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May 11, 2012

No More – “Sisyphus” – Viva Music Album Review

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Tracklist: “All Is Well – Senza Macchia” * “The Beautiful Life of the Wasted Youth” * “This Was ‘Die Modernistische Welt’” * “Sisyphus” * “Take Me to Yours” * “Gritty Existence” * “La Defense” * “123456789” * “The Grey” * “Hypnotized” * “Leaving Berlin” * “Les Girafes sur mer” * “Heroes” | Producer: Andy Schwarz, Tina Sanudakura, UK Rattay | Vocals, guitar, bass: Andy Schwarz | Keyboards, theremin, electronics: Tina Sanudakura | Lyrics by: Andy Schwarz (tracks 2-12).

Other No More news on darkwave.ro: No More at Nocturnal Culture Night in Deutzen bei Leipzig 2011

About No More: The band became known through the genre-crossing classic “Suicide Commando”, a title that since its release in 1981 not only appeared in numerous compilations, but was also placed in the limelight again and again through remixes, among others, by DJ Hell. The song is therefore, even today, an essential item of many DJ-sets from darkwave to electroclash, from EBM to postpunk, from electronica to indie. The band,  founded in 1979, broke up in 1986, but in the fall of 2008 Tina Sanudakura and Andy Schwarz go on stage as No More once again. In 2010, the album “Midnight People and Lo-Life Stars” is released. No More tour clubs all over Europe, play at festivals such as M’era Luna and NCN, they support DAF and play with Psyche in the concert series entitled Electronic Legends. (source: band press release)

No More – “Sisyphus”Album Trailer:

No More – “Sisyphus”: Album Review:

Released on Mar-23 on Rent A Dog Records, No More’s new album, “Sisyphus” is a superb blend of genres that yield very precious musical results. “Sisyphus”, one of those rare albums that triggers love at first listen, and each additional listen brings up new hues and new intentions and new innuendos in the reading of the album. If you take a great deal of emotions and try to pour them into an album, it will most of the times sound insincere, far-fetched, or who knows, it will appeal to less people than if it were a more linear album. But this is a rule No More know how to break – with style – with their “Sisyphus”. Mention should be made of the variety of feelings stirred by the album, but also of the variety of musical shapes in which these emotions are clad – at times sumptuous, at others melancholy, with enough vulnerability to make one feel closer, and not, as it is with humans, reject. It’s a fine world of psychology, but also a fine exercise in musicianship. And that is something that acts who, without being their fault mainly, did not witness the polymorphism of music more than one or two decades.

If it were a matter of life and death to choose just one adjective to describe “Sisyphus”, it would be warm. Warm is how you feel inside when you listen to “All Is Well – Senza Macchia”, and warm is how you wish it were for the hero of “The Beautiful Life of the Wasted Youth”. And then there is the superb “This Was ‘Die Modernistische Welt’” to chant away the end of the civilizations we all put efforts into, and did not succeed or fail dramatically, if this song is left with us. “Sisyphus”, the track that gives the name of the album is fair and accommodating, like a march anthem of the survivors and reborn who had departed in the previous song. “Take Me to Yours”, more on the courtship side, but also with sufficient zest to qualify for a Viva Music favorite from this album. “Gritty Existence” and then “La Defense” are provocative and with a sharper edge of avant-garde electronica, the kind of tracks one hears less and less in 2012, and it’s a pity. “123456789” is again a Viva Music favorite, and one we definitely wish to hear about from various contexts – we want other reviewers to feel its vibe, listeners to confirm our taste, and audiences at No More concerts to applaud wildly. After “The Grey” and “Hypnotized”, our favorite track of the album is up: “Leaving Berlin”, a considerate and very good fix in the album, just to let you know, when you thought you had figured it all out, that there’s more diverse creativity in No More to take heed at, and rejoice. And then, after a stupendous “Les Girafes sur mer”, there is a gift – or at least we prefer to call it so – David Bowie & Brian Eno’s “Heroes” – a wonderful No More cover that rounds up a very profound, and emotionally intense album.

