A GIFT FROM CULTURE. Expanded & Re-Mastered
"yesterday with logical visitores - best of 1993-2000 (remastered) +++ "Not A Nice Party. A Collection" (4-CD-BOX, 2008)
"Voodoo Highway" & "A Gift From Culture" +++ Reviews +++ VIDEOS +++ Pictures +++ Links +++ Liner Notes "Not A Nice Party. A Collection"
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SYRIA:
"A GIFT FROM CULTURE.
Expanded & Re-Mastered"
- Double CD (37 tracks)
- The original album remastered
- Selected songs from "Neverland Things" and "Voodoo Highway",
- Demos
- Rough-mixes
- Live-Cuts from the "Neverland Things /
A Gift From Culture - Tour 1996".
Release: 2010-Dec-17
Label: Black October-Records
Publishing:
Distribution:
Go & get it @:
http://www.infrarot.de
http://www.darkentries.be
DETAILS and SOUND-Examples: http://www.myspace.com/culturesite
* This double-CD contains 25 songs where Matthias was involved in as a songwriter/guitar player/bass player/producer/arranger/ programmer etc.
Track-List CD 1:
1. With Delicate Mad Hands*
2. A Gift From Culture*
3. Neverland Things (Edit)
4. Sculptures, Fruits And Tea-Partys, Part 1*
5. Passage For piano (Situation One)*
6. Conversations At Night*
7. Elegy Of Angels And Dogs
8. Description De L'Egypte (Badlands 1996-Version)
9. Back From Diaspora*
10. Icon Of Sin (Black Cocktail 1964)*
11. Sculptures, Fruits And Tea-Partys, Part 2*
12. Venus Von Prag*
13. In The Drift*
14. Hey, Hey Helen (Gun Metal Grey-Version)
15. Untitled 1964*
16. Fruit Of The Desert*
17. Sweetest Smile (2002-Remix)
18. The Last Picasso*
19. Disappearing Act*
Track-List CD 2:
1. Unsichtbare Grenzen (Instrumental)
2. Voodoo Highway (Electric)*
3. Elegy Of Angels And Dogs (live 1996)
4. The Trial, Parts 1 & 2*
5. Enemy Land*
6. Disappearing Act (Rough-Mix)*
7. Wake The Kings (live 1996)
8. Logic Of Empire (live 1996)
9. Back From Diaspora (Acoustic)*
10. Love Is A Gun (Original-Version)*
11. Voodoo Highway (Acoustic)*
12. Venus Von Prag (Demo)*
13. Sweetest Smile (live 1996)
14. Sculptures, Fruits And Tea-Partys, Part 1 (Rough-Mix)*
15. Sculptures, Fruits And Tea-Partys, Part 2 (Demo)*
16. Logic Bomb (live 1996)
17. Lucretia My Reflection (Switzerland Club-Mix)
18. Passage For Piano (Situation Two)*
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SYRIA
"yesterday with logical visitors -
best of 1993-2000"
(remastered re-release 2009)
Label: Black October-Records
Publishing: 2000 Mascara Colours
Distribution: Manufaktur
CD 1: 16 tracks, running time: 77'35''
CD 2: 17 tracks, running time: 78'45''
remastered double-album-CD
33 tracks, total running time: 156'20''
36 page booklet
This double-CD
contains the following 7 songs where Matthias was involved in as a songwriter/guitar player/bass player/producer/arranger/ programmer etc..:
CD 1:
5. Sculptures, Fruits And Tea Partys 2
11. In The Drift
14. Back From Diaspora (electric - original version)
16. Passage For Piano
CD 2:
6. Disappearing Act
7. The Trial, Parts 1 & 2
16. The Last Picasso
Go & get it @:
Manufaktur - Distribution
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SYRIA
"Not A Nice Party. A Collection" (2008)
Label: Black October-Records
Publishing: 2000 Mascara Colours
Distribution: Manufaktur
CD 1: "The Grotesque", 24 NEW tracks, running time: 79'30"
CD 2: 16 tracks, running time: 76'10"
CD 3: 16 tracks, running time: 77'47''
CD 4: 20 tracks, running time: 79'10''
76 tracks, total running time: 312'30''
containing demos, outtakes & 'unreleased moments'
incl. 2 booklets (24 & 32 pages) containing complete
Liner Notes 'And The Telephone Horizon'
Released: 2008-Feb-04
Go & get it @:
Manufaktur - Distribution
Infrarot (direct link)
INDIEtective (direct link)
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SOUND EXAMPLES available for listening in the Mediaplayer above.
