UPRIGHT CITIZENS

 

In the mid-2000s I was on a tour that stopped in Pittsburgh. At Andy's place after the gig, most everyone crashed out while Andy and I nerded out about records and life and shit. I had never heard UPRIGHT CITIZENS so Andy slapped the record on the deck....and everything changed. It's just a perfect record start to finish. Classic DeutschPunk influenced by their North American contemporaries but beyond that, the record is just fukkn good. I was as sad that it had taken me so long to find them as I was excited that I was able to be reinvigorated by the discovery. If you in 2026 is like me in 2006, then you're welcome.  

OPEN EYES, OPEN EARS, A BRAIN TO THINK & A MOUTH TO SPEAK

99 LUFTBALLONS

 

I recall a post from years ago where I used the term NDW ("Neue Deutsche Welle" = "German New Wave") to describe IDEAL or EXTRABREIT or some similar artist. Someone got annoyed at the distinction because, well, isn't New Wave music just New Wave music? Why is there a Deutsche Punk or a Kraut Rock when we don't have designated and commonly accepted terms for punk, classic rock or new wave from other specific regions or countries? Perhaps it's because the Germans did (do) just hit differently, but also it's because it's just what the fukkn Germans called their shit, you know? Case and point, this stellar collection of commercial NDW bangers from 1983. Like a K-Tel cassette from across the pond, featuring hopelessly palatable and undeniably addictive cuts from EXTRABREIT, HUBERT KAH, FRL. MENKE (the least interesting artist on the tape, and the only one with two tracks), TRIO (you know the song even if you don't know you know the song), SPLIFF, NEON BABIES, JAWOLL and others, plus the title track from NENA. Just solid ass '80s summer hits - off kilter, infectious and definitely Deutsche. 

99 LUFTBALLONS
NDW - HITS FÜR UNTERWEGS

VARIOUS GERMAN HARDCORE

 

Maybe it's just my perception, but it seems that German punk and hardcore are often relegated to second (or third) tier status by the punk taste makers. The first time I was there Weird System was aggressively repressing much of their back catalog, but I was stunned to find SLIME, NEUROTIC ARSEHOLES and RAZZIA records from the '80s priced basically the same as new releases, and was pumped to discover heaps of new bands in the bargain bins (EA80, anyone?!). You have to look past (or submit to) the bierhäuz vibe that runs through many of the bands, but we've been giving Oi! a pass for four decades now so I don't really see how that should be an issue. German hardcore doesn't rage like the Swedish greats, German hardcore isn't unhinged like the Italians, German hardcore isn't as cold as the Polish...but I can blast this shit all day long. 

Extra tip of the hat to whomever curated this tape back in the '80s. Scratched out MAU MAUS, SUBHUMANS, DOSORDER, DISCHARGE DIRT and VARUKERS to deliver a slammer with NEUROTIC ARSEHOLES, STROMSPERRE, BOSKOPS, BLUTTAT, SICK PLEASURE and several cuts from the essential Waterkant-Hits comp. You can question that move if you want, but DISCHARGE is easy....and you gotta be sure your mix tape buddies hear SS ULTRABRUTAL and E-605, you know?

VARIOUS GERMAN HARDCORE

GREENEARTH VOL.6

 

This was an impulse grab with an overseas purchase of an Acts Of Defiance comp, and I can't seem to put the motherfukkr away. Absolutely killer collection of turn of the decade punk and hardcore from Europe, US and Mexico - some you should already know (SVART SNÖ, VALSE TRISTE, AUTODESTRUCCIÓN) and plenty of new faces for your ears. Feast upon SHATTER, REAKTION, ROLANDS GOSSAR, and a track from 23 TILL that is the fukkn summer jam for the summer that I always wish I had lived. 

GREENEARTH VOL.6

DISPO

 

What is even happening on this tape?! It's like BLACK FORK playing a set of ABWÄRTS covers and I might love it. Listen to the vocal barks on "Pickel Am Arsch." Check the mid tempo stomp and hear the guitar just kinda fall apart in "Blumen." These German punks are unsung heroes. 

