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DPRP.net
A
man with a guitar walks the Sahara, or maybe the Martian, deserts.
His
guitar wails plaintively,the
desertscapes, unable to resist,
creating a vibrating and
rumbling natural drum pattern that
shakes
the ground for miles. Well, maybe that was just a dream
Fishmoon
guitarist Axel Manrico
Heilhecker had in the middle of
the night, but as a
journey it is evoked on the 2006 sophomore
Fishmoon
release Two Moon Music.
Fishmoon
got its start when noted German musician and producer
Heilhecker
released the simply
titled Fishmoon - Music by Axel
Manrico Heilhecker,
a compilation of reworked material from some of
his
production sessions in the late nineties, described on the
Fishmoon
website as “collected relics
of
his guitar-laboratories”. In addition to Heilhecker, Fishmoon is
made
up of Sunya Beat
collaborators Harald Grosskopf on
“trashdrums” on two of the
CD’s seven tracks and Steve Baltes
on
programming on two tracks, Shawn Berid on bass (two tracks),
the
Tirana Stringensemble on,
you
guessed it, strings (three tracks), Orin Elyan and Latha
Vegantha
on drums (a track each),
H.P. Salentin on trumpet
(one track), and Nippy Noya on
sheng and percussion (one track).
Fishmoon
plays longform, experimental rock at times in the vein
of
seventies Krautrock. The Kraut
droning influence is evident on
Twomoon, which features a
tribal jungle beat and some lively string
accents
from the Tirana Stringensemble. At many times on this CD
the
droning Kraut sound is
similar to the sound of Russian neo-Kraut
band Vespero.
The
seventies feel is also apparent on Sterntaucher, which has a
Tangerine
Dreamy ambient intro,
and features synths, electric piano
and organ melodies which
could have come right from the
fingertips
of Pink Floyd keyboardist Rick Wright.
Another
interesting song is the self-descriptive Western Electric Suite,
with
Berid’s liquid bass
holding down the conventional rock
sound and the later
western, country oriented guitars.
Vegantha’s
drumming keeps the track strong, yet at the same time
the
track is loose, the
improvisational nature sounding like teenagers
jamming in a
garage back in the day. Old school
jazz gets in on the
picture on Sniff, with English
spoken word, jazzy trumpet from Salentin,
melodic
guitar from the talented Heilhecker and some groovy
programming
from Baltes taking you back to
a coffee house in
Greenwich Village in the sixties.
While
certainly Heilhecker is an accomplished musician and producer
I
did not like this project asmuch
as his other project Sunya Beat,
which has more of an
electronica groove to it.
The
CD packaging is simple, gatefold with no booklet and a stark
picture
of what appears to be two
moons and, you guessed it again,
a fish. As is in the case
with the Sunya Beat CD Comin’ Soon,
theartist,
title, and catalogue number are printed upside down on the
CD
case’s spine. I could not tell
by looking at the CD case if it was
a retail or promotional
version. I only mention this minor flaw for
the
purists and critics out there.
For me, it is
all about the music, not the image or packaging.
The
CD’s crystal clear tracks are well produced and composed,
but
there is always room for
improvement. With future releases,
Fishmoon could perhaps
feature the strings more prominently
and
cycle the tracks together in the form of a concept
album.
That is just a couple of ideas that
come to mind.
In the meantime, enjoy.
Conclusion:
7 out of 10
JIM
CORCORAN | |
Glitterhouse
Fishmoon
- Ein
weiteres Betätigungsfeld von Axel Manrico
Heilhecker
(auch Sunya Beat und Phonoroid).
Der
Gitarrist wird mehr und mehr zum bedeutenden und
aktivsten
Fortschreiber der sehr typischen trippigen
Electronica-Landschaftsbeschreibungen
in wohlgetönter
Krautrocktradition. Prärie
soweit das geistige Auge reicht.
Die
Herzberger wissen was sie an ihm haben.
| | Ragazzi Immer
tiefer geht "Two Moon Music" mit seinen folgenden Songs
und
verschiedenen Begleitmusikern in die laute Stille der Musik;
harmonische
und experimentelle Klänge tun sich auf,
mal wieder von
Harald Grosskopf' Trashdrums, dann von
Electronics
von Steve Baltes illuminiert. Einige Höhepunkte folgen,
so
das Trompetenspiel von H.P. Salentin und die diversen Soli des
begnadeten
Gitarristen Alex Heilhecker. | |
| | Grand Guitars
Hinter
dem Projekt Fishmoon verbirgt sich kein geringerer als
Axel
Manrico Heilhecker, vielen bekannt als der Gitarrist der
Harald
Schmidt Band und natürlich als genialischer Autor
unseres
"Brettgeflüsters".Ob es Axel recht wäre, wenn man
Fishmoon als
“Kino für die Ohren“ betitelte? So jedenfalls
empfinde ich es:
Stimmungen, Bilder, Szenen - alles farblich
geschmackvoll und
mit ruhiger Hand inszeniert. Und natürlich
mit richtig
leckeren Gitarrensounds, frei von aufgesetzt -
zirzensischen
Virtuosentum. In der Ruhe liegt die Kraft -
fiedeln können
viele, irgendwie; Geschichten erzählen,
Spannungsbögen
aufbauen und einen Gedanken zu Ende
bringen indes,das ist eine
Kunst, die weit schwieriger zu
beherrschen ist. Der Heilhecker
kann das. Höre ich da
jemanden nach Stilistik fragen?
Schwierig, ich versuch es
mal, selbst wenn ich Schubladen doof
finde. Durchaus
rockig, auch mal Country-Aromen,
Fusion-Anklänge,
Experimentelles, Prog-Rock, gekonnt vermischt.
Von
einem aber gibt es besonders viel: Zeit ! Kein
nerviges
Schielen nach Dreiminuten-Radiokompatibilität,
kein
aufgeregtes Verfeuern gitarristischer Platzpatronen -
bei “Two
moon music“ darf man sich zurücklehnen, eine
Dosis des
bevorzugten Feierabend-Stimulans zuführen
und dann bei
geschlossenen Augen den Film ablaufen
lassen. Ein hörenswertes
Autorenkino ! |
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