Various Artists ‎– "Ende Vom Lied: East German Underground Sound 1979 - 1990" (Play Loud! Productions ‎– pl-67) 2016

What can I say except that i like a nice pair of knockers on my record covers,especially painted ones.

So all i'm motivated to do is cut'n'paste the liner notes,and come to the conclusion that the DDR produced ,by far, the best and most adventurous music in the whole soviet bloc.So as the title suggests,this can mark the end of our fabulous tour of the communist bloc.....not necessarily never to return.There's reems of DDR Punk,but,between you and me...its largely awful 1983 generic rubbish.You can't win 'em all!?

....and i quote:....

"ENDE VOM LIED" is a genre-spanning collection of punk, post-punk and avant-garde bands from the former East Germany, chronicling the work of free spirits pitted against government restraints and implied genre limitations. The underground scene in the GDR was a hydra, a noisy mix of musicians, poets, pain¬ters, photographers, filmmakers, punks and freaks. In the immediate aftermath of the primal scream that was punk, music often bred with poetry or painting in short-lived liaisons or enduring collaborations to produce a new generation of genre bastards. With the lines blurring between forms, a search for new shapes began. In the German Democratic Republic, this search constituted a tightrope walk, a dance for expression between subculture and a dictatorship.

*In German, ENDE VOM LIED literally translates to “The end of the song”, but is more commonly understood as a saying roughly meaning “The upshot”, “The end of the story” or simply “The end”.

TRACKLIST:

01 Ornament & Verbrechen : When I am I am not (1988)
02 Grabnoct : Töten und Fressen (1987)
03 L‘Attentat : linke Ecke, rechte Ecke (1984)
04 Der Schwarze Kanal : spiel mit (1979)
05 3tot : Hintere Gedanken (1989)
06 Der Demokratische Konsum : Sturm im Gepäck (1985)
07 T42 : Dreamer (1985)
08 Happy Straps : Live in Paradise (1985)
09 Planlos : Smog und Ruß (1981)
10 Sendeschluß : Deine Liebe (1982)
11 Zwitschermaschine : geh übern fluß (1983)
12 Aufruhr zur Liebe : mit’m bock auf nichts (1984)
13 Andreas Auslauf : Zivilisation (1985)
14 Rosa Extra : was mir deine schleuder ist dir meine waschmaschine (1982)
15 AG Geige : Fingerwalze (1989)
16 The Local Moon : Kingdom comes (1987)
17 fett : rifflied (1988)
18 Herbst in Peking : Parade (1989)
19 Magdalene Keibel Combo : Stahl Daab (1988)
20 Ornament & Verbrechen : keilter schwaß (1989)
21 BAADER : ceaucescu meiner seele! (1988)
22 Klick & Aus : Systeme rasten ein, ich raste aus! (1984)
23 Der Expander des Fortschritts : Fremdgehen durchs Land (1990)
24 Pffft... : Prenzelking (1985)

DOWNLOAD ende vom lied HERE!

Zwitschermaschine ‎– "Alles Geld Der Welt Kostet Geld (1983-86)" - (Moloko+ ‎– PLUS 018) 1998

Any person or persons, who say that they aren't Artists, or in this case "Ich Bin Kein Artist",you just know that they certainly are.
Zwitschermaschine,and their 'Poet' chums are evidence of that.They may not be artists,but they sure as fuck wannabe.
Art Punk is the shoebox that Cultural taste manufacturers shoe horn this kind of educated post-punk into.It has that unwelcome stain of Intellectual sterility proudly displayed among the eighties production values.The cringing perfection that Martin Hannett bust an 'art'ery to create his legacy with.The gated snare drum had even infiltrated the areas in the Soviet Bloc that levis feared to tread.
It figures that if you convinced the East German authorities that you were actually an 'Artist' then you could probably get away with a dodgier direction. Not that Zwitschermaschine ever had a record out on any of the few official labels in the DDR.They were confined to self-releasing DIY cassettes from 1983 to around 1986-ish.Some of which were collated on this career overview,fleshed out with some tracks by band member and 'Poet',of course Sascha Anderson.
Yep, "Ich bin kien Artist" alright.

