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Zeche Carl, Essen, Germany
19th June 2009
Seabound, Absurd Minds, Soman

Before the masses would gather at the Amphitheater in Gelsenkirchne for the second issue of the Blackfield Festival, there was a Warm-Up event to take with not only partying on multiple floors but also three live acts one of which I was so much looking forward to see.


Soman

SOMAN is a power noise act from Germany. Starting off as sound engineer with ABSURD MINDS, HOCICO and TERMINAL CHOICE and remixing songs by VNV NATION, ROTER SAND and TOM WAX, Kolja Trelle entered the scene as SOMAN with the album ‘Sound Pressure’ in 2003. This placed him within the power noise genre with artists such as COMBICHRIST. He has made numerous live appearances, supporting VNV NATION on their “Matter and Form” tour, as well as playing at WGT, M'era Luna Festival, Infest Festival and so on. His latest release is a re-release of his debut album now called ‘Sound Pressure 2.0’. SOMAN is Kolja Trelle. http://www.soman.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/soman



Music & Performance
Well, I don’t know what I’ve expected. One guy behind a desk with a Mac in front of him but the whole thing then turned out much more monotonous than I thought and though the beats were all danceable, in fact I had the feeling it was the same bass drum for every track just with different effects. It didn’t quite have the desired effect on the people. Only a few dancers were to be seen. Different picture on stage though. Kolja had a huge fun dancing and the man was smiling the whole time through. A little optical diversion came up with the third song and two dancers taking their places left and right of Kolja. I think I’ve never seen hairs that long and I was wondering how they managed not to get tangled up in them. Guess they were just lucky in the end. Not really a good start of the evening for me but it got better soon enough.

Rating
Music: 1
Performance: 2
Sound: 5
Light: 2
Total: 2.1 / 10




Absurd Minds

The project ABSURD MINDS was founded in 1995 by Stefan Grossmann and Tilo Ladwig. At that time they were musically inspired by the electro-scene of the early 90ies. From 1995 – 1999, ABSURD MINDS released three different CDs with just a very small amount of copies and on their own risk and distribution. In 1999 they had their first live onstage appearance in Dresden at the live-club Bunker. In the same year, ABSURD MINDS caught the attention of the German record-label SCANNER. Ever since, label and band work closely together. Their last regular release was ‘The Cycle’ in 2006. ABSURD MINDS are Stefan Grossmann (song writing, arranging, programming, vocals), Tilo Ladwig (programming, arranging keyboards), Timo Fischer (arranging, drums), and Thoralf “Nick” Nickisch (vocals, keys). http://www.absurdminds.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/absurdminds



Music & Performance
The band that for a long time had to suffer with the accusation of sounding like PROJECT PITCHFORK was next on the billing and brought some life into the venue and on stage opening the set with ‘Stop The Fall’ from the album ‘Noumenon’ with lots of melodic spheres and danceable rhythms that this time did just what they’re supposed to do. They made a considerable amount of people dance, amongst them old fans and followers of the band never tiring of screaming their song wishes out to the band which would all be fulfilled within the scopes of this evening’s show to full satisfaction. At least I didn’t hear any complaints afterwards so I simply assume this is the case. A new song called ‘Human Bomb’ from a not yet specified new album made sure the crowd wouldn’t fall into catharsis.



A much demanded fan favourite ‘Herzlos’ finally followed later in the set and met with absolute enthusiasm. By that time the keyboardist Nick (vocals in LEGACY OF MUSIC) had already left his place to help hyping up the people even more while he was doing a pretty good job as being second vocalist all the time. For the mellow song ‘Hurt’ (by NINE INCH NAILS), singer Stefan called Daniel Myer (DESTROID, HAUJOBB) out to help out on the drums. Always a pleasure! As the last song the band chose ‘Brainwash’ and once more gave their fans the full doze before they had to say good bye under loud applause. I’m still not a big fan of their music but they did a good show at the Zeche Carl that evening.

