CEL - Five minutes to self-destruct

Felix Kubin (synth, fx, voc)
Hubert Zemler (dr, fx, voc)
BONHOFER 5 (prothetic comment)

On this EP, Schlagwerk motorist Hubert Zemler and Schaltwerk operator Felix Kubin unflinchingly follow the guidelines for syncopated sequencer escalation: ‘Pulsate - Vibrate - Alternate’. The German-Polish duo have filtered out five previously unreleased tracks from numerous live recordings, which have been remixed by Warsaw sound engineer Jan Wroński. 

The expressiveness of these recordings is evident not only in their unbridled live energy, which can hardly be reproduced in the studio, but also in a musical nervousness that sets itself apart from the current wellness folklore of the modular community. The pieces gather in their DNA the paranoid plasma of cultural unease, chaos and upheaval. 

‘Krakenwaltz’ is a polyrhythmically twitching 5/8 dance, “Eskalacja” a gameboy punk piece, “Blauer Dunst” an atmospheric soundtrack from the incubator of the epidemic darkroom. The equivalent can be found at the end of the B-side: ‘Five minutes to self-destruct’, a quote from the sci-fi classic ‘The Andromeda Strain’, describes a research team's fight for survival against an accidentally triggered self-destruct mechanism, underpinned by trigger impulses and increasing panic. In comparison, the snappy ‘Neustart Generation’ stands out with its chanting slogans (see below), which are a speciality in the oeuvre of the instrumental group CEL. 

The cover of the record was designed by multi-talented artist Macio Moretti.

Lyrics of „Neustart Generation“, commented by BONHOFER 5

1
The West falls into resignation

Election defeat for the left-wing faction

At the East Cross, the hegemony crumbles

The Bitcoin index falls to its knees

BONHOFER 5:

“In the rearview mirror of progress sits despair,

and even the currencies bow before the void.”

2
A nation without a leader, in isolation

Curfew on nuclear fusion

A computer hacker becomes interior minister

The philistines sit on the broadcasting board

BONHOFER 5:

“The reins held by those who once cut the strings,

and knowledge dances naked in the shadow of power.”

3
In the circus dome, the dental artists

Juggle with boxes of prosthetics

Shamans take over the White House

In the delivery room, the lights go out

BONHOFER 5:

“Clowns in the palaces, the lights fade quietly,

while hands reshape the teeth of truth.”

4
Gaps gape in the wanted list

Investigators struggle to bend over

Fear of the Russia-China axis

Facial recognition for children and cats

BONHOFER 5:

“The cards of the game reshuffled,

but the players remain blind to the end.”

Chorus:
 Neustart Generation

BONHOFER 5, conclusion:
“A restart, nothing more than a crooked drop of paint,
 brushed over cracks that are long beyond repair.”