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Camera: Live at HBC

Documentary, Music, Independent, 08-Nov-2013

"In the days of youtube, easy-to-use video cameras and quite a good recording quality of even amateur equipment, some of us may wonder why to buy a concert movie. The answer becomes obvious as soon as we compare our occasional gig video of the favourite band with the work of professionals.

As the camera fades in, we´re immediately on the stage, with a band who´s ignoring us completely, neither posing nor drawing attention to themselves. Yet the camera will authentically put all the interesting details into the limelight. This is in mutual agreement, without disturbing and without being disturbed. As if we weren´t there.

Then the concert starts, and we´re captured by strange tunes and a driving rhythm. Needless to say that the sound quality has nothing in common with certain tinny youtube videos, but it should be mentioned here anyway. Now the camera pans slightly to the right and fixes a dark hall, crammed and in some places thick with smoke, before coming back to focus on drummer and keyboarder of CAMERA, the “krautrock guerilla“, who have become locally famous for their spontaneous gigs in Berlin´s metro stations and jamming sessions in carriages along the city´s U-Bahn lines.

While the heirs of NEU!, Cluster and La Düsseldorf are probably (yet) unknown to most non-Berliners, the attentive krautrock fan doesn´t have to wait very long for a familiar face to show up: like in a meeting of generations, Dieter Moebius (Cluster, Harmonia) is sitting there behind synthesizers and sequencers, helping to create a gradually emerging sound painting. Michael Rother (Kraftwerk, NEU!, Harmonia) on guitar is the other well-known guest around, most of the time keeping himself in the background – but the camera won´t miss anything even under bad lighting conditions …

Among the many projects by artists and cultural producers that Berlin has seen in recent years, the small, two-person film production company and label play loud! of directors Dietmar Post and Lucía Palacios is surely remarkable. Always outside the mainstream, the award-winning filmmakers have addressed in their documentary films issues like the Klangbad open air music festival (Klangbad: Avant-garde in The Meadows, 2009), or the seminal German-American beat band The Monks (The Transatlantic Feedback, 2006).

Born from the idea to chronicle and archive some exceptional music made in Germany, in recent years they also recorded a number of rare live events as part of a music series, ranging from some still active musicians of the legendary krautrock genre (Faust, Damo Suzuki), to Berlin-based rock´n-roll-noise-art Floating di Morel, or to representatives of modern electronic music (Gebrüder Teichmann).

Camera: Live at HBC is the series´ eighth release, recorded on 22 October 2011 in Berlin´s HBC club, where the show was part of a so-called “krautrock night“ and the band performed three pieces. Here too the filmmakers have remained true to themselves and, according to the motto “You go along as it happens“, shot the whole show in one continuous 47 min long take, without any edits. As with Direct Cinema pioneer D. A. Pennebaker, nothing here is staged for filming. Some critics have labelled the work of Post and Palacios as “filmed paintings / painted films“. In this case, “filmed paintings“ gets a double sense, since the film shows both a “painted“ sound cluster and the making of the same.

During these 47 minutes, we´re watching the performance from a very close, intuitive and personal point of view. As if standing on the stage, right next to the band, looking them over the shoulder. Shooting from this both physically and mentally privileged observation point, unrivalled even by those on the front row, is precisely what not everybody could have done. This film is not another concert movie, but a piece of art in itself. Strongly recommended for both those interested in the insightful archiving of extraordinary live shows and fans who wish to have a genuine souvenir."

REVIEW PUBLISHED IN "CHAOTIC SOUL'S SOUND CLOUD" BY ANNIKA HOGE (AUGUST 2, 2012)

All songs written by Brockmann, Drummer, Bargmann, Rother, Moebius
*Camera HBC 03: Lyrics by Shaun Mulrooney

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play loud! (live) music series

CONCEPT BEHIND THE SERIES

The “play loud! (live) music series“ is based on three precepts: Alan Lomax´s work as an archivist and chronicler, John Peel´s BBC radio sessions, and the work of Direct Cinema pioneers, such as the Maysles Brothers, Leacock, Wildenhahn, Blank and Pennebacker.

play loud! aims to create an extensive archive of interesting popular music and culture that includes both material from the filmmakers' large amount of unreleased footage and material from other sources.

play loud!’s music films have been called raw, rough, canny, straightforward, adventurous, witty, insightful, direct, non-tricksy, minimal, unpretentious handheld camera work, artful film paintings, minimalist filmed paintings, painted films…

Some of the live performances are filmed with only one camera in one continuous shot and without any edits.

“When we film live shows, we don't use a TV style, but one that is very personal, intuitive and playful. Nothing is staged for the shoot. You go along with whatever happens.” (Dietmar Post)

Streaming offers everyone- fans, researchers, journalists- the opportunity to access the archive and support the use of the material by others. Paying a small fee to view the material helps to cover the immense costs of a private archive.

If there is great demand, some of the recordings will be made available on vinyl.

"Shooting live music is the most purely cinematic thing you can do." (Jonathan Demme)

001 Floating di Morel: A Summer Evening (2009) (VOD, DL)
002 Doc Schoko: Oktopus im Pentagramm (2009) (VOD, DL)
003 FM Einheit + Irmler: Live at Berghain (2012) (VOD)
004 Faust: Live at Klangbad (2010) (DVD, VOD)
005 Gebrüder Teichmann: Live at Maria (2011) (VOD, DL)
006 Christy & Emily: Live at Klangbad (2012) (VOD, DL)
007 Damo Suzuki & Sound Carriers: (2017) (VOD, DL, LP)
008 Camera feat. Rother & Moebius: Live at HBC (2012) (VOD, DL)
009 Friedman & Liebezeit: Live at Festsaal Kreuzberg (2013) (VOD)
010 Lydia Lunch & Philipp Petit: Live at Volksbühne (2013) (VOD)
011 Guru Guru: Live at Lido (2014) (VOD, DL)
012 Gisela Oberbeck & Limpe Fuchs: Animare (2015) (VOD, DL)
013 Limpe Fuchs: Live at Klangbad Festival (2015) (VOD, DL)
014 Die Regierung: Live in Essen (2015) (VOD, DL)
015 Anima in Two Films (1972-1973) (VOD)
016 Die Regierung: Live at Berghain (2017) (VOD, DL)
017 Locust Fudge: Live at Privatclub Berlin (2018) (VOD, DL)
018 Alan Vega: Live at Rockpalast (1982) (LP, DVD, DL)
019 Martin Rev: Live in Berlin (2006-8) (LP, DVD, DL)