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CATALYST

MARTIN HALL
CD
SEPTEMBER 2008
PANOPTIKON (OPTIK 12)

As a concentrate of the voluminous 5-cd/dvd Catalogue (Martin Hall 1980–2007) from 2007 Panoptikon issued the single-cd album Catalyst (Singles 1982–2008) approximately one year later.

As the subtitle describes, the release is a collection of Hall singles stretching all the way back to the early days of Ballet Mécanique up until the new single “Delirious”, a track that was recorded with the young Danish group Marybell Katastrophy.

1. Intellectual Self-Mutilation (3:13)2. Free-Force Structure (Edit) (6:11)3. Warfare (Edit) (4:09)4. Treatment (Edit) (5:25)5. Showdown (Edit) (4:08)6. Crush (Edit) (3:43)7. Beat of the Drum (Edit) (4:00)8. Surreal Thing (4:45)9. Prime Material (3:25)10. Cradlemoon (Edit) (4:22)11. Another Heart Laid Bare (Edit) (3:46)12. Love in Vein (4:19)13. Just a Feeling (4:05)14. Burning Sugar (Edit) (3:22)15. My Argentine Rose (1:52)16. Minor Frame (2:54)17. Roseland (4:32)18. Damage Control (6:08)19. Tout le Monde (2008) (1:19)20. Delirious (3:56)

INTELLECTUAL SELF-MUTILATION

All their care in me mentioned briefly in a move
Selfish bourgeois as intellectual self-mutilation

Generosity of shared evil
Some denied the possibilities
And the icecold waters spread without intention then
Fattish colourless seemed eternal

Gloriless emotions strangled me
Pulse with mercy gave me light to see
Individual only as a consequence
From bleeding of brotherhood

I seek never seen
I seek never been
Pretentious as soul
Pretentious as honesty

From the journey that killed useless hate
I was born again to share the strength
And for those who try to wash their hands in suffering
I will be there soon but not already

I do not regret what I fought for
Only all the weapons I fought with
I refuse to feel the pain from all my former friends
Those who lived by form and then denied it

Nature
Something has begun to open

Beauty cuts thought

FREE-FORCE STRUCTURE

Forever hidden in the profile
The either-or behind the both-and
Transcend and ascend in the moment that frees
All loving fucked up in tension

Without shadow and without motion
A word like heart
A word like fire
I believe with my body
Believe with my soul
Believe in the eyes before me

Approach and regain
Life repressed to myth
Changing once again
Words sealed with a kiss
Cancel all the pain in these fantasies of realities
Let the fragments shine
Feel me deep within
Let the nearness bind
Feel me skin to skin
Let your flesh and mind fuse to the same thing
Rising from decline

Get up
Reach out
Confront
Break through

Re-set reality
Programme your love

All must pass but presence remains
The basic concepts, the further lies
Of the rituals built on your ism of truth
In this chain reaction set-out

We’re born alone but still I need you
So please don’t hide in self-hate and compromises
Between a desire to be free
And passion made of confinement

WARFARE

In this media of mental translation
In this handicap of alienation
I need more than your model of motion
Than aesthetics of broken hearts

Here we are again
Feeling just the same
In these separate hells
Every word’s been said
Every lie’s been fed
To define ourselves

While your balance is kept intellectual
You’re emotionally ineffectual
A hysteria so perfectly tragic
So unreachable near

I’ve just had enough of neurotic love
Of this culturecide
I don’t need your shit
It just makes me sick
Look into my eyes

‘Cause this is the face
This is the race

TREATMENT

Treat me hard
Treat me with heart
Show me no mercy
Show me no sign of weakness

Retreat me right
Remain in light
Through every night and day
So cruelly
I know you’ll be my destiny
In all

Surrender completely
Fade into me
I need you this close
I want you to be
The purpose itself
To every extent
In method and need
Beginning and end

Treat me right
Treat me with right
Show me no mercy
Show me no sign of weakness

In cover of all of your love
I’ll make this dream come through
In every trace of every face
I feel a stream of you

So tender we treat each other with fear
The root of our need will constantly tear
Our fiction apart
Revealing the bone
Behind walls of love
We’re still all alone

Be my Judas
Be my destiny
I’ll forgive you in eternity

Be my Jesus
Be my sacrifice
I’ll betray you with a kiss of ice

SHOWDOWN

As everything changes me
Exploding in start on start
It shines on so hard through you
A crystal of flesh and blood

