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synapscape. hands on centrozoon. cd-ep. ant-zen act157...deleted...
tracklist: pop killer, girl of the week, little boy smile, healing the land, bigger space.
this happens when two worlds collide.
it's five times a mutation of centrozoon songs. but mutations always go their own ways, so no method is comparable to the other. you can find everything between calm variations of the original tracks and severe mutilations - everything between dark ambient and heavy rhythm tracks.
centrozoon is an amazing duo consisting of bernhard woestheinrich and markus reuter. they met eight years ago to create experimental improvisations. their aim is to create all music in real-time in order to realize the instant flow of inspiration.
markus plays touch guitar and manipulates his sounds with a bunch of extraordinary effects, creating sounds and loops which do not resemble guitar-based sounds. bernhard plays synthesizers, programs rhythms, and makes treatments.
their music varies from unearthly atmospheric soundscapes to tribal rhythm pieces that sometimes reflect a hint of pop - in their own unique way. centrozoon's live performances are always different because they do not reproduce their recorded tracks but create new improvisations or unexpected variations of existing centrozoon-tracks. they recently started work with tim bowness (singer of no-man), mixing the unique centrozoon-style with song structures and decadent lyrics.
reviews:
der medienkonverter
synapscape waren schon immer für außergewöhnliche musik bekannt. als meister der harten und stark verzerrten töne haben sich tim kniep und philipp münch diesmal fünf songs von centrozoon vorgenommen und neu interpretiert. das duo centrozoon (markus reuter, bernhard woestheinrich) startete vor acht Jahren, um sich experimentellen improvisationen zu widmen. um den gegenwärtigen inspirationsfluss zu verspüren, erschaffen sie ihre musik stets aus einem guss ohne große nacharbeiten. centrozoon konzentrieren sich in ihrer musik auf manipulierte gitarrensounds und synthesizer, um daraus ihre eigene kreationen zu formen, die sich ungefähr zwischen techno, tribal und pop bewegen. zusammen mit sänger tim bowness und den von synapscape erzeugten variationen entstand die ep 'hands on centrozoon'.
ohne zu wissen, wer hinter dieser ep steckt, würde man synapscape nicht unbedingt als miturheber der auf der ep befindlichen töne erkennen. 'hands on centrozoon' beginnt mit 'pop killer' sehr verhalten und schon dieser track ist fast zu strukturiert und melodisch im gegensatz zu dem, was man sonst von synapscape gewohnt ist. ohne gesang, ohne starke verzerrungen, trotzdem sehr rhythmusbetont und mit stets wiederkehrender melodie ist dieser song zwar, generell gesehen, nicht unbedingt aufsehen erregend, führt aber gut in das ein, was einen auf der ep sonst noch erwartet.
denn gleich der nächste track, 'girl of the week', imponiert mit dickem beat und verzerrtem gesang: synapscape meets house. so absonderlich sich diese mischung anhört, so bizarr klingt sie auch. dennoch schwebt dieses kuriosum gekonnt zwischen beiden genres, ohne eines von beiden die oberhand gewinnen zu lassen. richtig sonderbar wird es jedoch bei 'little boy smile', einem reinen dark-ambient-song, der durch seine schöne melodie und die damit erzeugte verträumtheit überzeugt. als krasser gegensatz dazu klingt 'healing the land' wieder fast voll und ganz nach synapscape. hier konnten sich die beiden herren kniep und münch anscheinend doch nicht mehr bremsen und zelebrieren ihre, ihnen eigene art of noise.
das beste kommt bekanntlich immer am schluss. 'bigger space' nähert sich wieder der basslastigen house-variante von 'girl of the week', übertrumpft diese jedoch noch einmal um längen. der gesang steht hier noch mehr im vordergrund und der bass fordert alles, was das musikequipment hergibt. obwohl 'bigger space' bestimmt nicht der weisheit letzter schluss ist, hat der song durch seine einfachheit und den massiven rhythmus eine starke anziehungskraft.
synapscape zeigen sich auf 'hands on centrozoon' von einer bisher nahezu unbekannten seite, die den einen oder anderen sehr überraschen wird. vielleicht entstehen ja noch mehr kollaborationen dieser art. das ergebnis dieser ep ist allemal überzeugend und außergewöhnlich zugleich.
(veit)
storming the base
a very interesting release from synapscape! synapscape takes 5 tracks from what seems like a rock band that they like/are friends with, called centrozoon, and remixes them in the synapscape style. something i've always hoped more noise bands would do - try some new styles of vocals that aren't screaming over top of powernoise! and synapscape has surprised me with actually using the vocals in a recognizeable form.. still with some filtering effects, of course, and melted with the texture of the music, but still held as lead 'rock' vocals. i commend them!
orkus
Experimentelle Ambient-Musik mit psychedelischem Gesang und einem Schuss Pop - so könnte man die Band CENTROZOON kurz umschreiben, würde damit aber doch nicht ganz den Kern des musikalisch unorthodoxen Trios treffen. Die seltsamen Ansätze offebar immerhin eine magische Anziehungskraft auf die befreundeten Kollegen von SYNAPSCAPE ausgeübt, denn wieso sollten die sonst den musikalisch wenig Artverwandten gleich eine ganze EP widmen?
