Dadanaut – Massenkater
Dadanaut – Massenkater – Album Review
“In thought, a very political album, very critical of the general public. But maybe it was just Dadanaut’s head cinema.” I get some of the most beautifully unique, and all-out strange notes sometimes I tell ya.
At the very least, it’s the kind of description that gets my attention, especially in the context of what we know to be an instrumental project. Being able to successfully convey conceptual material without the use of a single word to the general public? That’s…hmm…I think the nicest way I can put that to avoid saying impossible, would be to say that it’s ambitious. I include myself in that assessment, just so you know – I’m no mind reader, and that’s essentially what the folks in the instrumental realm would want out of listeners in order to understand what they were trying to create without the help of some kind of notes or guidance through the titles songs have & whatnot. Like, as I was listening to “Sentenz,” I was definitely interested in its curious and mysterious vibes for sure…but would I be able to know what it was that Dadanaut was attempting to create on a conceptual level? No, of course not. We’re all at the mercy of our interpretation on both ends of the spectrum as listeners and creators if we don’t have all the details and we’re not looking at things from the inside of someone else’s head like we’re starring in Being John Malkovich. And that’s okay! I don’t know that music or art should really be anything otherwise. We make it, we put it into the world, and we’ve set it free from there. A little detachment ain’t a bad thing in that regard, because everyone out there is going to have their own interpretation or theory as to what they’re experiencing from that point on. I’d readily be able to tell you that I basically love everything about “Sentenz” whether or not I would tie it to being political or some kind of critique of the general public…the song itself is nothing but interesting at all times, and moves with a really smart degree of subtlety that keeps us completely engaged and entertained. What Dadanaut needs to consider is, are comments like that ever going to be enough? What would be enough? Do we, that same general public set to receive some audible criticism from the songs on this record, really need to know what everything’s about – is that ever really going to be possible? Or should we just be listening?
Case in-point, even with things sounding as ominous as they do at the start of a song like “Seelenwald” I still wouldn’t make the connection to the original quote up top, especially not with the beautifully serene elements of melody that are added in shortly afterwards – and technically, that’s the kind of stuff I do as a music critic on some level! So again Dadanaut…I ask ya…what’s really important? I don’t know that our interpretations ever really are…no matter who you are, whether you’re an independent artist or someone thriving in the mainstream at the top of the charts – songs are gonna mean whatever it is that they do to the people listening, but that right there is the MOST important part of the whole scenario, ain’t it – that they’re listening? I think we’re all familiar with how many people ain’t, aren’t we? And in that regard, I think acceptance becomes the real crucial element…we, as creators and artists might not always love what people think our songs, albums, material, or sounds are all about – but at least someone is listening in the first place in order to give us any kind of feedback at all when so many get none whatsoever, you following me? By the way, I really like “Seelenwald” too when it comes right down to it…these are really long tunes, which is somewhat in keeping of Dadanaut’s current standards, but I don’t feel like anything is being left out or stretched out at all. I really love how this track builds itself up with melody and intensity and a fantastic array of audible details in it before it sounds like it tore a hole open straight over our heads in the sky above, and with a crack of delicate thunder, the finale of this song becomes the most gentle part of it all as the chaos subsides completely by the end. There is definitely some strong potential in this particular tune, which we’ll continue to talk about in this review as this is the first of three different appearances it’ll make within this lineup of songs.
“Bedeutungsfragmente” is a word that is practically as long as a Dadanaut song is. According to what I’ve learned, it translates to “fragments of meaning” – and so there you have it…the more you know, am I right? Again…probably not necessarily. Even when we do have an understanding of what a title means or what a concept is, that’s more likely to dictate what an interpretation of sound becomes from the other side of the speakers. I could certainly tell you that “Bedeutungsfragmente” sounds like what I might consider “fragments of meaning” to sound like…but none of us really have any frame of reference for what that actually is. We’d be taking Dadanaut’s own interpretation of that in this audible form, and really just deciding whether or not we do or don’t agree. Do I agree? Sure! Is that helpful? I don’t think so if I’m being honest with you, or with Dadanaut. Where music and art is always better suited, is usually in finding out what people’s unfiltered reactions are to something they experience. It’s my very beef with the entire idea of concept records in general…almost every single one you’ve ever heard comes with some kind of a written explanation, or the artist/band will go on to tell you what things are about in interviews and whatnot…and all I can usually think is that if a concept is as strong as you believe that it is, then why take the time to explain anything at all? Shouldn’t we just ‘get it’ as we listen? Dadanaut’s got me teaching a philosophy course as I review this record. I mean…look…I like “Bedeutungsfragmente” personally – overall, I’m a fan of Dadanaut and there’s never been any doubt about that as far as I know – but I definitely feel like artists can tend to obsess a bit too much about how things are perceived as opposed to just doing what they do best – creating. Everyone under the sun is always going to have their own version of what they experience, and it’s almost never going to match up directly with what the intentions are behind the creation of whatever it is…art, music, etc. etc. – in my opinion, it’s best to not get caught up in that too much. Just be you, do what you do, create what you create, and let the chips fall where they may. The most key question of all is, WOULD I listen to a track like “Bedeutungsfragmente” more than once in my lifetime? The answer is a resounding YES – yes I certainly would! Do I like it as much as the first two tracks? Not really! But it’s still another good song.