20 plus some... Song Examples - songs where Matthias was involved in plus some other SYRIA material from the 4-CD-Box-Set in the Player above.
Some Songs are complete, some are just examples which means they where cut or cut apart and 'glued' together with some missing parts.
Some are direct from the "Not A Nice Party. A Collection" 4-CD-Box, some are from the original CDs
"A Gift From Culture" & "Voodoo Highway" or studio mixdowns from the past, which means the examples vary in sound and volume.
All examples are in LO-FI !
"Voodoo Highway" & "A Gift From Culture" (from 1996 / 1997)
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SYRIA - "Voodoo Highway" (1996)
After "Neverland Things¨ and moving to "Sounds of Delight¨ presents Syria with the E.P-CD "Voodoo Highway¨
the second pre-release to the forthcomming Syria-Album "A Gift From Culture¨. "Voodoo Highway¨ contains six songs not included on the album and also re-releases of "The Motel¨ and "Under The Gun¨ (Original from David Bowie and Sisters of Mercy). - Triton
Buy it for example at:
www.Amazon.de (direct link)
www.Ebay.de (direct link)
www.bol.de (direct link)
... or search for it in the www.
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Tracklist:
1. Voodoo Highway
2. Voodoo Highway (acoustic)
3. Passage For Piano
4. I Do Not Sleep
5. I Do Not Sleep (acoustic)
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6. The Trial, parts I & II
7. Under The Gun
8. The Motel
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SYRIA - "A Gift from Culture" (1996)
"A Gift From Culture" is like the first Syria-releases a fascinating all-round album, with new musical expressions.
Powerfully pulsating, gloomy-bizarre soundpassages and tender melodic experimental fantasies with excursious into dark jazz-spheres give you a allround musical release. An extraordinary production which tries to reach the limits and possibilyties of the genre and goes beyond Gothic and Wave. - Triton
Buy it for example at:
www.Amazon.de (direct link)
www.Ebay.de (direct link)
www.bol.de (direct ink)
or search for it in the www.
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"A GIFT FROM CULTURE. Expanded & Re-Mastered"
is scheduled for release on Dec. 17. 2010.
It will be a double CD (37 tracks) with the original album remastered and selected songs from "Neverland Things" and "Voodoo Highway",
demos, rough-mixes and some live-cuts from the "A Gift From Culture - Tour 1996".
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Tracklist:
1. With Delicate Mad Hands
2. A Gift From Culture
3. Neverland Things (Edit)
4. Sculptures, Fruits And Tea-Partys (Part I)
5. Conversations At Night
6. Elegy Of Angels And Dogs
7. Description De L'Egypte
(Badlands 1996-Version)
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8. Back From Diaspora
9. Icon Of Sin (Black Cocktail 1964)
10.Sculptures, Fruits And Tea-Partys (Part II)
11.Venus Von Prag
12.In The Drift
13.Hey, Hey, Helen (Gunmetal Grey - Version)
14.Untitled 1964
15.Fruit Of The Desert
16.Sweetest Smile
17.The Last Picasso
18.Disappearing Act
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LINKS:
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LINER NOTES
*...* : Liner Notes added just here, not printed in the booklets.
SYRIA: "Not A Nice Party. A Collection" (2008)
Label: Black October-Records, Publishing: 2000 Mascara Colours, Distribution: Manufaktur
All Songs Mastered in December 2007 by Maja Anderson at Kling-Klang, Stockholm, Sweden.
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Some exerpts from the booklets:
Christian Doerge:
… But 1996 signified the return of SYRIA as a band; we emerged with an intensely intimate and powerful revealing work, ‘A Gift From Culture’.
