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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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