Caspar Brötzmann Massaker is one of those legendary avant garde projects that I think people hear a lot about but don't spend nearly enough time engaging with. This morning I have taken a wonderfully hellish journey through their classic, Koksofen, to celebrate the albums re-issue on Southern Lord. Koksofen is an hour of mind melting music with crushing rhythms and weird vibes. This is a record that unveils Dante-esque hells and bleak unrealities that force the listener to come to terms with their own unknowing. Koksofen is a masterful offering and one that seems to continually drive to new heights.
There is something about this record that continues to make me uncomfortable as I get deeper in it. In some ways it almost feels like the Lou Reed classic, Metal Machine Music. The devastating industrial drums of the title track for instance take you to a place of demented monochromatic factories. the weird swells of sound seem to only raise goosebumps and provide a sense of fucked up forward motion. It's hard not to be almost immediately enamored with the grandeur of this record and the scope of what its five tracks embrace. Yeah it's weird and frequently bleak, but you didn't start listening to band with 'Massaker' in the name because you wanted sunshine and rainbows.
Koksofen is a masterful offering. It's a record that routinely pushes boundaries and hints at weird and oft barely explored sides of the massive Caspar Brötzmann Massaker soundworld. The more you investigate the more horrors you dig up. This is almost a tone poem in a way. As harsher and more upsetting sounds fade in you become increasingly aware of the creeping dread within us all. If you want to come face to face with your own mortality then look no further, the sonic torment of Koksofen is here for you.
Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/Caspar-Br%C3%B6tzmann-Massaker-161188597270108/
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