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CD Feature/ Daniel Menche: "Creatures of Cadence"

  Tobias

Even though the “Chill Out” era has quietly come to an end, this has not included an immediate change in paradigms: Unobtrusiveness is still a common good in music - in fact, it is often confused with beauty, regardless of whether looked at from a mainstream or underground point of view. This is why we feel a warning is in place for anyone considering buying this album: “Creatures of Cadence” is not one of those records, which work wonderfully in the background. It does not seem happy with merely existing for its own sake or for your personal  relaxation. And if you’ve listened to one track, then you still won’t have the slightest clue what the next one is going to sound like.

So be prepared to fall from your comfortably cushioned place on the sofa, as the deep bass thumps and hypnotic drone oscillations of the opening piece fade into a silence, which is brutally shredded to pieces right away in track two thanks to a tachycardiac noise attack of a thousand disgruntled alarm clocks screaming in pain. In the third installment, siren-like tones hover in the air menacingly, motionlessly and in detuned disharmony, as rhythmically rumbling palpitations threaten to break through from underneath and waves of harmonics cause the frosty air to tremble. It sure sounds slightly trying (which is certainly is on a first listen), and out to shock (which it most certainly isn’t), but much more than that it is explosive, emphatic. impulsive, energetic and, above all, dopingly stimulating. The chance that this one hour long state of emergency will leave you cold is as close to zero as could possibly be. Menche, who is one of the true believers in a music without rules and borders, has once again created a work with a burning urgency and a will of its own. Sounds were taken from a treasure chest of instruments, most noticeably the cello and zither (which are hard to discern from the mix) as well as horns and all kinds of percussions and cymbals (which are everywhere and everywhere at once) and the result is harsh, but also diversified and full of different sensations- if a notion of confusion should arise, then that is quite the intent: Nothing is static here, every single musical element is in a state of upheaval, the connections between cause and effect are neither liniar, nor circular, but follow their own logic. Or to put it differently: Even if a sense of groove or repetition should arise in the closing twenty minutes of the final piece, which meanders along boulder-filled river sides and invisible hands moving over blackened wash boards in a delirious trance  at a muddy stream,  then it’s just our brain searching for order in a world of chaos. Not a single moment is the same and perspectives change incessantly.

As a consequence, nothing can be predicted any more, not even the fact that things will be unpredictable. This lends a strong live feeling to “Creatures of Cadence”, which was subsequently premiered during two record release concerts at the end of September. Quite possibly, though, it is even more “alive” than any stage performance could ever be – Menche’s fingertips appear to be handling an entire orchestra’s worth of sound sources at the same time – resulting both in a super-organic feeling and a sense of unease. But if you’ve read this far, despite all of  our admonitions, then maybe this final warning is rather going to seduce you than scare you off.

By Tobias Fischer

Homepage: Daniel Menche
Homepage: Crouton Records