- 2008
- Music: Antonio MC
- Sampled voice: Keyra Knightley
- Visual design:
Martin Nedergaard
[ www.noncombatant.dk ] - Language advisor: Beate Heyerdahl
[ Download artwork ]
Stadtlegende
Stadtlegende is the seminal work from Die Stadt: it contains the definitory aspects of its sound and it's the reference to know what can be an album with the Die Stadt signature on it.
Musically, it's a reconstruction of the urban space through a well cared selection of the sound palette, smooth rhytmic patterns and surrounding atmospheres.
Stadtlegende [ 'urban legend' ]: the initial urban atmosphere places us in a big city context, just until Keira Knightley's voice tells us about ancient stories, fairy tales, and takes us to the other side: to the legend.
Ianuarie 2016 [ 'January 2016' ]: the city of the future, here and now. Global communication in real time, social networks, artificial inteligence, life passing at maximum speed.
Blue eyed Ems: hundreds of faces pass by every day, without even notice. Until a pair of eyes meet yours, just a second, and they stay forever.
Boulevard des amoreux [ boulevard of lovers' ]: millions of people living together, the city as a living organism, and still there's place for loneliness.
Electronic loft : a moment of pause, please. In the urban vortex, we all need a drink, a talk, some friends, nice company, a rest...
Vi mødes i undergrunden [ 'see you in the underground' ]: the city doesn't stop when daybreak comes. It never does. There's only a change in directions, in faces, those who go, those who come back, those who search, those who run away and those who meet in the underground...
Journalister [ 'journalists' ]: they are the invisible eyes of the city. They take its pulse, they know it, the love it for its great beauty, and hate it for its miseries.
Det du sa førte meg hit [ 'what you told me brought me here' ]: How did I came to this city? Oh, I forgot I came looking for you...
Coments
I listened to the album a few times and I have to say that I liked it quite enough. Its plain sound, sometimes minimalistic, puzzled me at the beginning, but now I see it as a positive characteristic. There are some really outstanding moments:
Boulevard des amoreux: a sophisticated sound piece, with a really delightful drum and bass lines. I love the Mellotron choir, and the voices are a highlight. The retro-analogue lead sound is also right. And I like the sporadic chord hits, too.
Journalister: exceptional composition, the more I listen to it, the more I like it. It has an uncommon melodic phrase, reinforced by an also uncommon arpeggio, and although it repeats itself a few times, it doesn't get tiresome. It is also delightful how the piece evolves. Great theme.
Vi mødes i undergrunden: it has an exceptional and shocking electronic bass working as melodic line. The percussion, discreet but efective, doesn't take the protagonism of the bass away. The transitional parts, although short, fit well.
Blue eyed ems: this theme starts in a minimalistic way I like, specially from minute 2, when the trembling chords appear. The bass line and the piano scales are wonderful.
Stadtlegende: the beginning is amazing, the sounds, the voices, the keyboards... it's a pity it's so short... I would have made it a bit longer. I don't like very much the second part of the theme.
The rest of themes, I didn't like them so much.
To sum up: in my opinion, it's an irregular album, with really exceptional moments. It's remarkable as a whole.
Everkindness, from Fairlight Jarre.
______________________________________________
[...] I hope this is not the last work by Die Stadt.
[...] It is of a fascinating beauty, sometimes fragile, with a piano about to break (Blue eyed ems), but also with heavy passages (Ianuarie 2016).
[...] I'm afraid we are facing one of the most interesting albums presented on this forum.
[...] I think it's a work with personality, cohesive in its sound, and it makes it easy listening.
Zzero, from Fairlight Jarre.
| This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License. | info@diestadtweb.com |  |