Reviews

Four summers have passed since Ernst Horn and Alexander Veljanov released Indicator. Four long years during which people could speculate as to whether the gentlemen would be able to build on their success. Deine Lakaien are no ordinary band. Veljanov, the singer with Macedonian roots and extravagant hair, and Horn, the studied and virtuoso multi-instrumentalist, have 16 years of life experience between them. Since 1985, they have bridged the generational gap through their music.

Shackle-free Compromises

Since their first successes with Dark Star and Forest Enter Exit, Deine Lakaien have only gradually changed. Their musical code is unmistakable, their diversity unrivalled, so that their sounds are pigeonholed under a meaningless «avant-garde». Ernst Horn used to be a conductor and theatre pianist. Veljanov was a young wave artist who studied theatre and film in Munich and dreamt of dark melodies.

Veljanov said in 2007 to the Tagesspiegel:

There were two men standing opposite each other, who were quite different, and the age difference was obvious. When we started talking about music, the ice was quickly broken, even though our musical tastes could not have been more different.

The early works of these two very different men were characterised by schizophrenia. The fading era of dark wave resonated in the hammering Dark Star, while Spring Dream could not resist the classic influences of Horn in its gentle melancholy. Over decades, Horn and Veljanov met somewhere in the middle of their tastes. Compromises are usually counterproductive, but Deine Lakaien did not tie themselves up and created something unnameable and yet familiar.

Melancholy in the Crystal Palace

Depending on how you count it, Crystal Palace is the ninth or tenth album. You certainly can't say that the lackeys are overflowing with creativity. However, they are forgiven because their music is captivating on every album.

Crystal Palace is no exception. Ten songs, three of which are added to the special edition, nestle together and belong together more unequivocally than on any other Lakaien work before. It is difficult to say what a typical song by the duo sounds like. Nevertheless, the gently building Nevermore makes it unmistakably clear who is behind these sounds. Deine Lakaien shine with outstanding lyrics from the very first song:

Nevermore will I fall in love,
Nevermore will I fall in love,
No more laughter,
No more tears in my eyes,
No more belief,
And no more these white lies.

Perhaps not an optimistic start to an album, but melancholy is as much a part of the band as the repetitive elements in their songwriting. And while Nevermore is still dominated by discouragement, Farewell already radiates more self-confidence:

Farewell, farewell, my own true love,
Blurred are the fields, we’ve been dreaming of,
Hazy the days I tried to foretell,
Farewell, my love, farewell.

Ride through the Darkness

Crystal Palace, the album's namesake, skilfully plays with pop elements, wavering chamber music, and even some blues rock can be discerned. A mixture that usually causes nausea.

However, one song stands out from the album like no other: The Ride. Fast, relentless and demanding. Fast-paced, like in their early years, even Veljanov's deliberate voice struggles to keep the arrangement in check. A ride through the darkness, haunted by pale ghosts. Once again, Veljanov shows that he is a master of his trade and has mastered the art of half-tones.

The album Crystal Palace fulfils wishes. Driving tracks like The Ride or the stomping Those Hills shake hands with the dreamy melodies in Eternal Sun or Forever and a Day as if it were the most natural thing in the world. After almost 30 years, we know what to expect from Deine Lakaien, and yet Ernst Horn and Alexander Veljanov always manage to surprise us.

Those who don't like the band won't be converted by Crystal Palace either. For everyone else, I highly recommend buying it so you can close your eyes, enjoy a glass of good red wine and listen to sounds from another world.

Deine Lakaien – Crystal Palace

Release: 08/08/2014

1. Nevermore
2. Farewell
3. Forever and a Day
4. The Ride
5. Where the Winds don’t blow
6. Crystal Palace
7. Why the Stars
8. The Lights of our Street
9. Those Hills
10. Eternal Sun

Special Edition
11. The Swan Song
12. Portuguese Trails
13. Pilgrim

The first song is called Spaceship I. Well, it's more of an intro, only 55 seconds long, and it actually sounds like outer space. It echoes: «It's the end of the show, we'd like to thank you all for coming…» – A little helplessly, I have to laugh at my own confusion. – «I came… very hard.» That's clear. The intro slowly fades out and I get ready for something anarchistic.

Easy girls with daddy issues

Suddenly, Union Square Kids hops up and down like young deer, carefree. Restlessly, the fingers rush over the piano keys until a full beat takes over the burden of the rhythm. So, Lipka make danceable electro-pop. The song triggers images of days gone by in me. Childhood memories. Damn, are Lipka so good that they win me over at the first attempt? Am I such a loose woman? Forgive me, a boy, of course.

Well, easy girls and cheeky boys don't behave themselves when Daddy comes. So why is Lipka so Sunday-best here? The easy girl has a father complex, and Lipka talks about Daddy in a tragically amorous way, how he drinks himself sick and writes a novel. I'm getting sleepy.

No party without beer

«Don't wanna be alone, don't wanna stay at home, just wanna go out and party.» Now the duo from French-speaking Switzerland appeals to me again. Don't worry, this isn't a boring party anthem. Just because some songs sound easy-going, Lipka has nothing to do with superficiality and tuned mainstream. At least, that's what the press release says.

«If you wanna party with me, you got to give me your money.» Damn, that's right. These days, you can't have a party without money. Etienne Maître and Felix Landis say what we've all secretly been thinking. You don't always need money to party; a cool beer will do. Fizz!

Now it's time to get down to business. The fat beat from Union Square Kids is back. I missed him. He is pure fuel for my dancing leg.

Hey party people! I know your having fun now! Hey party people! And I don't wanna ruin it. But hey DJ! Turn out that music real quick, ‘cause I got something to say: I think we're running out of beer!

