Genre: Dark Ambient / Industrial / Experimental
Resource Links: Old Europa Cafe
I am honored to finally be able begin to offer the readers of Heathen Harvest the chance to glimpse some of the amazing recordings being produced by the Italian label Old Europa Café. Old Europa Café has emerged over the last several years as an eminent label for industrial, noise, and power electronics with recent expansion into neofolk music. Many of the finest releases to be found in the fields of harsh industrial and experimental music have come from Old Europa Café. I am honored to begin a series of reviews that will highlight the wide array of sounds being produced and published by this very fine independent label.
One of the rewarding aspects of old Europa Café’s efforts is the fact that the label owner is willing to search out new artists and take a chance on producing music that has not yet gained a wide established reputation. A prime example of this willingness to take a chance on emerging artists is the recent release of Claustrum & Traur Zot - Returning To The Past By Silence. Claustrum & Traur Zot are two independent industrial music artists hailing from the emerging industrial music scene of Latvia. Claustrum & Traur Zot are largely unknown to most industrial music listeners though some of you may have stumbled upon their music on V/A Comrades In Lost produced by the Latvian industrial music collective Semema.
For those of you unfamiliar with Claustrum & Traur Zot, “Returning To The Past By Silence” is an excellent introduction to these two very talented artists as well as a great opportunity to check in with the emerging industrial music scene of Latvia. The music captured on “Returning To The Past By Silence” is a live performance recorded for this album. Though the music is touted as a live performance, none of the nuances and imperfections that commonly appear in live recording are to be found here. The recording of “Returning To The Past By Silence” is pristine and retains all of the purity and cohesion of a studio recording. Indeed the music flows so consistently and without error or interruption that you would be hard pressed to distinguish it from a studio recording from simply listening to the album.
“Returning To The Past By Silence” is a conceptual album themed around a musical requiem to the past century, its many failed political and social policies, and its many conflicts and wars. Conceived of as a six part symphonic industrial / dark ambient voyage through monumental industrial music and scratchy voice recordings. “Returning To The Past By Silence” is a grim yet lush adventure through the dark chapters of the last century human history accented by sweeping waves of dramatic sound sculpture and intricately mixed industrial sounds. The album expertly captivates the listener as it pulls you deep into the shadowy recesses of our collective past.
In addition to the finely crafted music on the CD the album also includes a very extravagant multimedia function that is playable on any computer with a CD-ROM drive. The multimedia function allows the listener a number of options. These options include being able to listen to the music while viewing the actual concert from which the music was recorded from as well as an additional option that allows you to view a vast number of short videos that feature various abandoned industrial buildings and landscapes that visually echo the sentiments of the music. Rarely does commercial music go the extra distance and take advantage of the multimedia options currently available today. Claustrum & Traur Zot are definitely ahead of the their peers as they take full advantage of the modern age of electronics and deliver a stunning multimedia experience that exceeds all expectation.
The album is launched with the introductory song “q.u.e.s.t” “q.u.e.s.t” begins with rumbling industrial noise and sweeping dark ambient passages that create a sobering and solemn environment. The tone of the music is dark and cold but refrains from suffocating the listener in impenetrable layers of dark ambience. The music builds with symphonic waves of industrial noise that break open to sampled strings and muted martial percussion. There is a strong sentimental quality to the music that harkens back to darker times of loss, hopelessness, and despair that have faded to mere memory leaving behind only crumbling remnants, and still, empty gravesites. The feelings invoked are grand and illusionary, at once seemingly personal and universal. The listener is compelled to feel the requiem and engage the music on a very personal level while contemplating the events and tragedies that have inspired the music and defined the last century.
Track three is the title track “Returning To The Past By Silence.” “Returning To The Past By Silence” starts with finely controlled atmospheric ambience accented by a boys choir. The music is delicately crafted for maximum effectiveness as the mood darkens. A female voice sample is injected alongside meandering piano chords and growing dark ambience. The mood is tense, tentative, and deliberate all at once. The music exemplifies these artists ability to craft careful and deliberate compositions that grow organically into monumental compositions filled with easily digestible grandeur. The boys choir fades and the music evolves with repetitive, stuttering, static loops and sinister vocal groaning being layered over symphonic neoclassical expulsions. The elements are carefully balanced creating an openness and dimension to the music that is rarely achieved in this genre. Ritualistic chimes enter the music and spoken word recitations merge in an effective blending of varied musical elements. The music evolves becoming immense and emotionally penetrating. A deep sadness and sense of remorse fulfills the music and fulfilling the musicians intention of creating a requiem capable of transporting the listener into a confrontation with history.
“Returning To The Past By Silence” ends with the sixth and final track which is a brilliantly placed fragment of soviet composer V. Muradeli’s song “Bell of Buchenwald.” This small fragment echo’s the restless dark romanticism and harrowing remembrance captured in the previous industrial compositions and ends the album on a very bitter sweet note that leaves the listener lingering in the dark depths of a century past but not forgotten.
I applaud Old Europa Café and Claustrum & Traur Zot for the production of this album. With so many industrial acts flooding the market today it is encouraging to know that there are still artists seeking to create unique and original material. Claustrum & Traur Zot are definitely musicians to watch as this early offering by these two is a tremendous accomplishments unto itself. If you want to drift back in time and confront the ghosts of our collective past then this album will be well suited for you.
http://www.heathenharvest.com/article.php?story=20050918133046948