NEWS #1 2016

One of the amazing shots of A Sixth Part of the World (Dziga Vertov, 1926), Kyrgyz nomad hunting with an eagle © Filmmuseum Österreich

USSR 1926A few impressions...

In November 2014, we started working on our second project dedicated to Dziga Vertov’s silent movie A Sixth Part of the World. From the start, we knew this wasn’t the easiest choice. After BERLIN 1927 – Ruttmann’s movie is one of the most famous silent movies ever made – it was clear that choosing a less accessible and politically tinted film would raise a lot of questions.

Today, after performing around 30 shows, the least we can say is that it has helped us grow as musicians and as a band. We were on the road for almost three weeks, playing every night in very different places, from large cinema halls to small rock bars. Every time, it turns out that we should never expect anything from any show. We played for very quiet, sitting audiences, for cheerful ones, clapping in the middle of a song. The whole project was a truly enriching experience: it helped us better define our goals and motivated us even more to keep on combining our music with silent movies.

In 1926, Dziga Vertov himself declared: “Soviet cinema is currently experiencing an unforgettable turning point. A Sixth Part of the World is more than a film, than what we have got used to understanding by the word ‘film’. Whether it is a newsreel, a comedy, an artistic hit-film, A Sixth Part of the World is somewhere beyond the boundaries of these definitions; it is already the next stage after the concept of ‘cinema’ itself.”

A Sixth Part of the World is more than a film, than what we have got used to understanding by the word ‘film’.

FROM POLITICAL IDEALS TO DECADENCE

While BERLIN 1927 pictured a society on the edge of collapsing right before the outbreak of World War II, USSR 1926 focuses on yet another political system that would soon show its flaws and cause mil-lions of victims. As Soviet artists didn’t have the freedom to openly criticize the regime, it’s hard to know whether Vertov himself was a convinced communist. Furthermore, the propaganda ex-pressed in A Sixth Part of the World is so excessive that it almost turns into irony, which implies that Vertov could have been making fun of it.

A CINEMATOGRAPHIC AND CULTURAL JOURNEY

Oksana Sarkisova managed to find the right words to express what we also love about this movie and convinced us to re-score it: “The films of Dziga Vertov display a persistent fasci-nation with travel. Move-ment across vast spaces is perhaps the most recurrent motif in his oeuvre [...]. His cinematographic journeys transported viewers to the most remote as well as to the most advanced sites of the Soviet universe, creating a heterogeneous cine-world stretching from the desert to the icy tundra and featuring customs, costumes, and cultural practices unfamiliar to most of his audience.”

If you’re interested in Russian silent cinema, you may want to check out some great films like Turksib (Turin, 1929), Battleship

Potemkin (Eisenstein, 1925), Salt of Svanetia (Kalatozov, 1930) or the quite funny The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks (Kuleshov, 1924) and of course Vertov’s whole cinematography, including Man With A Movie Camera

(1929).

We hope that our music manages to express this feeling of grandeur, of never-ending landscapes, of the human cultural diversity that is present on Earth and should be protected at any price.

07/03/16 Nicolai Biograf, Kolding (DK) 08/03/16 B-Movie, Hamburg (GER) 09/03/16 Cinemateket, Copenhagen (DK) 11/03/16Offkino, Bielefeld (GER) 12/03/16Kulturwerk, Griesheim (GER)

26/03/16 Magasin 4, Brussels (BE)w/ Zenzile, Life of an Owl in Alaska

UPCOMINGSHOWSIN 2016

On March, 26th in Magasin 4, we will share the stage with the French band Zenzile. They will perform their own soundtrack to “Berlin : Die Sinfonie der Großstadt”. A must-see!

www.westoodlikekings.com/shows

11/04/16Roxy Theater, Beringen (BE) 28/04/16Lycée Ermesinde, Mersch (LUX) 19/05/16Cinéma Balzac, Paris (FR) 28/05/16Ancien Cinéma, Vianden (LUX)

12/08/16Open Air Kino, Meppen (GER)

26/08/16Kino, Wels (AT)

27/08/16Stadtkino, Grein (AT)

21/09/16Der Pumpe, Kiel (GER)

23-24/09/16VIVID Festival, Kristiansand (NO)

13/10/16Kuhstall, Schwabbruck (GER)

many more to be announced...

