Shock
Member
A Pod Concerts & Shock Event
The Notwist, Halfset, Great Lakes & Shock DJs
Button Factory, Friday 7th June 2008. 7.30pm
For the faithful who swooned to The Notwist's classic, widescreen 2002 album, Neon Golden, it has been a long six years waiting for the famed Weilheim, Bavarian quartet to make a follow up recording. It's fair enough. Neon Golden is a hard act to follow – ravishing and emotionally powerful, an album of highly original, electronically-infused melancholia that sent the press into raptures, drawing fans from Radiohead, Bjork and beyond.
But return they finally have, with The Devil, You + Me. And it was worth the wait. Awash with overwhelming tenderness and emotional fragility, the album consists of 11 songs that deal with classic Notwist themes.
In the intervening years members of The Notwist - the brothers Markus and Micha Acher, with Martin Gretschmann (aka producer Console) - have been involved with at least six albums from exceptional bands including Lali Puna, Console, MS John Soda, 13 & God and The Tied & Tickled Trio. The Notwist toured the world, established a record label, started families, pursued interests in a widening circle of musical styles, and acquired the kind of stature and following that belies their origins deep in the woodlands of Bavaria.
On first listen, The Devil, You + Me greets you like an old friend. Markus Acher's singular, aching voice surrounds you with all the comfort of familiarity, and the euphoria of re-acquaintance. This is an album driven by restlessness, as found in both the searching and invention of the sonic ideas and the lyrical narrative. It takes a while for the words and the scale of the musical language to sink in.
Employing the stellar talents of the Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra – a way-out ensemble of 20-odd classical musicians specialising in a bizarre avant-interpretation of modern jazz, which The Notwist remixed through their many fascinating electronic boxes and gadgets and added their trademark heartfelt sentiment – 'Where In This World' is another breathtaking moment, deploying strings and orchestration in a fashion that greatly transcends the usual pomp and circumstance of rock groups with big budgets: this is more like Morton Feldman as filtered through an array of carefully underplayed electronic treatments.
Great Lakes
Great Lakes is the solo project of Shock (Outputs) recording artist Gareth Averill. Previously having spent time playing around in different bands of all shapes and sizes over the last few years learning his trade.
In late 2007 he had decided enough was enough and set upon taking his songs from the bedroom to the stage, and back again. He combines the ambient and minimal stylings of his soundtrack work, with a more direct, lo-fi beat-laden and layered sound. He has names like Caribou, Mice Parade and Animal Collective scrawled on his school bag He says that his music is mostly accidental.
These accidents brought him to the attention recently of Richie Egan aka Jape and Great Lakes will play support for him on his upcoming tough. The debut Great Lakes E.P will be released on Shock (Outputs) before the summer is out.
Shock DJs
Opening up the night, creating a soundtrack to your first pint will be Shock DJs playing some of their favourite tracks from acts like Holy Fuck, The Orb, Joakim, The Whitest Boy Alive and more.
Advance tickets available online now by clicking here
Click here to join our mailing list to get news, ticket giveaways & pics
http://www.stateofshock.net/blog
