Now Playing: Abwaerts - Der Westen Ist Einsam

Sometimes the most random twist of fate can open up whole new worlds to us and a large part of my record collection is testimony to these chance moments. Years ago when I was at school I came across a casette compilation of German New Wave stuff which, as someone who was learning German and loved music, I bought for a couple of quid, played a couple of times and then quickly forgot about/lost. Fifteen or so years later, while looking for the English version of 99 Red Balloons (!) to use in a sixth form German lesson looking at how translation doesn't have to be word-for-word, I stumbled across a band and track which sounded familiar, had a listen and realised it was just about the only track I actually liked off that old comp... The result of which is this album, from 1981(?), not especially amazing musically aside from associations with the past and the fact that it reminds me something I keep telling the young people I teach - other countries aren't so different from us. If Abwaerts were from the North West of England, I'd like to think that they might have ended up on Factory, certainly they would have been accused of sounding like Joy Division at times, but the slightly discordant industrial tinge, has a lot more to it than that. The percussion reminds me at times of ACR, there's some Section XXV in there as well, maybe a bit of Wire, but what really makes this album different is the fact that it's sung in German, a language perfectly suited to the punk/new wave 'sound'... 'Ich bin ein Stein' thunders across in a way that 'I am a rock' never could... There a probably hundreds of other similar bands from many different places, who were btter than Abwaerts, more innovative, or whatever, but their 2 albums and 2 singles (again, JD!) from the beginning of the 80s have a particular significance for me now , because of those little moments of good fortune, fifteen or so years apart. The band reformed in the nineties, they look very retro-punk, I haven't listened, as I suspect I won't like what I hear, but I probably should. So if you ever get the chance to listen to Beim Ersten Mal Tut's Immer Weh, do so...

Snorri
xxx

I always quite liked the 'What Are You Listening To Now?' threads on BCD, although they seemed to (understandably) piss a fair few people off... So to experiment with this blog thing, I thought I'd do my own little 'Now Playing' list and add some (mostly incoherent) ramblings about a few of the bands I like rather than boring the missus with lines like "The Orchids were so criminally underrated" for the umpteenth time...

Having said that, I'm not actually listening to anything right now, so the first post'll have to wait for another time...

You've been a great audience... Thank you and goodnight...

Snorri
xxx