GO APE

Okay, here we go - the POLYTOXICOMANE PHILHARMONIE are back from an extended and impressive tour (around 2 years) drifting through a mysterious parallel universe. Sometime in between they eventually must have arrived on the Planet Of Apes ... with the result of rather vivid memories. It is said later the decision came up to recall a 'smooth selection of Short Stories' and to name this epic 'Go Ape'. Berlin based Nasoni Records have released this experiences on double CD resp. vinyl. For some reasons a new challenge, believe me - even if you already call yourself an open-minded music aficionado.

You are not familiar with this ensemble? I have doubts that I will ever come across a crew which bears more artistical weight and craziness at once. For example they use fantasy identifiers - hence the members' real names are probably the biggest mystery in the world. Well, I know, not the most spectacular thing really nowadays ... so let us continue with the packaging. When reaching for the CD version you will get something like a comic book featuring intriguing illustrations. This seems to be a progression compared to the forerunner album, which is dealing with the story of fly Ned Busckii.

Alex Kraus truly has provided some eyecatcher for this project. And once again Ahula Tinga (Natali Haug) is involved with a revealing story entitled 'Life Is But A Dream'. New protagonist is a grim gorilla, at one time sitting in a bar when surprisingly meeting Ned Busckii whilst drinking a banana cocktail ... enough now to convince you of the band's special attitude? Somewhere inbetween they promise 'Easy Listening for like-minded people' ... hmmh, I suppose they are kidding, but do we really know that? Never mind ... in the light of this let us go over to the music now, which is the most important issue of course.

Each disc contains four tracks - freakout krautjazz is the stylistical synopsis provided by the label. CD 1 confirms this as no other. Untamable - with the opening Dervish they immediately hurry up supported by heavy saxophone input, but also turn to weird spacey moments ... an unpredictable behaviour. No way to describe this - even if you sit down and keep a record. Jumping up to the Catwalk For Little Monsters they even enter heavy aggressive fields.

'What do Gorillas like to do most?' - the psych groover Fine Animal Gorilla tries to give a convincing answer - that's what you probably expect? Now they apparently have reached the Planet Of Apes. This is a fine, more catchy song which always forces me to sing along ... 'what makes you happy? what makes you angry?' ... but I have problems to get the literal sense though. Here we have wonderful polyphonic vocals with Zappa reminiscences plus excited guitars all around. And the song closes with ... surely authentic ... djungle impressions recorded during their Gorilla expeditions of course.

CD 2 starts with the hallucinatory trip Open Letter To Albert H. - far away from any rocking attitude, featuring soaring space guitars, loops, irritating samples and last but not least falsetto vocals, provided by The Emir Of Quaver I assume. 'Have a safe journey' is the band's helpful statement here unsurprisingly. The closing Dryad Girl can be treated as the album's ultimate space jam furthermore - suitable for recovering probably ... who knows who will need this finally? As for that another more accessible track with vocals by Howling Mad Fishli. Wow - that's it! This one bears great dynamic and a monster groove in parts, guitars, keys and saxophone are swirling around each other in active competition, very playful.

'Go ape' needs time to grow. With every new round I notice my impression to be confirmed - it's just more hazardous. Definetely a fascinating one. As usual you will find catchy grooves and melodies in between but they've widened their scope a tad more towards avant prog once again with several unwieldy moments and vocal acrobatics. Hard to digest for listeners with a more common taste - once my wife begged me for listening to music :-) More freakout and avantgarde tinged than ever, based on a conglomerat of impressions and surprises which certainly can appeal to Zappa lovers as well as to fans of sophisticated krautrock. All in all an adventure for your eyes and ears. I recommend to get in touch with this Philharmonie ...

Thanks to Guldbamsen I was able to review POLYTOXICOMANE PHILHAMONIE's 2003 debut which blew me away causing me to give it the full five stars. "Go Ape" is their third record and the most recent recording, and it's a double album from 2009. I have to say that this is one of the more adventerous bands out there and they have some great ideas, maybe not so surprising since they are from Germany. The subject matter of this particular double album is all about "Gorillas" and we get plenty of samples, lots of atmosphere along with a mainly Psychedelic/ Jazz motif that is often quite "out there". Entertaining is the word with male and female vocals in English.

Disc one starts with "Dervish" which has an energetic horn led start that is impressive. When it settles back I'm thinking ANEKDOTEN. Male and female vocals after 1 1/2 minutes then it kicks back in. The vocals are back as they come and go. Sampled spoken words follow and this goes on for some time then the horns return before 6 minutes. A calm with whispered female vocals and more after 9 minutes then those whispers become spoken, then theatrical bringing to mind BRAINTICKET's debut. Back to the mellow sound with female vocals before it kicks in again after 12 1/2 minutes, horns too. Some aggressive guitar follows.

"Fine Animal Gorilla" has a spacey atmosphere to begin with as drums and guitar join in and build. The guitar becomes upfront before 2 minutes as male vocals join in. When he sings 3 minutes in I'm thinking LEGENDARY PINK DOTS. The backing female vocals add a lot. Interesting how they sing a question about gorillas then answer it. Suddenly we get sounds from the jungle 7 minutes in as the music stops, so cool. "Spoonful Of Majoun" turns me right off early on with that Latino Pop music that sounds like a Ricky Martin song. Thankfully it short lived although it will return briefly later on. I do like how powerful it gets before 5 minutes instrumentally which is followed with a Eastern vibe. Some interesting male vocals later on then some ripping guitar before 8 1/2 minutes.

"Catwalk For Little Monsters" opens with male vocals and a fairly powerful sound at times. A relaxed sound takes over 2 1/2 minutes in and it stays this way until around 7 1/2 minutes when we get theatrical female vocals and a more passionate soundscape. It settles again before they kill it after 12 minutes. Nice. Disc two begins with "Open Letter To Albert H." and like outside my window here it's raining as horns and more join in. Suddenly it becomes freaky with samples. High pitched male vocals take over along with spoken words as it settles right down. It turns a little insane after 6 minutes and someone is yelling a minute later. Mellotron-like sounds after 9 minutes then more insanity after 11 minutes. Some powerful organ drones late.

"Apollo-Jive Beneath The Moon" hits the ground running but it settles down when the female vocals arrive. Male vocals and some aggressive guitar 7 1/2 minutes in. "Etude #27" is less than 5 minutes of spooky and experimental music that does bring some suspense later on. "Dryad Girl" is my favourite. And it's not because it's the longest tune at almost 19 minutes. Spacey winds as a drum roll kicks in followed by reserved female vocals, horns and drums. It kicks into gear before 2 minutes followed by some nasty guitar expressions. It settles down after 5 minutes and it sounds like vibes here with those spacey winds. Love the guitar expressions that follow in all that atmosphere. So good! A horn arrives after 11 minutes. This is trippy and then the horns get dissonant 14 minutes in followed by a calm with whispered female vocals. The guitar is back.

An ambitious release to say the least where they no doubt put a lot of time and effort into this. We get 92 minutes of music about apes, go figure. An excellent recording that's not without it's flaws, still an easy 4 stars from yours truly. Check out this band!