With guitar player Matthias Weisheit joining the band (and bringing in some new creative blood and well-structured writing of music) we continued recording songs for the 3rd SYRIA album – some of them were done in Basel/Switzerland, but most of it were recorded at home on Matthias’ 8-track tape machine.…
Matthias Weisheit:
*All the songs from “A Gift From Culture” were I was involved in were completely recorded on a Tascam 8-track tape-machine on which we also did the mixdown.*
It was quite a challenge back in 1995/1996 compared to today. We had all kinds of external effects wired to the tape machine, wrote down at which time a specific track had to be altered in volume, panorama and EQ, at which time an effect had to be altered or turned on or off, etc.
Due to lack of time to do it all again in Basel/Switzerland (Klangfang-Productions Recording-Studio) were the other songs were recorded - guess what - we used these 8-track tape recordings for the final album. Hooray!
* Actually we used only 7 tracks 'cause one track was used for tape-syncronization to the drum-machine, which again was wired to a sequencer. Besides the equipment listed in the liner notes I also used an Axon-Neural-Guitar-Midi-Contoller for some piano parts and other stuff.*
Christian Doerge:
But, well, all of those home recorded songs transported a very intimate atmosphere what divides them in a special way from most of the SYRIA songs that we had recorded ‘ til then. For the first time the guitars were used to colour and shade, not to dominate it all – and we used the electronic filled sounds and effects more different and (what’s quite more important) real conscious. The sessions for 'A Gift From Culture' really got rolling...
CD 1
9. A. Lincoln, Simulacrum (4:10)
(Words: Christian Doerge, Music: Matthias Weisheit)
Instruments, programmings and guitars by Matthias Weisheit
Recorded and mixed September – December 2007 at Gasoline-Music Station Frankenberg/Eder, Germany and at Smart Bomb-Area, Munich, Germany - recorded and engineered by Christian Doerge and Matthias Weisheit
Published by 2000 Mascara Colours
Zasu: Illusion or reflexion? What´s your personal Simulacrum? Dark glasses and things spun on all the sex-lines, anything can happen. Singing with Christian is like going hand in hand - easy and beyond questions on a warm sunny day.
Matthias Weisheit: Christian informed me about the release of a SYRIA compilation, consisting of 4 CDs with a cross-section of the whole back-catalogue and new recordings. He sent me the lyrics of this one, I sat down to feel the words and wrote the song on acoustic guitar pretty quick. The instrumental arrangement was just another vehicle to transport the words, the melodies and harmonies and took much longer and was involved with more thinking, feeling and checking out different instruments and beats than writing the song. You hear the result right here. Hooray!
Christian Doerge: It´s been years - a decade, it seems - since gave my lyrics to someone else asking to write music for them. But the lid clicked and swung upward with this. Well, I received Matthias´ playback via e-mail, adapted his vocal performance and recorded my singing (and Zasu´s wonderful voice) in a studio in Munich/Germany. This was the last song being mixed for ‘The Grotesque’.
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CD 2:
11. Venus von Prag (2.43)
(Words: Christian Doerge, Music: Matthias Weisheit & Christian Doerge)
Programmings by Matthias Weisheit & Christian Doerge.
Vocals by Kira.
Recorded March 1996 at Black October Recording-Studio, Burgwald/Germany & at the Gasoline-Music Station, Rauschenberg/Germany.
Pruduced, arranged and mixed by Christian Dörge & Matthias Weisheit.
Published by 2000 Mascara Colours.
Taken from the album ‘A Gift From Culture’.
Matthias Weisheit: With spoken German lyrics. Moody, sad and dark. Have you ever been in Prague? Slow moving beats in a minor tonality and ¾ beat. We tried to transport some impressions. You see the weeping willow right in front of you, it rives you with grief and despair. Although it´s up to you how you interpret the lyrics and the music.
Christian Dörge: This song seems to be some ‘Antiphon’ echo... lyrics dealing with some Kafka elements, atmospheric music, vocals of a softer kind of ghost. Good thing.
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12. Untitled 1964 (4.51)
(Words: Christian Doerge, Music: Matthias Weisheit & Christian Doerge)
Programmings by Matthias Weisheit & Christian Doerge.
Guitars by Matthias Weisheit.
Vocals by Christian Doerge.
Recorded March 1996 at Black October Recording-Studio, Burgwald/Germany & at the Gasoline-Music Station, Rauschenberg/Germany.
Pruduced, arranged and mixed by Matthias Weisheit & Christian Doerge.
