ARTIST: Black Rust
TITLE: The Gangs Are Gone
LABEL: Strange Ways Records
GENRE: Indie
SOURCE: CD
BITRATE: 245 kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 58:12
RELEASE DATE: 2011-00-00
RIP DATE: 2011-09-20
ENCODER: LAME 32bits version 3.98.4 (http://www.mp3dev.org/) -V0
Track List
----------
1. The Gangs Are Gone 3:56
2. From Now On 4:37
3. Back To Where I Started 4:31
4. Broken Home 4:39
5. Present Nothing, Past Less 3:51
6. Horizon (How I Hope That You're 5:06
Alive)
7. Waiting 4:11
8. Memory Lane 5:17
9. Again (My Darkest Hour) 3:31
10. Rain / Roses 2:43
11. These Days 4:17
12. Having Panic About A New World 6:24
War
13. Bonustrack 5:09
Release Notes:
India, February 2010.
BLACK RUST from Ahlen on the road. Five days in a state of trance, sleepless
somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Tens of thousands of kilometres away from
that, what used to be called home, the tour of the band reached its high point -
exotic and irritating . Enormous amounts of impressions and no time to process
even a single one of them. The threat of collapsing increases towards the end.
But then these five former schoolmates are on a stage in front of 5000 people,
the first tunes come out of the loudspeakers and suddenly BLACK RUST are back to
themselves again.
THE GANGS ARE GONE tells the story of identity, of growing up and uprooting.
Where are we from, where do we want to go, and hell, who are we? It is not only
the catcher in the rye. You only get homeless, although you have a home, when
you move out and return and find everything different, just to recognise: the
only thing that has changed is you. The world has made you change. Jonas Kⁿnne's
texts light up this critical state, in which one suddenly notices that one has
lost very much during the search for oneÆs own identity and treading new paths,
which used to offer security: Love, friends, homeland. "Trying to be a stranger
in a place where you always have been", sings Jonas in "From Now On" and "All my
homes they are burnt down ruins and I can't go back where I belong" in "Memory
Lane". Emptiness and isolation on the big screen.
"The album is an odyssey, a search and longing for exactly the feeling, which
clearly says: You're right here", bass player Julian Jacobi explains, "You will
not find this, when you isolate yourself, always stay in the same place or only
do things you're told to. Sometimes you need to destroy the old things in order
to create the basis for something new."
"These guys live for the moment. They remind me of everything that it is good in
a band and it was very satisfying for me to see this. It gave me back the
passion for working.", says Robin Proper-Sheppard, mastermind of Sophia, who
took over the production of the first 'real' album Medicine & Metaphors and this
time also sat at the controllers. Again in studios in Hamburg and London, and
with Kenny Jones, another friend, who has already mixed the finishing touch for
Oasis, The Smiths and Billy Bragg.
Flashback: Two years ago Medicine & Metaphors made people take notice throughout
Germany. BLACK RUST impressively proved that superbly crafted Americana is not
only at home in the USA, but also in the Westphalian province. The consistent
confinement on acoustic instruments, singer Jonas Kⁿnne's catchy voice and
sensitive arrangements gave these touching songs their own, strong sound form.
This reached the press: "With Medicine & Metaphors we have the first aspirant
for the German Americana record 2009.", the Musikexpress raved about the album,
the Rolling Stone wrote "a beautiful Americana, pub rock and folk album" and the
Visions team talked about "Here one plays skillfully with the forms and the
sophisticated arrangements prove that especially nowadays handmade music with
passion and heart is more than necessary."
Finally, the second album has been launched, which is made of the same
ingredients but supplemented by more experience and serenity. Besides singer
Jonas Kⁿnne and band co-founder Julian Osthues (guitar, mandolin, harmonica,
trumpet, trombone), Julian Jacobi (double bass), Christoph Seiler (piano,
hammond, rhodes, accordion) and drummer Adrian Hemley complete the band set-up
again. And nonetheless, this time everything was completely different.
In THE GANGS ARE GONE, one song picks up on the previous one, re-tells it,
prepares the next one and passes on the baton. This time, BLACK RUST
increasingly worked with electric guitars, even if the main focus is still on
acoustic instruments. Whether folky ballads with glockenspiel and accordion,
hymnal pop songs with strings and brass or compact rock songs with electric
guitars and mandolin: the band's central quality of placing a good deal of value
on dynamics, contrast and variety results in consistent progression and, now and
then, even provides space for small experiments such as the use of a banjo or
tuba - moments of pure enthusiasm.
And so it is not surprising that BLACK RUST draw a positive balance with THE
GANGS ARE GONE, despite all the darkness, rising floods and sinking ships. "A
wonder that we're still alright", so are the lyrics in the hidden track "Still"
- repeated so surprisingly often that it's quite hard to believe this statement.
"We are actually all completely fine", Jonas smiles. And quickly adds: "The
music is not there to change the world. The music is there to save your life.
Wherever our path may lead to, one thing's for sure: We feel absolutely right
here." Means as m1uch as: BLACK RUST have found the place where they feel at
home. In their music.
http://www.black-rust.de/
http://www.strangeways.de/