Anyhow. I’m sure you all get the point I’m making, and Dadanaut does too by now…so I’ll try to leave it at that and move on from here, heading back to the usual comments I’d tend to make. The title track “Massenkater” was pretty good…this is all very vivid, cinematic sound more or less when it comes to this particular lineup. What’s most surprising to me so far is that it’s the longer tracks that are making more of a significant impression on me so far. “Massenkater” is one of the shortest cuts on the record and it’s probably one of the least accessible to most. Personally, I’m cool with it…I like that there are frequencies and tones in this track that would likely turn a few people off, in amongst some much more chilled-out and beautiful melodies too. In terms of the political divide that Dadanaut was referring to, you gotta give credit where credit is due – whether or not political would ever come to someone’s mind when listening to “Massenkater,” I honestly do not know – but with the song’s sonic elements being so clearly divided into two approaches in regards to what sounds pleasant and what sounds more jarring, this kind of contrast is effective in communicating the two main different sides or points of view we have. Does the extra clarity in that respect make “Massenkater” the best track on the record? Nope! And so again you see how the backstory behind any given set of tunes doesn’t really apply all that much – what matters is how a song makes you feel, how it moves you, how it resonates with us long after the music has actually stopped. “Massenkater” is an alright tune…I like most things that Dadanaut creates – but yep, I’m still gonna advocate on behalf of the first two tracks being the best we’ve heard here so far.
“Grundrechtleugner” was the first track where I felt like I noticed some sounds that just might not go together…possibly the spot in this record where Dadanaut might want to re-examine. Again, if we’re sticking with the theme of context and how this album was built on some sort of contempt, you could certainly get away with having clashing sounds…if that’s really what you want. Buried underneath the shiny surface of “Grundrechtleugner” is like a whole other melody of sorts…kind of sounds like the old transporter from the original Star Trek in the background if I’m being honest with ya. Not only does it sound different, it moves differently too…so it basically becomes awkward in two different ways. Like I’ve been explaining as best I can, there’s an overarching idea that drives the concepts on this record, and that’s all well & good regardless of whether or not anyone would actually ‘get it.’ That being said, art & music can quite often push the threshold of what the public can or will willing handle when it comes to what we see & what we hear…and as creators, we’re somewhat forced to live with the reactionary results in those times. The presence of the clashing tones on “Grundrechtleugner” are admittedly very subtle – at least at first; it’s a sound you’ll find slowly grows as this track plays on. The main issue I’d say is presented here, is that if it wasn’t for that extra layer, Dadanaut would likely have had one of the album’s more accessible songs and universally liked moments…but with it, I don’t know. I feel like it might be that one step too far, even with it in there as deep into the mix as it is. For some folks, they might not even realize it’s there…for others like myself, even though it wasn’t nearly as loud or present in the mix like it was at the end when we first hear it, the fact that it was there made it like it was – know what I mean? For myself personally, that second layer is basically all I ever hear in this one. I’m not sure if that’s what Dadanaut would want, because the rest seems potentially very easy to enjoy.
There really aren’t too many rules that govern the Ambient music realm however, and arguably none at all when it comes to art & making music. So while something like “Phantomprotokoll” is stretched out to the maximum, giving you a song that’s much more like a soundscape in general, you’ll find that you’ll get to beyond the two-minute mark before you even hear some tones you’d think might go on to form some kind of song. I don’t know that that is what we have here at the end of the day…this seems to be much more of a case of it is what it is, as they say. “Phantomprotokoll” is gonna be for those out there that dig their Ambient-realm strangeness and the experimental side of music, and probably not a whole lot more. To say this track would be challenging to the average everyday listener would be a massive understatement…I feel like “Phantomprotokoll” was a lot thin in terms of having one real tangible idea driving it at any time, and seemed to lack some kind of decisive direction, instead opting for more of a drone-style approach. In short, I don’t think I was ever really convinced that there was an idea here at all if I’m being real with ya…“Phantomprotokoll” was much more like the illusion of an idea, and it seems to stay in that gear for its full eight-plus minutes, which makes it kind of a devastating track to travel with when you reach the end and it feels like not a whole lot changed from how it all began. While you can hear it would have the possible potential to be one of those soundtrack-type tunes, as a stand-alone cut, I think Dadanaut might have inadvertently drifted further from the mark that we’d normally find.