I hate Lipka. They end the party before it has even begun. Well, Lipka were honest enough to promise at the beginning that this was the end of the show. You have to love them for that at least.

Enough alcohol is still circulating in our bloodstream. Knife is pumping, driving and still frightening. All in the fog of intoxication. This is not a good intoxication. It is the dark side of alcohol that we all know only too well.

Hangover in outer space

I roll around in the sheets. Dark circles under my eyes down to the back of my knees. Lipka's They Asked Me lulls me out of bed with gentle and spherical sounds. Morning people have bad breath. Not much more of this song sticks in my head. Lipka pull me back out into the world.

Marching. The falsetto voice of Felix Landis is as fragile as a newborn and as steadfast as a soldier. Somewhere in the maelstrom of lo-fi, hip-hop and electrified pop, the spaceship of love actually floats in space. Peanuts also sounds clinical, white, pure like Kubrick's spaceship in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

How the hell did I end up here? Just a moment ago, I was laughing with the kids, partying and waking up in bed with a hangover... Spaceship II. «We don't know where the hell we're going.» Well, that's reassuring: They don't know either.

Now I have the CD in my hands again. The curiosity in my eyes has disappeared. Instead, an enraptured irritation is written on my face.

Lipka – Spaceship of Love

Release: 13/06/2014

1. Spaceship I
2. Union Square Kids
3. Daddy
4. Party With Me
5. No More Beere
6. Knife
7. They Asked Me
8. Marching
9. Peanuts
10. Spaceship II

There was unrest in the band. Due to injury, the keyboard had to be manned by Atser Damsma. Kimberly van der Velden, who had previously played the keys, now concentrated entirely on the lead vocals. It was a change that took some getting used to, says the band. But the quartet worked so well that they decided to face the future together. A good decision, but one that also meant that the release date for the new album was pushed further and further back.

Daily Bread have achieved their goal of doing something completely different from the «sexy garage dance sound» on their debut. This is already reflected in the name of the new album, Iterum. And what the Dutch band offers in the twelve songs is an energetic sound fusion.

The starting point was the electropop that had accompanied them since their first album. Daily Bread went on tour for two years, playing clubs and renowned festivals. Then they returned home with full suitcases. The suitcases contained all kinds of experiences, inspiration and ideas. The band not only stirred their sound structures but also shook them vigorously. The new mix of electro-pop and various types of wave offers all sorts of fuel to ensure that the next stage will be on an uncertain path.

Allure is pure homage to the 80s. The first track on Iterum is driving and synth-pop and totally engaging. Is this 2013? It could just as easily be 1984 as we float towards a foggy dance floor in the glory days of the wave. Brilliant!

The title track, Iterum, also fits into this direction but is a bit more modern. Kimberly's voice echoes through the darkness with almost no instrumental accompaniment. Iterum is the heart and soul of the album; the essence is perfectly depicted on the cover.
Silica, in particular, stands out: Daily Bread stomp and hum with a technoid beat to the gate. Dramatically, they rise to choral epics as the song spreads its wings. Then, there is a flash and a clang. The walls crumble, sink to the ground in slow motion, and Silica takes off.

The album combines various influences that all come from the same place. But Daily Bread create an explosively spreading work from the primarily homogeneous ingredients. Imagine the cover of Dark Side Of The Moon, only that the rainbow radiates over 360 degrees. Iterum is an ode to life. It is melancholy, despairing, sad, angry, gentle, radical, floating and hard, landing and picking itself up again. Sometimes, it is also joyful, but not so often.

Daily Bread – Iterum

Release: 25/01/2013

1. Allure
2. Loverst
3. The River
4. Iterum
5. Metamorphosis
6. She Spider
7. The Conflict
8. Day Of Revolt
9. The Persistence
10. Silicia
11. In All
12. You Have Become

Friska Viljor was founded by Daniel Johansson and Joakim Sveningsson in Stockholm more than seven years ago. It was by chance the two ended up in a studio and recorded the first album Bravo!, which was released in 2006. Tour de Hearts and For New Beginning followed in 2008 and 2009. The Beginning of the Beginning of the End in 2011. The Swedes undertook ever more extensive tours through Europe and gained experience.

Now, Friska Viljor continue to write their story. Remember Our Name is a smorgasbord of danceable, driving songs and curious sounds. The album follows no obvious concept. The songs are so heterogeneous that the new disc seems self-contained again. It's like opening the door to a long-forgotten storage room. I'm not talking about the musty smell and dusty air but about the many white linen cloths hiding an unknown world. There's a song under each cloth, and every time you slowly pull away the cloth to reveal what's underneath, it's a surprise.

Generally and roughly, Friska Viljor can be assigned to indie folk. Boom Boom, for example, confirms that this is too narrow a categorisation. Here, the band comes across as unusually electronic but just as dancefloor-compatible and enticing. In addition, the northern Europeans used a whole arsenal of exciting, atypical elements, as before: chorales, saw blades, or clarinet.

Constantly referring to their roots—folk music—Friska Viljor sometimes step on the gas and sometimes take it easy. They can afford to do this because only in this way can they give the listener time to reflect on the adventures and reawaken the longing for them. Even when things are leisurely and folky, the successful Swedish duo avoids sentimentally melancholy music. The songs simply create a good mood.

Friska Viljor – Remember Our Name

Release: 18/01/2013

1. Did You Ever
2. Stalker
3. Bite Your Head Off
4. Boom Boom
5. Easy Is Hard
6. I'm Not Done
7. Streetlights
8. The F
9. Until The End
10. Flageoletten
11. Remember My Name