I could tell you that you make me feel on top of the world and that life has never been better, yet even so my friend, I would tell you but a fraction of what my thoughts are, convey to your discerning ears a mere shudder of the quake that trembles within me. The spring colours sing softly to my thoughts; the dainty kiss of the departing winter, the gentle thud of spring landing.
You have received me well, as you always do and we have wined, dined, defined and redefined as indeed we always do. I find you in pleasant health, bursting at the seams with energy and sophistication. Yet your sultry and cynical nature doth manifest themselves every now and again, but not for long enough for me to forget the love we share. As grass green and gentle to the scorching southern sun, I need you by day and I love you by night, I dance in the heat of our romance and shudder in your absence.
I am home again amongst the shadows that lay claim to me. They embrace me with plush sincerity, content to see me in their own special way as indeed I am to see them. Invariably, my heart is heavy and aloof, for Paris grand and gorgeous I miss you so. Till the next time we meet mon cherie, a teary adieu to you I bid.
Bored amongst the brethren beaten, beneath the bequeathed and benign. Time stands still and the ticking tinge and twirl of transcendence ascends to cadence. Condensed, cold, calm and composed like withering white whirlwinds of scarlet snow outside my window wooded and withdrawn from the vissisitudes of the past, the cast, the senescent and the present.
A poem written in the midst of the annual contrast clash between summer and autumn. A time of restlessness and uneasiness within the ether. The warm, succulent rays of the sun shine fretfully and unrepentantly through the perturbed mass of wind and strain, scorching lush green vegetation in a kaleidoscope of the shade red.
It is within this intense purlieus that my questions pertaining to existensialism and meaning gain a purpose. With baited breath I wait…
The decadence of the shapes and shadows around me.
Stark, shrieking shards of wit and disdain, deranged and withdrawn.
The sullen dejections of the wind, the intimacy of causality.
Deranged, delinquent ornaments of time, desperate and forlorn
The cacophony of the chambers and chariots before me
Sharp, sudden silhouettes of truth and lie woven intimately
The implicit imperfections of the elements, the suspense of glee
Devout, resolute instruments of space, withered yet stately
The stillness of the sun and the stars above me
Sage, shackled shadows of the then and now stately and sedate
The somber spirit of the time, the luxury of a more independent me
Dissolute, insoluble infractions of relativity loyal to the shelter of trait.
Sebastien Szary and Gernot Bronsert got together in the early 1990s when Germany had just been shaken by the collapse of the Berlin Wall. The duo found gigs playing a fusion of acid house, techno and hip-hop to hordes of anarchic Berliners in a now-united city. Since then, they have gone on to produce music alongside the likes of the city’s ‘first lady of electronic music’ Ellen Allien and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, who is a fan of their ecclectic electronic sound. The Copenhagen Post caught up with Modeselektor’s Sebastien Szary for a short interview before their massive show at Store Vega a few weeks ago:
Modeselektor’s Sebastien Szary before the show at Vega. Photo: Jason Moisio
Here is what Szary had to say about Copenhagen, Musical inspirations, and working with Thom Yorke.
Amk: So, Szary is this your first time in Copenhagen ?
Szary: Well Gernot is the one who is really good at counting the years. I think we started in 2005 and we’ve been back every year since then. This is the 8th or the 10th time. We’ve played in Århus, Copenhagen and even on Bornholm in the pre-Modeselektor era (laughs)
Amk What was it like at Roskilde ?
Szary: Roskilde was amazing, it’s a really nice festival. We’ve played there twice- last year and two years ago with Moderat, the side-project we have together with Apparat. You can feel that it’s a festival with a lot of history.
Amk what was it like playing back in the early 90’s after the wall came down in Berlin ?
Szary: The whole situation after the wall came down was comparable to the wild West. The wall coming down was like a revolution- all the different influences – Communism from the East, and Capitalism- consumption and so on from the West all came together. It was a very exciting time musically as well. A lot of different styles from all the radios from different sectors came together.
Amk: What’s on your Ipod right now ? What are you inspired by ?
Szary: I have a problem with my Ipod, I hate software updates so I stopped updating my Ipod a couple of years ago. Right now i’m listening to the new My Bloody Valentine album quite a bit. Modeselektor are quite diverse, we do our slalom thing. We came from the hip hop of the 80’s then went straight to Acid House back to hip hop (Public Enemy and so on) and then into techno, Sonic Youth rock, you name it. There are lots of undiscovered sound samples and non-western oriented styles of music from the 20’s and 40’s that inspire us when we compose, well I don’t want to call it composing, it’s more like jamming. It helps if you have a knowledge of music and I have to admit that Gernot and I don’t have proper musical knowledge. I don’t play the piano for instance, so the way we use our instruments is more intuitive than anything else.