Published by 2000 Mascara Colours.
Taken from the album ‘A Gift From Culture’.
Christian Doerge: Still one of my most beloved songs recorded at that time. A swaying kind of music with very special and dramatic lyrics. And it´s far away now...
Matthias Weisheit: This song turned out as one of my favourite compositions of the session.
Christian Doerge: Feel free to join the club...
Matthias Weisheit: Just percussions, piano, synth-pad and the vocal lines. Everything supported with acoustic guitar figures, in their harmony forward looking, almost pushing this slow tomb beat, and experimental electric-guitars-swells with noises and gloomy screams from somewhere in time... the mood and spheric nightmares in this song are pushed as far as they could be pushed in these specific moments of song writing, creation, recording and mixing.
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13. Back From Diaspora (acoustic) (1.44)
(Words: Christian Doerge, Music: Matthias Weisheit)
Guitars by Matthias Weisheit.
Vocals by Kira.
Recorded March 1996 at Black October Recording-Studio, Burgwald/Germany & at the Gasoline-Music Station, Rauschenberg/Germany.
Pruduced, arranged and mixed by Matthias Weisheit & Christian Doerge.
Published by 2000 Mascara Colours.
Previously unreleased.
Christian Doerge: A mixing accident that happened during the mixing of the album version of this song... luckily recorded on some DAT that I kept in my archive. Well, what can I say? Not as ‘big’ as the released version, but very intimate, very close to the candle.
Matthias Weisheit: Linked together with ‘Icon Of Sin’. The music I created came with no outside influence to me, just the lyrics of Christian and then me alone in my room and driving around in my car on some dark lonesome street, guess all streets were lonesome where I lived back then. To get out and back from the diaspora (or my diaspora), to receive a moving and hammering beat in my soul and sinful guitar riffs in my head. Sad string and piano parts in the original electric version of ‘Back From Diaspora’ (left out in the acoustic mix), again delay guitars with picking and harmonics, transfigured vocal melodies sung with transfigured expression, all beaten apart by the ‘Icon Of Sin’.
Christian Dörge: This song is still alive in my mind. I should feel relieved about it. And I still remember the ‘frog that bites the dead’.
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14. Icon Of Sin (Black Cocktail 1964) (4.30)
(Words: Christian Doerge, Music: Matthias Weisheit)
Programmings by Matthias Weisheit & Christian Doerge.
Guitars by Matthias Weisheit.
Vocals by Christian Doerge.
Recorded March 1996 at Black October Recording-Studio, Burgwald/Germany & at the Gasoline-Music Station, Rauschenberg/Germany.
Pruduced, arranged and mixed by Matthias Weisheit & Christian Dörge.
Published by 2000 Mascara Colours.
Taken from the album ‘A Gift From Culture’.
Christian Doerge: Besides ‘Hey, Hey Helen’ the most massive rocking song on ‘A Gift From Culture’ (and the 2nd one with the not-so-magical 1964 in the title) - and it made the stage shaking when we played it live in Berlin.
*Matthias Weisheit: Yes, massive rocking sinful heavy lonesome and broad guitar riffs, played in harmony over the hammering drum beat and pulsating synth bass. Might beat YOU apart.*
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CD 3
1. With Delicate Mad Hands (6.00)
(Words: Christian Doerge, Music: Matthias Weisheit & Christian Doerge)
Programmings by Matthias Weisheit & Christian Doerge
Guitars by Matthias Weisheit.
Vocals by Kira.
Recorded March 1996 at Black October Recording-Studio, Burgwald/Germany & at the Gasoline-Music Station, Rauschenberg/Germany.
Pruduced, arranged and mixed by Matthias Weisheit & Christian Doerge.
Published by 2000 Mascara Colours.
Taken from the album ‘A Gift From Culture’.
Christian Doerge: Using the same trick as with the intro on ‘Antiphon’: starts soft and rushes hard on - and here it makes (referring to the lyrics) absolute sense... there´s someone, reaching out for you and you can´t get away, there are only... mad hands and an invitation to hell.