Fünf Stücke von CENTROZOON wurden für Hands on Centrozoon neu interpretiert, und die Ergebnisse dürften vor allem bei alten SYNAPSCAPE-Fans für grosses Erstaunen sorgen. Rohe Industrial-Sounds und technoide Beats kollidieren hier frontal mit poppigem Gesang, melodiösen Strukturen und schwerelosen Ambient-Sounds, was auf der einen Seite zu neuen Mutationen wie industriellem Minimal House führt und auf der anderen Seite zu erstaunlich zarten Ambientklängen.
Die EP ist nicht nur als Experiment rundum gelungen, dennoch dürfte sie es aufgrund des Popanteils bei orthodoxen Industrial-Fans nicht ganz leicht haben.
Alexander Maciol (ORKUS Nr. 9, September 2003)
funprox
Synapscape is well known for its industrial and noise sounds. This EP is not a new record by the band but a collection of reworks they did for the electronic pop group Centrozoon.
According to the liner-notes Synapscape manipulated and mutated the original songs. The new version of ‘Pop killer’ is indeed extremely mutated. This version has nothing in comparison with the original version. The quiet pop song is turned into a rhythmic industrial track.
‘Girl of the week’ sounds very dance-like but with a rhythmic noise feeling to it. The nicest song is ‘Little boy smile’, which is quiet and beautiful. It is a welcome intermezzo because the next two tracks are loud and heavy again. ‘Healing the land’ is a good noisescape with a nice structure. The closing track ‘Bigger space’ is a harsh industrial dance song with very poppy vocals. A weird combination that works surprisingly well.
Hands on Centrozoon is a nice EP. Synapscape really has taken the songs under construction, and have not just done another lame remix. Due to this new tracks are created. This is a nice EP while waiting for a new album.
earpollution
Centrozoon is the duo of Markus Reuter and Bernhard Woestheinrich who came together nearly a decade ago to make experimental improvisations. Reuter manhandles a touch guitar and an array of a thousand or so effects, transforming the output of his instrument into something eerie and otherworldly. Woestheinrich simulates the reach of an octopus as he handles the programming, the synthesizers, and the treatments. So, already they do work which gallops across a wide range of possibilities.
Now, they hand off five tracks to Ant-Zen's Synapscape for further mutation. It's hard to say where one ends and the other begins, and the abrasive pop song qualities of "Pop Killer" defy AOR expectations while seducing you with a catchy beat structure. Throw in the added confusion of Tim Bowness' (singer of No-Man) voice on "Girl of the Week" and "Bigger Space," and the whole project becomes a creation which lurches and stomps to its own rhythm. "Girl of the Week" wants to be a bubbly techno tune, a track you'd hear on a Tino Maas or Paul Oakenfold record, but there is just a little too much static and fuzz burning in the wake of the beats for the comfort zone of the mainstream. There is a hint of unrepentant obsessions and impropriety to the rhythm and looped vocals as if the girl in question was, shall we say, "Lolita-esque."
"Little Boy Smile" is full of vapors, synth melodies streaming across a clear nighttime sky. Hints of radio beacon signals caper at the trailing edges of the melodies, and everything is pure and untarnished. This is, I have to admit, a surprising thing to hear on an Ant-Zen record: a robust piece of atmospheric ambience with nary a technoid rhythm to disrupt the expansive chords and tones.
Of course, the next track, "Healing The Land," throws us back to that realm of corrosive and explosive beats. Think a pack of wolves whacked out on methamphetamines assaulting a torrential river and the water is fighting back. Enraged howls of white noise combat thick washes of aquatic rhythms in an incensed battle to the death, and it isn't entirely certain that the river is going to win.
Hands on Centrozoon is definitely a mutated artifact, an amalgamation of parts and pieces which has skillfully been woven into an unexpected pleasure. Part techno, part rhythmic noise, part lounge act on speed, Hands on Centrozoon is a record which you might not know what to do with, but it will quickly limpet itself to your spine, and the part of your brain which likes the unusual things will be prodding you, "Hey, man, let's play that one again."
-Mark Teppo
industrialkollective
At first I wasn't going to review this CD, due to my ignorance of the band Centrazoon, but after listening to the disc a pile of times, and enjoying it thoroughly, I realized that there would be others, surely, that would share my ignorance, and would, upon listening to this CD hear it only for what it is, and not hear it from where it comes from. I realized that though I may be missing the background knowledge, this doesn't interfere in my enjoyment of it.
Ok. I may have confused some people with that last paragraph, so let me explain Hands on Centrazoon. This CD is basically a remix disc, with Synapscape 'manipulating and mutilating' the music of Centrazoon to suit their purpose. The result is a beautifully crafted mix of sounds, and a new evolution for Synapscape, who appear to wish not to be pigeon-holed into a genre whose musical influence seems to be fading beneath an onslaught of similarity. Synapscape, whose album So What still represents one of the benchmarks of the rhythmic noise genre, is more than skilled enough to pull of a creative deviation, while retaining the core essence of their background. The new sound will loose only those who want a new Synapscape disc to sound like an old Synapscape disc.
Hands on Centrazoon is a beautiful mix of musical styles, breaking out of the rhythmic noise genre, and exploding over the musical landscape. There is something here for anyone who likes well crafted electronic music, with a range from twisted pop music to ambient and smooth beats and then back to the pounding distorted thumps.
The addition of bizarre vocals at first seemed inappropriate to me, but that they suit the overall sound, and add an additional strangeness to the sound. They quickly convinced me that they are essential, and more than welcome.
An overall excellent release!