In your face
In your eyes

In the savagery of
How we love
How we die
A fever is burning
Releasing my spirit

In these European schemes
Imprisoned in mind of stone
A system so centralized
Conceptual humanity

Through obsession and love
Through the days and the years
And still burning inside
There’s no turning back now
The circle is broken

Feel the showdown

CRUSH

As you fill me again
I have no further questions
Condemned to be free
As I reach out for you again

Nothing is new
But something has grown
Bigger than both of us
Stronger than memory
And much stronger than defeat

I’m gonna crush the worlds we used to know
A seed is sown
I’m gonna let it grow
I’m quite aware what I’ll be going through
There’s no way back
It all depends on you

My destiny
I’ve seen it in your eyes
A love so deep
A stream that purifies
And in your arms
The nature of all death
Is nothing but a touch of timelessness

I’m gonna crush you with my love
I’m gonna be crushed up in love

BEAT OF THE DRUM

Now one day I woke up to some rules of life
That a serious heart needs a light mind to survive
That if you only hope you won’t get very far
‘Cause dreams call for action

No matter what you want the way is to begin
‘Cause knowing all about it is not the living thing
And those who sit and ask for great things all the time
Well I hope they’ve sorted out the many small things on the line

A focus inside out
The still of the centre
You must live by demand
But also surrender

As the beat of the drum beats the ghosts on the run
So the beat of my heart keeps me wondering
Now it’s been said this world is a stage
Well then if that is true
It’s an unwritten play
That makes being a becoming

It’s so easy seen when it’s someone else
But are you any better when you’re by yourself
‘Cause in this hall of mirrors you’re in a counterpoint
Where it takes one to recognize one

Now there are those who say that life is hard and then you die
Well petty leads to pity if you do not wonder why
‘Cause the way to solve a problem is to get a bigger one
So to those who cry for freedom
Well there’s working to be done

SURREAL THING

River deep
Mountain high
Out of the blue

As pure as the real thing
The state and the feeling
It leaves me no doubt of what needs to be done
A thunder’s been raging
A choice has been taken
To never look back
To be one of the few

While all things must pass
A fire will burn
Purify
Never change
It’s seen in the sky
As there’s so much more to this than meets the eye
It’s something within
The longing inside is the drive that allows
The work to be done

River deep
Mountain high
A shadow inside
In the light of a greatness from which none can hide
Out of the blue
Into the fire
And I’m stronger than ever in my one surrender
A red storm arising
Now I know what I want
And I know how to get it

It’s calling within and without
As pure as the real thing
The state and the feeling
It leaves me no doubt of what needs to be done
A thunder’s been raging
A choice has been taken
To never look back
To be one of the few

I know it
‘Cause I feel it
I don’t need no further proof to believe it
There’s a guiding light
Burning inside out
As pure as the real thing

I return
In the light of the sun
A shadow is cast of a moment in time
Like turns of the tide
In the still of the night it begins
What is is to be

PRIME MATERIAL

Modern life
So-called welfare
It lives inside you like a dream in the night
A sophisticated nightmare
It’s gonna blind you with its sweetest delight

Stimulus governs
Stimulus rules
It governs the trials
It governs the views

Prime material
Transformation of waste
Age of ice
Age of fire
And it’s been later than you think for a while
Living myth
The survivors
An inner freedom’s gonna start with denial

The self-pity ends where reason begins
The theatre stage is rice paper thin
Prime material
Transformation of waste

You’ll know yourself by the resistance
It either breaks you or it makes you stronger

CRADLEMOON

The fire and the water keep mixing in my blood
The sons and the daughters seemed to give it all up
They got too tired of the waiting
Too tired to believe
In the promises that nobody keeps
I’ve seen a generation coming
I’ve seen a generation go
And the more I see, the less I know

I want to go to sleep
I want to drown in the deep of the cradlemoon
I want to touch the sky
I want to lie down and die
In the cradlemoon of the night

So I followed the shadows by the trail of the waste
And it led me into the heart, to the heart of these days
I never wanted to remember
Never wanted to believe
But you don’t ask why when the thunderheart beats
All I wanted was a reason
What I got was so much more
Couldn’t turn my back on the things that I saw

I want to go to sleep
I want to drown in the deep of the cradlemoon
I want to touch the sky
I want to lie down and die
In the cradlemoon of the night

In a world full of stories
There’s a time in the night
When the sky seems to break by the blink of the eye

ANOTHER HEART LAID BARE

Another heart laid bare on the doorstep to my exile
Another pantomime to disbelieve
I see your bended head, always humble in the daylight
Playing the servant’s role to never see

