The world is a rather small place, especially since the age of the internet. Only a few hours before I left home to attend this promising event at Antwerp's cosiest music venue, my American friend and Merchants Of Air colleague Paul sent me a message. "Hey. A buddy of mine is playing in Antwerp tonight, some place called Palazzo." I replied: "Are you fucking kidding me?" Turns out Paul and Brian (Darsombra) go back a long time. So Paul did what good friends do: send Brian a message to tell him I was coming and he'd better put up a good show. You know, stress always works while touring and playing shows in faraway countries.

I grabbed my backpack and closed the door behind me. The weather was great and I was quite early so I decided to ignore the tram and walk to Palazzo. It's only forty-five minutes, the length of an average drone ambient song. Along the way, I saw hundreds of people, extremely unhappy to be sitting in their cars. Some were smoking, others were yelling at their hands free kit and still others were clearly thinking about homicide. This was about to become a magnificent event. It had all the omens to perfection. 

When I arrived at Palazzo, I was greeted by Peter's wife Anja. She was just having a chat with the members of Darsombra so I interfered and introduced myself. We talked for a while and looked around the the lovely garden while VaathV was setting up. Shortly after I set up the table at the door, just as the first audience members walked in. They were pretty much the same people as always at Palazzo, another aspect of the nice and relaxing atmosphere at these miniature events. Among them was Patsker, who is responsible for the great pictures.

Peter told me something extremely cool about this event. Nine years ago, Darsombra became one of the main influences for Ashtoreth. Doing things solo was something that had never occurred to Peter before. The rest is history, Peter became a forerunner and a leader in a massive pool of one-man projects. He also became an inspiration for VaathV, to complete the circle of influence. And yet, none of these three projects sounded the same.

Those aforementioned influences immediately became audible when Vaatv began his set. With candles and incense the gates to the dark and mysterious side of ambient music were opened. A monotonous drone appeared. Maschinenzimmer 412 haunted my brain. Then the artist stood up and picked up his bass. Thick yet minimal riffs began to grind over the drone. The audience became very quiet (except my stupid bloody cunt of a phone, sorry about that).

The gig slowly rippled on. The bass guitar disappeared again and made place of a microphone and deep growls. Little later, new riffs appeared, this time created with the guitar. There were elements of occult drone ambient, industrial noise and funeral doom to be found but the whole thing remained on an immersive and minimalistic level. I was rather impressed, not because I saw a copy of a young Ashtoreth but mostly because I saw another talented young man pick up his equipment and try to make his mark on a massively interesting scene. Excellent opener, no doubt about that. 

After a brief break it was time for Peter himself to blast some tunes into his own living room. For the occasion, he had invited gongist Atma Kripa and violonist/throat-singer Orryelle Defenestrate to join him on this quest. The result was a mesmerizing set of drones, eerie sounds and minimal folk. That gong was huge. Let's just say it doesn't fit into a Renault Twingo. It's a one of a kind instrument that lends itself perfectly to the often haunting sounds of Ashtoreth.

Having a one-man project is one thing but performing in perfect harmony with two other one-man acts comes close to magic and that is pretty much what happened here. The audience was enchanted by the music, perhaps even more so by the warm and immersive atmosphere of the whole thing. The loud and ecstatic applause at the end was not a surprise. This was simply delicious, a living room concert that took everyone in attendance on a mental journey. More please.

Being weird together is one of the most fun thing people can do. Just ask Darsombra who walked to the stage, uttering the words "Let's go be weird." Dressed in white, wearing blue make-up with glitter and delivering the intensity of metal concert, Darsombra seemed to come from a whole different universe (Baltimore, USA). It started rather mystifying, with bells and sounds and noises but it quickly lifted off into a sonic journey through time, space and getting your finger caught between your snares.

While most acts in this scene have a certain seriousness, Darsombra brought humor, adventure and enjoyment. Clearly, these two people have a lot of fun making music together. Their music is love, in the purest sense of the word. Looped rhythms, glam rock guitar licks and geeky synths delivered a whirlpool of sonic joy. People were shaking their heads and I think one of the audience members was having a little dance in the kitchen. 

