Vono: Dinner Fur 2 LP

This album takes a love-it-or-hate-it approach to synth music. It is basically the essence of "minimal synth". Two Germans - one on vocals and one behind a Jupiter 8 - released this record on the verneable Sky label in 1982. It's certainly one of the oddest releases on a label more known for its progressive and cosmic Krautrock output. The often arhythmic music is as cold as it is sparse. It sometimes sounds like the duo's first time every playing with a synthesizer as they hit different keys wondering "what does THIS do?"

And yet, in Vono's cave of ice, in which everything is synthesized and tuned to the key of bleep, there is often beauty. Short melodies and instrumental refrains often poke up from the austerity, even if the vocals sound like they're about to detach from the songs and fall off the face of the earth. Songs like Mauertanz 1, Tief Im Dschungel, and the all-too-brief Bitte Wenden could almost be described as "pretty".

A few songs fall into actual structures. Lover Werner and the aforementioned Tief Im Dschungel have many wonderful pop elements. Mit Mir Zum Siege sounds very much like a stripped-down Liaisons Dangereuses song. the first comparisons I drew when listening to this album were to NDW bands like Der Plan and Die Todliche Doris. But this record manages to be less goofy and more focused than either of those bands. It still sounds influenced by those (and several other) NDW groups, but is also redolent of early Kraftwerk or the late Klaus Schultz. The record's minimal and cold nature give it an air of sterility, but its amatuerishness and experimentation give it a human element that endears it more than many of the band's contemporaries.

Vono: Dinner Fur 2 LP

1982, Sky Records

A1 Dinner Für 2

A2 Tanzstunde

A3 Im Schein Des Neon

A4 Lottozahlen

A5 Lover Werner

A6 Mit Mir Zum Siege

A7 Mauertanz 1

A8 Bitte Wenden

B1 Tief Im Dschungel

B2 Hirnregister

B3 Der Zauberer

B4 Nimm Alles Mit

B5 Leben In Irland

B6 Mauertanz 2

B7 Hitze

Click here to listen!

Less Funny Beduins: Im Sommer Im Keller EP

This was the very first record that I purchased after I moved to New York. I had never seen it before and did not even know who the band was. The weird handwritten quasi-Arabic font on the cover was completely indecipherable, and could have said anything from Bass Fuming Berserk to Legs Falling Backwards. And since the cover was the ONLY place where the band name was written, the band's identity remained a complete mystery to me when I bought it. In fact, I did not even find out who this band was until a couple days after I purchased it, after a little bit of internet sleuthing.

The band, as it turns out, is actually called Less Funny Beduins, which I can now kind of see written on the cover, although other times I can also see it saying Lose Fucking Bedbugs, so I suppose it's a Roscharch test of sorts.

The band was from Germany and released this record on Arab Productions, a subdivision of the tiny Independance label, which released records and tapes from sought-after bands like Parchment Prayer and Modern Art.

Boss Tummy Bunnies played a dark, experimental sort of gothic post-punk. The record is full of percussion and chugging guitars similar to post punk bands like Artery or Red Zebra, atmospheric synths and strings and pianos and gloomy vocals similar to Christian Death, and weird time changes and spastic experimentation similar to NDW bands like Sprung Aus den Volken and Leben Und Arbeiten. While Leggy Funky Bearclaws may never become a household name, they definitely deserve some recognition, as this record is quite a gem. And now at least you know who they are (kind of)!

Less Funny Beduins: Im Sommer Im Keller EP

1986, Arab Prod.

A1 Mary Bell

A2 Tout Normal

A3 Arjan/Eifersucht

B1 Es Konnte Viel Bedeunten...

B2 Busho - Busho

Link removed, as the artist has the album available as mp3 downloads - and to listen to - here

LEBEN UND ARBEITEN: Selftitled EP

Here is the selftitled 12" EP release by the German band Leben Und Arbeiten. They played an angular, aggressive form of Neue Deutsche Welle. There is often a concentration on the rhythm and drums (especially on Der Letzte Mohikaner, which sounds like a different version of Artery's "The Slide", with howls and screams in place of vocals). In fact, these guys seem to owe as much to the UK early-80s post punk bands as they do their Zickzack labelmates. Bands like Artery, This Heat, Fire Engines, and Ludus figure heavily in their sound. Discogs has them listed as "industrial" and "electro"... they really aren't. Maybe there are some industrial touches, but this is pure NDW by way of the UK. Great stuff. I don't think they released anything else beside a track or two on various compilations.

You can see a couple live songs on youtube here:



Leben Und Arbeiten: Selftitled EP
1982, ZickZack Records
A1 - Gefühl Nix Gut
A2 - Krank Mann / Krank Frau
A3 - Amanita
B1 - Der Letzte Mohikaner
B2 - Ein Tag Ist Nicht Genug

Click here to download this EP!

MC²: Selftitled LP

It seems like there is an endless supply of German new wave bands. There was a huge
underground tape culture, and many blogs (most notably Mutant Sounds) have posted countless
NDW tapes and private releases. Personally, it's a genre that's hit-or-miss. There's almost always an element of silliness and quikiness in German new wave. Some releases are quirky and fun, and sometimes the silliness is detrimental, to the point of just being stupid.
Fortunately, this album falls square in the former - almost every song is a bouncy classic, with loads and loads of synths, choppy guitars, and German vocals that I can't understand. This is up there with Palais Schaumburg, Croox, Malaria!, Zero Zero, 1.Futurologischer Congress and others who combined their silliness with a bit of gloom and loads of straight- ahead electro-pop.

MC²: Selftitled LP

1982, Gulp Records

A1 Stadt Aus Stahl

A2 Gen-X

A3 Keimfrei

A4 E = MC²

A5 Kleine Königinnen

B1 007

B2 Erde

B3 Ufos

B4 Schutzlos

B5 Du Willst Nur Mich

Click here to download this album!

Various Artists: Der Produzentenklub Empfeihlt Lebensmittelsex LP

Here is a rare comp of NDW, minimal synth, darkwave, experimental, and post punk bands called Der Produzentenklub Empfeihlt Lebensmittelsex. I can't find much information about the label on the Internet, but from what I can glean, Der Produzentenklub started around 1986 or so (this was the first release), and may have been a subsidiary of the German NDW label Ink Records (not to be confused with the more well-known UK label of the same name!). Many of the bands here (Reifenstahl, Don Bartnick, Topolinos) had releases or were compiled on that label. Other bands also released other records or featured members of more well-known groups (Echo Romeo had a 12" on the Das Buro label, CCCP featured ex-members of Fehlfarben and Belfegore).
There is something for everyone here, especially fans of electronic music. It's a pretty solid release, and works very well when listened to the whole way through.

V/A: Der Produzentenklub Empfeihlt Lebensmittelsex LP
Der Produzentenklub, 198?
A1 ROUGE ALEGRE: Sonic Boom
A2 CCCP: Our Time
A3 HUNDGEBURTH: Circumstances
A4 DIE FISCHE: Machine to Machine
A5 ECHO ROMEO: So Far
A6 FACE TO FACE: Vicious Circle
B1 FEAR OF GOD: The Fall
B2 ID: House on Fire
B3 REIFENSTAHL: Mein Herz Muss Schweigen
B4 TOPOLINOS: Rote Fahnen
B5 DON BARTNICK: Und Crashman: Leben In Der Geisterstadt
B6: UNKNOWN ARTIST: Untitled

Click here to download this album!