experimental / noise / avant-garde / jazz
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"Hello, this is the first album by avant rock / experimental band Danielle Liebeskind", that's how the accompanying note for this album opened. I remember thinking "experimental, avant rock, that sounds a bit arty-farty, a bit pretentious possibly". I mean, I've heard a lot of "avant" stuff in my life and sometimes the self-glorification of the artists is massive, certainly compared to the non-coherent manure they produce.
But I tried the album anyway, because the exact opposite is also true. I've heard a lot of "avant" stuff which takes the listener on beautiful, strange and unexpected journeys. Besides, Danielle Liebeskind is a Dutch band, a trio and some guest musicians. For some reason the Dutch seem to know how to make experimental music interesting. Apart from their "shlagers" and their awful carnival music, the Netherlands are one of the greatest countries to discover new sounds.
And yes, Danielle Liebeskind is something to discover. They're mostly an improvisation act, so it shouldn't be a surprise that this debut is a registration of improv sessions, recorded in March 2014. They seem to be influenced by jazz, classical music, ambient, drone and noise artists but I can also hear elements from Pink Floyd, mostly in the guitars on 'Equilibrium Of Make Believe'. Those guitars also seem to be hiding behind a wall of weird sounds and odd percussion.
The whole thing does indeed feel like an experimental jazz performance, a very experimental one. You know, like when Sonic Youth, Keiji Haino and Merzbow decide to to make a jazz album together. I'm not even sure which instruments were used but I guess they include spoons and singing bowls next to more traditional instrumentation (piano, drums, guitars...). On the other hand, in the first part 'Little Acts Of Rebellion / I Saw Your Light' I recognize absolutely nothing, except for the narrating voice.
That track is one continuously changing piece of minimalistic music, that's for sure. So is opener 'Kimya Dawson Tribute', a song that perfectly fits in with the natural and human sounds around me. In fact, it often happens that I have no idea which sounds come from the LP and which come from in and outside of my house. I like that. It gives the album something extra. It makes it sound completely different every time I listen to it.
And I think I will be listening to this quite a lot from now on. It's an album that deserves deeper exploration by curious and open minded music fanatics. The way it turns from gentle noise into a piece of classical music into a dark jazz tune, accompanied with what sounds like typewriter sounds, is brilliant. I can only applaud this approach to music and I do recommend this album to all you experimentalists out there.
Serge
But I tried the album anyway, because the exact opposite is also true. I've heard a lot of "avant" stuff which takes the listener on beautiful, strange and unexpected journeys. Besides, Danielle Liebeskind is a Dutch band, a trio and some guest musicians. For some reason the Dutch seem to know how to make experimental music interesting. Apart from their "shlagers" and their awful carnival music, the Netherlands are one of the greatest countries to discover new sounds.
And yes, Danielle Liebeskind is something to discover. They're mostly an improvisation act, so it shouldn't be a surprise that this debut is a registration of improv sessions, recorded in March 2014. They seem to be influenced by jazz, classical music, ambient, drone and noise artists but I can also hear elements from Pink Floyd, mostly in the guitars on 'Equilibrium Of Make Believe'. Those guitars also seem to be hiding behind a wall of weird sounds and odd percussion.
The whole thing does indeed feel like an experimental jazz performance, a very experimental one. You know, like when Sonic Youth, Keiji Haino and Merzbow decide to to make a jazz album together. I'm not even sure which instruments were used but I guess they include spoons and singing bowls next to more traditional instrumentation (piano, drums, guitars...). On the other hand, in the first part 'Little Acts Of Rebellion / I Saw Your Light' I recognize absolutely nothing, except for the narrating voice.
That track is one continuously changing piece of minimalistic music, that's for sure. So is opener 'Kimya Dawson Tribute', a song that perfectly fits in with the natural and human sounds around me. In fact, it often happens that I have no idea which sounds come from the LP and which come from in and outside of my house. I like that. It gives the album something extra. It makes it sound completely different every time I listen to it.
And I think I will be listening to this quite a lot from now on. It's an album that deserves deeper exploration by curious and open minded music fanatics. The way it turns from gentle noise into a piece of classical music into a dark jazz tune, accompanied with what sounds like typewriter sounds, is brilliant. I can only applaud this approach to music and I do recommend this album to all you experimentalists out there.
Serge
