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XIIIIII​/​XIIIIIII (16 & 17)

by Vlimmer

/
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  • XIIIIII / XIIIIIII (Limited edition quartz grey wooden box set)
    Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Handpainted with mat lacquer
    Limited edition of 35 copies
    Includes XIIIIII & XIIIIIII on CD

    Includes unlimited streaming of XIIIIII/XIIIIIII (16 & 17) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.
Perplexität 04:52
2.
Schwanenhals 03:44
3.
Lebenswert 04:37
4.
Taubheit 04:30
5.
Kopfkante 03:52
6.
Schattenerde 05:44
7.
Ausdehnung 03:20
8.
Falter 04:02
9.
10.
Farbenquell 05:55

about

PRESS

"A great, cinematic work in giant format. [...] Get involved and you will be removed from reality! What happens when you vertiginously mix Joy Division, Drangsal with a touch of Placebo and a good dose of apocalypse?! Yes, difficult to say, right? But extremely exciting to listen to. That's Vlimmer! The basis is an electronic guitar sound including a drum computer. Chords and synth pads dance on it, accompanied by a fundamental bass. The voice above everything uses effects and sets the mood. Mostly it's reverb. That is the sober description of the sound. How does it work? Oppressive, as if in a frenzy. Inexorable, like a roller coaster that you can't get out of. Or an old, but fast-paced film in black and white, where the perpetrator is known from the start and attacks quietly." - Luserlounge (GER)

"8/10 - Once again the talented and creative German artist manages to excite with great personality, thanks not only to his evident practical skills, but also and above all to a rare inventiveness that allows him to shape darkwave to his liking, flavoring it with veins and wide-ranging shades, always beautifully contextualized. The two EPs live up to the expectations legitimately matured after 15 high-level release. If in recent times a greater catchiness had taken hold in Vlimmer's sound, with the sixteenth EP the concept is reaffirmed, as the potential hit "Perplexität" immediately makes it clear between echoes of the first Sisters Of Mercy, where "Schwanenhals" refers to the best Cure with pathos and charisma. "Taubheit" is well equipped with solutions and details of great inspiration, and "Kopfkante" is tight post-punk that borders on brutality both instrumental and vocal." - Darkroom Magazine (ITA)

"Without a shadow of a doubt, [XIIIIII is] one of my favorites from Vlimmer [...] for sure the right EP to get more familiar with the work of Vlimmer –and maybe inciting you to purchase the entire records from this conceptual series. Vlimmer never stops composing and taking me by surprise." - Side-Line Magazine (BEL)

"I don't really know how Vlimmer continues to create such great music without me feeling like it's too much. It's funny to me, but each of these songs can stay within that general synthwave idea but yet sound so different from each other. Can you exist in both the past and present? I believe that Vlimmer can. [T]his music is just such a great connection [...] and maybe that's what it's all about: maybe that's the future. Being able to cross all sense of time within music just seems to make your music timeless." [EP 16] - Raised By Cassettes (USA)

"These first two songs are such a trip and I feel like we haven't witnessed this slower, darker side to Vlimmer before. On the flip side we open up with a bang. [...] This song just comes out like such a punch to the face in that there is so much energy and then you think it can't get any more intense, but it finds a way to do just that. The fifth and final song [...] really reminds me of a song off of Nine Inch Nails' "The Fragile" album [...] I'm not sure what the haunted version of synthwave is ([...] more than simply "darkwave") but Vlimmer is uncovering it here. [...] There is something holy about this, near the end of the song as well, which just makes me feel like we're being taken to our doom." [EP 17] - Raised By Cassettes (USA)

"A chiaroscuro brimmed with cemeterial vocals, a conduit transporting to the seared, perturbed realm of broken feelings and nightmarish circumstances. Brilliant record, [...] an interesting tour-de-force. [...] It sincerely shines when it rockets out into less comprehensible territory." - Quaquaversal (UK)

"Vlimmer's music's quirky and refreshing. Another impressive new chapter of an impressive story that is almost over. The great thing about Donat is that he always puts his distinctive mark on it, while the music turns out quite differently." - De Subjectivisten (NL)

"Pushing his post-punk project into even brighter and darker realms. His varied sonic worlds seem to keep colliding together, grabbing bits of both his Fir Cone Children and Vlimmer projects, turning the darker realms lighter, and the lighter a bit darker. With XIIIIII/XIIIIIII(16 & 17) the Vlimmer sound keeps the early Cure Gothic vibes alive, while expanding the pop undertones [...] and I for one love it. [It] will satisfy both the overcast romantic and bedroom Gothic in us all. 7.8/10" - Complex Distractions (USA)

“["Zwischenkörper" is] an unsettling cacophony of beautifully nightmarish melodies overlaid with unhinged vocals reflecting the possible madness within the headspace of the song’s ill-fated protagonist." - post-punk.com (USA)

"["Taubheit"] is s runaway psychedelic rollercoaster through a tunnel of terror." - Sounds and Shadows (USA)

"["Falter"] is a half-reverie/half rumination, with the main character in musing mode, his head full of emotional turmoil A dreamy and mysterious ambiance envelops him as he winds his way through his questioning thoughts" - The Big Takeover (USA)

"["Perplexität" has] translucent keys, a shuddering rhythm, a haunting driving bassline, and a remarkable goth/dark wave, vocal perfomance straight from the 80s" - Last Day Deaf (GRE)

"Fantastic ["Lebenswert"]" - Nicorola (AUT)

"Feels like the darker end of The Cure combined with some 80's electro sort of a bit Das Ich." - Whispering and Hollering (IRE)

