Synch Festival 2009 – Day 3

Schaltkreis Wassermann  Experience

SW is a band that was founded in 1979 by PJ and Stella and their album Psychotron (1982) has received a cult status in the electronic scene. It has been an influence for many bands in the electronic music scene due to the fact that the music sounds as fresh as ever. Psychotron reached number 7 of British Syntheseizer charts in Melody Maker.  Until mid 00s this album was a rare item for collectors but finally in 2005 found the road to Cd re-release.

The arrival of SW at the stage was welcomed with  various reactions from the audience: curiosity, interest, joy. It was obvious that due to the lack of promotion for the 3rd day of the festival by the promoters, people didn’t know what to expect from SW. The local mainsteam media chose to talk about the indie bands of the previous 2 days and didn’t pay attention at bands such as SW that are here for almost 30 years !! The so called journalists did their dirty job again…Anyway, when the band started playing , it was almost sunshine but this didn’t stop people coming in front of the stage to hear this mysterious sound:  a mix from acid rock / electronica  by PJ the guitarist,  oriental vocals by Stella and her son in the role of percussionist. Along with the band there 2 LCD screens on the left and the right of the stage with psychedelic visuals from the psy trance culture and retro 60s – 70s images. The band was in “great shape” but unfortunately the mixman wasn’t helping the band  with the sound mixing process. There were times that I’m sure that Stella couldn’t listen to herself by the  monitors. During the show and close to the end, more and more people were reaching the stage because the band really succeeded in  making new fans with this live appearance. The oriental psychedelic culture / meets western rock culture was the competitive advantage for the the band and this antithesis was a stroing point of intrest for the fans.

After the concert we had the chance for a small interview with the band . The band is a family, so there are no big egos around and the band works great. Even if they were tired, the  enthusiasism was enough to talk us about their music and culture. PJ is great fan of Jimi Hendrix and used to be in a full rock band many years ago.  Also his previous job as an IT programmer is a fact that have influnced him as a personality and a musician.PJ uses Logic Pro music software that helps him in the composing process. Stella is an oriental dancer and also experiments with a kaospad on the stage in order to produce a psychedelic ambient atmosphere that fits with her voice. Their son is the percussionist of the band and studies music in USA, plus he was very helpful with the photos during our discussion. The band is in the process of producing a  DVD ans they’re very  careful in the use of their music. For example as PJ says, they don’t want to use their music commercials.

Sure it was a pleasure foth for me and the fans SW’s music, so I hope that in the near future we’re going to have the chance of meeting them again.

YOU Experience

Tha band of YOU has been for about 30 years in the music scene, they were there in the days of Krautrock when in 1978 the music of YOU was born at the Paragon studio in Berlin. Udo that owned an eight-track tape recorder (which he got from Klaus Schulze) along with other musicians recorded the first album of YOU between May and August 1979. Udo’s partner in crime till today, Abin, has been playing synthesizers, sequencers and Mellotron. Also he’s been involved in the artwork of the band’s first album. These two guys continue the tradition of electronic music as a duet or with more musicians, it depends on the needs of the live show. The band’s music is very famous in the dance scene in Italy and various remixes have been made in their music by Italian techno / hard trance and house music producers.

When the duet entered the stage, everything was ready:  laptops , synth and special lights. The audience was becoming more as the night was getting closer and the weather was great . The mysterious sound of YOU added an extra element at the atmosphere, a mix of live synths and loops were the mind’s teaser for the audience. The music of YOU is hypnotic and ethereal, everything you’d love to find in an ambient group, becomes realith through a little help from my friends in YOU. As the time was passing by the audience was in full hypnotic ecstasy by loosing the sense of time and sitting on the ground fiiling their ears with dreamin’ sounds and psychedelic lights. If you could see this scene behind the audience, the whole scene looks like being in an ancient trip of global ecstasy: YOU in the role of priest  / magician were putting spells on the audience’s senses and people were locked in a senasational  trip of sounds without resistance and with a will to obey at the masters of universal psychedelic music.. All the people were there enjoying the sound, really magical..When the show was over, it was hard to realise how the cosmic sound faded out..The synth’s music was still in our heart…

Udo discussed with us everything during the band’s soundcheck, he’s a humorous guy  and social guy that talked with almost everyone before the band’s show. Even if he’s 30 years in the music biz, the enthusiasism for music and life captures your interest about his personality. He has no ego related to what he does but cares about playing music ” Can we play a 5 hours set ? ” said to the stage manager when it was announced that opening act, Mezbow, wasn’t in Athens for the show. YOU ‘s music is used in various commercials and exhibitions about products that are related to the industrial design. Today there are not so many labels that interested in YOU sound but fortunately, there many DJs that find out their music and remix their older stuff. After their appearance in Athens they are going to work for a few bonus tracks that they’re gonna include in their upcoming album. Without a major label on their side, they insist on playing around the world and creating magical and unique music.

MYSPACE PROFILE FOR SCHALTKREIS WASSERMANN : www.myspace.com/schaltkreiswassermann  
MYSPACE PROFILE FOR YOU : www.myspace.com/yourovision