Sisyphus” is a wonderful playlist in itself – it needs not to be mixed or harmonized with songs from other artists – it works just like magic all by itself. Enjoy!

No MoreOfficial Website | on Facebook  | Discography on Discogs

September 8, 2011

Nocturnal Culture Night #6 in Deutzen bei Leipzig – 02-04-September – Viva Music Review and Photos

Day One | Day Two | Day Three

About NCN Festival

Nocturnal Culture Night celebrated in the truest sense of the meaning its sixth edition in Deutzen bei Leipzig between Sep-02 and Sep-04 with a killer lineup and a very appealing atmosphere. With ups and downs due to the times of the shows (some of them took place kind of early for the party fatigue building up especially on the second and third days), the audience topped 2k participants who were in their entirety a big family. Everywhere you went, you found people smiling, ready to help and to enjoy together the shows or the side entertainment that were carefully and laid out smoothly by the organizers. With the exception of the unpredictable, to which the same organizers were able to save face wonderfully (the power cut on the second day), the festival could not have been thought up in a fancier and friendlier manner.

To begin with, the shows – they all started on time making the festival a big Japanese train station. The bands were introduced on stage coherently and with great enthusiasm, but only in German. Even after the power cut had been mended, the shows quickened their pace, so that the expected end time would be the same, and bands and audience alike showed understanding faced with the mishap. The sound was overall good and that’s one thing to credit the venues for: both the mainstage (Grosse Buehne) and the smaller one (Kleine Buehne), which were located within reach, had a great surrounding and accommodated easily the hundreds of participants without impeding access and/or blocking the view of participants.

Participants at NCN Festival 2011 – photo gallery

The participants themselves were friendly, peaceful and really at ease with the festival setup. The family feeling was not given only by the fact that participants greeted one another, were courteous and their merry-making was probably the best example of community, but also by the numerous families with kids as young as 9 months (and who knows, even younger) who participated in the festival. Their spare time was divided between the cleverly arranged stands, food courts, playgrounds, quiet areas, shops and the medieval market that took place in the proximity of the main festival venue. The shopping choice was classy and the food was really good, while the refuse collection showed that having fun and being responsible can go hand in hand.

Medieval Market at NCN Festival 2011 – photo gallery 

(more…)

July 26, 2011

Nocturnal Culture Night – Lineup, Details, and More! September 02-04, Deutzen bei Leipzig

Ever since 2005, Nocturnal Culture Night festival enchanted with its cozy atmosphere, intriguingly clever lineup and enchanting surroundings of the venue of Deutzen bei Leipzig, a small municipality south of Leipzig, where the project of the Kulturpark Deutzen, a recreational and cultural venue was brought up.

Destroid, Mesh, Rotersand, Frozen Plasma, Solitary Experiments, Zeraphine, Colony 5, Santa Hates You, Das Ich, Diary of Dreams, In Strict Confidence, Girls Under Glass, In the Nursery are highlights of the 100+ bands who went on stage for the editions of 2005 and onward – and now, for the sixth edition already, Nocturnal Culture Night (in short, NCN) comes with just as impressive a lineup for the days – or better said, nights, of September 02 thru 04. A Friday-to-Sunday outdoor event, the NCN venue will include two stages for concerts, a cultural stage, a medieval market, an after-show area as well as a children’s area.

The schedule for NCN in Kulturpark Deutzen (Deutzen bei Leipzig) needs the finishing touches, but the main layout of the event looks enticing just as it is!

Friday, September-02: Golden Apes * Gothminister * Kirlian Camera * No More * Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio * SITD * Tyske Ludder * Whispers In The Shadows

Saturday, September-03: 32 Crash * Absolute Body Control * Atrocity * Elane * F.O.D. * In My Rosary * Klangstabil * Merciful Nuns * Sensory Gate

Sunday, September-04: Blind Passenger * DAF * Eyes Shut Tight * Future Trail * Fixmer / McCarthy * Krypteria * Nova-spes * Persephone * Schoengeist * Staubkind * VNV Nation (more…)

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