Amk: Now a question about Thom Yorke
Szary (laughing) : Ah Thom Yorke, The T Question, it comes up often
Amk: Indeed. What is it like to work with him, you guys are quite close, right ?
Szary: Yeah, we’ve been friends for about ten years. The partnership started with remixes initially then we teamed up with Radiohead and it’s going pretty well. It’s more than just about music, we are good friends with Thom. He’s a nice guy.
What’s your favourite city to perform in ?
Szary: There are quite a few actually. We like cities that aren’t in the focus that much. Glasgow can be pretty fun, also in the rain. I like the people there, it’s a bit rough and similar to the rough feel of East Germany. San Francisco and New York are fun too as is Guadalajara, Mexico.
Lastly, What’s next for Modeselektor ? What are you working on at the moment ?
Szary: Right now we’re working on the next Moderat album (teaming up with Apparat). It should be out in August. It’s time to continue our partnership with Apparat so that’s taking up almost all of our time. Aside from this we have our own private lives to keep us occupied as well.
Modeselektor raised the rafters at Store Vega last month. Photos: Jason Moisio
If you haven’t listened to Modeselektor’s music yet, here’s a couple of tunes :
There are some concert experiences that one remembers for months after they are over, and there are a select few that one will remember for many years. Crystal Castles’ show at Store Vega Saturday night was of the latter category: a seismic, purely cathartic experience that will live on in the hearts and minds of everyone who attended the show.
Toronto duo Ethan Kath and the extraordinary Alice Glass have made quite a name for themselves over the last few years with their wild live shows and blend of experimental electronica cast in a melancholic, contemplative frame. The fact that they’ve toured with Nine Inch Nails, a band renowned for their chaotic concerts, is a testament to the band’s party potential.
The pair came on stage rather late, to a crazed crowd who were there for the exclusive reason of bringing down the Store Vega roof. Two songs in and Alice Glass was soaring on the tips of outstretched hands all the way in the middle of the sea of people at the venue, a screaming child drowned in a maze of strobe light chaos, flanked by twisted experimental beats. While most shows usually start off slowly before reaching a climax, Saturday’s performance began with a cataclysmic storm that simply had to gear down soon after the onset, if for no other reason than for singer Alice Glass to catch her breath. Songs such as the dreamy ‘Celestica’ and signature hit ‘Not in Love’ kept the crowd on their toes, as did the addition of a manic drummer who pounded the stuffing out of his percussion kit at the back of a stage ablaze with fluorescent flashing shades from the strobe lights.
Much like a tropical storm, the torrent was over as soon as it started, as the show grounded to an abrupt halt with no time for an encore (nor any need for one). It’s seldom that one experiences a cathartic transformation of the sort that Saturday’s show provided. I could barely hear myself think in the swirling vortex of the performance, a spinning concoction of chaos that took the crowd on a journey of epic proportions. Crystal Castles are one of the names to watch out for at Roskilde this summer, and if Saturday’s show is anything to go by, their show will surely be a memorable experience.
Classical meets electronica: A marriage made in heaven or grounds for divorce?
Most people who have seen Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odysseyhave numerous opinions about it. The music played by German electronic musician Frank Bretschneider and Danish classical composer Ejnar Kanding play is equally divisive, and triggers the same sort of contemplative trance that leaves one eternally trying to figure out whether what they saw was sheer genius or utter boredom. Whatever your ultimate opinion ends up being, Kubrick’s film and Thursday’s show at Lille Vega seem to be similar in that as they both require plenty of afterthought and reflection.
I arrived at Lille Vega shortly before the start of the show and entered the most sparsely populated concert hall imaginable. Instead of the enthusiastic crowds one is usually accustomed to at Vega, this time the audience consisted of a few onlookers gathered around several tables under dimmed chandeliers. A drum solo, hollow background drone and visuals from Berlin-based visual artist Lillevan got the show on the road, but the atmosphere failed to get any more interesting when the music started.
The first of two sets of the evening featured live analogue instrumentals in the form of a violin, contra bass and bass clarinet, accompanied by micro minimalistic thuds and swaying background visuals. The second set was slightly shorter and veered more into the electronica niche, flanked by an appealing visual show that synced almost perfectly with the music.
This particular set was far more catalytic than its predecessor as it left much more room for afterthought, triggering numerous flashbacks from films such as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Apocalypse Now, in which the sort of music being played would have fit in perfectly.
It would be harsh to say that the show was boring, but it was certainly a long way away from being one of the best shows Lille Vega has hosted. There is no doubt that Bretscheiner and Kanding are talented musicians and their daring fusion of classical and electronica is something few would attempt. Flanked by a live theatrical performance, in the confines of a museum exhibition or even at an art installation, their music would surely have had more of an opportunity to showcase its artistic quality. As it were, in the dim, misty backdrop of Lille Vega, it failed to make a real impression.
Kortbæk_Travels 