"Vlimmer manages to create a strong coherence between the two EP parts of an easy-to-hear record." - Threshold Magazine (POR)

"Has been a fixture in the German alternative music scene" - The Music Bugle (USA)

"Creative, rich in contrasts and experimental." - Underdog Fanzine (GER)

"Elegiac cold dark wave, post punk, IDM with dark ambient influences, industrial ingredients, some synth-pop, goth wave, dark shoegaze, misty, distorted guitars, reverberant synthesizers and a gloomy, muffled voice." - Northern Art Music (GER)


ENGLISH:
The eternal struggle for the meaning of life is almost coming to an end: In November 2015, Vlimmer released the first two parts of an 18-EP instalment that tells the story of a young man trying to find out why he is the damaged person he is. After returning from a disastrous travel back in time he manages to return to the present with a dysfunctional mind. On part 16 (”XIIIIII”) it appears as if the protagonist commits a midnight murder on a jogger, eventually stealing his keys and entering his luxurious top floor apartment where he finally faints. While part 17 “XIIIIIII” depicts an unnerving fever dream where he gets arrested, tried for murder and convicted. It’s a terrifying turmoil where settings blend into one another. The man finds himself on a cot, in a hospital, still at court or in jail. He sees through his own eyes and, at the same time, sees himself through the eyes of people who surround him while he’s convinced that he’s waiting for his beheading.
While Vlimmer’s lamenting signature post-punk/dreamwave is evident from the start (“Perplexität”), on “XIIIIII” (16) the instrumentation offers more aggressive moments of angst scapes (the dystopic “Schwanenhals”, the tunnel of terror on “Taubheit”) to the harshly distorted, noisy shoegaze closer, “Kopfkante”, which is about the murder taking place. In between you find Vlimmer’s perhaps best track, the dramatic “Lebenswert” - a motoric, skeletal indie/wave rocker based on a washed out flute loop.
“XIIIIIII” (17) takes a different direction, opening with two minimal pieces that are in the vein of downtempo darkwave and nocturnal ambient. “Falter” then picks up speed, and “Insekto” is this EP’s uptempo outbreak switching from psychedelic kraut arpeggios to haunting goth zithers which are disrupted by noisy eruptions. On the depressive “Farbenquell”, finally, colours of all kinds splatter out of the protagonist’s open neck’s stump. Is it over? Not just yet.


GERMAN:
Der ewige Kampf um den Sinn des Lebens geht fast zu Ende: Im November 2015 veröffentlichte Vlimmer die ersten beiden Teile einer 18-EP-Serie, die die Geschichte eines jungen Mannes erzählt, der herauszufinden versucht, warum er der kaputte Mensch ist, der er ist. Nach der Rückkehr von einer katastrophalen Zeitreise gelingt es ihm, geistig geschädigt in die Gegenwart zurückzukehren. In Teil 16 ("XIIIIII") sieht es so aus, als ob der Protagonist eines Nachts einen Jogger ermordet, seine Schlüssel stiehlt und in sein luxuriöses Wolkenkratzer-Apartment eindringt, wo er schließlich in Ohnmacht fällt. Folglich stellt Teil 17 „XIIIIIII“ einen beunruhigenden Fiebertraum dar, in dem der Mann verhaftet, wegen Mordes angeklagt und verurteilt wird. In einem schrecklichen Fiebertraum vermischen sich nun Orte und Personen zu einem Ganzen. Der Protagonist befindet sich auf einer Trage, in einem Krankenhaus, noch vor Gericht oder bereits im Gefängnis. Er sieht durch seine eigenen Augen und sieht sich gleichzeitig durch die Augen von Menschen, die ihn umgeben, während er überzeugt ist, dass er auf seine Enthauptung wartet.
Während Vlimmers lamentierender Signature-Post-Punk/Dreamwave von Anfang an erkennbar ist („Perplexität“), bietet die Instrumentierung auf „XIIIIII“ (16) aggressivere Momente und Angstzustände (das dystopische „Schwanenhals“, der Terrortunnel „Taubheit“ ”) sowie noisigen Shoegaze/Darkgaze, wenn der Mord passiert („Kopfkante“). Dazwischen findet man Vlimmers vielleicht besten Track, das dramatische „Lebenswert“ - einen motorischen, skelettartigen Indie/Wave-Rocker, der auf einem verwaschenen Flöten-Loop aufbaut.
"XIIIIIII" (17) schlägt eine andere Richtung ein und beginnt mit zwei minimalen Stücken, die sich im Downtempo-Darkwave und nächtlichen Ambient verorten. "Falter" nimmt dann Fahrt auf, bis die EP mit "Insekto" seinen Uptempo-Ausbruch erhält, der zwischen psychedelischen Kraut-Arpeggios zu gespenstischen Goth-Zithern wechselt und durch White-Noise-Eruptionen unterbrochen wird. Auf dem deprimierendem "Farbenquell" schießen schließlich Farben aller Art aus dem offenen Halsstumpf des Protagonisten. Ist es vorbei? Noch nicht.

credits

released July 17, 2020

Music by Alexander Leonard Donat

Artwork:
XIIIIII cover: Alexander Leonard Donat
XIIIIII inlay photo: Felipe Zauber
XIIIIIII cover and inlay photo: Todd Billeci
Photo on lyric sheets: Felipe Zauber

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Blackjack Illuminist Records Berlin, Germany

CD/tape/vinyl label from Berlin, Germany

Post-punk/ Coldwave/ Shoegaze/ Industrial/ Dreampop/ Synth/ Dreampunk/ Indie/ Ambient /Drone

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