RAUCHEN MACHT HEROINABHÄNGIG

ALPTRAUM GmbH

I'm open to information, here, and I'm guessing pretty much any fan of outsider anarcho punk would be eager to know more as well. Shrill (uhhh, that's an understatement) vocals and challenged UK influenced sounds from (I presume) late '80s West Germany. Sometimes bordering on inept, but sometimes that's what makes the shit work, ya dig? There are only three tracks here - maybe that's all you need.....? Or maybe you're going to spend the rest of your day (week_ trying to figure out what planet this demo came from.

JULY '88 DEMO

DØRTEBEKER

Leave it to the Germans to figure out how to make melodic punk sound dark and brooding, even while it's fast and energetic. This thing is executed flawlessly, and while those afeared of a solid hook will want to steer clear, the rest of us will be repeatedly rewarded with eight addictive anthems...time to brush up on your German, punks. "Zwölf" is the banger of choice - highlighting the possibilities held within simple construction, with gruff backing vocals accenting the forceful leads. Champion. 

DØRTEBEKER

MAFFICKS

I genuinely love the fact that there are so many of these to unearth. Countless bands that have flown under the radar for ages, forgotten by advancing time and changing winds, perhaps never known by anyone outside of their geographic area, perhaps never known to anyone at all. Maybe MAFFICKS don't fall into any of these categories, maybe I just missed them, but popping this late '80s cassette into the deck last week was my first introduction. A mix of D-Punk and era-appropriate DC with more than compelling guitar work and earnest vocals, these are five tracks that will likely not change anyone's world, and that's OK....because it's all a part of the hunt.

MAFFICKS

GEGEN NAZIS IN DER DDR

Lots of live shit, lots of bands you've never heard of. Raw and essential German punk blasts spanning 1982-1990 are going to fill the next ninety minutes of your life. Some of these sounds will thrill you. UMSTUM IM KINDERZIMMER, SANDOW, VAUSX, MULLSTATION, and SONNENHRILLE are my personal faves, but everything here was new to me aside from SCHLEIM KEIM, which made the whole thing a great listen. Some of the sound quality leaves a bit to be desired....deal with it.

GEGEN NEONAZIS IN DER DDR

ROTZLÖFFEL

Maybe some of you people can educate me here, because I had never heard of ROTZLÖFFEL before this tape compilation fell into my lap. Apparently, while it seemed like every German band I knew was cranking out thunderous metalcore, these punks were bashing out gloriously off the rails Deutsch Punk played...so pogo your asses off, and someone tell me how I completely missed this band. 16 tracks from a self released LP from 1997 (that I now need), and seven more from the following year.

ROTZLÖFFEL

KORRUPT

Late '90s German punk that well deserves to be lumped in with infectious '80s DeutschPunk, this Bremen band popped onto my radar during the Oakland B.O.B.Fest in 1998 (the year I toured with MUCKSPREADER, and the fest at which I snagged this tape) and to be honest I never heard from them afterwards (the internet tells me there are a few vinyl releases I am missing). But ages later, I can't tell you how psyched I am to unearth this cassette - terminally catchy and shamelessly dark punk tunes, this is just awesome. I would file KORRUPT closer to EA80 than to SLIME, but both comparisons would be easily justified and both are more than complimentary...so, essentially,  I suggest you listen to KORRUPT and find all of their records.

KORRUPT

PANZERBAND

What is it with Germany? The rest of the world has rock, Germany has KrautRock. We have new wave, they have Neue Deutsch Welle. Bands from around the world play punk, yet still there is DeutschPunk. I don't know exactly how to differentiate DeutschPunk from punk, but there's something in the guitars, something in the tempo....and most importantly there is something in the vocals that puts this shit in a different league. PANZERBAND fit the bill perfectly - forceful punk concentrating on the upper register and intelligent intensity. When North Americans espouse the virtues of bands like DILLINGER 4 I just wish that shit sounded like this shit...these are my "poppy" punk bands, bands that have the hooks but still have an attack. PANZERBAND also have a song about how stupid skinheads are stupid, so I'm pretty much on their team.

