FM EINHEIT / ANDREAS AMMER - 'Hammerschlag'

CSR281CD (15 May 2020)
CD in glossy digipak. Deleted.
Barcode: 0641871745531

"Hammerschlag" -created by FM Einheit (member of Einstürzende Neubauten early 1980’s to mid-1990’s), with Andreas Ammer - features many percussive industrial elements and 'machine music' (chains, scraping, coiled springs, objects), noise, experimental electronics and provocative musical compositions familiar to the ears of Neubauten fans. An oratorio with prelude and two noise interludes, based on Russian futurist Aleksej Kapitonovič Gastev, the “bard of the machine age”.

FM Einheit (Mufti) is an industrial and electronic musician and actor, primarily known for his percussion and compositional work with Einstürzende Neubauten, notably on the classic albums: "Kollaps", "Halber Mensch", "Haus Der Luege", "Tabula Rasa" and "Ende Neu". He played the lead role in the 1984 feature film Klaus Maeck's "Decoder". He has also collaborated with musicians such as: Diamanda Galás, Eraldo Bernocchi, Mona Mur, KMFDM, Goethes Erben and many more. Andreas Ammer has been creating works with FM Einheit since the early 1990’s.

"Just a moment longer, and through the confused chaos of these days, the legendary realisation of the future roar of events is triumphant" (A.K. Gastev, "A Bundle of Orders").

Track listing:

1. Amoeba (7:07)
2. Order 01 (2:59)
3. Order 02 (4:09)
4. Order 03 (3:40)
5. Order 04 (3:39)
6. CIT (4:04)
7. Order 05 (5:07)
8. Order 06 (4:19)
9. Noise Orgy (4:37)
10. Order 07 (4:46)
11. Order 08 (2:50)
12. Order 09-10 (4:07)
13. Epilogue (3:40)

Reviews:

"I’ve been always fascinated by the early industrial music scene from the 80s and this album reminds me of this magic period. Einstürzende Neubauten comes into mind, which I think is unavoidable, but I can also mention Test Department and Raksha Mancham for the engaged approach. Next to the typical industrial elements you’ll also notice great orchestral arrangements by wind instruments injecting a solemn touch to the work. The tracks are meticulously elaborated and diversified. There are multiple cool tracks, but I especially have to mention the debut- and final cut, which are simply outstanding... This is an album bringing the true spirit of industrial music back alive. Respect for this great work!" (8.5/10, Side-Line)

"On this collaborative album, Andreas Ammer is credited with sirens, whilst several other players utilise drums, bass, tuba and trombone together to forge a web of grizzled textures behind the reciting of a poem by Rica Blunck and Teodor Currentzis. Being in German, of course, I have no idea what they are intoning, but it all sounds like it is of great importance. It’s very effective, anyway, and becomes all the more so when a choir fleshes the proceedings out. Melodies and occasional hooks rise from the potentially cacophonous meeting of deep timbres, clatter and black ice shimmer, as does a passage in English where a statement concerning deafening the audience completely is mentioned a couple of times, but this is an uneasy ride regardless. Good stuff. " (Adverse Effect)

"Just as Gastev sought to train workers to behave and function as machines, so too do have Einheit’s and Ammer’s methods of crafting desperate and devastating soundscapes by way of scrap metal, coiled springs, power tools, and whatever found objects are within reach... Hammerschlag is rich with the sort of reverberant ambience only a large warehouse space or concert hall can offer... Hammerschlag is a stream of mechanical consciousness, each track a movement in a grand audiovisual exhibition, with the interplay of Einheit’s and Rica Blunck’s voices shouting manifestos and examples of Gastev’s writings adding to atmospheric intensity... As well, the record offers an intriguing historical context to the kind of brutalist sonic architecture that has defined Einheit’s work since the early days of Einstürzende Neubauten, sure to please longtime fans" (Regen)

"Dos grandes de los sonidos cacofónicos... pura experimentación repleta de disonancias, ruidos desenfocados, infinidad de percusiones proferidas contra infinidad de superficies de metal, y soliloquios femeninos... La obra como tal resulta tan intrigante como deliciosa: está cargada de fluctuaciones y horizontes sonoros que van mutando constantemente con una ponderada premeditación. Un frenético viaje por lo desconocido y lo imprevisible es precisamente lo que esta obra futurista de corte ruso nos ofrece. Merece la pena sentarse y disfrutar de su exquisito desarrollo, ya que desvela muchos de los secretos encerrados en la primera música de estilo futurista, que ha sido considerada por muchos de los entendidos del mundo de ruido como la primera música industrial propiamente dicha" (4/5, NOmelody)

"F.M. Einheit (elettronica, oggetti) ed Andreas Ammer (sirene) fissano su CD  un'opera che intreccia una materia industriale rumorosa e vorticosa con prominenti recitati maschili e femminili, ritmi macchinosi, brevi passaggi più musicali ed incursioni di puro noise, ovviamente coi crismi della performance radiofonica... si compie l'ennesimo stordente viaggio dalle radici dell'eclettismo industriale mitteleuropeo più pionieristico verso un linguaggio a suo modo unico nell'unire la performance radiofonica con la non-musica, missione e marchio di fabbrica di un tandem artistico che si riforma ogni qualvolta vi sia necessità di finalizzare un lavoro mai fine a sé stesso, bensì utile nel ricordarci cosa significhi interpretare e "musicare" la cultura industriale con la maestria propria dei pesi massimi del settore" (Darkroom)

"...siamo di fronte ad una ardita mescolanza di elementi percussivi tipicamente industrial, elettronica sperimentale, noise e la cosiddetta “machine music”, ossia musica ricavata da oggetti come catene, rottami, molle e oggettistica varia, attitudine che richiama fortemente i primi lavori degli Einstürzende Neubauten, di cui Strauss è stato protagonista indiscusso... l’album interpreta la poetica di Gastev, che intendeva provocatoriamente distruggere la letteratura, come dichiarato nella sua ultima opera “Un pacco di ordini” del 1921, in cui veniva anche citato con grande anticipo una sorta di rituale musicale in cui il pubblico doveva essere stordito dal rumore creato da un dispositivo di segnalazione, prima di “dare inizio ai giochi”. E così dopo circa cento anni, il rituale ha avuto luogo con grande successo, proprio in Russia, alla faccia di Stalin" (Rose Selvaggia)