I wish I hadn't smashed my camera the other day; I could show you what this baby looks like on pink WACKsx.
Sylvester Anfang II – Commune Cassetten LP MP3/download
Well shucks, for the sake of timeliness I should probably, I reckon, evaluate last Sunday night’s show (Tonstartssbandht/M. Pyres/Run DMT) at the Art Lab in Fort Collins, but I really, really, REARRY want to tell you about Sylvester Anfang II‘s Communen Cassetten LP on bright, hot-pink wax.
Or at least I want to offer my filet opignion (does anyone get this word-joke?) on it, which is that it is a slight step down from home-run THWAPS like the self-titled banger on Aurora Borealis (check out my review of that HERE) and especially Satanische Vrede (read my review, predictably, HERE) on Kraak.
I have no qualms at all with a group settling into a groove that feels right and sounds left, but Sylvester Anfang II might just be a bit too comfortable in their mid-tempo psych cocoon, languishing in 6 songs that all seem to have identical tempo, mood and spirit.
Now granted, if Commune Cassetten truly does consist of what is essentially one song repeated three times on each LP side — and I’m not saying this point can’t be debated — it’s a damn-good one, plushly lit by glowing Amon Duul II touchstones and floating ghosts straight from Pirates of the Carrib (the Ride).
I could, however, use some relief. Didn’t these guys use to devolve more fully and into deeper depths, and more often? Since when did they kinda sound like Acid Mothers Temple, Religious Knives and Ghost on an off-night? Since when did they employ electric (at least I hope those are electric) drums?
When things finally do get cranking, I’ll admit it’s quite the Ear Feast. Tambourines tap, shakers shake and hearts flutter just a bit …
[me talking to the music]
Gumshoe: Hey, how ya … how you … doin’?
Musicken [talking in thick Russian accent]: Oh jah, drone-psyck syckness, yah!
Gumshoe: Awww hell, OK!
Musicken: Jah? Jah!!!
I take SAii’s vibes deep into my soul reserves and hold them in. Alas, it is still not enough. Calling Commune Cassetten anything but a disappointing socio-musical experiment would be untruthful of me.
