II

Moskau is one of the many projects of the German multi instrumentist Christian Kolf who has a very large range of interests from progressive electronic to black metal and in general succeeds very well in all of them.

Moskau II (exists a Moskau III but not a Moskau I) is opened by "Eraser" that's a very noisy track borderline with Avant Rock and Industrial Metal but contains a melodic part hidden behind the heavy drums, the growl and the industrial noise. However there's something in this track that reminds me to Kayo Dot.

"Angst" proceeds on the same line. Heavy distorted guitar is the leading instrument on this experimental track. There aren't big dissonances even in the most noisy part (close to the final). The following track "We Kill" is an ideal follow-up as the slow tempo works as a counterpart to the preceeding track. Listening carefully we can appreciate the structure and the melodic line. This song with a different arrangement could have been even radio- friendly. Try to imagine it without the distortion, with a deep bass and clean vocals. This long track seems like a song written for a different project but arranged in a way that fits in this one.

"Whatever Is Dead" is based on acoustic guitar on a dark sequence of chords with dark vocals. The first artist that comes to my mind is Syd Barrett after Pink Floyd, but also Radiohead are a good reference.

"Psylocibe Horse"'s intro makes me think to Joy Division, for both the darkness and the melody. There's a lot of 80s inside this very enjoyable track. It has also a short bass interlude. following, there's "Grey Morning Again", that's one of the most experimental tracks. It features noise, semi-clean singing and a lot of distortion providing the noisy environment.

A loop followed by drone drumming opens "You Don't Exist". When the voice repeats the title, the music behind reminds a bit to Senmuth, but without the usual middle eastern influences, then, after a couple of minutes it changes radically and a bit of middle East seems to stay also here.

"Remembering Winterdays", after a nice instrumental intro stops and the three chords on which the initial part is based is replaced by a slow drumming with guitar and voice (not properly growl). This part could have been given to Robert Wyatt. I hear his influence in the melody and even in the vocals. Surely the best album's track. Close to ts end it becomes more melodic. but still suitable for Wyatt.

"Desto" is the last track but also the longest. Noisy for all its duration it has no drums and has a very strong dark ambient flavor. Borderline with progressive electronic it's my second fave track here.

Nothing essentially new in this album that fits well in the three stars definition. A good one in any case.