Hades Forum

And for Erstwhile also - best known for what once was called generically “dangerous improv” - things are taking quite a turn. It’s called - generically again? - ErstPop, and to borrow a quote from its own founder (Jon Abbey): “it’s not pop music, it’s not the music that’s come to be associated with Erstwhile, but it’s somewhere in between the two”. Very ‘down-to-earth’, all of this: artwork included, and the budget, obviously… Down, once more, to the musical arrangements, “composed/performed by key members of the Berlin electro-acoustic/free improvisation ‘scene’ and strongly informed by the lexicon of sound-producing gestures that goes hand-in-hand with said”. The orchestration (guitar, laptop, two clarinets panned hard left/right) is nigh-on faultless and, yes, you can tell the time & care that has been put into the ‘songs’ collection. Loaded over the top are the voices of both Margareth Kammerer and Christof Kurzmann, haughtly flirting with the listener. I can only welcome them as something natural, that’s rightfully there; otherwise, would have too much a hard time understanding thoughtfulness behind intentions. Could it be that the main intention is mere cultivation of good taste? It’s probably all a bit blurry for me to have anything terribly insightful to say. No nit-picking either - this is one to savor.