Bohren & Der Club Of Gore “Geisterfaust” [Wonder Records]

This is Cologne, Germany-based Bohren & Der Club Of Gore‘s 4th studio album, though they have been playing together since 1988. It was released in 2005. The album title translates as Spirit Hand, and each of the five songs are named after a finger.

Think of silence as an instrument and you are a long way to understanding what this music sounds like. It takes a whole band to play the “slience.” It is spare. It is slo-o-o-w. Like when Bugs Bunny is being chased by Elmer Fudd after they both accidentally get dosed with ether.

It’s bass-heavy with an 8-string bass, contrabass, tubas (plural), and bass trombone. Some people refer to the music as ‘horror jazz? whatever the hell that means.

It’s also very beautiful – light and heavy at the same time. I found it hard to listen to all the way through, apparently because my mind lacks the necessary stillness to follow one of the songs through to the end.

–Hunter Gatherer