PANZERBAND

EUTHANASIE

The opening tracks on EUTHANASIE's 1985 cassette release is a 5+ minute brooding goth/anarcho number with perfectly crafted (and understated) flanged guitar leads and the ominous "this is the end my friend // no way out" repeated for a full 60 seconds, pulling a shroud over what is to be an hour of music even before your journey is under way. But even though "Tag X" follows with a similar  melancholy off kilter UK styled punk vibe, they launch into into ferocious rudimentary pogo punk at the three minute mark proceed to tear through two more tunes before slowing down again with "Justified Rape," a brilliantly dreary female fronted number that owes more to dark mental recesses than to fiery punk. The tape continues on this path, teetering between UK anarcho, Deutsch Punk and primitive goth punk, tracks taken from rehearsals, studio sessions and live gigs (and presented with a degree in quality as varied as you would expect). EUTHANASIE had a very limited output during their run (much of which was put to wax by Looney Tunes a couple of years back), but I'm struck by how perfect their mix of sounds is for the current explosion of spiky UK worshipping punks diving into the world of goth and new wave sounds except this is delivered with determination and fire rather than calculation and flare.

EUTHANASIE

DAUERRAUSCH 4

A 21 band solidarity compilation released to support the Autonome Kulturzentrum in Hanau, Germany (a squat near Frankfurt,  active since 1986). Melodic acts like PEACE OF MIND and KELLERBASSELN reek of the catchy but powerful political punk of the '90s, while Poland's HOMOMILITIA start the tape off with relentless dual vocal crust. Other highlights include SCUM OF TOYTOWN (comparisons to early CHUMBAWAMBA are not out of line), ROTZLÖFFEL and GEHRINSCHLAG (totally blown out noise drenched D-Punk), KÜPPERS ROTE ZONENKUGEL and PANZERKROIZA POLPOTKIN, whose dark minute dirges could easily inspire new legions of goth obsessed jungen. The tradition of gruff German street punk is well represented also (REICH & SCHÖN, KINDLE, MARKSMAN), and while there are surely a couple of clunkers (30 songs here, what do you expect?) this is top quality from a slew of lesser know late '80s/early '90s acts. 

DAUERRAUSCH 4: A Soli-Sampler für das AKZ Hanau

WE DON'T WANT YOUR FUCKING LAW! // WE DON'T WANT YOUR FUCKING WAR!

Terminal Escape turns 900 today. 900 cassettes lovingly converted into a soulless barrage of 00s and 01s just so you can enjoy the music on the tapes that fill the stairs, shelves, nooks and floors of my tiny flat and drive my wife batshit crazy. Seems appropriate to return to the UK punk that kicked my ass into starting this thing in the first place, and I happen to be sitting on a package mailed to me by a F.O.T.E. a while back containing two essential Mortarhate comps, 1983's We Don't Want Your Fucking War! and We Don't Want Your Fucking Law! released two years later. No introductions required, and yeah, I know the UPRIGHT CITIZENS song is missing...we can only work with the tools we are given, you know?

WE DON'T WANT YOUR FUCKING WAR!

JUNGE FRONT

Taking their name from the youth wing of a proto-Nazi political movement banned in 1982, Frankfurt's JUNGE FRONT (Young Front) managed only one vinyl release in their short lifespan. 1984's Politick is a quintessential Deutsch Punk slab, and this 1983 demo was a perfect warm up for that release. In classic D-Punk form, JUNGE FRONT flit between straightforward beats, rudimentary ska and jerky post punk, all tinged with gruff snarled vocals. The quality varies widely (both in terms of sound quality and technical proficiency) but even the no-fi ridiculousness of "Teddybär" is enticing, if only for the random appearance of group female backing vocals. The snare fights constantly through tape hiss, which serves only to add to the charm of these 12 songs. Borderline inept (and they often veer south of that border), JUNGE FRONT are nothing short of excellent to my ears - this is the kind of earnest determination that cannot be faked. My copy came on a tape with FUNERAL ORATION, END RESULT and DIE KREUZEN demos, but I nicked the cover from the brilliant Tape Attack blog, a must-visit source of '80s German punk, no wave and avant sounds.

