginning of a well achieved album full of little refinements that announces a high quality experimental hip hop. When I heard Cyclical/Physical the first thing I thought was: how long ago I did not hear a song with lyrics? I've been so entangled in the instrumental scene that hearing someone singing has awakened my senses. A RAP with power in the right measures for a perfect instrumental in backdrop. And it could only be the Andreas Werliin´s drums pulling us into that groove that will not let us be still. Anguish, that gives the title of the album is, for me, the most intimate moment of the record. It led me to my teenager memories when I listening to Ithaka (The Rise and Fall of a Fortune) sitting near my house. I know that Anguish and Ithaka are different universes with decades between them but the feeling was really this. Me. Teenager. Listening to the music with all of my senses! Gut Feeling is “THE” track of this record! What a groove! The voice fits perfectly in every time, in every Mats´s breath, in everything. Will Brooks is a novelty to me, and is a good one. His voice and Mats's saxophone dialogue perfectly and is "Fuck your frail feelings!" that makes us understand this so well.
And there are loops that come for good reasons. An example of this is Brushes for Leah. It's two minutes and thirty-one seconds to recover our breath for what comes next. Healer's Lament makes me travel again. Now to the warmth of my living room, where in silence and with a good glass of wine I hear and absorb the unmistakable spoken word of Gil Scott-Heron. And if a song transports me to this moment then it is only, and only a great track! It's almost eight minutes of perfect tuning among all the musicians: Will Brooks, Mats Gustafsson, Hans Joachim Irmler, Mike Mare and Andreas Werliin. Dew is all about Mats and Andreas! It's the most jazzy track of the album and it shows how perfect this fusion is. A Maze of Decay is the only track that did not cling me. Yes, I went ahead. It is all a matter of taste because quality is not questionable. Wümme is the moment when, at the end of seven minutes and seven seconds (perfect duration for those who are numerology enthusiasts), we press play to hear everything again! An addictive record that forces us to keep our ears attentive and our eyes open. Another album that truly shows me why I really like most of the RareNoiseRecords editions. And if someone says "Oh, I do not like hip hop." you can always shut that person up. How? Get him to hear this!
Credits
Will Brooks (dälek) - vocals, SAMPLR, Eventide/Elektron effect pedals, 1 note on MOOG rogue, 3 notes on grand piano
Mats Gustafsson - tenor saxophone, live - electronics, 3 notes on grand piano
Hans Joachim Irmler - synthesizers, vocals
Mike Mare - guitar, electronics, synthesizer
Andreas Werliin - drums, percussion
Recorded and mixed by Johannes Buff
Assistant Engineer: Jan Wagner
Recorded at Faust Studios
Scheer, Germany July 14 - 19, 2018
Mixed at END NOTE
Bayonne, Basque Country July 23 - 27, 2018
Spiritual counsel - LENNI
Mastered by Michael Fossenkemper
Mastered at Turtle Tone Studios, NYC, NY
All songs composed by Will Brooks, Mats Gustafsson, Hans Joachim Irmler, Mike Mare, and Andreas Werliin
All song published by Mayan Ruins Music (SESAC), Mike Mare Music (BMI),
All lyrics by Will Brooks, Mayan Ruins Music (SESAC) except “Healer’s Lament”
by Kamau Daáood.
Executive Producer for RareNoiseRecords:
Giacomo Bruzzo
Design & Layout by Paul Romano
Sculpture by Darla Jackson
© + ℗ RareNoiseRecords 2018