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CD
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N 050CD
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Berlin's Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra returns with its fourth album Vula. Having celebrated their ten-year anniversary with a stunning series of concerts in 2016, the 18-piece's new full-length showcases a stronger focus on harmony and melody -- and yet AMEO sound no less explosive or unpredictable than before. It arrives gently, with shimmering lights, soft winds, sashaying melodies, and of course, the isotherms and isotheres function just as they should: All of a sudden, lighting strikes amid the concord of instruments, unforeseen energies erupt and upset the rhythmic scenery. Making a combined effort to create sheltering patches of harmony within the unfolding drama, leader Daniel Glatzel and his 18-piece "working band" set out to harness album number four: Vula. Another musical tour de force that connects too many dots, decades, traditions and genres to mention, Vula is quite a different beast compared to its live predecessor or the orchestra's last studio effort Bum Bum (N 029CD/LP, 2012): There's bigger, bolder strokes, and the compositions are linked by recurring motifs and harmonies, which is why the new album sounds like one entity: It is one hour-long adventure that needs to be listened to in full. The title Vula, taken from the Tumbuka language (spoken in the northern region of Malawi), indeed translates to tempest or thunderstorm. Ranging from softly trickling melodies courtesy of older masters ("Lakta Mata Ha") and hazy interludes, the mood, vibe, and pace change faster than cloud formations come flying across the screens nowadays (e.g. "Qwetoipntv Vjadfklvjieop" with its arrangement a` la H. Lachenmann). Head-nod bliss, motion picture soundtrack vibes, and even J.B. licks aren't mutually exclusive in these compositions, as AMEO showcase with "J Schleia", a track that nods both to Dilla/Grandmaster Flash and to Bach-era counterpoint techniques. Elsewhere, a pounding surf-rock beat metamorphoses over the course of 14 minutes ("In The Light Of Turmoil"), only to see them return to patches that are surprisingly catchy and calm. The final applause turns out just as thunderous though, after the album ends with the vibrant and throbbing "Papaya Flyers IX Epsylon", a live recording that already foreshadows the group's later collaboration with Hermeto Pascoal. The entire process, from writing to intricate post-production, took almost five years.
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2LP
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N 050LP
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Double LP version. Gatefold sleeve. Includes download code. Berlin's Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra returns with its fourth album Vula. Having celebrated their ten-year anniversary with a stunning series of concerts in 2016, the 18-piece's new full-length showcases a stronger focus on harmony and melody -- and yet AMEO sound no less explosive or unpredictable than before. It arrives gently, with shimmering lights, soft winds, sashaying melodies, and of course, the isotherms and isotheres function just as they should: All of a sudden, lighting strikes amid the concord of instruments, unforeseen energies erupt and upset the rhythmic scenery. Making a combined effort to create sheltering patches of harmony within the unfolding drama, leader Daniel Glatzel and his 18-piece "working band" set out to harness album number four: Vula. Another musical tour de force that connects too many dots, decades, traditions and genres to mention, Vula is quite a different beast compared to its live predecessor or the orchestra's last studio effort Bum Bum (N 029CD/LP, 2012): There's bigger, bolder strokes, and the compositions are linked by recurring motifs and harmonies, which is why the new album sounds like one entity: It is one hour-long adventure that needs to be listened to in full. The title Vula, taken from the Tumbuka language (spoken in the northern region of Malawi), indeed translates to tempest or thunderstorm. Ranging from softly trickling melodies courtesy of older masters ("Lakta Mata Ha") and hazy interludes, the mood, vibe, and pace change faster than cloud formations come flying across the screens nowadays (e.g. "Qwetoipntv Vjadfklvjieop" with its arrangement a` la H. Lachenmann). Head-nod bliss, motion picture soundtrack vibes, and even J.B. licks aren't mutually exclusive in these compositions, as AMEO showcase with "J Schleia", a track that nods both to Dilla/Grandmaster Flash and to Bach-era counterpoint techniques. Elsewhere, a pounding surf-rock beat metamorphoses over the course of 14 minutes ("In The Light Of Turmoil"), only to see them return to patches that are surprisingly catchy and calm. The final applause turns out just as thunderous though, after the album ends with the vibrant and throbbing "Papaya Flyers IX Epsylon", a live recording that already foreshadows the group's later collaboration with Hermeto Pascoal. The entire process, from writing to intricate post-production, took almost five years.
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CD
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N 037CD
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Ever the loose cannon, the Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra remains reliably unpredictable with their third album for Alien Transistor: renowned for their elaborate and intricate studio recordings, the genre-smashing 18-piece Orchestra didn't even set foot in a studio this time around, but instead returns with a live album, recorded in May 2012 at Berlin-Neukölln's Heimathafen. The new album marks a distinct stylistic departure for the Orchestra: instead of presenting the kind of sonic splatter/comic styles they're known for (as showcased on Bum Bum [N 029CD/LP]), bursting at the seams with new bits of information at every turn, the album opener features a surprisingly coherent and steady layer of sound that's more reminiscent of ambient music. The Orchestra's last album was all about clashes of polar opposites: Live on Planet Earth leaves decidedly more room for individual statements, for ideas and textures to emerge; in other words: It's a lot easier to tell what's actually going on in the new songs. That's not to say that Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra -- part avant-garde salon orchestra, part alternative jazz big band, part audio logistics center -- want to revoke or amend the bold grandeur of their earlier material; instead, it's simply a new and more collective-minded direction. Despite its inconvenient size and refusal of genre-labeling, the Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra has been a steadily working band since its inception in 2006. Of all their releases, Live on Planet Earth probably showcases best how this group of musicians deals with its own unique diversity: highlighting the individuals' approaches and statements, but working together, as an entity. It is thanks to this emphasis on a truly collective approach that the new album sounds more "symphonic" than its predecessor (which daringly veered towards techno or musique concrète at times). However, when Glatzel mentions the band's "organic interplay," this doesn't mean they lost their sense for eccentric, shrill and humorous ideas; neither does it mean they didn't use electronic instruments while recording Live on Planet Earth. They did, but the various electronic elements are more subtly interwoven into the tracks, not at all sounding like anything you'd expect from electronic music. Live from Planet Earth is a live album that not only documents a huge logistical challenge: here, the Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra leaves the safe studio environment behind and enters the stage to underscore and reaffirm its position as one of the leading large ensembles for extravagant soundscapes of everyday life.