Of all the images that you left for my keeping
The one I like the most is the world outside
I never thought I would but the distance seems so perfect
I can’t deny the fact that I’m pleasantly surprised

Another victim cries, pointing fingers at the heavens
Declaring me the crime of centuries
The traces on my skin, they keep shining in the nighttime
A fingerprint on every memory

LOVE IN VEIN

Heavy as lead in a medicine secret
Turning the sights on a narrow-go-round
Limited mind never looking for answers
Vanishing light never hitting the ground

And the beauty blinds you
And it cools the strain
And it hides inside you
Like a love in vein

Silhouette tear on a pillow of sorrow
Look-a-like pain as a ticket to go
Cities of light for a memory season
Dressing your mind for millennium low

‘Cause the beauty blinds you
And it cools the strain
And it hides inside you
Like a love in vein

JUST A FEELING

Silver lining inside me
You’re adapting my every word
Such an eloquent silence
Feeling hurt?
Still you’re moving so lightly
Like you’re hanging within the air
Seems it’s your way of saying
Couldn’t care

It’s just a feeling
Another feeling on the sky
It’s just a feeling
Another feeling coming down
The silver lining
You’ll see it run into the air
For just a moment
Another line that disappears

Guess it’s all second chances
Getting used to the sights and sounds
With the greatest indifference
Running down
All aesthetic behaviour
Still I’m watching your every move
Give and take of the daylight
For the view

BURNING SUGAR

The memory lines that run down the sky
Running like streams of reason
The story is told in silver and gold
Words never tell the tale

I believe in all that I see
In all that I know
In all that I feel inside me
I know that dreams will come true
If they’re burning

Burning sugar
Burns inside me
Burning sugar
Burning so sweet

The things that I’ve seen
The places I’ve been
Secrets that stay unbroken
The look in your eyes
It’s high as a kite
Cooling my every need

MY ARGENTINE ROSE

She’s a cool breeze of discontent
She’s like a story that never ends
She’s my Argentine rose
She’s such a delicate rose

See the twenties within her eyes
Eternal stardust that never dies
She’s my Argentine rose
She’s such a delicate rose

She’s my melancholic maybe
Come and save me
Come and set me free

MINOR FRAME

Crowded Saturdays
Guest among ghosts
A girl made of shivers
Girls on their own

Rolled down shades
Sweet, harsh sweat
It’s the choked laughter
The unmade bed
All the things you might remember
Things you might forget

Looking young and old
In the same glance
Nervous tenderness
But steady at hand

Curly hair
And vinyl sounds
Guess it’s carved within the faces
Carved and painted down
A cigarette that’s burning
Along the line

I guess that she’s the one you won’t forget

ROSELAND

29 believers in the room next door
Guess the myth didn’t equal the score
While they’re praising the legend
They can’t wait for his fall
Never was enough room for us all

Not enough air to breathe
Or time to leave
Trading in make believe
For the time being

Meet me at Roseland
Meet me at summer’s end
No one will notice
Anywhere that we meet
Promise you’ll be there
Don’t leave me waiting
You’re all I’ve ever known
All I’ll ever know

All the painted faces
Every painted smile
So allergic to all that they hide
Guess I needed the feeling
Every scandalous high
Got accustomed to life on the line

I saw all the stories end
Begin again
But only a single face
Stayed the same

Meet me at Roseland
Meet me at summer’s end
No one will notice
Anywhere that we meet
Promise you’ll be there
Don’t leave me waiting
You’re all I’ve ever known
All I’ll ever know

Wherever you go
Wherever you’ll show
I’ll be waiting for you

DAMAGE CONTROL

She’s got a heart full of crazy people
She’s clearly not amused
Catching colds and missing trains
Is all she seems to do
The tragic bravados
The bourgeois staccato
Wonder why they bother at all
They’re all talking in headlines but dress out of style
“Get a life and then give me a call”

Every ghetto gladiator
Every little Pierrot
Looking like a drag magician in another wasted show
There’s a beggar on each corner
A stench in the air
Life’s a song that’s dedicated to the lovers at Tiananmen Square

Confetti-covered
All animated
Party eyes that never close
A wave of raving faces with sparkling smiles
They look the same wherever she goes
The white shirts and big lips
All drowning in honey
Smacking tongues while they’re shaking their heads
Little socialites with portable roots
In her eyes they’d be better off dead

