Anemone Tube - Death Over China

"The earth has a skin and that skin has diseases; one of its diseases is called man"
- Friedrich Nietzsche

I am sure that each of us tried to comprehend his influence on the world around at least few times in his lifetime unless he is a complete piece of garbage that doesn't care about anything around but his egocentric self. Do you choose a materialistic life approach, consuming without any visible borders, sacrificing all that remains precious for voracious curiosity? Or maybe you are concentrated on spiritual and divine side of existence, hugging everything around, sharing love and positive energy? What can be certain is that whatever path and behavior you will choose at the specific stage of your inner development, one of the questions that you will definitely ask will be about the visible (and invisible) exploit of natural environment, the way you utilize your abilities towards preserving life for the future generations. And I don?t mean it in global context; I am not asking everybody to be some kind of a saint or prophet... But you know what, I want my words back, because I do ask for a basic responsibility of each of us for our deeds; they have a massive influence when they are being processed through a social mechanism, where macrocosm is a mosaic of myriads of microcosms.

Anyhow, when talking about modern society, it can be clearly noticeable that a constant chase after industrialization which had become almost a synonym of "global progress" demolishes, disintegrates, and corrupts all the natural environments that are not less important for the development of a healthy modern society. The most outstanding example is China, the country which made a huge breakthrough during last 20 years without paying any attention to the damage that was done during that process. Is it all about "living here and today and after us the deluge"?

Fortunately for this world, there are enough people that can set a counterweight to all that never-ending misery. You can find results of their activity in most unexpected places and manifestations. Stefan Hanser aka Anemone Tube, a Berlin based resident, decided to reflect this theme in a solid piece of experimental music that received an appropriate name "Death Over China". Being deeply impressed by the level of human blindness and unawareness during his journey to China, he decided to collect ambient sounds and create some kind of an exotic ?photo album? that would capture not visual images but the atmosphere itself.

Focusing on manipulation with field recordings, Stefan creates an extreme sonic soundscape full of power and rage. He also shows that creativity has no boundaries while raw sound is sometimes more than enough to reveal many special moments. Try to enter a crowded market or maybe a working plant and open your mind towards music of life, towards a huge pallet of different noises, try to distinguish harmony and feel the pulse of the day. "Black Death Rise" is all about such an effect, constant noises and disturbances are bound together, cycling back and forwards, creating some kind of a rhythm with a weave drilling, shrinks, human voices and many many more. "Deathly Kingdom of Desire" and "Prayerwalk" continue the same idea, but this time with a pack of atmospheric synths that can be heard at the background while all the environmental cacophony receives some treatment from our German comrade.

Don't get relaxed that fast, because "Brooding Haze" raises the level to reach a melting point of power electronics with a wall of metal scratches, dirty pulsations and the whole range of static electricity. Cyclic heavy drones drive the composition forward; even when I know that all the sounds are mostly accidental, I start to feel a breath of some kind of artificial life form that lives in a symbiosis with visible spectrum, feeding on our dreams, hatred and illusions.

The intensity is being changed at this point with "The Announcement" being mostly dark ambient track, though all the elements that were described above are there too but without heavy electrical drones. Same ambiance and same samples adding a tangible cinematic component create a dense delusive atmosphere. And as the finishing stroke, Stefan drops the listener into the cold sensual experience of "The Desecration from Within", the track which is very close to more classical templates of power electronics genre. High frequency disturbances, metal shrinks, background metal percussion, and above all this salad is a chanting voice, reading some oppressive texts.

Without any doubt, Anemone Tube hands out a strong statement hammering a set of uncompromising material. I was captured by its atmosphere and structure, listening to the album in one breath; and that is really important because the theme demands a certain level of concentration and a special spiritual mood. I am not sure that it is the best experimental album that I've heard in my life, but I must admit that it is one of the most sincere and honest out there. As for me, I am convinced now that humanity is a true disease for the earth that it exploits. And what about you? Jan 30 2014