Thàt's how much fun this gig was. Usually, after a show people saw "great show" or "that was awesome" but after this one, I said "that was a shitload of fun." At one point, Brian actually did get his finger caught between his snares. The snare snapped so he simply left to place another one while Ann gave us a gong solo and a lecture about the mountain in the projection. That being said, that projection was brilliant. Everything was.

After a while, Brian returned and continued the gig, much to the delight of the happy few. When the gig ended, the applause was just as uplifting and joyous as the concert itself was. Even now, twenty four hours later, I'm still humming along with the sparse vocals in the music. This was a remarkable evening with three interesting acts but Darsombra raged right to the very top of my all-time favorite Palazzo gigs. 


Words: Serge
Photos: Patsker

Well, it seems that after a lengthy pauze my personal concert season has kicked off again. It started a few days earlier when newly formed trio performance of Synchyse debuted in a converted garage in The Netherlands, along with the jazzbient duo Minus Pilots (read). Well, actually it started with a fun gig by dub-reggae-house act Fat Freddy's Drop at Ancienne Belgique. But that one was just for fun, not for journalistic reasons.

Then this little thing at Antwerp Music City came up. Ashtoreth invited me and obviously, there was no reason not to go. First of all, it's always nice to see Ashtoreth and Stratosphere perform, both solo and as a cooperative drone-force. Second: I was quite curious about this new Thisquietarmy performance with full band. So off to the legendary AMC we went.

"Sorry, Serge, you're going to hear the same two songs again", Ronald apologized beforehand. And so it was. Stratosphere played 'Desolation' and 'Lesum', which both appear on the splendid 'Collaborations I' album, be it a tiny bit different. That being said, while 'Desolation' showed the classic atmosphere sound, 'Lesum' was almost unrecognizable. After all, music like this is always subject to variation, which is perhaps the exact reason why ambient music is so interesting. Halfway through the track, it was as if Liz Fraser's voice chanted in the background. That was neat, a great example of what you can do with a truckload of effect pedals. In the end, this was pretty much a classic and thus highly enjoyable Stratosphere gig.

After 'Lesum', Ashtoreth took his place behind his pedal-rack and the two artists showed their improvisation skills. It slowly became darker in the Music City, aided by the pulsating drones and the shamanic chants. Now the smell of incense filled the air while we entered the mysterious sonic world of Ashtoreth. Together, they played an excellent variation on 'Breaking down Barriers / Reveiling the Unknown', also from 'Collaborations I'. 

Along with Tomas Järmyr and Aidan Baker, Eric Quach must be one of the hardest working people in the music industry. For thirteen years he has been travelling the world, recording albums and cooperating with others. I see his photos on facebook. A concert here, a recording session with Hypnodrone Ensemble there, travelling the continents. And now, somehow, he managed to find three people who wanted embark on his newest sonic adventure: Thisquietarmy The Band.

Most people in the guitar-drone scene have their own, easily recognizable, sound. Dirk Serries, Aidan Baker, N, and even the two support acts this Tuesday have theirs. So does Thisquietarmy. Over the years I have seen him perform on multiple occasions. Sometimes he simply unleashed his droning demons while on other occasions he added elements from doom and black metal. Yet, it was always Thisquietarmy, spot on. On this Tuesday too, with three guys behind him, playing bass, guitars, drums, Ableton, trombone and trumpet. Yeppers, now dark jazz has been infiltrating the sound of the Canadian.

The result was one of the most explosive gigs I have ever seen this man perform. Eric delivered his well known soundscapes while the band pushed the whole thing forward with a frenzy of doom and sludge metal. Thisquietarmy has become Thisoverwhelmingstampede, a massive sludge doom beast that can put its foot next to acts like Yob, Ufomammut and AmenRa. This was impressive, loud, abrasive and immersive. If 'The Body And The Earth' is as intense as this live gig, it's definitely one for the ages. 

