Over the past 40 years, Germany has produced (and continues to produce) an extraordinary group of electronic music pioneers. Most everyone is familiar, of course, with Kraftwerk, formed back in 1970. But Germany has continued to generate musical prodigies each decade. During the 1980s when most folks were bopping along to New Order or Aha’s “Take on Me” (admittedly great music), a real new order of electronic dance music was being established in central Europe, as talented German artists such as Sven Vath, Oliver Lieb, Paul van Dyk, Torsten Fenslau, Peter Namlook, Thomas Heckman and others were creating a sound influenced by, but generally light-years ahead, of the 80’s synth pop/new wave. Oliver Lieb’s 1989 track “System” under the name “Force Legato,” and Torsten Fenslau’s groundbreaking track “Alone It’s Me” under the name “Abfahrt,” (German for “Departure”) - regarded by some as the greatest electronic track yet produced for example – signaled a new era of music and single-handedly fueled the expansion of a new style of electronic music in many parts of the globe, including the southeast U.S.
This writer had an opportunity to expose the Bay Area (northern California, US) to this sound while a DJ at KZSU, 90.1, Stanford’s innovative radio station. During that time, I received numerous calls with questions about the central European music. Not surprisingly, most of the local populace who listened to electronic music (trip hop was popular at the time) had never heard a sound quite like it. For some, it was “too intense.” For others – Monster Loop included, it was an exhilarating musical breakthrough. Examining the phenomenon deeper, one must acknowledge the contribution to the burgeoning European techno scene from the U.S. “Acid House” movement, which originated in Chicago and Detroit. The Germans – and Frankfurt deserves special recognition along with Berlin, Cologne, and other German cities – however, harnessed and processed the powerful American Acid House sound as if it were a raw material. And, in the process, the Germans created something entirely original. There are some who follow the history of electronic music who claim that, without the contribution of the Germans at this time, electronic music would have met the same fate as disco.
In the spirit of celebrating the country’s many musical accomplishments, we have attached this tune-widget with 5 contemporary German electronica tracks. We hope you enjoy.
What is it with us musicians and our names? I had a friend in Chicago, a talented electronic music producer, who seemed to spend 50% of his time staring at a sheet of paper, pencil in hand, brainstorming his official artist name. He’s still working on it. Then there’s the friend who recently sent me an email in which he indicated “[o]ur name currently is ‘The Absentia Formal.’ The name is hard to remember so we’re still working with options.” I’ll say. Let’s just say that producers of electronic music tend to have a flair for names that are “creative” (a compliment in our book – note that, in contrast, DJs generally seem to strive for a coolness factor with their name – to each his own). I was scanning the Top 500 Electronica Global Rankings this morning while drinking coffee, and jotted down a few memorable artist names:
- NUDE ! (Dreieich, Germany)
- Old Man Motel (Jamsankoski, Finland)
- Boo Boo Dan & the Loopadelics (San Antonio, Texas, USA)
- Spank the Chemical Christians (Dublin, Ireland)
- Cemetery Dance Club (Jakarta, Indonesia)
- Arthur Loves plastic (Silver Springs, Maryland, USA)
- Ice cream attack! (Bali, Indonesia)
- BOTTLESMOKER (Bandung, Indonesia)
- Zeds dead (Toronto, Canada) (there’s also a “zed’s dead” rock band – unfortunate guy, this zed)
- My parasites (Philadelphia, PA, USA)
- The 4th floor (Napoli, Italy)
- SlimGirlFat (London, UK)
- Magic toadstools (Portugal)
- Infected Mushroom (Los Angeles, CA, USA)
- Chemical Trolls (Be’er Sheva, Israel)
- Dragatis inside the mind (Edmonton, Canada)
- Afrolicious (San Francisco, CA, USA)
Finally, Monster Loop stumbled upon a list we drafted many years ago when we were young punks dreaming about someday producing electro music. This was our list of potential names. Feel free to laugh, we are.
