Zement Premiere “Entzücken” Video from Rohstoff out July 9
Posted in Bootleg Theater on June 30th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
German duo Zement issue their third full-length, Rohstoff, on July 9 through Crazysane Records. “Entzücken,” as it happens, is the longest song on it, running 10:53 and typifying the two-piece’s synth-led, drum-inclusive mostly-instrumentalist krautrock syle. Too prog for the planet, so they left it far behind earlier in the album, say, right around 30 seconds into opener “Goa” when the robot voice checks in. Now, they could’ve made a video for “Entzücken” with space scenery, or with archive footage from the public domain, set up a mirror effect to trip it out, and let it go for 10 minutes. Nothing against that. A lot of bands do it and it’s fine. Gets the word out, puts the material on another algorithm, blah blah. And certainly “Entzücken” is hypnotic enough that they would have pulled it off just fine and no one would blink, partially because their brains would shut down and their autonomic response would slip.
Zement — comprised of Philipp Hager and Christian Büdel — don’t go that way with “Entzücken.” They go the other way, which is to chronicle a faux 
hot-ramen eating competition through multiple stages of what seems to be a championship scenario until a victor is crowned. Are the noodles really hot? I don’t know. Is hot-ramen really a thing in competitive eating? I don’t know. I don’t care. The clip is brilliant. True, it pushes the song to a backing position, but hell’s bells, in trade you get to watch 10 minutes of hilarious noodle consumption with German-language commentary over the top — mind you I have zero idea what they’re saying — and witness the genius of a group willing to serve the piece by using as that, a piece, of a larger presentation. In this case, a soundtrack. You’re gonna enjoy it, that’s all I’ll say.
Rohstoff unfolds long and short-form krauty weirdness, texturing psychedelia into “Soil” and “Seine” — by different means, but psychedelia nonetheless — no less easily than they do soft jazz saxophone into “Kleiner 3” and the dancier “Zunder.” “Atem” caps with a dream drone and looped speech, but only after “Ecke 54” has manifested a folk dance for a folk who never existed, playful and strange in kind. “Entzücken” is a part of the procession of this 47-minute/eight-song entirety rather than a summary of its whole, but one could hardly ask a better entry point than Zement offer with the video, which is premiering below.
PR wire info follows.
Please enjoy:
Zement, “Entzücken” official video premiere
The third video clip “Entzücken” for Zement’s new album „Rohstoff”, stands in a tradition with Air’s “All I need” and Daft Punk’s “Da funk”. It’s all there: Talking over the song, check. Dump jokes, check. A good concept, yes indeed! Totally bananas! Nobody’s gonna watch an eleven minute long music video (so they say) but, everybody is watching an eleven minute clip of Hot Nudle Fight World-Championship on YouTube! Especially in combination with hot music. This clip stands for itself. It’s entertainment, underlaid with a super nice psyched krauty Techno song by Zement!
Vinyl/Digital: http://smarturl.it/zement?
The German Neo-Kraut/Psychedelic duo ZEMENT return with their third LP sounding better and more focused than before! Combining the wonder of the autobahn with intelligent nods to techno and free jazz, Rohstoff constitutes an endless meditation on the architecture of mind and the movement of bodies.
Tracklisting:
1. Goa (6:23)
2. Soil (3:23)
3. Seine (9:41)
4. Kleiner 3 (4:46)
5. Zunder (2:38)
6. Entzücken (10:53)
7. Ecke 54 (2:51)
8. Atem (6:46)
All songs written and performed by Zement.
Saxophone on “Kleiner 3” and “Zunder” by Martin Pirner.
Produced by Zement & Florian Helleken.
Recorded by Florian Helleken at Hersbrooklyn Recordings.
Mixed by Lolo Blümler at Iron Bar Studios.
Mastered by Chris Hielscher at Subsounddistortion.
Artwork by Complex Pleasures and Hannah Gebauer.
Zement is Philipp Hager & Christian Büdel.
