Honed on the sounds of krautrock, post-punk, no wave, and drone, American instrumental trio Verstärker is a sound and a vision united in the quest for motorik space exploration. Following on from their sold-out 2015 debut Aktivität, which saw the band pick up a fast-growing reputation in the psych underground, Verstärker’s second album Jenseits is released on Fuzz Club. Five tracks spanning 45 minutes, ‘Jenseits’ is the band’s response to the modern dystopian world we now inhabit – taking on a heavier and even darker tone than what came before. “Everywhere, everything feels on the verge of collapse. We find our hope in the music and art. This is the future we are striving for.” On ‘Jenseits’, tightly-wound motorik basslines, hard-hitting percussion and effects-loaded guitars are set against bleak atmospheric drones in the rare moments the record’s fast-driving pace lets up. Talking about the record, guitarist J. Vitatoe explains: “Jenseits as a preposition means ‘beyond’ or ‘on the other side of’, and, as a noun, it means ‘the hereafter” or ‘the next world.’ This dual meaning is the concept that permeates the record. The motorik beat has always been about pushing towards the horizon, the sense of perpetual forward momentum. But eventually, you reach the breaking point and push through to the other side — going beyond the horizon. This is where we were trying to go sonically with this record — beyond.”