Matthias Weisheit: The song has actually just 3 lines of lyrics to which I composed the music around. ‘Reaching...’ was the key to the guitar figures containing rasqueado, tremolo picking and especially these airy harmonics. Christian added the intro sample later (from the movie ‘Quartet’ by James Ivory, based on a novel by Jean Rhys). It created a weird disharmony between the vocal-melody of the sample and the incoming synth-strings in the beginning of the song and, since it was the first track, the whole album. The rocking kinda freaking guitar ending of the song? Mad Hands?!
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2. A Gift From Culture (4.55)
(Words: Christian Doerge, Music: Matthias Weisheit & Christian Doerge)
Programmings by Matthias Weisheit & Christian Doerge.
Guitars by Matthias Weisheit.
Vocals by Christian Doerge & Kira.
Recorded March 1996 at Black October Recording-Studio, Burgwald/Germany & at the Gasoline-Music Station, Rauschenberg/Germany.
Pruduced, arranged and mixed by Matthias Weisheit & Christian Doerge.
Published by 2000 Mascara Colours.
Taken from the album ‘A Gift From Culture’.
Christian Doerge: Musically very much inspired by Mylene Farmer with a ghost of a violin intro... the lyrics were a little ‘thank you!’ to the spirits of Lord Byron and Percy Shelley. I´m still going there.
Matthias Weisheit: ‘The gathering winds will call the darkness soon / Like ghosts they come and go’; there you have it. The song had to start with kinda ghostly violin figures, some massive string pads and a cut-through simple kick drum and snare figures. Again, everything inspired mostly by the lyrics. Yeah, the title track - had to have some big hooks. The Sitar sound in the jazzy breaks gives a little contrast and space to the rest of the song. It´s a guitar effect of the legendary Boss SE-70. The clean guitars are played once every time with repeating delays of a half note synchronized to the tempo with the also legendary DigiTech GSP 2101 preamp/processor.
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3. Sculptures, Fruits And Tea-Partys, Part 1 (2007 Remix) (4.45)
(Words: Christian Doerge, Music: Matthias Weisheit & Christian Doerge)
Programmings and instruments by Christian Doerge.
Madaxeman guitars by Matthias Weisheit.
Vocals by Zasu.
Recorded October - November 2007 at Smart Bomb-Area, Munich/Germany and at the Gasoline- Music Station, Frankenberg/Germany.
Pruduced, arranged and mixed by Christian Doerge & Matthias Weisheit.
Published by 2000 Mascara Colours.
Originally released on the album ‘A Gift From Culture’. This version is previously unreleased.
Zasu: Surrealistic pictures sauntering along the streets. What a romantic way to perish! And a far better version than the tired original one.
Christian Doerge: With this re-make I tried to capture the sound of the ‘A Gift From Culture’ sessions again - more than a decade after the original recordings. It´s a bit faster now, better in the mix, with the sounds much more organic. A song like the uneven gravity of a surrealistic cruiser, very special, a fine moment of songwriting. What word on navigation?
Matthias Weisheit: Spoken doubled vocals and no specific melody. So we added sculpture-like drum figures, a rhythmically hammering synth bass, guitars with exact tap-delay, string melodies and rhythmic beep-figures. We added some organs in the end of the song to give it a little more atmosphere. In the new recorded version of 2007 with new recorded guitar tracks I played some sawing and incisively guitar melodies in the ending which fit in actually very good.
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4. Enemy Land (5.18)
(Words: Kira, Music: Matthias Weisheit)
Programmings and instruments Matthias Weisheit.
Guitars by Matthias Weisheit.
Vocals by Kira.
Recorded March 1997 at Black October Recording-Studio, Burgwald/Germany & at the Gasoline-Music Station, Rauschenberg/Germany.
Pruduced, arranged and mixed by Matthias Weisheit & Christian Doerge.
Published by 2000 Mascara Colours.
Previously unreleased.
Christian Doerge: For the first (and as it turned out, last) time we set words written by Kira to music. She did an early version of this song (with same lyrics) on a smaller scale with her pre-SYRIA projects A Plasma (or whatever it was called...). Listening to this again after all these years is like a backward path through space-time.
Matthias Weisheit: Part of a whole set of never released new compositions with an almost complete different sound written especially for Kira. Back then no. 1 of the song list. Drifting sounds through your own enemy land, tearing vocal melodies and phrases. Spacey and earthy at the same time. Use your imagination.
