Malaria!

In the early 80's Berlin based all-female post-punk band entered the independent stage with a sound radical and new for a German band. Many people named them as the German answer to The Slits and The Raincoats but for me they built the ground for many following new wave bands in Germany. Malaria! didn't only made their post-punk thing, they also adapted early electronic sounds and No Wave like James Chance to their music. All in all not an easy listening because it was more than new to many but retrospective a band that showed us the possibilities of modern music.

Malaria! - How Do You Like My New Dog
Malaria! - Pernod
Malaria! - Your Turn To Run

Contort Yourself

A few days ago I met an old friend for a couple of beers and we remembered once again when we were DJ-ing in the early 80's in our local pub. Later this evening we talked about our friends who passed during the last decade. One of them who passed too early in a motorcycle accident was Peter who was addicted to Frank Zappa. He was the one who introduced us to the so called No New York sound. It was Brian Eno who was one of the first that discovered this sound. It was a sound that was very new to us all. A lot of free-jazz on a perfect and steady rhythm groove made it more than worth to listen to. In these days we listened to James Chance, Defunkt and many others funk and jazz inspired bands. Some might call it eclectic but after decades nothing of this music lost of it's fascination.

James Chance and the Contortions - Contort Yourself

Funky Friday

I think it was in the late 70s when the ZE-label appeared on the scene but I got aware of it in the early 80s. The No Wave scene was gone and many artists were signed by ZE-records. In these days a new fresh and weird sound slopped over from the other side of the Atlantic ocean. James Chance, Material, Lydia Lunch and others fascinated us with their new and unbound sound. Lizzy Mercier Descloux was a forming member of French punk scene together with Michel Esteban the co-founder of ZE-label. Soon they moved over to New York to join the local punk scene around Patti Smith and Richard Hell. Her first record Press Colour was a brilliant little masterpiece of funk-influenced punk. Like many others she made cover-versions of well known songs and her version of Arthur Brown's Fire might be a good example how to interpret an old song. With her second record Mambo Nassau she had more influences of African music in her sound. But still the funky guitar ruled the sound although the sound was warmer than before. After a few more records she quit the music business to live in the Caribbean and working as a painter. She died 2004 at her birth place in Corsica.