Heave Media

Kammerflimmer Kollektief cranks up the shoegaze

Slow and artsy never alienated itself so much

Kammerflimmer Kollektief

Wilding

Released on Mar 02, 2010

Kammerflimmer Kollektief formed in Germany in 1997.  They are known for their ambient electronic, jazz and experimental tendencies.  They look to a mix of improvisation and composition to meld their sound into one.  The result is an ethereal cryptic noise with no surprises.  No surprises in the sense that if the song starts off slow, it will remain so and throw no twists to mangle the soothing nature of their music.

Wilding, their ninth studio release, is the perfect example of this no surprises take on experimental ambience.  Right from the get-go of “Move Right In” we are reintroduced to the slow tempo-ed monster out of Germany.  Slow and steady wins the race for them, but unfortunately in the experimental music scene, slow and steady doesn’t push the envelope. 

Listening to this song I almost get lost in the silence, as opposed to the music.  It is easily overlooked, like elevator music.  The rhythms are fragile and bare boned with slights of guitar movement.  The drums are barely audible when paired against the angelic voice and soothing saxophone riffs. 

“Silver Chords” exposes this saxophone to a similar level as the former track.  A lazy bass line and a guitar riff peak their neck out on rhythmic occasions.  The lyrics may or may not be in another language, regardless, they are hard to understand.  This song lays flat and for me, falls into the category of nothing new.

“Aum A Go-Go” introduces a xylophone into the mix, but still fails to craft a new sound.  The sound seems to begin building up and then breaks down to unintelligible ramblings.  Before I knew it, the song’s done, without knowing what happened.  No real form ever emerges from this one.

If you have extreme patience and you love vague musical stylings, give “In Translation” a listen.  This should be right up your alley.  The song starts out with a Middle Eastern sounding buzz with a synthesizer, which continues for three minutes until you can hear any other instrument.  The sound begins to build in volume, but not in tempo and this leaves the song as a 13 minute meditation piece.

Further along in the album, each song forces me to put this band into the category of New Age, as much as I don’t want to.  I have heard my fair share meditation CDs and New Age music and this could help you reach nirvana as well as any of those albums. 

I strive to find the beauty in this one.  When you have to explain something about the music before you listen to it, there is something missing.  In this case, the artsy nature shows me few licks of originality, more so meditation lessons.  Maybe next time I listen to this I need to take some peyote and become one with the Earth as I listen to it.

Posted by Daniel Wehrli on Apr 01, 2010 @ 6:00 am