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LP
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N 037LP
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2LP
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N 029LP
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Gatefold double LP version with download code. In May 2009, the 18-piece Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra, conducted by Berlin composer Daniel Glatzel, released their amazing first album Take Off! (N 018CD/LP), a crazy white-water rafting tour through all genres and styles imaginable, from minimalism to film scores, and from jazz to modern classical music and beyond. Now Glatzel and his orchestra are back for a second installment that will leave you breathless with its incredible richness. Bum Bum is not predictable for a single second, adding darker tones and atmospheres to the orchestra's boundless musical pedigree. AMEO might be fun, but they are far from easy listening. Glatzel is not fainthearted and no music is untouchable for him -- using his knowledge about modern pop, muzak, baroque composition, gamelan music and the Second Viennese School he sends both orchestra and audience on a journey through time. Take Off! was recorded live by the whole orchestra, but Bum Bum was created in the studio. Almost every instrument was recorded separately and each track was edited and re-arranged by computer. The orchestra is dismantled and reassembled in a new way which would simply not be possible live. This is post-ironic world-jazz -- a musical cabaret, in which everything can be marveled or laughed at, depending on perspective and context. Glatzel bombards us with an astonishing range of musical influences. Compositional concepts interrupt each other, cut in, drown each other out. Soundtracks of imaginary American gangster movies are replaced by fizzing harp-arpeggios, then by the clatter of Big Band jazz.
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N 029CD
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In May 2009, the 18-piece Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra, conducted by Berlin composer Daniel Glatzel, released their amazing first album Take Off! (N 018CD/LP), a crazy white-water rafting tour through all genres and styles imaginable, from minimalism to film scores, and from jazz to modern classical music and beyond. Now Glatzel and his orchestra are back for a second installment that will leave you breathless with its incredible richness. Bum Bum is not predictable for a single second, adding darker tones and atmospheres to the orchestra's boundless musical pedigree. AMEO might be fun, but they are far from easy listening. Glatzel is not fainthearted and no music is untouchable for him -- using his knowledge about modern pop, muzak, baroque composition, gamelan music and the Second Viennese School he sends both orchestra and audience on a journey through time. Take Off! was recorded live by the whole orchestra, but Bum Bum was created in the studio. Almost every instrument was recorded separately and each track was edited and re-arranged by computer. The orchestra is dismantled and reassembled in a new way which would simply not be possible live. This is post-ironic world-jazz -- a musical cabaret, in which everything can be marveled or laughed at, depending on perspective and context. Glatzel bombards us with an astonishing range of musical influences. Compositional concepts interrupt each other, cut in, drown each other out. Soundtracks of imaginary American gangster movies are replaced by fizzing harp-arpeggios, then by the clatter of Big Band jazz.
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N 018CD
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This is the debut full-length release by Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra. Whoever claims to have heard anything like this before must be lying. This 20-piece orchestra, led by 25-year-old Berlin-based composer Daniel Glatzel, sets off a firework of energy, musicality and fresh ideas and juggles genres, styles and musical references in a way that can make you dizzy. Jazz doesn't begin to describe it. We're talking about everything from minimalism to film scores, Romanticism, modern classical music, and Bartók, right through to Frank Zappa. Glatzel also cites computer games, cartoons, shabby infomercials and elevators in expensive hotels as influences. Take Off! is true to its name -- the album is wild, headstrong, haunting, atmospheric, funny, disturbing -- all at once. Pulling out all the stops, Glatzel uses musical registers from varied cultural references and alarmingly crazy time signatures, all with a nonchalance which borders on the outrageous. Big-band swing is interrupted by free-jazz cacophonies, and excerpts from crime movie soundtracks are mixed with fanfares from imaginary film production companies. All of a sudden, the blissfully elated mood will shift to its opposite and we find ourselves in the middle of oppressive, sprawling soundscapes where all is boundless and wonderful. The AMEO are 20 young musicians all from differing musical and cultural backgrounds -- from Germany, France, Switzerland, Canada, Norway, Japan, Thailand, the Czech Republic and South Korea. As leader, composer, arranger and woodwind player, Glatzel is responsible for the record's concept as well as for composition and arrangement. AMEO have already left Korean concert halls and Bavarian provincial backwaters astonished, and occasionally frightened, with their harmonic adventures and rhythmic madness. Each individual member of the orchestra brings with them a stylistic openness and the highest possible joy of playing. It's a debut that leaves you asking what can possibly follow it.
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