Kulturkirche, Cologne, Germany25th April 2014
Die Kammer & Meystersinger
At the Blackfield Festival 2013 I had the chance to see DIE KAMMER (The chamber) for the first time and this was the most surprising act for me, regarding the fact that their acoustic performance was a bit unusual between the Electro, Goth Rock, EBM, Synth Pop and Metal shows. But a festival performance is of course only an appetizer. Thus I was more than pleased to have the chance to see a complete show of them, even more because the concert took place in a church and so a fantastic acoustic could be expected. The Kulturkirche is beautiful little Lutherans church with a capacity of 600 guests. Besides musical and cultural events there are still services.
Meystersinger
This project is quite young with releasing the debut album ‘Trost’ (Solace) just in 2012 but the members of the duo are old stagers, consisting of Luci van Org (LUCILECTRIC, DAS HAUS VON LUCI and ÜEBERMUTTER) and Roman Shamov (RUMMELSNUFF, WEIRD FISHES). Within two voices singing, underlined with Electronic sound, influenced by the sound of the eighties, they interpret their outlandish lyrics. Quite remarkable too, is that the libertines of Berlin made it to produce their albums with the help of crowd funding. The second album ‘Haifishweide’ (Shark meadow) of MEYSTERSINGER was just released on the 4th April 2014. http://www.meystersinger.com / https://www.facebook.com/Meystersinger
Music & Performance
The duo entered the stage, took place on boxes and introduced itself in a funny way as supporting act of DIE KAMMER. Both were wearing dresses that were grey on the front side and black on the back side and they had a kind of bracelets at their hands with LED lights. In front of them was a video projector beaming at first the old Atari video game ‘Pong’ on their dresses and later on some colourful designs which gave the whole setting an interesting touch. When the music from the playback set in they started to sing in two voices. The vocal quality was fine though not exceptional. This is surely a special experience as one is usually used to listen to one is the main singer and one is singing the backing vocals. Most of the lyrics are funny or seem to be, yet they describe situations and emotions in an enciphered way accompanied with some Electronic – Pop sound. As some songs were really lively, that you were tempted to stand up and dance, the performance as living statues formed a contrast to the songs. This was definitely an extraordinary and interesting concert experience.
Setlist
01. Keine Fragen
02. Selbst Alleine
03. Es ist Liebe
04. Geht's Dir Gut
05. Trost
06. Haifischweide
07. Angst/ Guten Tag
08. Kein Märchen/ Und es geht doch gut aus
09. Am Ende Aller Dinge
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 6
Sound: 10
Light: 7
Total: 7.5 / 10
Die Kammer
This project was founded in December 2011 by the singer Marcus Testory, ex member of CHAMBER and Matthias Ambré, former member of ASP. In April 2012, Oliver Himmighoffen, another former member of ASP, joined the band as drummer and Dirk Klinkhammer as tuba player. Their first concert took place at the Wave Gotik Treffen in May and a couple of weeks later Matthias Raue, a film composer, was introduced as a new member, playing the violin and viola. The band was then completed with the cellist Tabea Müller and violinist Aline Deinert. Soon after Matthias Raue joined the band, the first single ‘The Orphanage’ was released and already in October their debut album ‘Season I: The Seeming and the Real’ was launched. In the course of the two days open- air festival in Cologne, in order to celebrate the 15 years anniversary of SCHANDMAUL, DIE KAMMER was supporting act amongst VERSENGOLD, LYRIEL and FIDDLERS GREEN on the 31st August 2013.
At the beginning of this year they did some shows together with SCHANDMAUL on their tour all over Germany. Their second and current album ‘Season II: Views from the Inside’ was just released in February 2014. Like the band’s name indicates the music is purely acoustic in the old singer / songwriter tradition. The lyrics contain sarcastic, humorous, melancholic, morbid and a tongue-in-cheek charm elements. DIE KAMMER is Marcus Testory (vocals, guitar), Matthias Ambré (guitar, Irish bouzouki, vocals), Dirk Klinkhammer (tuba, bass), Oliver Himmighoffen (minimal drums), Tabea Müller (cello), Aline Deinert (violin) and Matthias Raue (violin, viola). http://www.die-kammer.com / https://www.facebook.com/diekammer
Music & Performance
Much to my regret the concert was not sold out but a good and enthusiastic crowd found its way to the venue to experience a very diverting show. If you think that the performance of a chamber orchestra is an earnest thing you will learn differently at a concert of DIE KAMMER. Of course each musician here knows his/ hers craft but they perform with so much joy of playing that they carry you off during the whole show. Each song was introduced with a little funny tale or anecdote by Marcus Testory. His impressive deep voice creeps under your skin. The concert was seated but the music invited everybody to move nevertheless and of course clapping the hands to some of the songs. The interaction between the band and the audience worked just wonderfully.
Besides the string and the plucking instruments the tuba gives the sound a special touch with adding further rhythmic, especially when the band performed ‘Sophie’s Circus ’. As this song started instrumentally, you could really imagine yourself being in a vintage circus with the orchestra playing, before Marcus started to sing and the whole song got more up-tempo. How much humour the whole band has, was shown when Marcus’s capodasto fell noisily on the floor in the middle of one song and while he was looking for it, the rest of band ended the song intentionally with wrong tunes. Before the last song was played, Marcus introduced all members of the band. Such an entertaining concert seems to end too soon and as everybody enjoyed it so much, all were shouting for more and were given two encores.
The last song then was announced to be more Punk which was the start signal for some prepared fans in the front row to throw confetti during the refrain. This was big fun for sure. After the show the fans had the chance to get some autographs and have a little chat with the musicians. I definitely was really delighted with this concert for the diverting performance and the excellent acoustic.
Setlist
01. Slipping around the Corner
02. Be Careful
03. Line of Last Resistance
04. Labyrinths of Despair
05. The Seeming and the Real
06. Fate / Illusion
07. The Orphanage
08. Sophie's Circus I
09. Sophie's Circus II & III
10. Praying Mantis
11. Mirror
12. Sinister Sister
13. Hither & Thither
14. Final Days (Of Mankind) (incl. introduction of band)
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15. The Invitation
16. Endangered Memories
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17. That's When I Reach for My Revolver (Mission of Burma cover)
18. The Painterman's Spell (long end)
Rating
Music: 10
Performance: 10
Sound: 10
Light: 8
Total: 9.7 / 10
All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.black-cat-net.de / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)
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