Bubblegum Cage III

Von Bingen – Von Bingen (Amen Absen) LP

February 11, 2010 at 9:00 am 1 comment

Von Bingen - s/t

The debut album from Vancouver quartet Von Bingen seems to have snuck below all but the hippest of radar. This is probably down to Amen Absen’s apparent decree that the LP should only be made available through the coolest of mail-order dealers. Take that record stores!

It’s a shame that the label seems so determined to prevent this album from being sullied by the record-buying public’s grubby fingerprints  because it really does have something very worthwhile to offer – something a lot of underground rock bands could learn a great deal from.

Von Bingen features three members of analogue synth orchestra BCVCO (including Joshua Stevenson aka Magneticring). Like BCVCO, Von Bingen relies heavily on the type of vintage keyboards favoured by that ever-growing army of increasingly indistinguishable avant rock drone-makers.

But “Eyeglasses of Kentucky”, this album’s opening track, makes it very clear that Von Bingen is more than just another gaggle of stoned knob-twiddlers. In fact, Von Bingen is a refreshingly strident and rhythmically solid album, from start to finish.

Here, where you might expect enervation and stasis, you get attitude and motivation. Not that this isn’t a cosmic space-rock voyage of downright German proportions, it’s just that it has enough punk rock attitude on board to make the journey satisfyingly dangerous.

If you’re cool enough, they might let you buy a copy from Mimaroglu Music Sales.

Entry filed under: avant rock, MP3s, reviews, Vancouver. Tags: avant rock, MP3s, reviews, Vancouver.