Aufgang - Istaklaliya

  by Adrian Huggins

published: 11 / 4 / 2013

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Review

Aufgang, which is made up of Rami Khalife, Aymeric Westrich and Francesco Tristano, met in New York at the turn of the century apparently. I am not sure if this was a coincidence or whether they had planned to meet but nevertheless they are still making music all these years later, not that is an achievement really. I met one of my mates in a park when I was seven and we still speak regularly. Friendships aside Aufgang make music which veers between the schizophrenic and over-excited to the beautiful, somehow managing to never make these two opposing approaches clash along the way. The first half of this nine track album might be best described as the sound of Muse, had Matt Bellamy been robbed of his guitars and forced not to sing. As the album, however, progresses you get more and more of a glimpse into Aufgang's crazy and wonderful world. With ‘Abusement Ride', things take a slightly more mellow turn for a few songs with more piano coming through.‘African Geisha’ is something of incredible, heart melting beauty like the ugly duckling turning into the graceful swan. That’s not to say the first half of the album is not enjoyable too, ‘Kyrie’ and ‘Ellenroutir’ pack bags of energy in, but it is at that mid point of an album where you start making your mind up about a band and their album, and nothing pleases me more when you’re thrown a bit of a curveball and Aufgang have done this perfectly. ‘Diego Maradona’ in particular just spins my head. It sounds what I would imagine the Dillinger Escape Plan would, were they commissioned to make back round music for an exotic food restaurant. The dance beats and synths bubble less subtly as the album goes along before busting into something that is between the noise of 65 Days of Static, only less intense and the Mars Volta, only reigned in a bit. The closing song ‘Rachael's Run’ heads back into the piano-based Muse territory, except when you imagine a ridiculous guitar solo it breaks into some sweet harmonised vocals. This constant progression throughout the album makes it a thrilling ride all in all.

Track Listing:-

1 Kyrie
2 Balkanik
3 Ellenroutir
4 Vertige
5 Abusement Ride
6 African Geisha
7 Diego Maradona
8 Stroke
9 Rachael's Run

Band Links:-

https://twitter.com/AufgangOfficial
http://www.bandsintown.com/Aufgang
https://www.instagram.com/aufgangoffic
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClHoK
https://www.facebook.com/aufgang.music

Label Links:-

http://www.infine-music.com/
https://twitter.com/infinemusic
https://plus.google.com/+InFineMusic/p
https://www.facebook.com/infinefanpage
https://www.youtube.com/user/InFineMus