|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LP+CD
|
|
POTOMAK 125171
|
The German-American artist couple Danielle de Picciotto and Alexander Hacke are internationally known, Danielle as the founder of the Love Parade, Alexander since over 35 years for his work with the seminal Berlin group Einstürzende Neubauten and both together as members of the band Crime & The City Solution. Since 2001 they have been creating interdisciplinary projects on stage, in theaters and museums as a duo. Perseverantia will be issued on Neubauten's very own label Potomak. Their last joint venture, the album Hitmans Heel was released in 2011 and a video to the track "Time Is Passing", shot in Mexico under Danielle's direction soon developed into a cult classic. "Perseverantia" means "endurance" or "persistence" and the artist couple, otherwise known for their adventurous lifestyle and unusual experiments are obviously concerned with a different theme this time around. Danielle de Picciotto and Alexander Hacke have been leading a nomadic life since 2010, with no permanent home and travelling from one city to the next. The reason for their restlessness is the overall gentrification, the annihilation of individualism, the rising costs of living and the relentless sellout by the mainstream entertainment industry. "Artists need to find new ways of working now-a-days in order to upkeep integrity and autonomy. The old patterns no longer function." The uncompromising decision to abandon their home has since determined their work. Their search for external & internal clarity, researching archaic principles and philosophies has helped them master the rigors of the road. For the attentive listener, Perseverantia reveals a treasure of their truisms. The album was recorded in the Californian Mojave desert and is mostly instrumental, with a few spoken-word lyrics by Danielle. Together with the throat-singing by Alexander Hacke, the purring and squeaking of the hurdy-gurdy and an ether-plucking harp, melancholic violin melodies and the hum and growl of bass and guitar, one is placed in an acoustic world of mysteries, which floats out of the loudspeakers like an epic movie, both disturbing and mesmerizing. "Perseverantia ad finem optatum" they sing in the title track, and is their main consequence of importance: To successfully achieve a positive goal, we need one thing above all: endurance. No matter how stony the road or wild the storm - we must continue following the path of our destiny. Liebe Li Surrender is not an option - for none of us. Limited to 500 copies worldwide.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
POTOMAK 954952
|
Alexander Hacke is known as the bass player of Einstürzende Neubauten and main figure in Fatih Akins' movie Crossing The Bridge: The Sound Of Istanbul. Besides collaborating in countless bands on the side, he has also been composing film scores for two decades. Danielle de Picciotto was a singer for Space Cowboys and Gudrun Gut's Ocean Club and is an icon in Berlin's creative underground. She is also the co-founder of the Love Parade together with Dr. Motte. Her art and film projects are exhibited internationally. Hacke and de Picciotto have been a huge influence on Berlin's underground scene since the '80s and have been touring the world with their collaborations since 2000. This album goes back to the basics. After deciding to give up their house in Berlin in 2010, the couple is on the road in search of new horizons. Celebrating this restless nomadic lifestyle, they decided to go back to classic songwriting, without sequencing or electronic processing. Concentrating purely on their instruments (guitar, autoharp, keyboards, drums), their songs can be performed on any stage and unplugged. Disregarding fashion, conventions or everyday standards, their lyrics speak of the world they are discovering: solitude, magic and freedom. The brew-ballads, gypsy rolls, Italo Western piano tunes, heavy guitar riffs and autoharp transport the audience into the world of the uncompromising explorer.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
DVD/CD
|
|
POTOMAK 919808
|
2008 release. DVD plus audio CD with 10 tracks. Story: Sebastian Brant's medieval novel The Ship Of Fools (1458) has been an inspiration for numerous seafaring artists throughout the centuries. The image of a ship filled with fools, seafaring through the oceans of life appealed to Danielle de Picciotto and Alexander Hacke, inspiring them to compose a show based on fools described in the book. Deep bass lines, scraping metal, melancholic autoharps, violent guitar riffs, bizarre sound recordings, entwined with Hacke's magnificent singing and Danielle's mystic lyrics are illuminated by intricate projections depicting illustrated scenes of fools' debauchery. This luxurious package contains a filmed documentary of the premiere in Berlin on the 1st of December 2007 and a CD with music from the show. The beautiful visuals and soundtrack of the performance are enriched by inserted interviews illustrating how the artists went about creating the performance while touring the world. Their comments on redefining Sebastian Brant's fools are humorous yet pensive -- an artist's perspective on how mankind has or has not developed, after investigating its medieval history. CD length: 88 minutes. DVD picture format 16:9 color; DVD type: DVD-5; NTSC. Housed in a tri-fold, 6-panel deluxe digipack.
|