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5. Sculptures, Fruits And Tea-Partys, Part 2 (2003 Remix) (2.26)
(Words: Christian Doerge, Music: Matthias Weisheit & Christian Doerge)
Programmings and instruments by Christian Dörge.
Vocals by Christian Dörge.
Recorded April 2003 at The Grammophon Suite, Munich/Germany.
Pruduced, arranged and mixed by Christian Dörge.
Published by 2000 Mascara Colours.
Taken from the MCD ‘Driving Music’.
Matthias Weisheit: To create a connection to Part 1 the song is starting out with the same drum figures. But then ‘Moving through alcohol/Feedback raging in her skull’, supported with England-like sounding jazz-pop melodic vocal lines. In the end again sculpture-like accents as ‘she looked in the mirror and tried on that famous smile’.
Christian Doerge: A re-make, again. I tried to make it sort of more aerial, softer. This seems to be the sister-in-oblivion to Part 1. Very technological, black suits, mirror shades, an alcohol antagonist... all this dancing inside my head while writing the song.
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6. Voodoo Highway (6.36)
(Words: Christian Doerge, Music: Matthias Weisheit & Christian Doerge)
Programmings by Matthias Weisheit & Christian Doerge.
Guitars by Matthias Weisheit.
Vocals by Christian Doerge.
Recorded August 1996 at Black October Recording-Studio, Burgwald/Germany & at the Gasoline-Music Station, Rauschenberg/Germany.
Pruduced, arranged and mixed by Matthias Weisheit & Christian Doerge.
Published by 2000 Mascara Colours.
Taken from the E.P.-CD ‘Voodoo Highway’.
Christian Doerge: The whole drum shuffle was inspired by ‘Shades Of Green’ from The Mission; I remember driving around with Matthias in his car (returning from some Label talk), listening to the song and saying: this could be a good thing to do. It´s a song adjusted to the dark days of our 1996 tour, sleepless nights, small treason... and of course a massive change in musical style for SYRIA. Can we start the black box phase today?
Matthias Weisheit: The title track of the E.P. which was pre-released to the album ‘A Gift From Culture’. Actually it was recorded after the ‘A Gift From Culture’ sessions. Everything was captured digital on a Fostex 8-track machine (thanks, Maciek). I had this guitar riff in my mind and naturally we created a more rocking sound in this song. A forward pounding rhythm combined with biting guitars, dragging down the ‘miles of dust and gasoline’ on Voodoo Highway. To give the whole thing a more magical mood there are oriental sounding melodies incorporated. And again a disharmony in the end - created by another sample with a female voice layering above the guitar figures.
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7. Love Is A Gun (4.00)
(Words: Christian Doerge, Music: Matthias Weisheit)
Programmings and instruments by Matthias Weisheit.
Guitars by Matthias Weisheit.
Vocals by Kira.
Recorded March 1997 at Black October Recording-Studio, Burgwald/Germany & at the Gasoline-Music Station, Rauschenberg/Germany.
Pruduced, arranged and mixed by Matthias Weisheit & Christian Doerge.
Published by 2000 Mascara Colours.
Previously unreleased.
Christian Doerge: Originally written for SYRIA, this ended up to be the pre-single for Kira´s solo album ‘No Cabaret’. Lyrically dealing with the relationship between Kira and me - already knowing things can only go wrong... I wrote all-new music for the lyrics in 2006 and we did an electro-clashed version of it with Stina Suntland performing cosmological voices (check it out on ‘The Kafka Syndrome’ respectively on the bonus-disc included).
Matthias Weisheit: This is also a song past ‘A Gift From Culture’ and ‘Voodoo Highway’. You hear a new sound and the song was written for Kira back in 1997, like ‘Enemy Land’. It´s a slow to mid-tempo grooving song with some 60s/70s funky and roots guitars that haven´t been heard in the SYRIA background up ‘ til then. We tried to break into some new musical territories with these compositions for Kira.
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8. Amsterdam I (45 Degrees-Version) (8.58) - NEW: Watch the Video above or HERE (YouTube)
(Words: Christian Doerge, Music: Matthias Weisheit)
Programmings and instruments by Matthias Weisheit.
