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LP
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STV 2601LP
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How do losers dance? According to Helmut, almost weightlessly, with soft feet, warm gestures, sometimes alone, sometimes together. Content Creatures, Helmut's fourth album, evokes the pop archetype of the "beautiful loser," who had almost disappeared from view in so-called late capitalism. In a present in which even suffering is often similarly instrumentalized and tailored to clicks like a competitive sport, this album sets a counterpoint: those who listen to it suddenly want to be enchanting losers again, useless and joyfully messing up, losing something beloved, having their hearts broken, giving up a dream, sinking into beauty. You don't sink alone. Comforting harmonies envelop you, the voices of friends appear, accompany you for a while and then disappear again. Warm grooves, floating synths and delicate guitar lines characterize an indie sound that remains open and breathes. Self-produced for the first time in his home studio in Neukölln, Content Creatures sounds thoughtful and light at the same time. The album is presented on Berlin-based label St.Vladimir. There are four songs on one side and four songs on the other. The cover is adorned with an exceptionally pretty guinea pig. Helmut shows the special in the seemingly ordinary: a child's pet, the most ordinary of all, is his cover star and headstrong protagonist.
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LP
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HELMUT 003LP
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My Interstellar Love Life is the third studio album by Berlin-based songwriter Adrian Schull, aka Helmut. Formerly known for his eloquent use of the loop pedal in focused solo performances, he sought out a group of skilled friends to join the H train for his latest record. Starting off the songwriting process in playful sessions with close friend and multi-instrumentalist/songwriter Do Mayer, they were later joined by jazz drummer/composer Akira Nakamura and guitarist/composer Johanna Weckesser, a recent student of Kurt Rosenwinkel. Together they rehearsed and arranged the new material at his Neukölln practice space. Nakamura since followed the calling to return to his hometown in Okinawa but drummer/producer Garagen Uwe took over for him during late studio production. Studio sessions were overseen by Helmut's longtime collaborator and co-producer (Polymono, Our Walls) Marius Bubat, one half of Cologne electronic duo COMA. The themes in this collection of eight songs range from exhaustion with the overall human experience ("Enough"), metaphorical dreamscapes "where men turn to stone" ("Flowers"), love/ghost stories ("Ballin'"), misplaced romantic expectations ("Monster") on to bitter-sweet musings on the entertainment industry itself ("Take All"). To end things on a wholesome note the synth-pop-ballad "Cheer u Up" which might just cheer you up in this brave new pandemic winter. Personnel: Akira Nakamura (drums); Do Mayer (bass, synths, backing vocals); Garagen Uwe (drums, percussion); Helmut (guitar, vocals, synths, bass); Johanna Weckesser (guitar, bass, synths, backing vocals); Ralph Heidel (sax on "Monster"). Mastered in Berlin by Enyang Urbiks. Transparent white vinyl; includes lyrics poster.
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2LP
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HELMUT 002LP
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Double LP version. Edition of 500. Helmut on Our Walls: "After only three short years, my second album Our Walls is out. It comes clad in vinyl, polycarbonate, bits, and bytes and I'm very happy and relieved to finally let go of this one. The cores of its ten/eleven (CD/2LP) tracks were developed on a loop pedal at home. Lyrics spun here and there. Almost all of them are trying to extract levels of meaning from an ever-changing knot of emotions. They take their time -- ranging between three-minutes-forty to thirteen-minutes-fifty-seven -- to clinically isolate, examine, and name the elementary building blocks constituting the knot. Our Walls is about the ups-and-downs of your everyday-mercilessly-hopeless love relationship, about staying mild when things get rough, fabulous metaphors, childish self-defense mechanisms, the burning space in between words and our very personal walls that have so far always kept us safe." Double LP version includes an extra track featuring Camera.
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CD
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HELMUT 002CD
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Helmut on Our Walls: "After only three short years, my second album Our Walls is out. It comes clad in vinyl, polycarbonate, bits, and bytes and I'm very happy and relieved to finally let go of this one. The cores of its ten/eleven (CD/2LP) tracks were developed on a loop pedal at home. Lyrics spun here and there. Almost all of them are trying to extract levels of meaning from an ever-changing knot of emotions. They take their time -- ranging between three-minutes-forty to thirteen-minutes-fifty-seven -- to clinically isolate, examine, and name the elementary building blocks constituting the knot. Our Walls is about the ups-and-downs of your everyday-mercilessly-hopeless love relationship, about staying mild when things get rough, fabulous metaphors, childish self-defense mechanisms, the burning space in between words and our very personal walls that have so far always kept us safe."
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