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At the time of the interview, Anna von Hausswolff is in Berlin. "This is the first time I've done such an interview marathon," reveals the 29-year-old singer and organist. Nevertheless there are no signs of exhaustion in the Swedish girl, instead she chats away from her liver about her wonderful third album. On "The Miraculous" she presents the church organ in a completely new context, approaching bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor - a fascinating listening experience.

eclipsed: The lyrics of your last album "Ceremony" were often dark and morbid, and "The Miraculous" seems even darker. Are you melancholic by nature? Or is music a vehicle for you to bring hidden facets of your personality to light?

Anna von Hausswolff: I am actually a very cheerful person and like to laugh. But making music helps me to bring out certain aspects of my personality that I can't show otherwise.

A concert for excavators and drums. In 1988 Mani Neumeier staged this unusual combination of two worlds. It goes without saying that it was not a toy excavator, but a real monster from road construction. Neumeier garnished this performance, which can be admired on YouTube, with slapstick interludes full of abstruse humour. Is that Dada or gaga? Neumeier won't care the answer. The spectacle appears like a mixture of Karlheinz Stockhausen and Helge Schneider. And when the drummer, who was born in Munich in 1940, actually plays on children's toys or brass plates in his solo shows, he only proves his childlike, spontaneous humour. It doesn't always have to be intellectually minded. And so, incidentally, he can also touch emotionally, for example when he gives a contemplative Japanese drum singing duet with his wife Etsuko.

The Story

On the way to their old professor Dr. Scott, the newly engaged couple Brad and Janet have a flat tire and get into the horror castle of Dr. Frank N. Furter. The androgynous extraterrestrial celebrates rushing celebrations there. Brad and Janet witness Frank bringing his artificial creature Rocky to life. The "monster" develops a life of its own in the course of the story, because it falls in love with Janet and becomes unfaithful to the master. Frank had sex with Brad and Janet before. Janet's animal instincts have been awakened and she seduces Rocky. Finally, Dr. Scott shows up, looking for his nephew Eddie. Dr. Scott, the hunchbacked servant Riff Raff and his sister Magenta face Frank N. Furter: The events escalate. Columbia, who protects herself from her lover Frank N. Furter, Frank himself and Rocky are killed. Brad, Janet and Dr. Scott can escape from the castle in time.

April, April: The star is the audience

The tale of Walter Trout's suffering, who was able to get a new liver transplant thanks to donations from fans, among other things, did not end after the operation in May 2014. It took a felt eternity until family, friends, colleagues, fans and the record company were certain that his body would take on the new organ and Trout could make music again with full power. "Battle Scars" is the comeback of New Jersey-born guitarists and singers. This album catapults him back onto the musical map with full force. This makes it easier for many who had already written off the former Canned-Heat and Bluesbreakers member. But the 64-year-old, who at a young age gave drugs and later alcohol, is bursting with fresh life energy.

eclipsed: It's a big relief we can talk to a healthy Walter Trout.

The dim light in the backstage area of Zeche Carl in Essen fits perfectly into the dark atmosphere that the Norwegian quintet has created on their new album. Keyboarder and main songwriter Thomas Anderson seems at first glance like the exact opposite of Gazpacho's dark art: a blond sonnyboy with an engaging, friendly character. But the moment he starts to talk about "Molok", you notice in every word the seriousness with which he and singer Jan Henrik Ohme approached the concept: "Every person, certainly you too, has already asked himself questions about existence, death, the afterlife. Why are we here? What is our mission on earth? "No less important is 'Molok', these existential questions."

SUBSIGNAL - A Time Out Of Joint (6:36)
Album: The Beacons Of Somewhere Sometime (2015)
Label/Distribution: Golden Core/ZYX
www.subsignalband.com

Emerging from Sieges Even in 2007, SUBSIGNAL takes several rungs of the success ladder with each album. With the fourth work, the band presents itself as a master of contrasts. Elegant classical passages collide congenially with massive metal riffing and exquisite melodic prog meets spherical folk. (Review: eclipsed 11/2015)

eclipsed: What is so special about "Perfectamundo" that you couldn't have done it with ZZ Top?

Billy Gibbons: Everything that ZZ Top have ever produced for me is blues rock, sometimes more modern, sometimes more traditional. "Perfectamundo," on the other hand, is broader. The new album is about percussions, percussions, percussions. That's what I couldn't have done with ZZ Top.

eclipsed: The percussions are already conspicuous, they dominate many a song.

Gibbons: That's absolutely right, because on the album I was only secondarily about the songs. It's a sound album. I wanted to sing some songs in Spanish and so I invited Cuban percussionists who were allowed to drum wildly. Singing songs in Spanish was an exciting experience: First, I don't know Spanish very well, and second, I listened to a lot of South American songs, and they tell stories rather than alternating verse and chorus ...

eclipsed: The title of your new album, "Berkana", refers to a tree rune that stands for fertility, birth and growth and is also a symbol for the earth mother. Why did you choose this title?

Isaiah Mitchell: My wife Camilla (keyboarder for Golden Void; note) came across it by chance, and since we had mentioned the birch tree several times in one of the songs, it was obvious to use this title. We also wanted to make a new start with the record, which is also reflected in the title.

eclipsed: A fresh start? In what way?

Mitchell: The sound and the music are different. We didn't just want to be heavy, we also wanted to feel comfortable with quieter things, which is why we worked much more with dynamics.

eclipsed: Is the music also more life-affirming?