From: awrc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Al Crawford)
Newsgroups: rec.music.industrial
Subject: Re: Die Krupps - who, what and why
Date: 18 Aug 92 18:56:37 GMT
Reply-To: awrc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Al Crawford)
Organization: The University Of Edinburgh - Department Of Computer Science

In article <1992Aug18.062611.2944@axis.se> ricard@axis.se (Ricard Wolf) writes:
>
> Hi there metal bashers... :-)
>
> The title says it all --- anyone out there have any info (_anythin'_)
> on these people?

German techno/dance industrial. Well, they are these days anyway. They
started out back in 1981 or so as more old industrial (i.e. real metal
bashing, Stahlwerksymphony etc) evolved through a more synth-poppy phase,
went through a hiatus in the mid-80s when founder member Ralf Dorper sodded
off to join Propaganda and became active again in 1989 or so when Dorper
returned. Since they've come back together they've released a handful of
singles ("The Machineries Of Joy" being a collab. with Nitzer Ebb), a
retrospective album _91-81 Past Forward_ and recently they've put out an EP
("Metall Maschinen Musik") on Rough Trade and a new album called _1_ also
on that label. I haven't been able to find either of the last two locally,
which is a royal pain.

Here for your delectation is the review of _91-81 Past Forward_ (probably
the best place to start) that I posted around the time of its release last
year...

Al (currently wearing a rather nifty "Metall Maschinen Musik" sweatshirt
and matching "No Human Contact With Die Krupps" T :-)

--

Die Krupps      Metall Maschinen Musik          Mute KRUPP 1 CD [UK]
                91-81 Past Forward

Total Running Time 61 min 02 sec

1.      Germaniac
2.      The Machineries Of Joy
3.      Gladiators
4.      Risk (Operatic Intro)
5.      Your Voice
6.      Goldfinger
7.      2 Herzen 1 Rhythmus
8.      Tod & Teufel
9.      Wahre Arbeit, Wahrer Lohn
10.     Stahlwerksymphony

This disc is a compilation covering the first ten years (1981 to date) of
the German techno/dance industrial group Die Krupps.

As the title (well, the part of it that doesn't sound like a Germanified
Lou Reed album anyway) suggests the tracks are in reverse order, starting
with their most recent work and heading back into the past as the disc
proceeds. There may be good reasons for this but all I know is that it
makes writing a review something of a pain, so I'll start with the last
track (ie the earliest) and work backwards (ie forward).

The group formed in Dusseldorf in 1981 as a five piece around the core of
Jurgen Engler and Ralf Dorper. Their first release, `Stahlwerksymphony'
(`Steelworksymphony' in English) was a plodding but relentless 14 minute
piece of guitar noise and industrial pounding. It's this track more than
any of the other here that seems to have stamped the group as Industrial
with a capital I and has lead to The Grey Area, Mute's industrial
re-release subsidiary putting this disc out. Strange, really, as the track
is quite different from everything else on the disc.

This was followed up with `Wahre Arbeit, Wahrer Lohn' (`A Fair Days Pay For
A Fair Days Work' in 1982). This has a lot more in common with the rest of
the material on this disc than `Stahlwerksymphony', being a driving piece
of electronic dance music liberally peppered with the distinctive sound of
steel being pounded with metal tubes. At this early date this sound was
created by...pounding steel with metal tubes in the form of Engler's
Stahlophone. Later releases used an electronic (and less tiring) version of
the Stahlophone. The vocals are in German but this somehow *adds* to the
record for a non-German speaker like myself. Oh yes, and Engler barks a lot
too.

After this, Dorper left the group to form Propaganda taking with him the
ideas behind the group's distinctive image. Die Krupps were meant to be a
satire, a parody on people's expectations of what a German group should be
like. Kraftwerk or DAF taken to extremes. Cold, mechanical, efficient,
Teutonic, music as hard graft, dressed in black sweaters (Kraftwerk) or
black leather (DAF). While the workmanlike sweat and toil side of the group
didn't emerge in Propaganda, the Germanic coolness and certain elements of
the sound and appearance certainly did. I mean, these people even looked
monochrome in colour photos!

Meanwhile, the nucleus of Engler and Bernward Malaka was joined by Tina
Schnekenburger (looking uncannily like Propaganda's Suzanne Freytag, it
must be said. Do all German women look like this? If so I'm moving). More
of the same followed - 1982's album _Volle Kraft Voraus_ is represented
here by two tracks, `Tod Und Teufel' and `2 Herzen 1 Rhythmus'. Both are,
well, Germanic industro-pop. Strongly synthesized and rhythmic. Kraftwerk
spiced with the Human League.

Two years and one previously unreleased track (`Goldfinger') later, we find
three versions of tracks from 1984's _Entering The Arena_. Only one of
these, `Your Voice' is exactly as on the original album. The other two
tracks, `Risk' and `Gladiators' are presented in alternative unreleased and
demo forms instead. The style is a progression from the earlier work with
vocals now in English and sounding similar to Jean-Luc De Meyer of Front
242. The music itself veers towards the territory of the Frontmen in
places, although it belongs more firmly in the synth-pop mainstream and is
less dance oriented. Cross classic-era dark Propaganda (ie P-Machinery)
with _No Comment_ era F242, remove the Horn/Lipson production of the former
and add just a touch of Wagner to taste.

Five years of silence follow. Dorper leaves Propaganda and that group
slides/metamorphoses into a MOR refuge for Simple Minds rejects. Dorper and
Engler reform Die Krupps with Rudiger Esch on bass. `Wahre Arbeit, Wahrer
Lohn' has it's metalwork polished, it's technology brought up to date
(music cut with lasers in a clean room rather than hammered out in a
foundry) and re-emerges as `The Machineries Of Joy', an F242ish techno
dance track with a driving rhythm and an updated form of the pounding
metallic percussion that characterised the original.

From 1990 we find `Germaniac', musically a techno track, lyrically the
strongest self-satire yet. Combining lyrics referring to "logical passions
and artificial tears" with a post-war soundbite about "no making friends,
no human contact with the Germans" and a snippet of wartime martial music
gives a real insight into how the Germans see the rest of the world as only
being able to see them as super-efficient war machines always planning to
take over the world (what? you mean they aren't??? :-)

Well, that's the history lesson over and hopefully I've managed to describe
the music in the process. Most of the info came from the excellent CD
booklet which includes a discography graph, a history of the group and
plentiful acknowledgements. On the whole this is a very good disc and well
worth breaking my recent self-enforced CD famine for.

Erland Rating: +3 (ie very good)

--
			Al Crawford - awrc@dcs.ed.ac.uk
	  Department Of Computer Science, The University of Edinburgh
   Rm 1410, JCMB, Kings Buildings, Mayfield Rd, EDINBURGH, EH9 3JZ, Scotland
	     Tel: +44 (0) 31 650 5165  Fax: +44 (0) 31 667 7209
Newsgroups: rec.music.industrial