RhoDeo 1837 Aetix

Hello,


Today's Artists are a new wave band from Nijmegen, the Netherlands, founded in 1980 and originated from the band Zelek by Peter van Vliet and Lasika Panyigay.  It is a mix between 80s-electro, cold wave and experimental electronic music. The band consisted of Jack Kaat, Laszlo Panyigay, Peter van Vliet, Simon van Vliet and Mirjam van Hout. Their name comes from the album Mekanik Destruktiv Kommandöh of the progressive French band Magma, a source of inspiration for the band members.  Just like Magma, they work with two bass guitars and just like time and countrymen Minny Pops one uses a synthesizer, toy instruments, effects equipment and a rhythm box. After their sixth album from 1988 entitled The Castle Of Fair Welcome the band continued under the name The Use of Ashes because their name no longer covered the musical direction of the band. ......N'Joy

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Nijmegen, summer 1980: Peter van Vliet and Lasika Panyigay set up a new group from the band Zelek, Mekanik Kommando.  The duo becomes a quartet through the arrival of Simon van Vliet and Mirjam van Hout.  The name Mekanik Kommando comes from the album Mekanik Destruktiv Kommandöh of the progressive French band Magma, a source of inspiration for the band members.  Just like Magma, Mekanik Kommando works with two bass guitars and just like time and countrymen Minny Pops one uses a synthesizer, toy instruments, effects equipment and a rhythm box.

 Mekanik Kommando-ultraMekanik Kommando records a cassette that is picked up by Wally van Middendorp (Minny Pops, Plurex).  This results in a performance on an Ultra night in Paradiso.  There is always room for experimental music on Ultra evenings.  In fact, these evenings are the stage in Amsterdam for bands like Mekanik Kommando.  Bands that come elsewhere but with difficulty.

 Peter van Vliet in 1981 in Vinyl: "In the Netherlands you can hardly go anywhere with our music.  It is not eaten by the hall owners.  The few performances that we have done here were for example an Ultra night and er ... when we knew that Tuxedomoon would play here in Doornroosje we went to the organizers with a cheeky mouth and a tape and said: this is good, we want to  playing the support act.  And it worked.  I must say that it was fantastic.  But otherwise ... hall owners only want a band that sells beer. "

In 1981, Mekanik Kommando took some big steps forward.  The group is interested in the newly created sheet Vinyl and is asked to deliver the music for the flexidisc that appears with the first Vinyl track.  The band does that through the songs ~~~ and ++ / + -.  In the summer of that year Mekanik Kommando is busy with the first album, which is still being recorded at home.  The album appears at Torso and has, like the songs of the Vinyl-flexi, a remarkable title to say the least: It Would Be Quiet In The Woods If Only A Few Birds Sing.

 It Would Be Quiet In The Woods Although the music on the debut is not cheerful, most of the songs do radiate a kind of playfulness, a refreshing kind of naivety.  As a kind of young researchers, the band members seem to explore the possibilities of their instruments.  The music is still primitive but full of exciting sounds and nice details.  With the double bass parts and the pentetric sound effects, the band distinguishes itself further.  Strange, yet catchy music.  With the characteristic Microbes, Mekanik Kommando seems even to be able to get close to a novelty hit.

 Mekanik Kommando's LP is kicking to the top 30 of OOR and the magazine is interviewing the band in 1981. The group feels its growth is hampered by the Ultra label.  "Ultra is not a sound, but a mentality, an institution.  And they try everything and do not take into account what others think of it.  Ultra is experimental, searching for something.  As soon as you find that, you start structuring, then the experiment is done. "

Mekanik Kommando has therefore had a good start in 1981. At the beginning of 1982 the band gets five days of studio time in the Salisburysound studio in Dordrecht.  That is actually far too little for a band like Mekanik Kommando where it often really starts after the recordings.  The sound balance on the plate will therefore not be optimal.  Yet the end result is hopeful: Dancing Elephants, a mini-album, offers innovative and surprising music.  Opener Stop And Play can still be described as a transverse electropop.  The other numbers are contrarian.  The rhythm box and the repetitive bass lines of Beauty Of Language have a beautiful hypnotic effect that is broken only a few times with the simple and recognizable refrain.  The metallic, grim intro of Window is an example of the sound magic that Mekanik Kommando regularly performs. The industrial pop song that breaks loose is typical: a combination of a certain playfulness and uncompromised sound walls.

