Recently, based on the release of Lampen’s Würgeengel, I confessed my soft spot for guitar/drum duos. And what could be better than that? Right: two guitars and drums. Stay Off Limits are Zafer Habasch (electric guitar, effects), Cornelius Veit (electric guitar, effects), and Klaus Wallmeier (drums, percussion). As is often the case, we don’t always notice the gems right on our doorstep and instead look out into the wider world. Cornelius Veit has been part of the free improv scene in Karlsruhe for years and often uses extended playing techniques and is interested in sound experiments. I haven’t seen him much in rock music so far, but he himself is quite open to it and describes his music as “somewhere caught between all stools”. Stay Off Limits is indeed a mixture of dreamy ambient sounds, psychedelic world music moments, and hard jazz rock.
“SOL 3”, for example, is an almost eleven-minute prog rock killer based on a monotonous riff that inevitably carries you high into the air. Wah-wah effects, variable drums, tempo changes, the layerings of the second guitar, and the subtle tectonic shifts in general create incredible tension. In fact, it’s the rock tracks that make the album so appealing. In “SOL 10” the guitars strum relentlessly against the rimshot storm of the drums; it’s like sitting next to an airplane taking off. In “SOL 7” the rock riff even develops a groove that you could easily headbang to – the melody sprinkled in toward the end of the piece then carries you away. To keep things from getting too catchy, however, the drums like to change the beat and provide the necessary roughness. All of this is more reminiscent of King Crimson, Nels Cline Singers, Bushman’s Revenge, or the Hedvig Molestad Trio. But that’s only one side of this album. “SOL 9”, also almost ten minutes long, thrives on the finely chiseled interplay of the two guitars and offers space for beautiful, psychedelic, rambling moments. Almost classically, the guitars share rhythmic support and solo elements, while the drums linger darkly on the toms. Folk elements are also incorporated. Again and again, sound waves are built up and then broken off again. Only towards the end of the piece is a climax reached through clever chord changes, and then they ride the riffs into the sunset.
Stay Off Limits I is the surprise of the year for me. I came across the album rather by chance. It’s better to keep an eye on the scene right in front of you. Check it out and play it loud.
Stay Off Limits I is available as a download. You can listen to it and buy it here: https://stay-off-limits.bandcamp.com/album/stay-off-limits-i