Formats
GLOBOS00002 - LP
087169152771
Details
**FMD WILL BE GETTING A LTD QTY OF THE BEN VON WILDENHAUS CATALOGUE** After more than a decade touring with saturnine heavy-riffers Federation X, Ben von Wildenhaus turned his attention to a starker, lower – but somehow more menacing – sound. With guitar, sine wave generator, and voice Wildenhaus brings together Egyptian cinema music, Berber desert guitar, American folk melody, and film noir score material for a vivid stroll through evocative historical styles and laconic moods. His second record, II, written and recorded in New York City with his Professional Band, is a mirror record – meaning that side two is a mirror image of side one, physically, thematically, and melodically. The song breaks in the grooves on side one look identical to those on side two. Side one features the Brooklyn vocalist Clara Kennedy, and side two features the vocals of Scott Matthew (of John Cameron Mitchell’s Shortbus). Wildenhaus explains the mirror concept: “The first song on side one is ‘Bad Lament I,’ which is based on a three-note melody sung by Clara. Its flipside, ‘Bad Lament II’ contains the same threenote melody now sung by Scott. ‘The Knife Thrower I’ is the opening-credits theme song to an imagined ‘70s Italian western, and on side two, ‘The Knife Thrower II’ could be considered the score to that imagined film's tense finale. Likewise, ‘Tú’ is a dramatic Spanish language ballad about murder. ‘Two’ is in English – both are devastating.” The overall sound of II is crisp and deliberate. It plays out like a precise map without a note or tone in the wrong place.
Tracks
Side One (featuring Clara Kennedy)
1. Bad Lament I (2:40)
2. The Knife Thrower I (2:40)
3. Al Azif (3:28)
4. One Bad Motherfucker In His Day (5:17)
5. T? (4:37)
Side Two (featuring Scott Matthew)
6. Bad Lament II (2:40)
7. The Knife Thrower II (2:40)
8. An Nur (3:28)
9. Easy Opium (5:17)
10. Two (4:37)
Press
Plays and support from Iggy Pop, 6Music