Tracklist:

1 Die Funktionäre Sind Im Widerstand (I) 1:04
2 Alles Oder Nichts ... (I) 0:44
3 Ich Hab Deine Schwarzen Gedanken... 2:51
4 Die Welt Ist So... 4:12
5 Das Chaos In Meinem Chaos (Gedicht) 0:48
6 Am Montag Geht Die Sonne Auf... 4:30
7 Auf Dem Bonzenstrich... 3:15
8 Alles Oder Nichts... (II) 0:50
9 Sie Kommt An Mein Grab (Gedicht) 1:10
10 Fluid & Firm... 7:47
11 Der König Meiner Kindheit 3:40
12 Wenn Nichts Mehr Zu Sagen Ist (Gedicht) 0:53
13 Ich Bin Kein Artist... 5:15
14 Raben, Raben, Raben 0:42
15 Das Ist Eine Der Fahnen... 9:40
16 Dezember '81 (Gedicht) 0:48
17 Jeder Satellit Hat Einen Killersatelliten 1:43
18 Go Over The Border 3:23
19 Die Funktionäre Sind Im Widerstand (II) 2:10
20 Alles Oder Nichts... (III) 0:50

DOWNLOAD some iron curtain art punk HERE!

Perestroika Combo ‎– "Himmlischer Frieden" (Self-Release ‎– XVIII) 1989

Back in the good ol' DDR,The marvellously named Perestroika Combo,appeared on cassette tape around the time the East German regime was in its death throes.Hence they wore their politics on their sleeve,naming themselves after the Soviet policy of Perestroika,or Restructuring,which was official state policy;so in a way they were colluding with an oppresive state,which is another way of looking at it?

So,as the members of the group came face to face with 'Freedom', which meant unemployment,poverty,and prejudice for yer average East German, they revelled in their new status as legal musicians and entrepreneurs;I assume they sold their cassettes?

So,we have, Voda Tudor on keyboards; Andree Krause on guitar & vocals; Steffanie Lingsminat on bass vocals; Frank Neubert on drum & Holgar Kaack on guitar/vocals.Considerably more members than are pictured on the photocopied insert.

I wonder if any of them suffered the common maladie of most former-East German citizens;that of 'Trabant Nostalgia Syndrome'....I just made that up....but, the Trabant,the peoples car of the DDR, became a symbol of a weird kind of nostalgia for the old country and its institutions.Like some kind of mass Stockholm Syndrome,where one misses the security of your oppressors,and the familiarity with the benefits of the nanny State.Many wanted to climb over the wall and go back in.Most were happy just to visit relatives and shop in the supermarkets with the 100 marks welcome gift provided by the West German government, then go back to their gauranteed Job,subsidised housing transport,and the freedom 'from' choice that a communist state provides. Who in their right mind wants to choose from hundreds of different types of shampoo when you only need one?

The music of the Perestroika Combo would not have gone down well with the authorities however.Dischordant and unmusicianly as it is.Obviously influenced by the music broadcst on late night Western Radio,but with that dark edge that came very naturally to those in the East.Full of Glasnost,but the opposite of Perestroika;more to do with de-structuring rather than re-structuring.Which is how we like it, isn't it kiddies?

Tracklist:

A1 Komplikation 3 4:22
A2 Himmlischer Frieden 7:34
A3 Mournful Cry 5:30
A4 Do It 5:12
A5 Langer Weg 6:31
B1 Aufbruch Part 1 17:07
B2 Aufbruch Part 2 (Incl. Happy Future) 6:36

DOWNLOAD to your escape tunnel of the mind HERE!

AG. Geige ‎– "Trickbeat" (klangFarBe ‎– 008.) 1989

AG Geige's second cassette (get first here!) was actually,eventually, released on the DDR state label for such low brow popular musics such as this, Amiga. The signs were that the state was losing control with all this Glasnost and Perestroika nonsense.
There were several versions of this album,so the first 16 tracks come from the CD version released in 1990, and all the bonus tracks come from the original cassette release on KlangFarBe.
I dunno if the Stasi were keeping notes,so maybe the files at Stasi HQ could help with the track listing.
A fine album, or double album this is. An avant-abstract electronic rock post-punk collage of the highest proportions that should,in an ideal world, find its way into many a good boy or girls christmas stocking this yuletide. After all, Santa Claus is nothing more than a glorified member of the supernatural Stasi,with his sinister elves spying on our kids,taking notes as to who's been naughty and who's been nice.
Christmas was,after all invented in Germany,alongside Industrial Genocide,Methadone,Crystal Meth,National Socialism,protestant Christianity and,yes Indeed, the perfect Police State in the form of the DDR.They should be prooooouuuuuddddd!

