Empor - Meute
Track List:
Loss of Hope
Aurora
Anti Loudness
Hypnose (Future Edit)
Vermis
Caint Use My Phone
LoCKeDoWN2
The Goose That Got Away
Bias
Come Together
And now for something…
Just browsing music to listen to this morning and I come across a music video of what looks like a small marching and standing in a parking garage. Sure I’ll bite. I then watched the music video for Vermis. Quick search of the band after about 30 seconds of the song and I had my album for the day. An 11 piece techno marching band. A bass? sax with BLM and Pro-Choice on it. A peace drum. How could I not listen?
Loss of Hope
Starts with a familiar 4 of the floor beat. It is a neat take on dance music. I want to call it EDM but it’s very much not electronic rather analog so ADM? I should also note that this song is playing with a music video, I am not sure if the entire album will. I think that it does add to the music having the video with it and it hits my nostalgia feels from being a member of a marching band for 4 years in school. But the video also shows the craftsmanship of the art and how they are producing this live and in the “field” so to speak. I enjoy the fall and then the drop they did several times in the song.
Aurora
Another video. The drums really drive this one too, another 4 on the floor beat. The trumpet is really highlighted on this one. This song is a bit more upbeat than the first. The band still does swells and drops and it’s really well done.
Anti Loudness
A droning song to start. The song slowly builds upon itself. The band is tremendously sax heavy and I love it. Percussion soli to end it!
Hypnose (Future Edit)
This is the first one that I am confident is not all analog. I can hear the sidechaining under the bass in the beat. So I will speak about the video. All the other songs have been the band performing in what appears to be modern Europe. There have been multiple references to social justice causes. This video seems to be set in Germany in the 1930s that appears to be having a dance til you drop composition. There are references to Nazi experiments. Strange video. Song is fun.
Vermis
So this is my second listen to this song. So far I can tell this is a great representation of what the band brings. One of the percussionists has a handheld xylophone or something and it both sounds neat and looks cool. The song builds tension over the course of it. It’s fantastic and a bit unsettling, in a great way. I think there are some after effects being applied here too to duck the sound under the marimba and bass drums.
Caint Use My Phone
First song without a video. A marimba intro. Also the first some with something that sounds like vocals. I really enjoy the interplay between the bass sounds (tuba and a sax?) The trumpet lead. Towards the end of the song there are some jarring moments.
LoCKeDoWN2
Sounds like the bass sax or bari sax is driving this one along with the drums. I really like the sound of the low woodwinds, it could be because I learned music on a tenor sax but this is really fantastic. This song is also more upbeat and probably more accessible from a pop music perspective. There is a part where another sax comes in and plays a melody over the rest, it’s fantastic but hard to describe given the only context is within the song and I don’t have a way to reference it well. It starts just before the sax and marimba duet. This one really gives off some Daft Punk vibes.
The Goose That Got Away
There is a scraping sound on this one, I think it’s a percussive element and I am curious as to how it’s made. This song starts and feels disjointed. Yes this one is traveling into a more experimental area than the previous ones. They are still using a similar method in the songwriting but the instrumentation and different sounds seem more non-traditional. I am imagining this is telling a story about a goose that is causing havoc in a wedding party and then absconds without being caught by the people.
Bias
Oh so low. The trumpet comes in and sings above the tuba who is creating a huge base for the song to build upon. The mallet instruments are now building upon the bass and adding additional tension that the trumpet can’t add on its own. I like how they layered the flute when it comes in, really haven’t noticed it much over the course of the album.
Come Together
I did read that this band does covers of songs, or reimagines them. I doubt this is going to be a cover of the Beatles but I will not be unhappy if it is. It’s not a cover of the Beatles. It does have lyrics. Begging the listener to “come” over and over…then “come together” There are sophomoric jokes here that I am not going to make. I think this is actually a call for unity given the overall context I’ve seen with other songs.
And it’s over
I think calling this band a techno marching band is an apt description of their style. I was reminded multiple times of Daft Punk, Fatboy Slim, and DJ Scooter. I did really enjoy the album. It was also the first time in this project I had someone else listen with me. My 14 year old daughter agreed to listen too and we talked about the songs as they played. I think that it was a fantastic album and I will likely listen to it again while working. She thought it was good and that she liked the upbeat songs better.