© Aniss Hamdi

We are absolutely thrilled to announce that we have chosen the movie we will work on for our next and third project. Some of you may have heard of Koyaanisqatsi, made in 1982 by the American director Geoffrey Reggio. It’s a “modern” silent film. It’s about nature. It’s about Western civilisation. It’s about tech-nology and the way it influences our lives, positively or negatively.

The original music was composed by Philip Glass, one of the most influent composers of the 20th century, whose music is often described as “minimalist”. Other composers of the genre included Steve Reich, Terry Riley or La Monte Young.

A big challenge for us. If all goes well and we manage to fix the screening rights for this moie, we will do our thing and see where we go from there.

THIRD PROJECT ON THE WAY : “USA 1982”

Yes, it’s a color movie!

NEW PROMO VIDEO ONLINE AND FEATURED ON AIRTVOn the day of our release show at Cellule 133a in Brussels,

we shot some images to make a promotional video. It’s a mix of short interviews and live music. Have a look!

We collaborated with a very nice agency, Médiartiste.

We started 2016 with two great shows in Belgium in February. The first one took place in GC Koetshuis in Roosdaal and was organized by the youth house JH Splinter. After hosting BERLIN 1927 in 2015, they asked us again to come and perform USSR 1926, but this time in the larger venue of the cultural centre next door. We had the privilege to use a grand piano (in Liège too!), which is an absolute benefit in terms of sound.

A few days later, we drove to Liège to play at Chiroux. This cultural centre organizes a series of events in which “sound meets vision” under the name of Ping.Pong. if you’re into this kind of projects, you should definitely check out their program on www.chiroux.be.

FIRST SHOWS OF THE YEAR IN LIÈGE AND ROOSDAAL

As you can see on the picture, we found very nice lights to decorate the stage.

New guitarist on board! We are delighted to welcome Philip as our new guitarist. He will be working with us on our third album and for all live shows. (yes, it’s him on the picture!)

USSR 1926 / Best Reviews So Far

The post-rock genre never ceases to amaze us and just as we gear up to review new 2016 releases; we started listening to USSR 1926 by We Stood Like Kings. Our first impression was a feeling of awe and inspiration, to hear a post-rock album with this magnitude is amazing. Reminding us of why we do this… to bring forward unusu-al bands who fly under the radar.

We Stood Like Kings are a four piece cinematic instrumental post-rock band from Brussels, Belgium who compose music for silent movies. Their first release ti-tled Berlin 1927 showed the band had established a unique sound where the piano takes center stage, this style of post-rock was refreshing, it’s not often we come across a band who centralizes their music around the piano.

In 2015 the band released USSR 1926 through German label Ka-pitän Platte. This album is a mu-sical interpretation of the 1926 silent movie A Sixth Part of the World directed by Russian doc-umentary director Dziga Vertov. This movie portrayed the cultur-al and economic diversity of the Soviet people in remote areas of the USSR through a use of mixed media of newsreel and found footage.

It is virtually impossible to put into words how deep the music really is, it cannot be previewed in a few listening sessions. It’s like a fine wine, just take your time with it and let the music consume you. We’ve been listing to this album for some time now and we still hear new arrangements and subtle nuances. As we noted

earlier the music is based around the use of the piano and Judith Hoorens is as brilliant as ever. Her style as a pianist evokes many emotions ranging from dark and melancholy to majestic and trium-phant feelings. The bass provides a strong foundation for the music,

it is rich sounding and deep. The guitars are absolutely stunning, they balance smoothly between post-rock and shoegaze arrange-ments. The drums bring a pow-erful aspect to the album, they are strong and command your attention without overpowering the music. Together, these instru-ments are played to perfection;

EDITOR’S PICK ON ROTATION 11 We Stood Like Kings have taken post-rock to another level we didn’t know existed.