Tracklist:

1 Das Möbiusband / Zeychen Und Wunder 2:04
2 Triebwerk 1:16
3 Felix 1:34
4 Kosmonauten 2:42
5 Fingerwalze 2:58
6 So Sollte Es Nicht Sein! 2:30
7 Küchenlied 5:53
8 Das Scheusal 3:29
9 Déjà Vu (Snap Mix #2) 2:51
10 Hasensong 1:35
11 Schöner Leben 3:43
12 Rohleder's 2:10
13 Maximale Gier 3:13
14 Nach Hause (Instr.) 1:35
15 Gesichter 3:02
16 Stadt-Fisch 1:46

Bonus Tracks:(not necessarily in this order)

Paß Gut Auf! 3:01
Wir Lebenden 1:08
Teufel-Trompke 1:23
Kuechenlied 5:58
Das Scheusal 3:33
Dirigent 2:15
Perfekte Welt 3:24
Untitled 1,2,3,4,&5
Nasenwalzer 2:23
Echo-Strand 2:32
Dicker Junge 1:35
Déjà Vu 2:51
Hasensong 1:30
Fischleim 2:09
Mammut 2:14
Nachts Unterwegs 5:04
Astronauten 2:05

Mondauge 2:34

DOWNLOAD this ,no tricks HERE!

Heinz & Franz / A.F. Moebius ‎– "Alle Aufnahmen / Eine Auswahl" (KlangFarbe ‎– 007.) 1987

We can easily slag off the German Democratic Republic from the western political and intelligence service angle,but, the previous regime to that one would have had Heinz and Franz publically beheaded for making this tape. It seems the Socialist Unity Party of Germany,as they were called, turned a blind eye to this underground music scene.Which is a far more liberal approach to subversive art than you would have found in many other Soviet satellites,such as Czechoslavakia for example, where musicians were frequently imprisoned and constantly hassled.The most famous of which were the Plastic People Of The Universe (coming up when we finally leave the DDR behind), whose Zappa inspired lunacy was rather unpalatable for the local authorities.
I can sort of understand the intrusive methods of The East German state.In their eyes they were trying to protect their socialist untopia from the insideous influence of the outside world.And one of the most effective ways to undermine any kind of political philosophy is through art,especially Pop Music.Not that Frank Bretscheider made pop music however,but the roots were certainly anchored in the forbidden world of anglo-american pop culture.
This split tape,shared between Frank Bretschneider and Heinz Havemeister, and Frank Bretschneider as A.F.Moebius,is yet another minimal electronic rock mash-up of the kind you frequently found in West Berlin's underground music.It would have been relatively easy to tune into west German radio, which I'm sure was illegal, but forbidding it was not exactly enforceable.
Listening to this excellent cassette,its evident that Bretscheider and friends may have incriminated themselves.Luckily the Stasi were far too unhip to notice.

Tracklist:

Side A: Heinz & Franz - Alle Aufnahmen

1–Heinz & Franz Beim Docteur 1:12
2–Heinz & Franz Kochkäse 1:44
3–Heinz & Franz Leitungsmasten 2:44
4–Heinz & Franz Blutrausch 1:37
5–Heinz & Franz Forellen Fischen! 3:07
6–Heinz & Franz Der Budder 1:26
7–Heinz & Franz Replik Des Druiden 3:01
8–Heinz & Franz Jemand 0:57
9–Heinz & Franz Mein Junge Niest 2:15
10–Heinz & Franz Blinde Liebe 1:30
11–Heinz & Franz Schlafen 3:56
12–Heinz & Franz Verflixter Raoul 1:27
13–Heinz & Franz Lubminer Nächte 2:31
14–Heinz & Franz Drachen Steigen Immer 2:13

Side B: A.F. Moebius - Eine Auswahl (1985-1987)

15–A.F. Moebius Laura 2:29
16–A.F. Moebius Art-Mart 2:08
17–A.F. Moebius Da & Weg 1:25
18–A.F. Moebius Antipoden 1:50
19–A.F. Moebius Blau 1:42
20–A.F. Moebius Erika 2:34
21–A.F. Moebius Das Ei 1:55
22–A.F. Moebius Industrial 2:21
23–A.F. Moebius Im Kopf 2:23
24–A.F. Moebius Böser Traum 1:47
25–A.F. Moebius Jhö-A-Bäh's 2:26
26–A.F. Moebius Elektro 2:21
27–A.F. Moebius Das Nämliche 1:54
28–A.F. Moebius Na Uhle ? 1:16

DOWNLOAD this frankfurter with lashings of heinz tomato ketchup HERE!

Christian Heckel & Frank Bretschneider ‎– "Berlin Bei Nacht - (Eine Elektrische Text Musik Collage)" (klangFarBe ‎– FBk 003) 1985.

Frank Bretscheider's mangled electronica, assisted by the text of Christian Heckel, and the voices of the 'Kummers',last seen in AG Geige;delivered as a collage in the tradition of "Lumpy Gravy",L. Voag and "Canaxis".
The Berlin by night bit,or,rather, East Berlin by night,probably refers to the time of day it was recommended to make subversive sounds like this without attracting the attentions of the more unsavory sectors of DDR society.
Studio Sonnenklang,where all these KlanFarBe tapes were made, was highly likely to have been bugged by the Stasi anyway.So the Karl-Marx-Stadt branch of the Secret Police wasn't so bad after all it seems.Maybe Bretschneider could claim the Stasi tapes and make a volume two,or an extra collage for the deluxe reissue whenever it appears?

