African Paper
The Epicurean
Vitalweekly
From Nikolas Schreck, who initially devoted himself to other activities after the end of Radio Werewolf, there have been musical signs of life in recent years. There were concerts in different constellations and with different song selections as well as an accomplished album with his band Kingdom of Heaven. There has been talk of a solo work for some time now, and on the last Epicurean Escapism Festival and its compilation there was already a song with "Lord Sutekh's Dream" as a foretaste. The EP "The Futura Model" has now released another piece in three versions.
Those who only know Schreck from Radio Werewolf may situate the musician in the field of tension between Death Rock and a dark, proclaiming form of ritual music. This is undoubtedly a component of Schreck's style repertoire, albeit a somewhat constricting focus on specific periods in his past. Already in Kingdom of Heaven you could get an impression of Schreck's diverse interests across the history of classical pop culture: prog rock and gospel, rhythm and blues and classic crooner entertainment, superheroes and dubious fishers of human souls, and above all the Eternal Feminine in the mirror of different myths.
Some of this mixture is also connected to "The Futura Model", even if there are clear differences in terms of sound: No Schreck song of the past ever grooved this much. That's probably because with Heathen Rae, a real drummer is on board, and the awesome beats, the repetitive bass lines, the cool, scifi-like synths, and Schreck‘s vocals all sound they were made for each other. Thanks to electronic processing, the sound is less organic than on the last concerts, but this piece of Psych Pop gets a nerdy-cool, retro-futuristic touch.
Again, the archetype of the female, who in all her seductive power as a femme fatale, comes to life - but without the masked hatred of women usual for this myth. On the contrary: the seductress's erotic charisma transforms the hero into a better version of himself: A beautiful heroine from a distant galaxy ensnares the singer with the help of his favorite medium, the radio, and plays him the latest hits from the planet Aldebaran. But after the successful seduction instead of taking him on board away from too many people on Earth, "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" leaves the man languishing. But whoever this lyrical self is - a superhero or an intergalactic man of feeling - somehow the short fatal flirtation seems to have inspired him, indeed to have literally transformed him. Otherwise, "The Futura Model" would not be so cheerful and groovy, and even the line "My rocket rises ever higher", which would certainly have pleased the old Freud, sounds anything but depressed.
The only small downer is that the first two of the three versions are pretty similar. In the "Parallel Universe Version" there are a few extra futuristic gadgets and a greater overall tendency for wide, reverberant spaces, but these are small variations, and I still give preference to the slightly richer original. The "Late Night Supernova Version", on the other hand, is less rock, more soundscape with a lounge feeling, more synthetic and playful, and thus rich in nice ideas.
If you appreciate the Schreck-typical mix, you should be hooked by the song and excitedly anticipate the upcoming album - considering how different "The Futura Model" and the complex and meditatively spun "Lord Sutekh's Dream" are. In any case, you can look forward to a certain similar bandwidth. Similar to Kingdom of Heaven, the solo works seem to be connected to the rocky original Radio Werewolf of the 80s, soaked in a dash of blues and Americana, which I very much welcome. The regular edition of the 12 "was published in an edition of 222, an ultra-limited lovers edition contains among other items, a signed poster. (U.S.)
The Epicurean
Acclaimed by Evolver magazine as “already a legend in his lifetime”, singer-songwriter Nikolas Schreck’s initiatory application of music, ritual and theater formally began in 1984 when he returned to the West from a life-changing spiritual pilgrimage in Egypt to found the shapeshifting musical ensemble Radio Werewolf, a nine-year sonic magic operation which concluded in 1993. After pioneering early Los Angeles Gothic and deathrock with the band’s first incarnation, Radio Werewolf’s European phase was hailed by Christopher Walton of the band Endura for “simultaneously pre-empting and giving birth to the dark-ambient and ritual-industrial scene of the 1990’s.”
Schreck has previously collaborated musically with Zeena, John Murphy, Death in June, Non and Sir Christopher Lee, whose first solo album he produced. In 2015’s Kingdom of Heaven album “XXIII”, as music site African Paper noted, Schreck “dove deep into the realms of American pop culture”, breaking genre boundaries by bringing his distinctive dark voice to an eclectic spectrum including Gospel, space rock and neo-classical Prog. Marking a new landmark in Nikolas Schreck’s ever mutating genre-defying musical voyage The Futura Model takes its listeners on a retro-futurist audio adventure in cosmic avant-pop that celebrates the joys of...
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Vitalweekly
Legend has is and legend brings it: the long awaited ecstasy, the forlorn return of the king from exile and from years of yonder.
Not only matter of fairy tales and histories, but also a piece of 12” vinyl featuring new work by Nikolas Schreck. And a ritual dark disco blast it is.
This must be by far the most 'pop' act on The Epicurean (known for releases from a far more noisy realm from the likes of Anemone Tube and Last Dominion Lost for example). Dark echoes of beats ricochet from banged up concrete walls in a humid underground discothèque. Schreck's whisper-from-beyond-death voice declaims with commanding authority like a vocalist from the age of Ballard or Dick.
The Futura Model (the A-side track, coupled with two remixes) is at once a slice of retro dark synth pop deluxe as it is a futurist manifesto for a scene thought dead and buried; a sound and a dance from and for the undead. Mix in some truly space-age like synthsweeps and the glistening orbits of personal flight machines and cyborg-sex permeates the picture. A supernova filling the afterglow with a background radiation that would not be amiss at a festival like Grauzone.