Our first impression was a feeling of awe and inspiration.

Masterpiece, incredible, consuming, tumultuous, visceral, and inspiring are just some of the words I would use to describe USSR 1926 upon my first lis-ten.

For me, this release stands completely on its own, regardless of We Stood As Kings’ intention for scor-ing a silent movie. How many times can we cite mu-sic as taking us on a journey away from reality as we know it? Well, I cannot count how often, while writ-ing this review, that I found myself lost in the com-position and having to rededicate my focus onto manifesting my thoughts. Their arrangements force you to completely immerse yourself within each measure. So much that I would compare this album to the glory days of Pink Floyd in that it can change dynamics in an instant without losing the listener. It begs to be enshrined, vacuum sealed, cherished,

and studied for the remainder of time as we know it. So that all future generations may know what is pos-sible when we as humans can “plug” our hearts in and make music.

What has come about from We Stood Like Kings has embedded itself within me as what Post Rock was, is, should be, and is bound to become. All future in-strumental music will be forever changed as a result. All genres as a whole should take note. I am aston-ished at their ability to make the piano play so many different roles without succumbing to redundancy. Foundation melody, lead hook, and background ambience. I hear a careful dichotomy of opposing melody and symbiotic harmony.

ECHOES AND DUST Masterpiece, visceral and inspiring.

it’s a beautiful and welcome onslaught on the ears.

We Stood Like Kings have taken post-rock to another level we didn’t know existed. USSR 1926 requires your patience and attention to detail. The sound that emerges when cranked at high decibels is absolute-ly amazing; it’s very deep as you can feel the dramatic layering and the precision of each instrument. We highly recommend you add this one to your rotation. - 2/1/2016

© Daniel Wegener

POST-ROCK ESSENTIALS “WSLK thrives to become one of the most unique ins-trumental acts around the globe. They have created one of the most brilliant vichys-soise of euphonies and their relentless use of the piano as a leading instrument is still a bold achievement in the ins-trumental scene.”

A CLOSER LISTEN “On USSR 1926, the highs seem higher and the lows seem lower, as the band dis-covers new emotional heights and depths. (...) This band seems set for a long career of accumulating acclaim.”

MERCHANTS OF AIR “There’s a lot of competition for my personal top-of-2015 albums but I’m quite sure this one will end up very high in that list. I’m not just saying that because We Stood Like Kings hail from my coun-try but also because this is a damn good post-rock album. ”

DIGITAL AND PHYSICAL RELEASES AVAILABLE THROUGH OUR BANDCAMP PAGE

DEEPGROUND 4,5/5

FONS IMMORTALIS

“Record Of The Month”

LEGACY 14/15

DEMONIC NIGHTS 8/10

As I sit to write this review there is incessant tribulation surrounding my day to day life. But this album makes it all better, and has an abnormal ability to transport me back to my proverbial happy place. We are all obliged to listen to see as each track changes in order to better comprehend the story emitted by the end of every timestamp. While being mixed and arranged as a movie score, with each track blending seamlessly into the next, it can also be listened to separately. Go ahead, press shuffle. I dare you!

Do I dare call this release a masterpiece? Without hesitation, I answer with a resound-ing YES!!! It now holds a very close place in my heart. With feeling and emotion that I would equate to the releases of Glories – Put The Beast Out Of Mind, Athletics – Who You Are Is Not Enough, or pg.lost – In, Never Out.

This is one hell of a complete album. Engaging all facets of the human condition, and encompassing all perceptions of what can be considered the complete spectrum of human emotion. I leave those emotions up to the interpretation of each listener, as the receipt of music to all of our ears and hearts is subjective by nature. But I do warn you.

After listening, the state of your mind and being will never be the same. We Stood Like Kings have outdone themselves. How they have been able to produce such an extraordinary opus is beyond me. I am only thankful that I have been granted the opportunity to hear it.