Sunday 18 January 2015

Trottoir - erste (f​/​m​/​n) - (Album Review)

erste (f/m/n) cover art

Album Type: Album
Date Released: 31st Jan 2015
Label: CD – Self Released. Vinyl - Adansonia Records

erste (f​/​m​/​n) – Track Listing

1. - 1
2. - 2
3. - 3
4. - 4
5. - 5

Bio

A plumber, a jazzer and a singer are building a house. And three musicians with a drumset, a guitar and a bass are standing in self-forgotten manner in front of the house. On a Trottoir. And they're playing the self-invented Mannheimer Hartkraut, a mixture of Krautrock, Post Rock, Space Rock and their own artistic origin.

Members

Martin Feige (Guitar)
Daniel Schwarz (Drums)
Jonathan Sell (Bass)

Review:

Time for a change of scene for myself at Sludgelord. It's been a long time since I ventured into the world of Krautrock and now here I am making my first visit in a very long time for Trottoir. A Space Rock/Post Rock/Krautrock collective where the music has a slighty jazz organic feel.

Their debut album - erste (f/m/n) – is a purely instrumental rock affair with the band adding huge volumes of noise. There are traces of Stoner Rock running through out the album though it's the more jazz/space rock vibes that make this album such a thrilling ride. The tracks are individually titles from 1 to 5 so you don't have to worry about the meaning of the songs. Sit back and enjoy the ride at Trottoir have created some heavy pounding and exiting riffs for you to experience.

Four of the albums five tracks are epic songs running from 9 mins to almost 14 mins in length. So Trottoir love their progressive rock passages which gives their music a more intelligent feel as they slowly build the riffs with layers of noise, synths and a whole lot more space-rock goodness. Shades of Karma To Burn and Pelican can be heard as direct influences but also elements of the 60s/70s legendary German Krautrock scene. Which isn't too surprising as these space riffsters are from Germany.

It feels that Trottoir have made this album to be listened as one complete song and not broken down into 5 individual parts that the album actually is. If I have to pick out my fave songs or moments from the album it has to be songs 2, 3 and 5 as those are the loudest and most intense parts of the album. Trottoir even venture into progressive metal territory on song 3. It has a great collection of breakdown beats and noises with a healthy sideline in loud experimental rock.

The album runs for around 51 minutes or so and it will appeal to all fans of Instrumental Rock/Metal. If you dig Jazz, Space Rock, Post-Rock, Stoner Rock, Psych Rock, Krautrock then Trottoir's debut album is the one for you. It's an exciting and fresh take on all things instrumental rock. It's good to see a band such as Trottoir trying something different and playing to their musical strengths for the whole world to see. erste (f/m/n) is a thrilling album and one I recommend very highly indeed. Awesome stuff.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Daniel for the promo. erste (f/m/n)  will be available to buy on CD from the Trottoir's BandCamp Page and on Vinyl from Adansonia Records from January 31st 2015.

For more information