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Melting Palms & Zahn live - An impressive fusion in the belly of the ship
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The MS Stubnitz is one of the most fascinating venues in the Hanseatic city of Hamburg: an old refrigerated ship from the GDR fishing fleet that has been converted into a space for concerts and parties. Since 1992, it has been a socio-cultural center, providing a safe haven for a wide variety of musical genres. On November 17, a special concert took place there. The Hamburg band Melting Palms and the Berlin instrumental trio Zahn heated up the Kahn. Originally, the team was supposed to be supplemented by the Hamburg veterans Eisenvater. But due to a stroke of fate within the family, they had to cancel at short notice. Another concert of Eisenvater on the Stubnitz is to be rescheduled in the near future. The absence of Eisenvater, however, should not diminish the quality of the music in any way. Melting Palms and Zahn delivered an impressive fusion of Germany's two largest cities. With two completely different genres of music, which harmonized strongly live.
Melting Palms - Dreamy and combative at the same time
The young Hamburg formation Melting Palms, which consists of four gentlemen and one lady, honored the MS Stubnitz first. Melting Palms in Hamburg... What's it like? Quite simply it's an experience characterized by dreamy as well as combative music by creative young talents! This music can be roughly described as Dream Pop/Shoegaze. Because the main ingredient is eerily beautiful melodies, which unfold their full magic in a layer of reverberation and echo. This Dream Pop mortar is supported with elegiac, psychedelic passages that even drift into post-punk territory in places. Emotional spherical layers, always building up and down, intertwine rather than interfering with each other. The performance in their home town of Hamburg marked the end of their recent tour of Europe promoting their second album, "Noise Between The Shades." Accordingly, there was a brisk turnout for Melting Palms' final performance in 2022.
Special acoustics in the belly of the ship
Right at the beginning of their set Melting Palms faced difficulties with the sound. Fortunately, this problem was solved quite quickly before the next song. The main part of the set consisted of tracks from the current album, which is an easy recommendation to listen to. Nevertheless, the vocals, which are shared by guitarist Mikey and Resi, remained mostly indistinct for the duration of the concert. Only at the end, when Resi started the encore, the vocals could be heard clearly, which is a pity, because both have clear, powerful voices.
The three guitars provide a sound carpet that invites you into dreamy spheres, while the drums set a dynamic and lively pace, including fantastic fills. Strong, memorable riffs join in the structure. The last song before the encore was a crescendo that reached epic proportions. The crowd on the MS Stubnitz was firmly in control and celebrated the presented material to the fullest. Reverb and delay dominate the musical foundation of the Melting Palms, and the Stubnitz provides a suitable location to do justice to these sounds. The acoustics in the belly of the steel beast are tremendous and ideal for this music.
Zahn - Epic Noise Rock
After the dreamy performance of Melting Palms, the instrumental trio Zahn from Berlin brought the evening to a close. And what a brilliant finale this performance of the three excellent musicians was! Zahn consists of Felix Gebhard on guitar, Chris Breuer on bass, and Nic Stockmann on drums. All three bring experience to the stage from bands like Einstürzende Neubauten, The Ocean and formerly Eisenvater. In 2021 they released their first album, which was simply self-titled. The professionalism of the Berliners immediately radiated throughout the entire ship with burning energy. For a full 45 minutes, the audience was under the spell of Zahn. Their music is strongly reminiscent of the blossoming noise rock bands of the early 90s, such as Helmet or The Jesus Lizard—only entirely without vocals.
Great performance in front of a small audience
The sound is almost perfect for this kind of brutal music. Everything is mixed together so that no instrument trumps the other. The guitar has a clear, subtle tone and plenty of effects pedals are used to create hypnotic frequencies. The bass rumbles and thumps constantly throughout the set, providing physical reactions. Last but not least, the drums provide a constantly lively backbeat. In doing so, it gets chances to demonstrate its individual levels time and time again: Groovy, rocking, metallic and everything the spectrum of rock music has to offer.
Frenetic electronic passages are added to the rock as well as goosebump-inducing ambient intervals. All emotions are explored and the most diverse moods are conjured up. From epic and powerful, to eerie and even joyful. It's clear that the three men of Zahn form a solid unit whose musical backgrounds add tremendous value to their creative output. This is a band whose further career should be anticipated with excitement. For the level is high with these passionate musicians. The only shortcoming of the performance is that the rows at the Stubnitz had thinned out considerably with Zahn. The performance itself was world class.
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Originally published on January 28, 2023, updated on February 3, 2023
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