Guitars by Matthias Weisheit.
Vocals by Christian Doerge.
Recorded March 1997 at Black October Recording-Studio, Burgwald/Germany & at the Gasoline-Music Station, Rauschenberg/Germany.
Pruduced, arranged and mixed by Matthias Weisheit & Christian Doerge.
Published by 2000 Mascara Colours.
Previously unreleased.
Christian Doerge: The main inspiration behind this was - musically - Bruce Springsteen´s ‘Streets Of Philadelphia’, with just a simple drum-roll and minimal pads. Well, the sound became blown-up during the writing and production, with heavy guitars in the endling linked to Part 2. The lyrics... some childhood nightmares invaded my mind. Still do.
Matthias Weisheit: Tastes like a complete SYRIA sound. It´s from 1997 and I try to get a feeling to this time and working period and what we intended back then. It´s a more accessible sound than the past works, melodic harmonies with wide open guitar arrangements. And of course strings and the Paris violins - coming in at the 2nd chorus at around 4:08 after the guitar solo. Yes, a melodic guitar solo, ‘follow you down’ and tingling ‘from Paris to the Amsterdam streets’ with a mid-tempo-rolling drum beat. Paris violins? It´s just a metaphor, a picture that came in my head while I was reading the lyrics and turning them into music back then. And it remained - `cause somehow I had the same Paris/violin feeling when I listened to this song after years, authoring these liner notes in the morning of Dec. 13th 2007. The 7-string heavy guitars in the end are pointing the way to what might have come in the future back then.
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9. My Vanity (4.26)
(Words: Christian Doerge, Music: Matthias Weisheit)
Programmings and instruments by Matthias Weisheit.
Guitars by Matthias Weisheit.
Vocals by Kira.
Recorded March 1997 at Black October Recording-Studio, Burgwald/Germany & at the Gasoline-Music Station, Rauschenberg/Germany.
Pruduced, arranged and mixed by Matthias Weisheit & Christian Doerge.
Published by 2000 Mascara Colours.
Previously unreleased.
Christian Doerge: More a residence than just a song... suiting Kira - referring to the words - very, very well - ‘Fighting in the streets/Shaking with your head’, that´s really Kira. The music itself is quite - let´s say - anthemic, but the vocals overturn too much.
Matthias Weisheit: A composition from the ‘No Cabaret’ writing and recording sessions for Kira. Or should I say THE composition? It´s up to you. Broad drums, fat sound, flashy guitar solos, big melodies and harmonies. It´s up to you. When you hear this one you get a brief idea of how the other songs of the sessions were sounding. Unfortunately never released.
Christian Doerge: C´mon...
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10. Amsterdam II (The Bad Mix) (6.22)
(Words: Christian Doerge, Music: Matthias Weisheit)
Programmings and instruments by Matthias Weisheit.
Guitars by Matthias Weisheit.
Vocals by Christian Doerge.
Recorded March 1997 at Black October Recording-Studio, Burgwald/Germany & at the Gasoline-Music Station, Rauschenberg/Germany.
Pruduced, arranged and mixed by Matthias Weisheit & Christian Doerge.
Published by 2000 Mascara Colours.
Previously unreleased.
Christian Doerge: For a long time I thought this song was lost inside a swarm of interceptors... while compiling this archive collection I found it on a DAT hidden and capsuled in some forbidden context of my home studio. Only roughly mixed in the old days, but hey - good song, SYRIA on a heavy ride. Have you ever been to Rick´s Café?
Matthias Weisheit: The bad mix. Imagine the perfect mix, might run over you like a bulldozer and turns YOU to dust. Dark, hard and deep, doesn´t give you ‘shelter in the rain’. But the mix doesn´t change the song! Get the idea? SYRIA with bloody heavy guitars, pointing the way. I remember some other compositions during that time, excursing into almost industrial sounding passages. I had some weird ideas in mind back then about what´s possible in arrangements, sounds, noises, heavy and strange guitars - a lot of experimental ideas and fantasies, but always combined with accessible songwriting and always aiming to transport and support lyrics.
I remember a version of ‘Wildcat In Brooklyn’, you can hear a chapter of it on my website (www.gasoline-music.com).
It´s part of an instrumental guitar sample.
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