DOWNLOAD bretscheider bei nacht HERE!

Die Magdalene Keibel Combo ‎– "Das Gemeine Reitbein" (Self Released) 1988

Another excellent band name to be jealous of,which comes from a combination of two streets in east Berlin. Magdalene refers to the Magdalenenstraße, the former headquarter of our mates the Stasi (state security service of the GDR);and Keibel refers to the Keibelstraße close to Berlin Alexanderplatz, the central police station.
A keen sense of irony is evident in these band moniker sources,and one can only marvel at the subversive nature of the abstract avant rock minimalism on show on this self_released cassette.
Most of the normals who populate this bizarre rock insist that music can't change the world.Partly true,if the music was made by the 90% that make up the factory fodder that enables this mad system to perpetuate and make our lives verging on the pointless.
Music that wades upstream of accepted taste and morals,no matter how twisted, is, a Philosophy.Which perperates and leeches into the cultural water-table for all to drink.It even eventually penetrates the mind sets of those with 'Camp Guard' syndrome,bastards that they may be,or,nore openmindedly, just victims like us.
Examples have to be set,be it capital punishement for collaborators in genocide,or underground musicians communicating to the oppressed that there may be another better way of life.Whatever that may be?Its a subjective view and could mean the DDR was going in the correct direction,either before or after the wall came down.Don't ask me.

Tracklist:

01 Tschaka 1
02 Und wieder zieht ein Wetter auf 1 - Vorstellung
03 Tschaka 2
04 Er hat's geschafft
05 Tschaka 3
06 Klaus Kinski
07 Happy ...?
08 Herzschrittmacher
09 Sak Sak Sak Sakrowski 1 (Sakrowski gegen Lorenz)
10 Wir sind dein schlechtes Gewissen
11 Der blonde Hans
12 Instrumental 1
13 Instrumental 2
14 Tom Dooley
15 Immer an der Wand lang
16 Instrumental 3
17 Berggeist
18 Sak Sak Sak Sakrowski 2
19 DaDaDaDam
20 Graf Zahl
21 Und wieder zieht ein Wetter auf 2
22 Instrumental 4
23 Du hast mich angeschmiert
24 Macht's gut

DOWNLOAD direct from stasi HQ HERE!

AG Geige ‎– "Yachtclub + Buchteln" (KlangFarbe ‎– 006) 1987

AG Geige were an East German experimental band, formed in 1985 in that hotbed of underground musical activity,Karl-Marx-Stadt. They were kind of German new-wave gone correctly wrong, mixing together elements of Floh De Cologne and Der Plan with all sorts of electro-pop and Krauty underground styles.
Any group who has members called Olaf Bender, plus Jan and Ina Kummer has to be worth a listen....surely?
Naturally Frank Bretscheider was a member too,so musically one has a reliable reference,and its a experimental as fuck.
If Olaf Bender isn't the perect name for an East German gay porn star then I don't know what is!?.....as for Jan Kummer,i'll leave that one up to your own filthy, filthy imaginations to contrive.

Tracklist:

A1 Eine Frikadelle 2:55
A2 Glückliche Reise 4:39
A3 Papagei Der Jungen Leute 3:49
A4 Elektrische Banane 2:54
A5 America 4:30
A6 Melodie & Harmonie 1:42
A7 Schnitz 2:13
A8 Die Vier Söhne Der Frau Fanghänel 3:07
A9 Frühstart Erlaubt 3:52
B1 Beklagenswertes Los Einer Waise 3:57
B2 Die Waldschleiereule 2:53
B3 Das Grauen Der Geige 5:31
B4 Zick-Zack 2:39
B5 Zwölf Trombonen 2:22
B6 Yachtclub & Buchteln 5:09
B7 Stadt-Elegie 2:29
B8 Bruder+Schwester 4:08

DOWNLOAD two kummers and a bender HERE!

The Karl Marx Stadt Studio Big Band - "Schlimmer Finger" (Self-Release) 1989

Wow! What a band name!?
A big rival to  the Friedrich Engels Political Myth Orchestra no doubt(I made that one up). The Karl Marx Stadt Studio Big Band were the closest the DDR got to a UK DIY equivalent.Sounding not too dissimilar to The Instant Automatons,or Danny and the Dressmakers, the KMSSBB,comprised of nearly all of the participants in the Karl-Marx-Stadt underground,yes even Claus Loser was in it!.
Don't you just wish you were in a band called 'The Karl Marx Stadt Studio Big Band'?...I know I do....in fact i'm thinking of stealing 'Schlimmer Finger' for my next conceptual music project.Dunno what it means but i think it may be rather rude?
In 1989,the wall was coming down and the authorities were losing control,so Punk Rock could finally come out from under the floorboards,and the true oppresion of freedom was to take over.
A lot of former East Germans struggled with the tyranny of choice when they crossed check-point Charlie only to return a few days later, traumatized by the capitalist jungle.
It ain't easy in the west y'know.Every man for himself stuff.No nice man in a uniform to tell where you're living and working.No guarantees of a Job or a home.A dog eat dog nightmare which makes communism seem like the loving arms of a Nanny in comparison.Sometimes you get what you ask for......like Donald Trump.
Tracklist:

A1 Sambalita 2:20
A2 Aussenposten 4:20
A3 Stülpnertraum 3:20
A4 Highway Song 2:55
A5 Hutzenjagd 2:55
A6 Karlsberg Elegie 6:20
A7 Katerle Im Wunderland 2:25
A8 Downtown Boogie 2:40
B1 Übergang 8:30
B2 Damals War's 3:00
B3 Ich Bin Blues 5:30
B4 Ausbrand 4:30
B5 Bataille Gewidmet 2:55
B6 Selterknall 3:25
B7 Für Die Geschichte 1:00

DOWNLOAD the communist manifesto of rock HERE!

Stein Im Brett ‎– "Vater Alfons Erzählt" (klangFarBe ‎– 004.) 1986

I always thought that 'Vater' was spelt F-a-r-t-e-r,....oh how we laughed,and kept up the fine English tradition of childish purile humour and an almost total ignorance of foreign languages.
Travelling down the autobahn I could often be heard pointing  out the Ausfahrt signs at the exit junctions, shouting in a German/English accent not unlike Franz Liebkind from The Producers,"AUSFAHRT VERBOTEN JA!".......ahh come oooonnnnnn,its hilarious,and always will be......unless you're German,when virtually nothing funny is hilarious.
Especially unhilarious was life in soviet puppet state the Deutsche Democratic Republik, when 'Jokes' were especially thin on the ground.What could Communist Comediens possibly find to take the piss out of without blurring equality red lines;although I'm sure Anti-American jokes were allowed for sure and the joke teller in line for another Karl Marx comedy award.
Yeah, I know there'll be plenty of ex-inmates of the DDR ready to tell us what jolly japes they got up to in the Stasi social club raffle before the curfew;...just let me enjoy myself at your expense,i'm well aware that Germans,both east and west, do indeed have a sense of Humour.....its just very,VERY, subtle.

Oh Yeah...the music.
Stein and Brett were the Hall and Oates of Abstract Iron Curtain Electronica.Matthias Stein and Frank Bretschneider(again!)are the exact opposite to Hall and Oates' frankly despicable blue eyed soul,and exist, surely, to rebalance the physics of reality and cancell out the horrors of "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)".
Well mr Hall and Oates, I can't go for you,no can do!
Bretschneider and Stein, yes can do.
DOWNLOAD and smell my farters ausfahrts HERE!

Kriminelle Tanzkapelle ‎– "Glückliche Jahre" (klangFarBe ‎– 002) 1985

Another project involving KlangFarBe maestro Herr Bretscheider is the minimal abstract electronica of  Kriminelle Tanzkapelle.Every track is a dark monotonous symphony of foggy oppression that only living somewhere like Karl-Marx-Stadt in cold war DDR could create. This makes the industrial musings of those in the West sound like the spoilt bleatings of ungrateful brats in comparison.
I notice a mention of the late and beyond great Alan Vega on the insert.This stuff is yet another offpring given birth by Frankie Teardrop....so of course I exempt Suicide from any accusations of being spoilt brats.
I suppose we all live in our own personal East Germanys in our minds...."we're ALL Frankies, we're All burin' in Hell"(A.Vega 1977)

DOWNLOAD the sound of your own personal communist satellite state HERE!

Frank Bretschneider ‎– "Scombermix" (klangFarBe ‎– FBk 001) 1985

Frank Bretschnieder was the East German equivalent of  Alain Neffe,if not in profile, but in the amount of significantly weird and scrambled up musiks that he managed to squeeze onto the medium of ferric-oxide coated tape.
This,for all intents and purposes, was Frank's debut album,on his own frankly(pun intended) superb cassette label 'klangFarBe', from the lovely DDR town of Karl-Marx-Stadt,with its delightful post war Soviet architecture and a horrifying disembodied monument to the great man himself......check this postcard as if taken directly from a line in the Pistols' "Holidays In The Sun" pop hit.