The sonic eruption went on for about an hour. Eric and his squad nearly pulverized the Music City (but then again, that building has experienced a lot of musical demolition over the years). I'm not sure if this was the best Thisquietarmy so far. For that, the machine needs a bit more oil and a bit more gigs. Yet, given time this experiment has the potential to convincingly headline Desertfests, Dunk Festivals, Roadburns and whatnot. And so, I'd like to end this review with the most truthful reaction, coming from a member of the audience: "Fucking Hell!!!"


Serge

In the past few days, my wife and I have been invited to two living room concerts. I'm not sure if we can speak of a new trend in the music scene, but as far as I'm concerned, everybody can invite me into their house to enjoy some beautiful music. I'll even bring my own drinks. At these two gigs combined, there were about twenty five people. Therefore, these gigs came with an intimate atmosphere, making it easy to compare them with eighteenth century chamber music performances. For a few hours, all twenty five of us felt like old European nobility who witnessed something unique, something nobody else would.

While the city of Antwerp was becoming occupied with Iron Maiden fans, we prepared for an entirely different day of music. For us, it started in the afternoon, when we went to the beautifully renewed Elizabeth Zaal in Antwerp. There, we witnessed Belgian jazz and classical music pianist Jef Neve perform 'Rhapsody In Blue' by Gershwin, accompagnied by a full orchestra. As expected, this was a performance from a very high level but what followed was even more breathtaking. After a short technical break, the Chorale choir walked on stage, along with a youth choir. Shortly after, the massively popular 'Oh Fortuna' by Carl Orff resonated through the theater, followed by the rest of the 'Carmina Burana'. Magic, pure magic, but what would you expect. There were about 200 people on stage, each of them a highly trained master of his/her skill. This was top level in all its glory and bombast.

An Irish coffee and a durum later, we walked to a nearby street where we would soon enter the living room by someone named Thomas. We were early, but we are always early. Early to arrive and early to go (I have things to do at night, and at the end of this review, I'll tell you about it). We met up with the artists and the other people and prepared for the exact opposite of the earlier performance.

Stratosphere opened and did that in perfect Stratosphere style. His gig was quite similar to that in Mol, which proves my theory that he is the perfectionist who methodically prepares his set. The two tracks he played were two of his best and it's always a pleasure to listen to them. With our eyes closed and our asses comfortable on a chair we allowed Stratosphere to take us into another dimension.

Before the show, the artists had been talking about unwanted sounds, like the noises a cable makes when you plug it in our out. Well, guess what. That was exactly what happened when Ashtoreth started his set. Yet, since he is the improviser, he just worked his way around it and turned it into a ritualistic piece of music. He played a lot louder too, creating both intimacy and intensity. 

After a short break, less technical than the one at the 'Carmina Burana' concert, both artists walked back to the stage and performed a song they made together. I was curious since the two are completely different characters and have a completely different way of composing music. But what I heard was amazing, a brilliant and coherent combination of both solo acts, one that is definitely suited to be repeated. 

Two days later, we jumped on the tram towards Ashtoreth's living room where a duo named Kuro was about to perform. We didn't know the band but hey, when you're invited to that living room, you go. Once inside, we noticed the instruments, a violin, a theremin and an electric double bass. I loved it already. We cheated a bit too, since we listened to their album beforehand. I couldn't wait for this gig to start.

When it did, it pretty much blew everybody away. From inside the very soul of these instruments came a form of music that blended drones, ambient, classical music and jazz together in a whirlpool of soundscapes. I fell in love with the double bass (afterwards, Ashtoreth and I were plotting a plan to steal it) and, like every one inside, I was mesmerized by the music these two played. Of course we bought the vinyl afterwards.

When the final tones of the concert faded away, something hilarious happened, but I'm not going to tell you what that was. To know that, you will have to read my book, 'Cecilia's World' which is currently being written. This concert (and many others) will appear in it since it's a book about a young girl who discovered the world of alternative and underground music. Merchants Of Air will keep you updated about that when the time is right.

So, anyway, these were two amazing concerts which I will not easily forget. 


​Serge