19 September 2020

AX GENRICH & BAND – The Melting Butter Sessions (2020, LP Clostridium Records)

RELEASE INFO:

Label: Clostridium Records

Format: LP, Album, Limited Edition, Numbered, Black Vinyl, 222 copies

Format: LP, Album, Limited Edition, Numbered, Red Vinyl, 111 copies

Release Date: October 2020

In case the name of Ax Genrich doesn’t say nothing to you let’s refresh your memory with a piece from Ax’s profile in discogs: “Rock ‘n’ Roll guitarist who went all experimental after getting involved in the primordial Krautrock scene, briefly with Agitation Free, he was then borrowed by Guru Guru and stayed with them. Ax also had the super-group project Highdelberg, and then got involved in the folk and new-wave scenes before disappearing for over a decade. He has had two successful comebacks since, in the 1990’s solo with his own group, and later in the “Guru Guru revisited” project Neumeier/Genrich/Schmidt’s “Psychedelic Monsterjam”…”

“The Melting Butter Sessions” was originally an Ax Genrich 2019 self-released CD release that now finds its way through the vinyl thanks to Clostridium Records. The vinyl LP contains 4 (out of 5 on CD) long tracks, 2 on each side of the album. “Countdown To Unknown” (12:38min) is a guitar based (what else?) long track with sporadic vocals, a kind of a monologue thing, with a mood to improvise and to experiment in a heavy musical scale, tons of feedback and swirling-multi-effected guitar soundings. “Follow Mr. Gol” (6:04min) – inspired from the pub Mr. Go under the York Bridges in Berlin 1968 – is less improvised, a jam-guitar tune that is built upon Ax’s psychological frames of mind… On Side ‘B’, “Kraut Salad” (9:00min) is a more space-rock oriented tune, still heavy and quite improvisational while Ax’s guitar is brilliantly filling every studied “gap” that it may occur by the other musicians… The album closes with “Memories Of Bammental” (9:43min), a slower, mid-tempo tune with an exceptional guitar-work by Ax… So, if you are into some remarkable guitar-work based on Rock scales, this album is not going to disappoint you… Ax Genrich is a fabulous underrated guitar-hero (by the likes of Randy Holden) and it’s about time to do something about it… TimeLord Michalis