Hmmmm, lovely ain't it?
There are places like that all over Europe,but at least they had the excuse of being bombed to fuck .There are also towns like this in the USA and the only bomb attack they ever had was on 9/11,Anything over 50 years old gets demolished and a post modern brutalist skyscraper gets erected in its place. Hmmmm,sounds like what actually happened to the Twin Towers;demolition then erect an immense human-free edifice in its place. That said, The World Trade Centers were one of thee worst examples of brutalist architecture and deserved a couple of passenger jets crashing into them if you ask me....which you ain't,but I gotta write something irrelevant for the recording I'm writing about or I wouldn't be me would I?
Frank gives us a bunch of what can only be described as 'Experimental Electronica" at its abstract best. Its amazing that Frank was never arrested for making music like this,just like it was amazing that The Eagles were never arrested in the west for their crimes against western culture.Not that Bretschneider was guilty of such heinous crimes as 'Hotel California',but one had to be careful in Democratic Republic not to stray too close to decandence or a bohemion lifestyle,or you may find yourself pencilled in for a re-education program.

DOWNLOAD a postcard from Karl-Marx-Stadt HERE!

Various Artists ‎– "Melodie & Harmonie / Musik Aus Karl-Marx-Stadt" (klangFarBe ‎– 005) 1986

Not all the music in the DDR was released on the State labels,but if you wanna to put your own challenging,politically unacceptable work, you had to...yup......Do It Yourself. Behold the liberation of the audio cassette.Even more so than in the west, where the people were oppressed by the need for profit rather than by an ideological totalitarian regime. Thoughts were repressed in this gloomy remanent of the reich,and if you wanted to express them without a lurking Policeman taking notes in the corner,then you had to escape to the west which usually ended up in an east german cemetary.
An easier way to escape this enclave was to smuggle cassettes into the west.This was,somewhat, less risky.
Behold the KlangFarbe label from Karl Marx Stadt,founded by Franck Bretschneider.Of course you can't call anything after Karl Marx anymore,so the town was charmingly renamed Chemnitz after the collapse of the regime.
So here's a taster of the Karl Marx Stadt underground from 1986.This is what the real East Germany sounded like.Gloomy,abstract,miserable and minimal.Not the kind of thing that would have been state approved....no-one was officially 'miserable' in the glorious DDR.

DOWNLOAD your own personal berlin wall HERE!

Jürgen Ecke ‎– "Sound-Synthese" (AMIGA ‎– 8 56 171) 1986

DDR synthesist,Jürgen Ecke, dared to do what even Paul 'N.N.N.N.N.Nineteen' Hardcastle would never consider with a Fairlight.Almost every horrible eighties production value has been turned up to the max on this East German manual on how NOT to do electronic music.
Like a soundtrack for a bad 80's Madonna Movie, or the music for an endless love-making scene in Miami Vice, the music spews forth hefty Gated Reverb snare sounds,with the despised Fairlight sampler Orchestral Stab.
It smells of the "Well we've bought all of this latest equipment so we might as well use it......a lot" syndrome.....and yes there's a syn-drum in use too. 
Its absurd datedness make this album almost avant-garde its unintentional self-parody;but also charming in its quaint cluelessness.When this hit the dancefloor (singular tense is intentional) of downtown East Berlin,the Polit Bureau would have lapped it up as a demonstration of how socialism is more than capable of keeping pace with the west in all technological areas; be it Chemical Weaponry,mass surveillance techniques or Popular Music styles."You Young people WILL be happy,and You will DANCE with your socialist Joy!!"

Tracklist:

A1 HAYH-HAYH 4:11
A2 Auf Der Suche Nach... 5:00
A3 Irritation 2:54
A4 Der Letzte Tag 4:40
A5 Über Allem Ist Ruh' 4:14
B1 Über Dem Nördlichen Wendekreis 4:04
B2 Bolero 3:53
B3 Kulmination 3:02
B4 Der Ewige Traum Des Ikarus 3:59
B5 Illumination 3:55

DOWNLOAD some brandenburg gated snare sounds HERE!