The second half of the album consists of quieter work: the imaginative cadence of A Swan In The Ocean and the dreamy soundscape full of interesting finds Miss.  B. seem to contrast with the first three tracks, but in fact ensure that Dancing Elephants gives a complete picture of Mekanik Kommando in 1982.

Mekanik Kommando will shortly receive a contract with an 'official' record company: EMI-Bovema.  Thanks to the son of the director of this society who is strong for the band.  The new EMI-Bovema sub-label Wereld Rekord will become the home base of Mekanik Kommando.  It is the first time that a large label shows serious interest in innovative Dutch music. To the astonishment of the band members one also gets great artistic freedom.

 Atmosphere has always been very important for the band.  On the third album, called Snake Is Queen and released in the autumn of 1982, that is no different.  The instruments have remained almost the same, although the marimba adds a nice element to the familiar richness of sounds.  However, the sound is significantly better than that on the previous records, thanks to EMI's broader budget, which allows much more studio time.  In the oriental-like Passing Clouds, hand-made carpets pass by like misty patches, driven by tight bass lines, a rhythm box and marimba.  A fascinating whole, immaculately recorded.

 Snake Is Queen In the song Attraction Of Light a nervous tension is built up.  Peter van Vliet to Joost Niemöller from Vinyl: "We always use certain images for a song.  This can sometimes be rather vague, sometimes quite concrete.  It may be a certain landscape, or a lone horseman through the snow, or as on this third plate, the image of lemmings and moths that meet their own demise. "

 Musically, the focal point also shifts per song.  No instrument plays a central role at Mekanik Kommando.  Panyigay: "Every time we let it depend on the atmosphere of a song.  When such a number demands it, for example, a rhythm box can be recorded very loudly.  Another time, the rhythmic cadence between the two bass guitars can be so important because of the friction effect between the two, that we bring that party a moment. "Also the vocals are not constantly present in the foreground, as with most pop music traditionally still  the case is.

During 1983, the band significantly increased its name recognition through many performances at home and abroad and through a live contribution to the VPRO program Spleen.  Moreover, OOR is enthusiastic about the album: "Contrasting and fluent at the same time, one with nature, an inexhaustible source of listening pleasure.  Snake Is Queen, Mekanik Kommando bears the crown. "

Wereld Rekord have also released interesting albums from MAM and Tent, so that the label has been firmly positioned in a relatively short time.  The second album of Mekanik Kommando has to help Wereld Rekord on its way.  In 1984 the album comes out: Bay The Moon.  In the atmospheric, mysterious opening minutes of Alleys And Place, it appears that Mekanik Kommando has further refined the sound in the studio.  On a number of tracks, they embroider Snake Is Queen.  Elsewhere shifts can be observed.  In The Ashes, influences from American electro can be heard.  Mekanik Kommando also succeeds in letting the experiment go hand in hand with a certain accessibility in a number of tracks.

 Under the banner of Wereld Rekord, Mekanik Kommando releases the new album to the public, during a European tour with stable members Tent and MAM.  The band gets a lot of appreciation in smaller circles, both in the Netherlands and abroad.  Step by step, Mekanik Kommando must be able to build a larger fan base, even though the band primarily makes music that they find interesting.  In 1985, during the recording for a new record, however, Lasika Panyigay leaves the band.  The end of an era.  She has been one of the driving forces behind Mekanik Kommando for five years.  At a later stage she will still speak musically with Güler and Ulan Bator.  Also Mirjam van Hout leaves the band in 1985. On the other hand, Jack Kaat (keyboard, saxophone) joins the ranks.

 All troubles, however, slow down the new album of Mekanik Kommando.  At EMI they also found out that there is no money to be made with alternative pop music and that only the chimney does not continue to smoke.  After three years and two albums the roads of EMI and Mekanik Kommando separate.

