PARCELS / Amsterdam, September 2022
It's almost 7pm at AFAS and the room is not even halfway filled for the sold out Parcels gig tonight that will start with the support of Discovery Zone at 8pm. This place and the Australian roots of Parcels bring me briefly back to the Tame Impala gig that was only a month ago. The queue that started at 4pm and was gradually building up, fighting for my own spot in the first row, concerts scheduled for 3 days, and dancing as if in a can of packed sardines (as we like it to say in Lithuanian). None of this was happening and was about to happen during the Parcels gig. Instead of wasting extremely important energy for the upcoming two-hours of dancing (especially after the rainy afternoon), audience of all-ages (which pleasantly surprised me) sat down to enjoy beers and get to know their neighbors on left and right while a friendly hologram of Discovery Zone ghostly hovered in front of the instruments on the stage.
Precisely at 8pm a sign of human being appeared behind the wall of hologram. Originally from New York, Berlin based (since 2011) musician and multi-media artist JJ Weihl opened the gates to her solo project Discovery Zone by means of dreamy/spacey/hypnagogic pop. The genres that she previously explored with Fenster - a band that I even have on one of my Spotify playlists! - are now enhanced with 3D visuals that allow to explore the universe - as well as the human body and mind - "as a source of information."
As described by Thomas Venker in an interview for Kaput magazine in 2021 (also quoted in the previous slide), Discovery Zone marries "warm analog elements and cold digital sounds" that result in "conversation between the past and the future." However, it is difficult to see (and hear) for the untrained ear that such relationship exists in the music of Discovery Zone since it mainly evokes the never-ending exploration of the uncanny valley. However, as she mentioned in the same interview, her interest in technology is limited to the extent of how it "can be useful in protecting the bodies and world we have been born into, and in showing us our potential and limitations."
Her sounds reference to posthuman topic that is intimately explored by the legendary Kraftwerk. That comes as no surprise - JJ has lived in Berlin for over a decade now so Kraftwerk must have appeared in her life at some point. In "Remote Control" (in the video) the sound that serves like a bridge between the verse and the chorus triggers my Kraftwerk senses reminding me of the intro of "Trans-Europe Express". While her toying around with theremin almost throughout 80% of the gig - the strangest instrument dating back to the 20s and widely used in sci-fi soundtracks - and filtering of her voice via vocoders turns her into a space traveller, the music is rather all ages and genders friendly namely because of its artificiality and ambiguity.
After half-an-hour of hologram otherworldly explorations with Discovery Zone, the axis switched to relatable human co- & existence embraced by one-and-a-half hour set of Parcels. Since their debut self-titled album, the five Australians who relocated to Berlin after high school - "a heaven for music start-ups" as titled by Europavox in 2017 - have crystallized their image and sound that has distinguished them from the rest of their peers. Instead of looking for challenging ways to disrupt popular music landscape, Parcels embrace the simplicity and freedom it offers rather than considering it as a void. This results in euphorious harmonies embellished by crystal clear meanders of each single instrument.
The harmonies and clean-cut rhythms that make one question whether their drummer Toto is not a drum machine in disguise, have been taken a step furter with their double delight sophomore album Day/Night. The cinematographic atmosphere that the spirit of orchestra creates in the album does not seem to be missing when played live. The communal energy of playing together like an orchestra - the way that Day/Night was recorded, by being in the same room - channels from the stage. "LordHenry", one of my personal favorites from Day/Night - the one in the video - serves as a proof of Parcels as an orchestra on its own.
While the newest album has been bejewelled with a sense of growth and sophistication, the latest release of Day/Night Remixed also found its way on stage. It looks like the boys have been out clubbing in Berlin as their set started with "Lightenup" pumped up with an upbeat rhythm that you didn't feel like the song has been missing up until now. Their tribute to house music found its way through smooth transitions such as the previously shown "LordHenry" breaking into "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)" by Italian DJ Spiller and Sophie Ellis-Bextor that was in the charts back when I used to interchangeably watch Cartoon Network and VH1 as a 6y/o. Towards the end of the concert, the boys gathered around Toto who has proventhat EDM can be played on a real drum kit by a real drummer. Their playful conversation with each other brought back to life late 90s EDM classic - "Children" by another Italian DJ (a pattern?) Robert Miles - that made me, a stranger in the first row, connect with the band and our individual memories from childhood.
It's only a second album for Parcels - there's enough potential for at least a decade to eventually be remembered as the Beatles of our generation. George Harrison spirit is already with them, dwelling in Jules Crommelin moustache. It will most likely stay longer than overnight (hint at the song in the video) judging from the fact that Harrison's moustache saw the end of the Beatles. Six years into their career, Parcels seem more down-to-earth than most of the bands I have seen (and the Beatles) even though being my age they have already scored themselves a collab with Gucci.
But even though they are legit famous at this point, Parcels haven't forgetten about the essential elements of success. It's the relationship between night and day, harmony between the sun and the moon that results in golden hour that breaks through the shadows into radiating shimmers of thousand lighthouses. Even though the whole set was a proof of Parcels as musicians first and friends second, the moment of them coming together for "SHADOW" was the moment where importance of friends overcame the role of artistry.
It was then that they channeled the value of being themselves and content about it, holding conversations with each other by using instruments as their extended bodies. And as a result, all of them - and all of us, if I dare to say so - felt free and real as never before.