Things begin to get a whole lot longer. “Weltengedächtnis” is a giant at nearly twelve minutes in length, but very much becomes a welcome tune on Massenkater after having experienced “Phantomprotokoll” beforehand. At this point in the record, it feels like we desperately needed something to hang onto, and while I wouldn’t likely go as far as to say “Weltengedächtnis” is gonna fill that void as much as you might want it to, it did fill it more easily than “Phantomprotokoll” seemed to just prior. You get a combination of atmospheric & otherworldly vibes in “Weltengedächtnis” – not a whole lot of movement during the song’s first three & a half minutes, but enough melody underneath the surface that people could still possibly find their way into it…it’s much more of an audiophile’s track once again. Which is find of course, it really just depends on what Dadanaut was intending is all…maybe at this point the band isn’t really concerned with creating typical hooks to pull you in, and maybe the goal has become the tiniest details in the production – we never really know as people outside of the creative process. I’m gonna throw my opinion in here like I always do and say that “Phantomprotokoll” leading into “Weltengedächtnis” is a pretty tall ask of the average everyday listener to stick with, and could potentially be a back-to-back combination that sucks the life right out of the record in the middle of it – and that Dadanaut might want to consider that in the layout of this album. Heck, I might even keep “Phantomprotokoll” even though it’s not my favorite, and have “Weltengedächtnis” show up a half an hour after the rest of this album is over like one of those old hidden tracks on a tape or CD from back in the day. Anything should probably be on the table and considered here though…I’m just not entirely sure there’s enough for people to grab onto in what’s practically a twenty-minute space of these two songs appearing one after the other. I do think that “Weltengedächtnis” is a better track overall if I’m being entirely honest…but I do still have concerns with both and whether either of’em really do enough.
That ultra-ominous sound seems to come back again on “Heldenverklärung,” making it feel like we should probably turn a couple more lights on around the house if you’re listening to this album late at night. Dadanaut is creeping and crawlin’ on into this one…and I’d imagine that for some out there, this is a style, sound, and approach that is a real winner on Massenkater. At some point we generally have to call things like we hear’em – this whole album is more than beyond minimalist when it comes to the design of these tracks…and cuts like “Phantomprotokoll” & “Heldenverklärung” remind me a lot more of the way that music from K-ORA seems to work. We hear things…but we never really hear a whole lot that seems like it really ties much together, or even really necessarily feels like it belongs in the same sonic space. In that respect, it becomes much more of a collection of bizarre noises and/or a collage of sound that may or may not interest the people out there. That’s gonna be a fairly individual thing for sure – but right here in the most crucial & overlooked section of just about every record ever made – right in the middle – I feel like Dadanaut has chosen to challenge its audience even more than it ever has. I don’t know that there’s enough to tracks like “Heldenverklärung” and the previous two before it, and it feels like there’s a good chance that Dadanaut is going to lose a few people in the design of this record by not really giving them a decisive reason to stick around. That should definitely be of at least a little concern. You hear moments like the final minute of this seven & a half-minute track and find a small dose of accessibility and melody combined, but when you do, it’s fairly familiar to Dadanaut’s sound & music that you’ve heard so far, and tougher to argue that it’s doing anything different than we would have heard in some weird corner of the scene, like it’s a pre-set vibe we’ve all kinda experienced.
Presumably, without the use of Google translator, I’m gonna guess that “Seelenwald – Langversion” refers to a longer version of “Seelenwald” from the beginning of this album. Which in itself, is certainly saying something considering it was already seven & a half-minutes long too in its original form! At this point of Massenkater though, I basically welcomed back “Seelenwald” with open arms and was thankful for its reappearance…there is more than enough tangible ideas and decipherable melody in this song to make it a quality experience no matter what size you find it in. Having said that, there are three different versions of “Seelenwald” on this one album, with a final “Ambient” spin on it at the very end – and I don’t know that I’d be able to completely say that’s a fully justified thing. A good tune, yes, absolutely, for sure. A track that deserves three out of eleven spots, or roughly twenty-seven percent of the entire record in terms of how many times it appears though? I don’t know if I’m as convinced of it taking up that much real estate on the album, even as much as I might personally enjoy it. At this grandiose length of sixteen & a half minutes, I think that Dadanaut has probably set sail out into the orbit beyond what most folks are capable of sticking with. The production is stellar, the melody that we do get is quite enjoyable too, and there’s a genuinely epic feeling you get in listening to “Seelenwald – Langversion” – but it’s reappearance, and its continual search for the right way to combine itself into one song could definitely become a part of what hinders this record over time too. Basically, Dadanaut has put itself in the position of, if you like “Seelenwald” you’re in great shape to like Massenkater – but if you don’t, and this one song becomes more than a quarter of its total lineup of tunes…I mean – that’s easy math that reveals how many folks might not come back to this record – make sense? Even as one of the luckier folks myself, that considers a track like “Seelenwald” enjoyable in every form that it comes in, would still readily acknowledge that it’s probably got too much of a presence on this one album. I don’t really know what the answer to that is though…maybe you actually take all three of’em out, and create the “Seelenwald” EP as opposed to have any of’em on here…maybe you leave one…maybe two of’em never see the light of day and you go with your best – I’m not honestly sure what the best call to make would be, I just know that I feel like having three of them appear is likely two too many for most. I do understand why it has become the backbone of this album…there’s a strong argument to be made that it’s Massenkater’s strongest song…but even in that regard, you don’t want to wear out its welcome.
