The clubs have been closed for a long time. Really a pity. No (legal) parties anymore, the dance floors are empty and it is getting cold and foggy outside.
Time to despair? No. There is still good music. Have fun with the musical Techno Tea Time and my November DJ Set.
Somewhere nearby, probably at the edge of the pond in the grass it hides. Always ready to jump and to find safety in time. Should I ever get dangerously close to it. Sometimes it escaped me by the skin of its teeth. But usually it was long gone before I even got within reach. To even get close enough to it, I not only had to be very quiet. I was also not allowed to move jerkily.
These are the first few sentences of my first story. Unfortunately the story is completely in German, because I didn’t have enough time to translate it. I will do in the future, when I have enough time. Enjoy reading the story and enjoy your weekend.
At the end of my studies the time had finally come. I found the music that made me switch to the other side of the dance floor. With the double LP “Acid House Fever” I found my entry into house music, which had spilled over from the USA to Europe.
One of my favorites on this release is the track “Shall we do it again? by the German DJ and remixer Tolga Flim Flam Balkan. The title is a wicked mixture of different samples and tracks. It’s been on my USB sticks for quite some time now, but so far I’ve never managed to put it into a set. But I’ll manage that, have fun listening to it.
At about the same time that I discovered Alien Sex Fiend, I stumbled upon Severed Heads. In Munich’s biggest record store I came across the LP “Since the Accident”. I was simply thrilled by the weird cover. I really don’t remember if I listened to the LP, but most likely I didn’t. Except for one song – that I’m still celebrating – you can benevolently call this work experimental. Malicious tongues would simply call it noise. But “Dead Eyes Openend” was and is simply a blast. There is not much more to tell about it now, so this article will be very short. Have fun listening to it.
Are you ready for the weekend? O.k. It’s tuesday, but tomorrow is friday and saturday is the German unity day. The weekend is knocking at door. Loud and clear with a new set. Enjoy it!
After Human League there was no electronic milestone for a long time. O.k., there were some Neue Deutsche Welle/New Wave bands that inspired me, but in retrospect I had a musical AHA effect only with the British band Alien Sex Fiend again. A very adventurous combination of punk, synthesizer sounds and drum computer. Especially the dark lyrics appealed to me, here is an excerpt:
*Breakdown is on it’s way* *Breakdown in a month or a day* *Breakdown and cry, lay down and die* * Goodbye, goodbye. *
Somehow it was really cool at that time to learn these destructive lyrics by heart with enthusiasm and to set it as a counterpoint to the whole perfect Popper world. I still remember the lyrics and the song (“Breakdown and Cry”) is still one of my absolute favorites. But the absolute highlight on the LP was “E.S.T. Trip to the Moon”. In 1984 this track was in the British Independent Charts for quite some time and I celebrate it until today. Have fun listening to it.
Today we come to another important milestone in my musical universe, the debut album “Reproduction” by the British band Human League. Knows today almost only the “older guys”. The band is assigned to completely different genres: starting with synthie-pop, over electropop up to post-punk. An impressive variety, I personally would also describe them as one of the great-grandfathers of electronic dance music. At least that is what it was for me.
I discovered the record in 1979 in what was then the largest record shop in Munich (a branch of the WOM World of Music; was closed a long time ago). I was on a school trip and after the usual cultural programme we were allowed to go shopping in the city centre as usual. I was basically drawn to the above mentioned record shop, because the offer in my hometown Füssen was limited. If you wanted to order something, it took at least 3-4 weeks and on top of that the records cost a lot of money.
Maybe that’s why I remember the class trip and the purchase of this album so well, because this LP was one of the most important musical milestones for me. And the milestones had to be tracked down laboriously, not in Füssen, but in the biiiiiiig Munich. Today I visit iTunes or Amazon Music, put a whole album or just single tracks into the shopping basket, pay the whole thing and a few seconds later it’s on my computer. This is not a special experience, unlike back then.
On the LP you can find the danceable hits “Blind Youth” and “Empire State Human” next to more experimental tracks. In the first two of them there are already two important elements of modern dance music: sparse synthesizer sequences, a monotonous rhythm. Simply ingenious.
Up to this point, synthesizer-based music was not really connected with danceable music for me. Rather something like Klaus Schulze and Pink Floyd. Danceable back then was actually only the disco music. And that was nothing for the cool guys. Now I stand by it, but that is another story.
I linked to “Empire State Human”, especially because of the nice presentation. Have fun listening to it.
Woke up too early in the morning. It was really cold. But the sun was shining. Read the newspaper. Then – an inspiration. I took the pencils, the brushes, and the brush pens and started to draw. Here we are, a good start into an promising day.