Rating
Music: 5
Performance: 7
Sound: 7
Light: 7
Total: 6.2 / 10




Seabound

In 2001 a duo from Bielefeld, Germany, conquered the hearts of electro heads worldwide with their debut album ‘No Sleep Demon’ and the preceding club single ‘Travelling’. SEABOUND, as Martin Vobrodt (music, programming) and Frank Spinath (lyrics, vocals) called their mutual project, is nothing like most other bands from their genre. SEABOUND doesn’t cater the typical EBM/Electro clichés and always avoided the one-dimensional aggressive sound of too many other contemporary Electro acts. To the surprise of many, including the band, ‘No Sleep Demon’ became more than just a succès d’estime and especially in North-America the band gained a lot of fans despite the fact that the album was only available via import back then.



The second full-length release, ‘Beyond Flatline’ from 2004, reinforced the status of the band and evolved the band’s sonic appearance. With the third full-length‘Double-Crosser’, available since October 2006, Vorbrodt and Spinath emphasized the atmospheric soundscapes and delivered an album that is often calmer and more melancholic than its predecessors. While we’re waiting for a new album to come some time in the future the duo has released a live CD ‘Come Forward (Live in Berlin)’ in 2008 and the remix and rarities collection ‘When Black beats Blue’ in April to bridge this distance. http://www.seabound.de/ / http://www.myspace.com/seabound



Music & Performance
Now the time had finally come. So long I was waiting to see this band which is one of my favourites and then already the first sounds that announced ‘Scorch The Ground’ as the opening track left the PA and Frank Spinath, Martin Vorbordt, and Daniel Wehmeier who’s treating the live drums came on stage and the track fully unfolded coinciding with a thick atmosphere taking hold in the entire room. With ‘Soul Diver’ from the ‘Beyond Flatline’ album, the tempo dropped significantly and the intense mood generated through Frank’s fetching performance and vocals surrounded by the complex rhythms and immersive synth build-ups took you all in. The third track on the list was a promise - it was ‘The Promise’ - to have a good time together on the last SEABOUND show for a supposedly very long time until a new album surfaces. Frank started swirling over the stage to as well involve the audience into the show. Just a Warm-up ‘Exorcize’, wait, I meant exercise for the following tune, however Frank could have used an exorcist too being obsessed with dance demons. ;-)



But in the end there was no need for one and everything cooled back down for the beautiful ‘Avalost’ and right in time for the poignant chorus, green laser beams spread out from the stage framing Frank standing behind his microphone. Attentive observers might have spotted him doing special movements in the instrumental passages by now. In fact, he did transform certain sounds into motion what I found absolutely fascinating and amazing to watch and paid close attention to that when happening. There was one song in the set that should get its first ever live showcase ever and that was ‘Torch’. Infused with new sounds, the song with its cloudy atmospheres brought to light a very own kind of mood. The live drums have to be mentioned particularly here wonderfully blending with the electronic rhythms and adding the organic accent. ‘Hooked’ was proof that even artists are just human beings when some lines of the lyrics slipped Frank’s mind. Luckily, the first row was there to fill in for him.



Of course it was above questioning that we all wanted more of SEABOUND and clapped and called them back. Besides ‘Torn’ including a short introduction of the line-up that was ‘Watching over you’ longed by the fans (Loudly by those in the first row). A song in whose sounds you can just sink in to get fully enveloped in the soundscapes. Then they left again but that’s not the way it works. We needed one more song and we were to get one and what a song it was! ‘Breathe’ that escalates from a melancholic ballad to a desperate outcry embellished by driving beats and sequences. Frank’s performance shifted accordingly up to an incredibly intense climax after which the only thing left to do was to thank the audience and the audience thanked back with blustering applause. It was a fantastic show absolutely worth of a headliner slot. Fantastic!

Setlist
01. Scorch the Ground
02. Soul Diver
03. The Promise
04. Exorcise
05. Avalost
06. Torch (Live Premier)
07. Contact
08. Poisonous Friend
09. Hooked
---
10. Torn
11. Watching Over You
---
12. Breathe

Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Sound: 9
Light: 9
Total: 9 / 10



All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com/ / http://www.black-cat-net.de/ / www.myspace.com/vorndranphotography)

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