act 220 · von magnet · ni prédateur ni proie · cd
tracklist:
growing vs fading, into the breach, instead, kedma, capricious horse (who leads the) ?, light thread, bare hands, minefield dance, mann hinter dem vorhang, splinter of glass, mostar angels, death is a gift.
official album info:
von magnet dreams of the existence of other possible paths; thin and
minute. those tightrope walking paths almost invisible. bouncing in
between two perils, two poles, above empires, across frames, which can
slip through the breaches of any walls. that is the story of this
album. when rage is accompanied by tears. this album is our reaction
facing the brutal reality of our world today. a world under pressure
where all is put into opposition, where everything would like to divide
us and where we are being arbitrarily dictated the absolute necessity
of a choice. but with "ni prédateur ni proie" (neither predator nor
prey) we will not choose our side.
there between partial / impartial, north / south, subjective /
objective, orient / occident, coward / hero, poor / rich, indifferent /
partisan ... we will remain bare handed, like astonished and turbulent
children dancing on a mine field. we will just stare at you, we will
fall into rage and boil into tears. within this emotional turmoil,
flore magnet and the turkish actress esra bezen bilgin replace women
where they are never welcome. women of multiplicity, violence,
engagement and resistance. phil von gives way to the voices of the rom
kids of mostar and the jewish and palestinian actors from amos gitai
and hany abu-assad movies.
at their side, def sharpens his analogue bass lines and darkens
atmospherical ambiances which often feel like "war". scattered
explosions, shots, crackles, complaints or laments. only our guest,
kurdish sufi musician mŸbin dunen softens the crawling tension. his ney
bringing our clamour down to a silent light thread. now von magnet
signs a harsh, raw, urgent and poetical piece, mixed and produced
flawlessly by master norscq. another dary fusion which binds classical
music flavours with oriental rhythms, tribal percussions within neo
industrial electronic soundscapes. here orient is not any more sensual
and phantasmagoric, it is rigid and almost cold. here occident is no
more sparkling and victorious, it is sad and decadent. nevertheless
"neither predator nor prey" is the length of rope which suddenly ties
them up, confronting our hearts to dive close to the abyss.
official biography:
the group/troupe von magnet distinguishes itself by a most artistical
strange past/path. at first extremely active on the london club scene
(1985 / 1989), then courted by the british avant-garde, they ended up
attracting the attention of the post-industrial circuit in northern
europe where they tour regularly. in 1987 with the first mythical album
"el sexo surrealista" produced by ken thomas (psychic t.v, test dept.,
23 skidoo, sugarcubes, wire, dave gahan, sigur ros ...) they invent
their own and genuine "electroflamenco" style where feet stamping,
poetry, flamenco guitars and dances confront with samplers and
computers invited twice by the transmusicales of rennes, holland«s
tegen tonen, main feature act in city festivals (brussels, den haag,
lille, coimbra, barcelona ...), occasionnally trouble makers during
party club nights, site-specific installationists transforming disused
churches, slaughterhouses, hospitals, car or boat factories, ethnic
techno dissidents in rock venues or even mutant guests at various
performances and happenings (art galleries, t.v shows, street/open air
festivals - portugal / turkey / morocco / france -, openings, opera
ballets - berlin / kiel -, etc), von magnet adapt to every situation.
from dramatical urban rituals and poignant futuristic flamenco
interpretation to the most baffling scenographies and stagings, von
magnet convey, with all the necessary rage, their spellbinding musical
and electronically experimental shows. based successively in barcelona,
rennes, amsterdam, lille, berlin & paris, for each project gathering
different creative teams and mixed peculiar tribes of performers,
visual artists, dancers, musicians, designers or sculptors, von magnet
is indeed one of the cybergypsy pionners of euroculture. in 2005/2006
for their tenth album & performance "de l'aimant", the "magnetic team",
phil von + flore magnet + mimetic relaunched their own odd fusionÉ
flamenco inspiration gathering with futuristic electromantism,
introducing live two new flamenco artists : guitar player sabine van
den oever & dancer yana maizel. 2007 witnesses a brand new experimental
stage experience with the dary theatrical piece : "ni prédateur ni
proie / neither predator nor prey".
digipak packaging.
released in collaboration with jarring effects: www.jarringeffects.org
magnetography:
1986 i luz / i voz collector. 12 inch
1988 el sexo sur-realista. lp / cd
1989 alma la. 12 inch / cd single
1991 computador. lp / cd / k7
1992 flamenco mutants. cd 6 tracks / k7
1993 la centrale magnétique live. cd
1994 el grito. cd
1996 cosmogonia remixes. cd
1997 nuevas cruzes. cd compilation
1998 mezclador. cd
2004 el planeta. cd
2005 electroflamenco collector. cd 4 tracks
2006 de l'aimant. cd
2008 ni prédateur ni proie / neither predator nor prey. cd
detailed discography: www.discogs.com/artist/von+magnet
von magnet on the internet:
www.vonmag.net
www.myspace.com/vonmagnet
www.virb.com/vonmagnet
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