(art-rock, post-rock, experimental) Heaven And - Sweeter As The Years Roll By - 2008, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Post-rock as exploratory, free jazz-influenced pseudo-genre never really died, it just found odder corners to keep exploring away quietly in. Thus German quartet Heaven And, who on Sweeter as the Years Roll By conjure up an enjoyable series of exploratory songs. The mix of approaches on the album shows that Heaven And don't so much have a set sound as a general approach, centering on the two percussion players at the heart of the group, Tony Buck and Steve Heather, while Martin Siewert and zeitblom create textures and understated melodies around them. The results range from noisy feedback cascades over shuffling percussion on "Bring Back Those Happy Days" to the calm chimes and soft flow that lead into a gently roiling rollock of drums on "Parade," and if the album itself feels more like an enjoyable trifle than a striking effort, it's still good listening that is very much a hallmark of a Staubgold label release. In a sharp guest move, Einstürzende Neubaten veteran Alexander Hacke delivers the two sole vocal turns on the album for "Scarlet Woman" and "Prince Priest" -- if his delivery is no more than moodily minimal demi-spoken word, it actually suits the equally atmospheric music, and when on the former Heather's beats begin to slowly build up, the result is one of the better Scott Walker tributes in a while. "Prince Priest," in contrast, sounds like one of the worse ones -- the raspy voices on The Drift should only be handled cautiously by anyone out of context.
http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:dvfqxzejld6e

On first hearing the music of Heaven And, one could easily dismiss it as belonging in exactly that category. Elements of the diverse musical styles from the last five decades are clearly discernible. Listening to the first track "as if a star", one can make out a vast range of influences: A psychedelic backwards guitar cuts through the whir of a cymbal reminiscent of jazz and trance music, while in the second half, a layer of guitar sounds hovers over it which reminds one of the sounds emanating from the Fender amps of the bands belonging to the so-called "Americana"-movement. At the same time, the track comes across as an update of those stoic monster tracks of early seventies krautrock. (And when it comes to minimalism, the bass line on "as if a star" beats any of Holger Czukay’s in terms of sparseness.) The third track "bring back those happy days" with its manic, almost exploding guitar and its rompish, hippie-like percussion orgy is quite another cup of tea. "Art Ensemble Of Chicago meets Keiji Haino"? Or "Pharoah Sanders meets Sonny Sharrock meets Boredoms"? In the course of the album's duration, Heaven And take their listeners on an unsettling roller coaster ride of styles. Sometimes, elements of the blues stick out, while at other times, elements of heavy metal, post rock, avantgarde, free jazz or noise are up front, so that the listener keeps wondering what (in heaven's name) it is s/he's hearing.
One clue to this is the list of participants on this project. One look at it makes it clear that this is not music concocted by some part-time musician at his laptop, in which the fissures between the elements are still evident through the electronic glue. From musicians such as Martin Siewert (guitars, lap steel, electronics, keyboards), Tony Buck (drums, percussion), Steve Heather (drums, marimba, percussion) and zeitblom (bass, keyboards) one has never heard a single stereotypical sound. In Heaven And, they use musical forms which through their overuse have almost all turned into clichés and fill them with new ideas – their ideas. So in fact it’s the other way round: The music of Heaven And is old skins with new wine (only tasting a lot better). These four individuals create their music without making the slightest compromise, sounding only like they themselves could in this constellation – which renders all attempts at describing their music futile. The one thing that can be said is that their music teems with energy and a "take no prisoners"-attitude. And there is the fact that everything has been played in real time (thus harking back to the production methods of an era in which the computer was not yet the supreme ruler in the studio).
BIOGRAPHIES:
Vienna-based guitarist MARTIN SIEWERT has been playing in diverse bands and collectives as well as working solo. Otomo Yoshihide, Oren Ambarchi, Elliott Sharp, Philip Jeck, Kammerflimmer Kollektief, Wayne Horvitz, Werner Dafeldecker, Christof Kurzmann, Max Nagl, Franz Hautzinger or Christian Fennesz are only a few of the artists, which whom he has been collaborating. In his work with the trio Trapist (with Martin Brandlmayr & Joe Williamson), Siewert focuses on abstraction of song-related forms & structures. In recent times, theatre and moviegoers also had the possibilitiy of coming into contact with his music.
Drummer and percussionist TONY BUCK has been an integral part of the Australian jazz scene for some years. He is a member of the trio The Necks as well as the main man behind Peril, a hardcore improvisation-band, which he founded in 1992 in Japan with Otomo Yoshihide and Kato Hideki. His range of musical activities stretches from playing in no-nonsense-rock-outfits to audio-visual designing of museums. His main interest is free improvisation. In the past, he has been playing with Tom Cora, Peter Brötzmann, The Ex, Paul Lovens, Jon Rose, David Moss, Aki Takase, Ground Zero, Markus Stockhausen, Phil Minton, John Zorn, Haino, Hans Reichel, Han Bennink, Wayne Horvitz to name but a few. He devides his time between Australia and his current place of residency, Berlin.
Not only is STEVE HEATHER Tony Buck's co-drummer and percussionist in Heaven And, but he also hails from Australia. After studying music, he played for a long time in Melbourne's local scene, from whence he moved to Amsterdam and then to Berlin. He works as a composer, sound designer and performer in the fields of dance, theatre, film and new media. He has been collaborating with Andy Moor, Joe Williamson and Boris Hauf among others.
zeitblom is sort of a veteran, a doyen of the experimental music scene in Germany. In 1984, he founded the avant rock band Sovetskoe Foto, in which he played until 1993. In the following years, he has been active as electro-acoustic composer, producer and bass player; he realized installations as well as music for theatre and radio plays, while also appearing live in numerous band-contexts. Fred Frith, Arto Lindsay, Jim 'Foetus' Thirlwell, John Zorn, Christian Fennesz, Christian Marcley and Pole are only a few name that stick out in a long list of musical collaborations.
(Ralf bei der Kellen)
http://www.myspace.com/heavenand