Where I felt like Dadanaut might have run into a bit of an issue on this record overall is simply in not providing enough dynamics and difference between the songs you’ll find. I listen to “Langmut” and I’m not really that sure there’s anything to be found that’s going to get people to stop and give it their full attention. You can argue that this ain’t how the Ambient genre really works anyway, and I’d get where you’re coming from to a degree – but it doesn’t HAVE to be relegated to background sound. I felt like by the time we reach the most intense points of “Langmut,” that we’re still not really hearing an inspired version of Dadanaut and what this project is capable of, as opposed to just more music being made – and that dear readers, dear friends…might very well be my biggest concern of them all. There are songs throughout both the previous albums like Epopoee and Zeitnarren that were certainly inspired, and revealed a ton of purpose, passion, mystery, and beauty…and I’m not so sure that Massenkater really rises to that same level in any of those categories. Passion would be the closest one I’d say – because at least you can tell there’s dedication to the production in these textures, frequencies, and tones we hear – but the lineup of Massenkater seems to be continually searching for some kind of reason to return to it, and I’m not sure it even gets there. It’s not “Langmut,” I can vouch for that – and if it’s “Seelenwald” then there’s too much risk in having three variations of it appear, which will most likely result in a whole lot of wear and tear on a good tune. I suppose that’s the main point though – “Seelenwald” is a good tune – but it’s still not quite at the same extraordinary and fascinating level we tend to associate with the music of Dadanaut, nor does it reach the same ambitious level of creativity we love to hear from’em. The final way we get this track served to us as “Seelenwald – Ambient,” just shy of twelve minutes in total length, makes it so that we’ve spent about thirty-five minutes with this one song on a record of about eighty-five total – which instead of counting the appearances it makes to give it that twenty-seven percent of the set-list, actually increases the math when we’re talking about minutes of time – this song then becomes a somewhat astonishing nearly forty-one percent of this album. While it’s definitely fair to say that I think the final version we experience in “Seelenwald – Ambient” is the strongest variation of the three…again, Dadanaut…you know what I’ve been gettin’ at here by now I’m sure. I have a very hard time recommending any song shows up on an album twice, let alone three times, let alone that the song in question stretches into double-digit terrain! It’s basically asking too much of a song…and to the audience, it’s a flashing neon sign that says YOU MUST LISTEN HERE because of it appearing like it’s the central and main idea of a record with how many times we see it appearing. While that’s probably fair to say of “Seelenwald,” and while in comparison to the rest of this lineup, it deserves to play that role – the question we still have to ask is what happens to the people that listen and don’t find enough there in this one tune served up three different ways? I think Dadanaut’s running a real risk of losing some people on the journey through this particular record in the way it’s currently designed. I enjoyed the brief moments throughout “Seelenwald – Ambient” where the voices/vocals show up for a second two…we almost don’t expect to hear anything like that with this album having been driven in such an Ambient direction overall this time around. Like I’ve been saying, don’t get me wrong, I do think this is a decent tune when it comes right down to it, no matter which version you’re listening to. Is it Dadanaut at its most inspired though? I don’t know that I can feel completely confident in saying that this time around. I don’t think that Massenkater is just a record by a band going through the motions either, but I’m not fully certain there’s quite enough goin’ on in this set-list to earn the people’s attention, or retain it. I’m not saying anyone has to go running back to the drawing board necessarily…only the people that create art & music ever know what their true intentions behind it all are…but I’m always truthful with the people I work with, the audience reading, and about what I hear…we’ve heard more enticing tunes from Dadanaut in the past by comparison. It seems like there’s a void still to be filled in this lineup; it feels like Massenkater is still searching for that one powerful song or idea that makes everyone listen. This is a project that is fully capable of extraordinary things…and I feel like that’s what we wanna hear from’em – the best advice I’ve got for Dadanaut is to really push itself creatively to find that uniqueness.
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