Here is a new review, which makes me happy and proud.
Joerg Dankert – Between The Meantime Bandcamp (2022)
(10 pieces, 63:21 minutes playing time)
The electronic musician Joerg Dankert took first place in the “Newcomer” category at the 2021 Sound Wave Prize. “Between The Meantime” is his first album after this award and was released on July 30th, 2022 by Bandcamp. A big hurdle for him to confirm this award with the new work.
However, I have to say in advance that I didn’t know any music by Joerg Dankert before, so I’ll limit myself to the musical content of the current album when describing it.
Joerg says about his album and its creation:
"For a few months my life has sometimes felt like I’m stuck in between. For me, the meantime is the time between these global crises, which are constantly increasing.
There is war - with friends and in the world.
There is Corona - at work and in society.
There’s the reality - with family and business.
There is the personal situation - with light and dark.
And I’m in between.
One moment you’re happy, the next second you’re sad because of the news. There are days when everything is fine and then the reality of Corona catches up with you. There are phases when things almost go back to normal - life - only to suddenly go insane again.
The sounds, the moods, the music and the songs on this album reflect some of that. There is no timetable or a thematic framework, but music that was created between November last year and June this year. That’s why there are no song titles, but individual parts that follow one another. In view of the events and situations, I simply fail the words from time to time.
As always, everything was composed by me, recorded under Cubase Artist 12, mixed and mastered. The cover is also mine. All instruments and effects are from Steinberg (Halion, Padshop, Retrologue). Also used were: Valhalla Supermassive, Blackhole and the Quadra from Cherry Audio."
“Between The Meantime” offers ten tracks with running times from 3:01 to 10:19 minutes. The pieces do not have their own names but are titled “Between The Meantime Part 1” to “Between The Meantime Part 10”. Musically there are different styles, but primarily those of the “Eindhoven School”.
The 6:45-minute “Part 1” begins with a rhythmic sequencer sound and is reminiscent of the strong phase of Ron Boots, who defined the “Eindhoven School”, in terms of rhythm, timbre and melody. That’s a good start.
This is followed by the 7:10 minute “Part 2”. Quiet dabs of sound, which are underlaid with an echo-like reverberation, introduce this somewhat quieter track. After about two minutes, more rhythmic motives emerge and another track develops that reminds of the music of Ron Boots. Here Joerg Dankert is more atmospheric. It gets more anthemic and John Carpenter-esque towards the end.
In the 7:53 minute “Part 3” Dankert then changes the sound and style. This part is very quiet and sounds almost sacral and a little depressing. “Part 4” goes in a similar direction, because here Dankert creates a somewhat depressing atmosphere with wide, sometimes threatening-looking surfaces that are broken up by piano dabs. In these two pieces you can clearly hear the different or depressing moods in the composition.
It then becomes more melodic and rhythmic again in “Part 5”, which, in addition to the style of Ron Boots, also sounds like the releases of acts like Akikaze. With a playing time of 10:19 minutes, “Part 6” is the album’s long track. The track begins spacy with flat sounds and after a few moments changes into a floating, calm track. This conveys a relaxed, spacy atmosphere with a few dark interludes.
Parts 7, 8 and 10 are again very melodic and rhythmic, with “Part 10” in particular being very catchy. “Part 9” is quite a thought-provoking track that is carried by a very pleasant piano melody, which was laid on pads, string sounds and slightly rhythmic arpeggios.
With “Between The Meantime” Joerg Dankert has released an album that reflects his mood during the last few years, which have been quite changeable and full of bad news. And let’s be honest, almost all of us feel the same way. Dankert, whose music on the album is primarily in the style of the “Eindhoven School”, confirms his 2021 award with the album.
Stephan Schelle, August 2022
http://www.musikzirkus-magazin.de/…/joerg_dankert…