Synthetic romance
Can electronic sounds carry life? Be emotional, hysterical?
Yes, if it connects them in its music industrial synth rock band "Meandmybrokendrummachine ("Me and My Broken Drum Machine"). Musicians released his live mini-album on August 8, 2015. And this is just the beginning before the release of the full-length disc.
"Meandmybrokendrummachine" is a chaotic but harmonious combination of heavy guitar chords, electronic special effects, delicate keyboards and unusual vocals. Their madness and at the same time hypnotic calmness beckon us to the world of such a distant, but near future. It seems that we are already transported into a post-apocalyptic reality with its cyborgs and nanotechnology. It is as if we ourselves are turning into robots that do not stop their movement. Is it because we are becoming the main participants in the insane mystery of reviving broken "machines" beating among the gratings of bones ?
Text: Natalia Pushchinskaya
Catch the energy!
Do you want to see bright colors in a gray city? Then come to the "Summer Rock Party" rock festival, which will begin today at 18:00 in the "Rock House" club (Moscow).
You will be covered with waves of different musical directions. Light rock performed by the group Setball will take you to the warm sea, you will want to swim, or just go and smile at those around you. The vocals are joyful, as if they were specially created for the summer.
Two_time_po_sto with their vigorous punk sound and daring lyrics will give you energy. There will be a desire to rebel against the stereotypes of society. Unleash your emotions.
And, of course, the energetic atmosphere will be diluted with notes of beautiful sadness performed by the collective. Overlove . Gentle and melancholic vocals will take you from summer to autumn, but you will even be glad of it.
Group Attack_Laziness with a classic rock sound will give a trip to memories. With unhurried music, you can dream and fantasize. Or maybe quietly grieve about something?
The festival Summerrockparty is a connection of like-minded people who live to the sounds of rock and want to share them with listeners. Come and catch the energy with them!
Text: Natalia Pushchinskaya
Together with the new video "Shadowmaker" (feat. Franky Perez) symphonic metal band Apocalyptica. This is the first clip from the disc of the same name, which was released in spring 2015. It contains excerpts from the black-and-white film "Svengali" in 1931 under the words of the track. The Finns first recorded an album entirely with the voice of American musician Frankie Perez.
The single reminds us of quiet slow steps at first. As if we groped in the darkness, hoping weakly to find the light. Perhaps we are Theseus, who quietly walk along the thread of Ariadne? The first sounds of Frankie's voice, calm, but as if a little trembling, beckon us to her barely audibly, and then turn into an anguish of the soul.
"You will smother my light like a dark cloud. The symphony of death of the dark creator will drag me down" - the song cries out as if with the last bit of strength.
At this time, ominous footage from "Svengali" flashes on the screen, reflecting the spirit of the song. Frequent mood changes are felt in its sound: sad notes turn into some kind of devilish fun, moments of calm into passion. She seems to be frantic, especially in the middle of the song, when the sound of the cellos reaches its climax. Together with them we fall into the abyss and nothing can save us.
"Shadowmaker" is like a hymn to freedom, strong and emotional, against everything that can control us.
According to Eicca Toppinen / Eikka Toppinen, the creators of darkness are such faceless people who surround us. They are not visible, but they have a lot of power. This song and video is about how to deal with the darkness they create. "
Text: Natalia Pushchinskaya
Is the darkness coming?
"The flame does not know itself, it is consumed by its own unknown; in this unknown it is lost, destroyed" - wrote the French philosopher Georges Bataille. This is how we face our mysterious inner world when we listen to the last album. Linkin Park "The Hunting Party " (2014) It seems that it is as contradictory as the human soul.
A mad scream breaks through the silence. Suddenly. "Keys to the kingdom" as if it notifies us that a terrible war is coming, a war with ourselves. And this feeling is getting stronger and stronger. Emotions start to go off scale. "All for nothing" (feat. Page Hamilton) goes into energetic "Guilty all the same" (feat. Rakim). The guitar picks up its speed, you break off and run. You run nowhere, feeling how hard your heart is pounding. Along with the fast beat of the music, Chester Bennington's words throb in my head: "You are still guilty. Although you are so tired of being ashamed. You would be glad to point your finger at others, but they have nothing to blame ..."
The song sounds like the first peals of thunder from a clear sky and you seem to be standing alone in front of the formidable heavens: they are about to pour out their anger on you. You are expecting something terrible, which is what "The Summoning" warns you about. It contains a combination of electronic sounds and heavy guitar chords. What will lie ahead? - as if they are asking you.
And ahead - only madness, which reaches its peak. "War", "Wastelands", "Rebellon" and "Mark the graves" - these are the culminating songs of the album. In the punk sound of "War" there is anger towards the whole world, but maybe it is righteous anger? "War ..., black eternal light ..." Listening to the song, it seems that everything is mixed up: and heaven and hell. There is nothing - only ash from destruction. What is left for you to do? Dance on the wreckage of the world and your own life with the song "Wastelands". She gives birth to the last energy before the tragic end. It's like you are counting your last minutes and reflecting on what happened and what is not destined to happen. "Until It`s gone", like a prophecy song about your destiny. But still, it is in your hands to change your life. "You better fight until it's all gone." - calls the song.
"Rebellion" hits the nerves (feat Daron Malakian). It reminds you of how weak you are, but you keep hitting the stone walls to find your way out. Single concentrate all the energy of protest, destructive and uncontrollable. Rebellion, denying the existing order, in itself does not reflect anything, being an emptiness, a pitiful shadow from human actions. "Uprising! Uprising! We fall into the unknown, we fall apart" - the song screams. It seems to evoke a sense of bondage to the circumstances of life. And it only intensifies in the single "Mark the graves". Guitar riffs, changing their rhythm and strength, plunge you into darkness. "The blood will be washed away someday, but the wounds will never go away ..."