EWINGER HASS

MÜLLTÜTE

This sweet little banger was waiting in my mailbox when I came home from a long weekend of rock 'n roll, and it made me want to jump right back in the van and do it all again. Gruff and stripped down old school hardcore punk from Germany, combining what we love about early '80s magic with that undefinable quality that makes Deutsch-Punk stand as its own subgenre. The production is raw, giving the guitars exactly right ratio of crunch to clarity, and the drums are dominated by the hi-hat, like so many killer lo-fi recordings from the golden years. 13 1/2 minutes of pure punk, dig it.

MÜLLTÜTE

Tour ends tonight in Oakland. Thanks to all who stopped by.

THE DAY YOU'LL BE CONNED

A quick look at the cover and you should know that you need this in your life. An absolutely killer collection of '80s Deutsch Punk and German hardcore featuring bands you know from being a punk (UPRIGHT CITIZENS, NEUROTIC ARSEHOLES, SPERMBIRDS), bands you know from Terminal Escape (S.O.S. made an appearance in the very first Friday Mix Tape, in fact) and bands you need to know (ANTITOXIN, F.O.H., NIKOTEENS). Some of the tracks suffer from subpar live recordings (B.S.E. and ATOMSCHLAG most notably), but this is 90 minutes of quality German hardcore/punk with it's requisite catchy choruses and infectious guitar work, worth it for the INFERNO tracks alone, and someone was nice enough to throw in some live SUBHUMANS and Canada's brilliant DOWN SYNDROME to give things an international flare. Or maybe it was just an attempt to move a few dozen extra units.

THE DAY YOU'LL BE CONNED

DEFLAGRATION

For the last two weeks I've posted compilation tapes that were really more like Best Of collections. Last week's Bad Entrails was a comprehensive trip through '80s US hardcore, while the Us Against Them  comp concentrated on some of the best the UK had to offer.  But this Friday's compilation is full of deep cuts, and doesn't really flirt with anything more well known than DEZERTER or NEON CHRIST. The tape centers mostly on European hardcore, with the aforementioned Southerners and Canada's F.O.A.D. and UNNATURAL SILENCE as the only off continent contributions, and is full of lesser known killers like BLOEDBAD (Holland), UNDERAGE (Italy), CERESIT '81 (West Germany) and UNDERDOGS (Belgium) as well as French TE alumnus RAPT and KROMOSOM 4. Most of this shit is fast and raw hardcore, and some of the recordings leave a bit to be desired in the sound quality department (in the bands' defense, the tape was distributed on a sub-par Salvy brand cassette, which might have affected the distortion levels in an adverse manner...it just depends how much you care about such things and, in turn, how punk you are), but when you hear crucial blasts from Finland's PROTESTI or classic shit from Germans INFERNO and SCAPEGOATS or SQUIRT from Switzerland, do you really care about a little tape hiss?

DEFLAGRATION Vol. 3 Side A

DEFLAGRATION Vol. 3 Side B

EUTHANASIE

EUTHANASIE's later recordings were recently given the vinyl treatment by Loony Tunes Records, which is what prompted me to pull this tape out - compiled recordings from 1985/6, the initial demo from West Germany's EUTHANASIE takes the best parts of Deustch Punk, UK anarcho and brooding goth punk and wraps it all into one great C60. The guitars seem lifted off of '80s BANSHEES records and then reworked to suit the mid tempo political punk. Ferocious and shitty sounding on tracks like "Weisser Schnee," melancholy anarcho tunes like "Justified Rape" create the dark vibe that permeates even the faster tunes that are the highlight of the tape. 14 songs over the course of a dreary and rainy morning.

A WAR TO END ALL WARS