Servi ‎– "Pas De Deux In H" (AMIGA ‎– 8 56 344) 1988

Liking the artwork again!?.... what's going on there?
A saucy young communist lady relaxing in an art gallery looking at some really shite paintings, then reaching for a photograph of our hero's in Servi slotted into the inside jacket pocket of a....Dummy!? This is the kind of extreme art statement that can bring down walls. Just as David Hasselhof did after his world chamging concert in Berlin in 1989. So combining the 'Hoff' with Servi on their respective sides of the Berlin Wall,was so powerful that the thing had little choice but to crumble before the power of Pop Music.
Naturally, the 'Hoff' has a problem with self-delusion and auto-agrandising Psycopathy,as well as being a shit actor, and musician toboot;but, Servi aren't that bad, in fact they're was is known in the world of understatment as 'Not Bad'.
While the youth of the UK danced the second summer of love away on drugs and elctronic tunes played by forty year old DJ's in a field around the M25.The youth in the German Democratic Republic had to make do with this bunch of television intermission tunes.One can now appreciate them as coming from a place that we could never possibly comprehend having lived our lives in a liberal democracy that prides itself on promoting freedom,even if we are not really free at all. Of course I refer to the 'Prison without walls' concept of control.A slavestate where our feudal lords like to pretend that the slaves are the ones in control,when the fact of the matter is that we control each other;trapped in a capitalist machine embodied as a flaming car racing downhill to the cliff edge with no brakes and no-one at the wheel.Like Dogs, the human race need a leash and a master to bark orders, or the dog will run into the road under an oncoming Bus. Also like Dogs, we, without fail,tend to destroy the things we hold most precious.Our Planet, the natural world, and,the thing we adore most of all,.....ourselves.
A Good,but unintentionally weird album,from a good but unintentionally weird former country. 

Tracklist:

A1 Tagtraum 1:58
A2 Entdeckung Von Augen-Blicken 3:09
A3 Sie 0:58
A4 Pas De Deux (Begegnung) 3:02
A5 Menetekel - Zeichen An Der Wand 3:01
A6 Ernüchterung 9:16
B1 Solitude 3:48
B2 Worte Suchen 7:27
B3 Ein Lächeln Auf Deinem Gesicht 2:29
B4 ... Und Nach Dem Satz: Ich Liebe Dich, Ist Die Stille Die Gleiche 7:59
B5 Abendlied 1:53

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Servi ‎– "Rückkehr Aus Ithaka" (AMIGA ‎– 8 56 229) 1986

Servi were duo Jan Bilk,(no relation to Acker) and Tomas Nawka; formerly of the Rock group version of Servi. Thankfully they switched to Electronica around 1986,and produced this Vangelis,Jean Michel Jarre type album.
Opening tracks "Thetis" and "Hellespont" are the standout tunes here,the rest of the album is a mixture of ambient electronics,Kosmiche Musick,disco stompers, and failed Soundtrack themes;but, still one of the better DDR Synth releases.There are some terrible eighties drum sounds like the ones used in the BBC's "Eastenders" soap,but these are mostly nullified with some lush synth sounds,and a limited dose of experimentation.

Tracklist:

A1 Thetis 3:42
A2 Hellespont 4:58
A3 Symplegaden 3:13
A4 Kirkes 10:22
A5 Medea 3:17
B1 Chiron 4:36
B2 Sirenen 3:46
B3 Laistrygonen 4:57
B4 Nausikaa 4:57
B5 Leukothea 5:34

DOWNLOAD at your servi-s HERE!

Pond ‎– "Planetenwind" (AMIGA ‎– 8 56 049) 1984

Scientists from behind the Iron Curtain undoubtedly did some human cloning experiments. Not only to create an army of expendable super-soldiers,but musicians also.A couple of these experiments involved cloning Vangelis from some of Demis Roussos's back hair and an alternate Georgio Moroder extracted from a casually disguarded pair of Donna Summers  Tena lady absorbant underpants. The two resultant dopplegangers were placed in Berlin School wanna be's, but from the very wrong side of the wall, 'Pond'.The evidence of their existence on this recording, although not credited of course, can be found on tracks 2 and 3, "Cassiopeia" and "Zeitmaschine",where Vangelis's double Helix's genetic memory insists that they play the 'Theme to Blade Runner' note for note and Moroder's disco chromosome assumes its dominance by unleashing a previously unreleased moroder track upon a disbelieving world.
Nope, not a smidgen of a credit offered forth for either of these blatant rip-offs;but in a communist state, intellectual property is very much ,the property of the state.Anything otherwise is Theft,and subject to the greater crime of egregious capitalism.
Founded in East Berlin by a couple of Fuchs (pronounced 'Fucks'),Wolfgang and Frank Fuchs, 'Pond', were one of the earliest of few Electronic combo's from the German Democratic Republic,but they lacked the darkness of your Klaus Schulze's and your Tangerine Dreams, vearing unerringly on a collison course with the Vangelis's and Jean MIchel Jarre's of this world.Another couple of Fuchs in my opinion.
I suspect the state officials in attendance would have issued instructions to portray East Germany as a 'happy' place,where the musicians wanted to produce uplifting melodies for the endlessly ecstatic workforce to play in their downtime in front of their one channel black and white state provided TV's after a long smoky journey back to their allocated residemnce in their state provided Trabant.This album is a state provided Trabant,but like the Trabant, it has its uncertain charms.

Tracklist:

1 Planetenwind 18:30
2 Zeitmaschine 3:00
3 Cassiopeia 3:55
4 Jumbo 4:35
5 Sturmglocke 3:45
6 Supernova 3:00

DOWNLOAD and fuch off HERE!

