A birthday gift back in July, my ticket to Apparat – aka Sascha Ring – at The Barbican had been gathering dust for months, but finally the day arrived and my best mate and I headed up to the Big smoke after an eventful train journey (or two to be precise!)
I’m most familiar with the Berlin-based electronic musician’s album The Devil’s Walk (2011) and Moderat; his collaboration with Modeselektor, but this gig was a ‘selection of his soaring scores for film and theatre.’
I wasn’t familiar with his film scores, but joined on stage by six other talented musicians, the sounds they produced on a mixture of instruments and synthesisers was sublime. Apparat’s crystal clear falsetto cut through on a few select tunes and the visuals, created live by visual collective Transforma, complemented the sounds wonderfully.
After a transportive set, they returned for an encore and happily played Black Water, one of my favourite tracks from The Devil’s Walk, which brought a tear to my eye.
Thanks to my musically well-connected flatmate, we got guestlist entry to the afterparty at Village Underground, where Apparat was followed on the decks by Ellen Allien and Daniel Miller. They all played brilliant sets and in between letting rip on the dancefloor, my friend and flatmate even got to chat to the man himself backstage, while I had a conversation with one of the other musicians from France – what a night!
The Sea Notes 