“A real tour-de-force by Bernd Kistenmacher, Let it Out! Belongs to those albums which left their footprints in the world of EM in 2011”
1 Let it Out! 41:08
(CD/DDL 41:08) (V.F.)
(Philarmonic Berlin School)
LET IT OUT! Let yourself go and get high! This is what we could conclude when listening to this superb piece of EM that Bernd Kistenmacher has composed for the famous EM festival; Ricochet Gathering 2010 put together by Vic Rek from Ricochet Dream Records. For the German synthesist, the occasion was ideal to take stock, and the bridge, between his influences of Berlin School and his current tangent of a more symphonic EM. And it's true that Bernd Kistenmacher has totally let off steam ... not to say got high.
It all begins with a synth line coming out from cosmos and the stars to slide lovingly among floating waves that come and go in a tender and delicious musical maelstrom. Synth waves intertwine and pile on top of a multitude of synth waves, of which a few emerge and launch short melodious bits, while the rolls of big symphonic drums arise. They are the signal to launch a cloud of symphonic strata where the synth layers sharpen their metaphorical bows in order to trace curt and rapid stationary orchestral flights. And fly the violins of mellotron which rock with fury on the rolls of bass drums while lines of equally symphonic synths are flying over this sweet ferocity of chimeric bows on a structure becoming more and more dense and heavy. We are at the 7th minute and the atmosphere is explosive with this furious orchestration which continues to tumble under warm mellotron strata and Greco-Roman choirs which add a depth already filled at full volume. The rhythm crashes on the orchestral reef around the 9th minute, escaping piano notes which hesitate to be heard and which are quickly grabbed by a jerky sequential movement. A movement that strikes like the scissors of a psychotic barber while the piano finally develops its harmony under a scintillating barrage of sequences and undulating synth lines. Drumming rhythm, Kistenmacher is dressing Let it Out! of all its musical assets. This time, it is acoustic guitar chords that join their harmonies to piano notes, under a sky streaked with strident synth lines. And the whole thing is abruptly reformed in a heavy and dense orchestration where the Berlin School is flooded with marvelous dense and intense orchestral strata while the symphonic approach is molded to superb intoxicating sequences. A sequence is isolated around the 18th minute. She cuts the rhythm to pound alone a movement that zigzags under sinuous reverberations. Let it Out! undertakes a pure Berlin School turn with a powerful hypnotic sequence which hammers a phantom tempo flown over by streaks and discreet synth solos while, demonic, the keyboard chords wander and strike with fury to scatter in a totally disjointed rhythm.
Let it Out! continues its furious rhythmic flight on a sequence which at times splits into two to finally scroll at high speed like a nervous and frenetic TGV under a superb bass line which undulates in oblong undulations. The more this long piece evolves, the more it impresses with its richness in the choice of virtual instruments and by the addition of all these musical layers which weighs down Let it Out! of a fascinating musicality a bit derailed and disjointed but continuously poetic. Bernd Kistenmacher is giving us quite a lesson in EM with this long track which continues its unbridled crusade while the piano notes come back haunting Let it Out! on percussive percussion strikes. Memotron's strata return and are even more symphonic. They envelop this crazy rhythm with a watertight melodious grip where the lines, the layers and the strata of synth unite to unify their breaths in a superb celestial bugle which sings and charms under the frenetic strikes of percussions, the sequences without breaths and this bass line which supports the rhythm of an astonishing cohesion with its large cooing undulations. And quietly this infernal rhythmic train enters the station. It slows down its pace, letting the dust of his bugles, piano notes and sequences hang around to only hear the chords of an acoustic guitar singing under the jolts of still living rhythms and the breaths of a synth. hybrid layers, between the symphonic and the Berlin School where the choirs smell under mellotron strata and philharmonic hits.
Without a doubt, LET IT OUT! will be a piece of anthology in contemporary EM. We are witnessing a real tour de force where Bernd Kistenmacher is a real musical whirlwind. Throughout this heavy sequential and symphonic maelstrom, he maintains a fascinating melodious approach which is the soul of this long hypnotic piece where each step brings its melodious freshness and the poetry so unique to the musical universe of the German musician-synthesist. It's a pure masterpiece which is available now at MI Records after being sold out in real CD by MellowJet Records. Needless to say, this is a must. According to my tastes, LET IT OUT! Is 2011's album!
Sylvain Lupari (May 18th, 2011) *****
Available at MI Records