Abwärts – AmokKoma

Reissue of the 1980 debut LP from Abwärts, the influential West German post-punk group whose original line up splintered not long after this album when half of the members defected for Einstürzende Neubauten. Much like early wire, Abwärts relied on an urgent efficiency built around acute-angled guitar, buttoned-up rhythms, and tense/terse vocals—in particular, “Karo 1/4 08/15 Hoch 2″ is 30 seconds of econo-punk agitation so close to the primary source that it might as well be a German-translated pink flag outtake. There’s enough detours that set Amok Koma apart from mere wire flattery, though, from the clattering, deconstructed “Monday On My Mind” (after the Easybeats’ ’60s smash “Friday On My Mind”), to the female vocals and mechanical stutter of “Bel Ami” that lean closer to Abwärts’ Neue Deutsch Welle contemporaries like Carambolage, to the group’s twin experiments with buzzing synth and processed violin squall in the more decidedly art-punk “Unfall.” This record is considered an ’80s Deutsch underground classic for a reason, and this is the first time that there’s been a pressing of it available outside Germany, so if you’re not already in the know, there’s one less barrier in your way now.

Reviewer Erika Elizabeth

 

Der Westen Ist Einsam

Taking their cues from the centrifugal forces of Captain Beefheart, the dislocated joints of The Fall's Grotesque, the Neue Deutsche Welle mayhem of DAF’s Die Kleinen Und Die Bösen and the deconstructed language of Public Image Ltd's Metal Box in Der Westen Ist Einsam, Abwärts dissected rock-music and rearranged the pieces in a manic and yet precise manner. Abwärts ' second album has a heavy, thicker production, and consistently adventurous arrangements. Lots of droning low-toned synthesizers, such as on the thrilling "Aus Einem Gartenhous", and a sinister Cold War air makes this a winner. The West Is Lonely by Hamburg punk band Abwärts is regarded as a classic of West German post-punk. It sounds darker than anything that previously appeared from Abwärts and can certainly be viewed in connection with the emerging German Gothic culture. Critics put it in line with British post-punk bands such as Theatre of Hate and Killing Joke.

In an interview with Diedrich Diederichsen in 1988, band manager Frank Ziegert confessed that in the early 1980’s German punk audiences were, to a certain extent, forced bands to present unsophisticated compositions: "[...] we were literally afraid to make music. Everything had to be hard, that was the word: hard. We increased into a senseless aggressiveness that had nothing to do with us at all.”

Unhappy with the support of their previous independent label ZickZack Platten, the group wanted to work more professionally and offer their second album to a large label. Work on it began in autumn 1981 at the Hafenklang Studio, Hamburg. An entire month of self-financed and produced studio recordings was followed by a week of mixing at London's The Town House by producer Nick Launay. The album was completed by the end of 1981, which was then offered to various record companies for publication. For an advance of supposedly DM 50,000, the band finally signed with the German major label Phonogram. The album was released in April 1982. For the release, Abwärts went on an extensive European tour with side trips to Switzerland and Amsterdam from May 11 to June 13, 1982. The group made a spectacular appearance at the Munich Rocktage Festival, at which FM Einheit destroyed parts of the stage structures. At some concerts, the newly founded Die Toten Hosen were the “special guests”. Abwärts were also asked to open for the “The Cure Tour”.

Muscha and Trini Trimpop produced a video clip for “The First Time It Always Hurts” and even an article appeared in the youth magazine Bravo with the group. Despite all of this, the album did not achieve the hoped-for sales figures. As a result, FM Einheit and Marc Chung finally left the band to concentrate on the Einstürzende Neubauten, of which they had already joined in 1981, now as full members. In addition, drug problems also led to the band burying them-selves for the first time.