In the meantime, Mekanik Kommando has shown that he is less 'mechanical' on the live cassette Do (1985) than before.  This becomes clearer when the long-awaited new album appears in 1986, Shadow Of A Rose.  The album appears on Rosebud's own label, created after the farewell of EMI-Bovema.  It goes without saying that Rosebud has fewer resources than EMI-Bovema.  Shadow Of A Rose will therefore have to find its way through concerts, reviews and word-of-mouth.  That must succeed, because the record is one of the best Dutch releases of the year.

 What is immediately noticeable is the organic character of the plate.  The acoustic guitar plays a bigger role and the rhythm box and synthesizer seem to have disappeared.  Because of all this, the again present violin and clarinet will also be in a different light.  The plate opens atmospherically, in no fields or roads seems to be a beat.  An intriguing soundscape unfolds in which early industrial music flows into folk and psychedelics.  The band peaks with songs like A Picnic In The Castle Garden, Scars and Run Rintintin Run.

 The VPRO recognizes the quality of Shadow Of A Rose and shows a video of the title track.  However, Mekanik Kommando does not receive much more honor than appreciation in smaller circle.  The band has started to focus more and more on film and theater music.  No lack of inspiration.  The in-house studio, De Tempel, is a breeding ground for ideas.

 The Castle of Fair Welcome In 1988 The Castle Of Fair Welcome appears, again at Rosebud.  The music of Mekanik Kommando is far from mechanical in 1988 and soon the band members decide to renounce the name Mekanik Kommando.  It is now decided to operate under the name The Use of Ashes.  Like Mekanik Kommando, this name is also taken from the title of an album by another band.  This time it is a record of the psychedelic folk formation Pearls Before Swine.  The records of The Use of Ashes include the Rotterdam label Tonefloat, which later not only releases The Castle Of Fair Welcome on CD but also comes up with a CD release of the debut album of Mekanik Kommando from 1981. Original  LPs of the band are now worth many tens of euros.


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Another psychological effect of birdsong in an otherwise quiet environment is that it accentuates the silence.Silence in itself is often noisier than a wood full of birdies warbling; so my point is, that the album title is in fact quite an accurate observation. Silence for me, is far noisier than this home recorded minimal synth classic by Dutch electronic post-punkers, and not a Magma tribute band at all, Mekanik Kommando.

 Mekanik Kommando - It Would Be Quiet In The Woods If Only A Few Birds Sing (flac  200mb)

01 Birds 4:57
02 Microbes 3:07
03 Plants 2:40
04 Vortex 2:56
05 Replay 3:34
06 White Soldier 3:22
07 Money For Pleasure 2:16
08 Icefield 4:06
09 Japanese Eyes 0:02
10 Dress Grey 2:46
11 On Snack 2:30

Mekanik Kommando - It Would Be Quiet In The Woods If Only A Few Birds Sing     (ogg  95mb)

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At the beginning of 1982 the band gets five days of studio time in the Salisburysound studio in Dordrecht.  That is actually far too little for a band like Mekanik Kommando where it often really starts after the recordings.  The sound balance on the plate will therefore not be optimal.  Yet the end result is hopeful: Dancing Elephants, a mini-album, offers innovative and surprising music.  Opener Stop And Play can still be described as a transverse electropop.  The other numbers are contrarian.  The rhythm box and the repetitive bass lines of Beauty Of Language have a beautiful hypnotic effect that is broken only a few times with the simple and recognizable refrain.  The metallic, grim intro of Window is an example of the sound magic that Mekanik Kommando regularly performs. The industrial pop song that breaks loose is typical: a combination of a certain playfulness and uncompromised sound walls. The second half of the album consists of quieter work: the imaginative cadence of A Swan In The Ocean and the dreamy soundscape full of interesting finds Miss.  B. seem to contrast with the first three tracks, but in fact ensure that Dancing Elephants gives a complete picture of Mekanik Kommando in 1982
 Here a digital copy of the album with as bonus a remastered version of the tracks.

