Anbb : Alva Noto and Blixa Bargeld
Mimikry
Raster Notion

If a project features Blixa Bargeld you know it's never going to be easy listening. Anbb sees the iconic Einstürzende Neubauten singer team up with musician/visual artist Alva Noto aka Carsten Nicolai.

The album starts out with sounds of screeching until Blixa takes over narrating. It's highly uninviting and never becomes conventional once. It's hard going to listen to, but might reward patient listeners and folks who are already fans. Putting a difficult track at the beginning makes some sense, if it won't drive away casual listeners nothing will. Venture further and you will be both rewarded and terrified in equal measure. The bleep and hiss of "Once Again" recalls Einstürzende at their most impenetrable, though perhaps that's not saying much. Blixa hisses in English and the song covers in fear. A version of the standard "I wish I was a Mole the Ground" gets a strange yet unnervingly beautiful version. The bleeps that accompany Bargeld's singular vocal are strangely appropriate.

"Wust" is a horror movie soundtrack waiting to happen, all tense vocal and remarkable atmosphere. So, this won't be for everyone, but it's a strong piece of work in its own right.

Copyright © 2011 Anna Maria Stjärnell