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Eddie the Rat: "Food for the Moon Too Soon"

  Tobias

Food for the Moon Too Soon –  that’s the title of an enigmatic live performance that couldn’t have come soon enough. Although, quite frankly, we are talking about it a little too late since it was recorded back in 2001. But it still is absolutely worthwhile to discuss and enjoy. This music definitely is a happening of all exotic sorts and kinds, climatic enthusiasm, relentless drives of melody, rhythm and voices, almost orgiastic climaxes… and a close and intimate interaction with the audience. Live in the true meaning of the word.

Eddie the Rat has been a favourite of mine since I listened to some of his early works, and no, I won’t reveal his real name. That’s your job. Look him up, find your own information. As for me, this doesn’t really matter since Eddie the Rat through his extravaganzas and memorable performances created such an impressive and distinctive name that he’ll be known by it from now on and in eternity. And the same goes for this remarkable album.

The music: Food for the Moon Too Soon, track 3 on this CD, just blows your mind. Occasionally with brutal relentlessness, the rhythms are driving the main theme, voices join in, like a crazy choir, then again sensitive and empathic, but always close to the overall theme and wild and unruly at the same time. This pattern supersedes the whole production, and has one special climax in track 5 ‘I Ovulate in Mode’.  Here male and female parts are interacting while caught in a turbulent musical setup and refrain again and again… impressively real.

Spiritual amnesia features great voices, in their seeming inaptitude transformed into sounds that reminds one of spherical clarity and perfection. Driven by a well-defined musical motive and staggering rhythm, they drift apart only to find back together like an indeed spiritual adventure with almost operatic undertones. It’s truly a wonderful sound experiment with a great solution and the perception that great art can be a real-life live-experience.

The second part of Food for the Moon Too Soon reveals clearly Dadaistic elements. Crazy sounds signal the bewildering experiences and afflictions of an agonized being… so much suffering and yet a drive that goes seemingly on and on and on and on…  There is chaos against structure, suffering fights joyous elements, and there is this powerful energy, this powerful motor that relentlessly and merciless drives the composition. Emotions are felt almost to an extent where they seem to get unbearable… only to ebb away silently, with a few minor explosions, and still… alive!

Life (as a Prosthetic-Workaround for the Soul) concludes the cycle. Harmonically conjured the album finds its point of rest, with jubilant voices and spoken words of truth, and at the same time closing the artistic circle to perfection. This great piece of art draws such a wide and wild, yet extremely truthful picture of life that the sudden awareness of its magnitude is almost hurtful to the listener. Perfectly performed with the powerful congeniality between enthused audience and deeply honest and inspiring musicians this album is a really important milestone of modern music and art. 

By Fred M. Wheeler

Homepage: Eddie the Rat
Homepage: Edgetone Records