The madness subsides. Suddenly. With pity, a little breakdown, sounds like in the walls of a deserted room, the track "Drawbar" (feat Tom Morello). There is sadness in it and at the same time some kind of hope. Maybe all the best is yet to come? And the gentle sounds of the piano remind us of this. They calm our weary souls. But what if all this just seems to us? Indeed, the song "Final Masquerade" blows the last hopes in the wind. We probably will not meet the new dawn of our lives. "The light on the horizon was brighter yesterday. A shadow hung over us and the sky began to darken. You said it was forever, but suddenly everything disappeared. And this is our last masquerade ..."
It seems that there is no way out, and we are more and more immersed in ourselves together with "A line in the sand". Violent hard rock guitars run nowhere with Chester's scream, then stop momentarily with Mike's voice to continue again. You accelerate your rhythm more and more. You take the last strongest breath of air before death and go nowhere.
“We wanted to go back to the roots, not the sound, but the very idea of hardcore, thrash metal and punk. We didn't just want to get all these guitar sounds or copy them. It was an attempt to return to that feeling of listening to old albums that we first heard as children " - says Mike Shinoda.
"The Hunting Party" - this is a difficult path of a person on which he suffers and is indignant, experiences joy and happiness. Music, in which the world is most deeply explored, the relationship of light and darkness in the human soul. Sometimes his life is on the verge of death and he has only two paths - to go forward to the end or fall into the abyss.
Text: Natalia Pushchinskaya
Is the soul a cosmos?
"Music is a little reminder of God,
that there is something more in this world than us.
Harmonious connection between all living ... and the stars. "
Film "August Rush" (2007)
Does our heart have a melody? How does it sound? Maybe, as an organ, emotionally. So, probably, our Universe could sound. To imagine this, I go to the festival "Organ Evenings in Kuskovo", which is held every summer at the estate.
Since 2010, the festival under the direction of organist Elena Privalova-Epstein has brought together well-known and novice musicians who play both classical and contemporary pieces. It seems that in the festive atmosphere of the Baroque they are performed in one breath, alive.
Together with the listeners, I hold my breath and anticipate how the music of the past will sound in the present, be reborn here and now. I will probably also be reborn with her.
The second concert from the program "The Great J.S.Bach" which the was presented on July 19, includes a "hit program", according to E. Privalova-Epstein.
"I tried to shape it in such a way that it would be interesting to every listener: both aesthetes and discerning audience, who, in addition to the masterpieces of classical music, would like to hear less recognizable works, which we call rarities."
The music at the concert combines two instruments, two moods: the harpsichord (Yulia Uspenskaya) and the organ (Maria Lesovichenko). I sense a complex polyphony of sounds: they tell me such different stories, but together they create a new world. Our fears and hopes, secret thoughts and experiences live there. They run over me like waves, then they go nowhere.
“Many musicians of the Baroque epoch are more focused on the person, on the sensual world than on the sublime world. - says the presenter of the concert. If we take the music of Bach, then he uses the same techniques, the same symbols, but turns out to be more divine, more oriented towards the higher, towards the generalized ... "
And indeed, with the first, fragile sounds of music, I am transported from the chamber atmosphere somewhere into space. I look around and imagine the stars dancing to the energetic melody of the harpsichord. They beckon to them, and I pass by, trying to be alone with myself.
Bach's sacred music seems to be addressed to me. It sounds like unearthly and earthly at the same time. The musician communicates with me and with everyone in the hall in the language of sensations, at some intuitive level. He responds to our experiences with organ culminations created by Maria Lesovichenko, or with the swift movement of the harpsichord of Yulia Uspenskaya. It is like the beating of a heart that strives for something or someone.
"Prelude and Fugue in C major" performed by M. Lesovichenko resembles the play of birds' voices. For a moment it seems to me that we are once again in the Garden of Eden and become blameless.
"Prelude with striving movement and fugue, also large-scale, with a very small, short theme, but convex, embossed, very well amenable to development, creating an affirmative image of divine greatness" - says the host.
Bach seems to combine the different moods inherent in each person. It is harmonious, but at the same time a little scattered: emotions reach their peak and calm down. We go through a series of ups and downs that make up our life, make it real.
In "Toccata in G minor for clavier" a sermon is heard calling people to be cleansed from sins. Clavier Y. Uspenskaya flows like a river. There is a feeling that someone from heaven is talking to me, calling the soul to a frank dialogue. Together with the audience, I gradually open up to something new. I look back into the hall and see that people are fascinated: someone is motionlessly watching the game, someone is smiling. Different emotions filled one small space.
What awaits us at the festival in the future?
“Every year the festival rises sometimes one, sometimes several steps higher, given that it is self-sufficient. Nevertheless, I expect the professional level of the festival to improve. There are already prospects for it to become international. Now we have applications from organists, including those from other cities who would like to take part in the festival. "
The triumph of the spirit seems to be felt in the last joint performance of the two organists. I can imagine how he comes out of the darkness towards the sun, and we probably want to rise with him.
Two musical forces, M. Lesovichenko and Y. Uspenskaya, joined together. A new energy of life has revived, which has penetrated into our souls. Like planets around the sun, they revolve around Bach melodies. And we listen to them and gaze into the abyss of ourselves, and this feeling is unlikely to be forgotten.
Text and photo: Natalia Pushchinskaya