But the shops and the markets
The wild consumer craze
Seem to bind it all together and somehow make their day
All these harlequin girls with swimming pool eyes
If nothing else matters
They really took advantage of their time

So shit in your hat and place your head on a chair
This journey’s clearly not going anywhere
Turn on the tv
The lie of the land
A string quartet playing in a refugee camp
Start with a kiss and soon you’ll need vaseline
The damage control of any tangerine dream
Play hard to get
You’ll end on the run
‘Cause everyone’s bored with all this soft-porn

TOUT LE MONDE

April 4 turning 9.25
Writing words in the air
Lovers left with a cool rainy day
Places no longer there

Cardboard letters and manners that fail
Paris Odéon girls
Doors are closing
Lights still glowing
With a weak innocence

DELIRIOUS

See the lime green eyes
Every painted smile
It’s the beating heart of the crowd
Like a kite on the sky
It’s the shortest of nights that burn
With the most wonderful flame

In the glittering light
There’s no need to align
We’re just wasting our time

Maybe it’s the lack of reason
Maybe it’s the wasted feelings
Maybe it’s the light that makes me feel
Delirious

See it in the breaking mirrors
Spreading in a thousand shivers
Spreading like a mist within the crowd
It’s delirious

See the starry eyes
Fade away in clouds
See them kiss-and-tell just for you
I’ve been watching the faces
Coming back from the eighties again
They’re all on the line for you

Written about the ‘Catalogue’ box:

“Impressive box set capturing 27 years of uncompromising work … a must for fans and strongly recommendable for beginners.”
( * * * * * )
Gaffa (Denmark’s biggest music magazine)

”An impressive introduction to one of the country’s most important and most productive songwriters … it’s difficult to point to any other Danish colleague who can put together 81 tracks without putting a foot wrong one single time.”
( * * * * * )
Jyllands-Posten (Denmark’s biggest daily newspaper)

”The eccentric dandy exposed from A to Z … a piece of Danish music history that no connoisseur should miss. A true ear-opener.”
( * * * * )
Citadel (the Danish equivalent to i-D Magazine)

Only feature artists listed

Ballet Mécanique: Instruments
Christian Skeel: String arrangement
Claus Beck-Nielsen Memorial: Harmony vocals
Front and Fantasy: Instruments
Johnny Stage: Remix
Marcel de Sade: Piano
Marybell Katastrophy: Instruments, harmony vocals
Trauma: Instruments
Under For: Instruments
Winterhill: Remix

‘Catalyst’ contains a line of recordings made in the period 1982–2008. For specific information concerning the individual song titles we need to direct you to the discography section and the original releases. The 2008-remastering made by Johnny Stage.

Design: Kenneth Schultz
Photo: Robin Skjoldborg

The Catalyst collection does not include all singles made by Martin Hall throughout his career – far from. In the Catalyst context the term “single” refers to formats such as 7” and 12” vinyl releases, cd-singles, promo copies, b-sides, downloads and remakes of single tracks, a definition providing the label with enough artistic latitude to enable new listeners to get a sense of some of Hall’s more project orientated works. All in all the cd contains 20 tracks as well as lyrics and liner notes to each individual title. Most of the songs on the compilation are featured in the form of single edits.

Apart from the already mentioned new download- single “Delirious”, the other newly recorded track on the album was a second version of ”Tout le Monde”, the grand finale on the Catalogue box. On this track Martin Hall was accompanied by the pianist and connoisseur Marquis Marcel de Sade. The duo re-recorded the song for the 2008 album version, the second time around furthermore featuring the nameless Danish author, director and singer in Claus Beck-Nielsen Memorial on harmony vocals. This version of ”Tout le Monde” was added as the digital b-side of the “Delirious” single by which token the track finds it way onto the Catalyst album.


Concerning the other collaborations on the release: Track 1 was performed with Ballet Mécanique, track 2 and 3 with Under For, track 4 with Front and Fantasy, track 12 with Trauma, track 15 with Christian Skeel and track 18 with Winterhill. The music on track 4 was co-written with Martin Krog, on track 12 with Trauma and on track 15 with Christian Skeel.

Producer credits: Track 7 and 8 were co-produced by Flemming Nygaard, track 10, 11, 13 and 14 by Thomas Li and track 19 by Johnny Stage. Track 12 produced by Trauma, track 15 by Christian Skeel, track 16 and 17 by Johnny Stage, track 18 by Winterhill and track 20 by Marybell Katastrophy (string arrangement written by Martin Hall).