Reinhard Lakomy & Rainer Oleak ‎– "Zeiten" (AMIGA ‎– 8 56 111) 1985

It's 1985, and the German Democratic Republic,rather undemocratically as it seems, is still in the grips of the most thorough Police State that has ever been.But at least everyone had a job,somewhere to live,and a crap car. The Stasi probably made a recording of Lakomy making this recording,which likely still exists in the Stasi HQ,waiting for the deluxe reissue of this album in the west.
On this one, Lakomy, and buddy Oleak,get more experimental with their imported DX-7....never one of my favourite synths, but they seem to make it sound electronic rather than emulating a bank of digital horns as most of the chart-bound sounds of 1985 preferred.
The cover references several Hammershøi style open doorways which pass through several walls,almost daring those trapped in that drab communist existence to pass through these symbolic walls into the mysterious room at the end where the slavery is much more subtle...'The West', and so-called freedom.
In the west we are our own personal Stasi,voluntarily existing in a prison with no walls.
To quote W.S.Borroughs, "An efficient Police State doesn't need Police".In some ways that makes the DDR a more honest form of oppression,and a victim of its own sucess.
Oppression aside, Lakomy's previous "electronics" albums are fairly accessible outings typical of the era, much of this album belongs in the experimental category. The first three minutes of "Gleichzeit" and much of "Klangzeit" resemble the abstract 60s/70s computer music of academia: atonal and sparse, dissonant,whereas "Ruhezeit" wouldn't sound out of place on an early '80s Tangerine Dream album.

This was not at all endorsed by Erich Honecker of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany,but the fact that you could make a record like this in the DDR,seems to suggest it weren't all shite.You could curl up with your alloted Stasi tail,and listen to some pretty cool electronica of an evening.Leaving all the paranoia behind for forty minutes.....then back to the normal recorded conversations and video taped sex.Even spys need a time-out every now and again.

Tracklist:

A1 Gleichzeit 10:02
A2 Raumzeit 6:15
A3 Ruhezeit 5:14
B1 Klangzeit 9:30
B2 Hochzeit 8:52

DOWNLOAD to your prison with open doors HERE!

Reinhard Lakomy ‎– "Das Geheime Leben" (AMIGA ‎– 8 55 893) 1982

The Handsome ,yet ,Modern Young Gentleman that was Reinhard Lakomy

Lakomy was well known in the DDR for releasing all sorts of projects,such as nursery rhymes, books for children and,more significantly, records in such various styles as Jazz,Schlager ,disco,and euro-pop,among many other atrocities. So it wasn't astonishing that he made the first release of Berlin School style  electronic music in East Germany,of which "Das Geheime Leben" was it .Only about a dozen years after Tangerine Dream's debut in the western part of this subjucated country, followed closely by Pond and others later.

Rumour has it that he heard a Jean Michel Jarre album(Which is one more than I've ever managed!?) and away he went.After such a traumatic experience most of us never regained our mental faculties again, but somehow Reinhard managed to retain his perchant for such progressive electronics until the wall came down and ruined everything.It was Illegal to be unemployed in the Soviet Bloc, so I suppose he had to say he was doing.... something?...it was either that or Jail.Now that's what I call artistic motivation.

Tracklist:

A Das Geheime Leben 21:15
B1 Es Wächst Das Gras Nicht Über Alles 11:24
B2 Begierde Und Hoffnung 5:40
B3 Das Unendliche Rätsel 3:30

DOWNLOAD the communist Jean Michel Jarre HERE!

Reinhard Lakomy ‎– "Der Traum Von Asgard" (AMIGA ‎– 8 56 021) 1983

From the East Berlin school of electronics,on DDR state label, Amiga. Reinhard Lakomy provides us with some Tangerine Dream inspired electronica with fine socialist morals.
Its full of gorgeous analogue electronics that never escaped until the wall came down and piles of cheap Amiga vinyl was snapped up up by rich westerners. Most East German music was, of course, pure shite.But a few nuggets lay amongst the squalor...this being one of them.Active in various genres, Reinhard was the most published musician in the DDR,but didn't discover his true mojo until he made this couple of electronic Kosmischer albums.Truly worthy enough to be awarded the 'Karl Marx Order for exceptional merit in relation to ideology, culture, economy, and other designations'?

The Karl Marx Order Medal that Reinhard Lakomy was never awarded!

....good cover art too. 

Tracklist:

Der Traum Von Asgard 11:45
Die Gotischen Narren 9:20
Möglichkeit Einer Ouvertüre 3:27
Orakel 6:04
Sodom 11:32

DOWNLOAD 'cus a reinhard's gonna fall HERE!