Mekanik Kommando - Dancing Elephants  (flac  273mb)
 
01 Stop & Play 3:56
02 Beauty Of Language 4:24
03 Window 4:06
04 A Swan On The Ocean 6:14
05 Miss B. 7:09
06 Stop & Play (Remaster) 3:55
07 Beauty Of Language (Remaster) 4:24
08 Window (Remaster) 4:09
09 A Swan On The Ocean (Remaster) 6:17
10 Miss B. (Remaster) 7:04

Mekanik Kommando - Dancing Elephants   (ogg  122mb)

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Atmosphere has always been very important for Mekanik Kommando.  On the third album, called Snake Is Queen and released in the autumn of 1982, that is no different.  The instruments have remained almost the same, although the marimba adds a nice element to the familiar richness of sounds.  However, the sound is significantly better than that on the previous records, thanks to EMI's broader budget, which allows much more studio time.  In the oriental-like Passing Clouds, hand-made carpets pass by like misty patches, driven by tight bass lines, a rhythm box and marimba.  A fascinating whole, immaculately recorded.

Musically, the focal point also shifts per song.  No instrument plays a central role at Mekanik Kommando.  Panyigay: "Every time we let it depend on the atmosphere of a song.  When such a number demands it, for example, a rhythm box can be recorded very loudly.  Another time, the rhythmic cadence between the two bass guitars can be so important because of the friction effect between the two, that we bring that party a moment. "Also the vocals are not constantly present in the foreground, as with most pop music traditionally still  is the case.

Mekanik Kommando - Snake Is Queen (flac  232mb)

01 Pain In Eden 4:20
02 Attraction Of Light 4:38
03 Passing Clouds 4:45
04 Crow 3:53
05 Entangled By Colours 4:01
06 Door 4:22
07 Thin Ice 5:04
08 Snake Is Queen / Endless 4:32
09 Conquer The World 4:55

Mekanik Kommando - Snake Is Queen  (ogg   101mb)

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'Bay The Moon' is their second and last record for EMI's Wereldrekord label, but they were dropped due to lack of succes. The boss up there learned that there is no money in experimental music, not even the popmusic version thereof. The smooth experimental music slowly develops on this material into the more psychedelic sound of The Use Of Ashes, but still sounds great.

Mekanik Kommando - Bay The Moon   (flac  190mb)

01 Alleys And Palaces 5:25
02 Steel, Concrete And Silence 4:38
03 Monologue At 4 P.M. 5:50
04 Chant Mecanique 3:08
05 From The Ashes 8:00
06 24 Hr. Din. 4:01
07 Hush, Surrender 3:00
08 Glorious Survivor 3:50

    (ogg   mb)

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“The Castle of Fair Welcome” is an amalgamation of krautrock, folk, psychedelic and ambient and seeing how this was originally released in 1988, many of the influences I had in mind for it were not even active yet. Disregarding the obvious timeline flaws, there's definitely some overlap with bands such as: (Early) Porcupine Tree, No-Man, Pink Floyd, Kraftwerk, Magma, Tangerine Dream and in some instances Tortoise or indeed even The Beatles. Despite the 20 odd years difference between its intitial release and my first listen, it's hardly dated. The two short throw-away songs “Eve of Seperation” and “Where The Fish Can Sing” are the only blemishes on a record that has otherwise withstood the test of time.The use of soundcollages with recordings of radio broadcasts, explosions, thunderstorms and environmental sounds, have been ingrained in the music in an intruiging and non-contrived way. Amplifying its character are passages of exotic instruments like the mandolin and bouzouki in juxtaposition to an omnipresent synthesizer and a sporadic saxophone.

As a whole, this record sketches an aerial picture outlined by convincing use of a diverse instrumentarium, hushed vocals and an overall clarity, always contributing to consistency and balance without getting trite. Individually, only a few songs stand out, but by grading the songs seperately you'll deny yourself a seemless dreamy experience.

Mekanik Kommando - The Castle of Fair Welcome   (flac  255mb)

01 Spring's Green 4:17
02 Tournament 2:45
03 King Uheit 7:10
04 Snowheart 4:13
05 Eve Of Separation 2:40
06 Gallant White Horses 4:49
07 Five Lucky Hands 3:07
08 Vanishing People 3:52
09 The Forest Still 3:24
10 On A Gloomy Afternoon 4:08
11 An Owl Told Us 3:44
12 Where The Fish Can Sing 0:35
13 Twelfth Night 5:21
14 Still Still 3:24

Mekanik Kommando - The Castle of Fair Welcome   (ogg  113mb)

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