Cassette Review: 18qm "Le Grau"

[SOLD OUT // https://chemiefaserwerk.bandcamp.com/album/le-grau]

"Le Grau" begins with some shuffling around, record scratches, "For Whom the Bell Tolls" bongs and the overall feeling of being windy.    There are audio clips throughout but they are in a language I cannot understand.   What's funny then is that we can hear the sound of glass bottles rattling around and clanking together before church bells.   Is this in reference to a drunk Catholic perhaps?     It's kind of funny that in The Bible Jesus drank wine so everyone can be so religious yet also oh-so drunk.    That may or may not have some impact on this music here, I cannot truly say, but it is another discussion for a different time.

Melodic tones take us into the sounds of being lost in a crowd or what I like to call "crowdspeak".   You know, these audio clips that sound like they're being recorded at random in crowded places often make me wish we had some internal memory drive which could record conversations as we overhear them and then upload them to our laptops for use in music.   I know I should probably just carry my digital recorder with me at all times and constantly have it on record but it seems like such a hassle when we could become robots instead.

Birds begin chirping, which is something I always like to hear as a birdwatcher myself, and then this sort of thundering/banging noise occurs which I can't explain until I hear it a few more times and conclude it is the opening and closing of car doors.     Whistle chimes then take us into an audio clip that sounds like it's from the radio as it is recapping what songs we've heard and I'm 99% certain the man's voice is not speaking in regards to this cassette.

Through some pot banging, like high toms, this cassette ends with sad piano loops and as I listen to this on repeat I try to find a story in it but the only things I can come up with are not capable of being explained with words.   But isn't that why people create music-- because it is thoughts, feelings, etc. that otherwise cannot be conveyed?  Perhaps that is a true testament to the magnificance of 18qm.