The Unwillings - Diggin' Holes -1987- (Cassette, Servil), Germany

 

According to the review on the cover of this cassette The Unwillings were a duo comprised of the German born Steve and Pete who were working at Audi-Motors in the German town of Ingolstadt. Whether any of that is true remains unknown, however it really doesn't matter.

The Unwillings were a Velvet Underground influenced band that released only one cassette on the Servil label that was created by bedroom-pop and home-taping pioneers Fit + Limo from Altdorf, Bavaria. Their rhythm box driven neo-psychedelic fuzzy garage tunes are in line with other bands from the time like 39 Clocks (Also from Germany, later incarnated into The Phantom Payn), The Rest (from Naples, Italy), Hi-Fi (from Amsterdam, Holland) or any other brown sugar dripping, sunglasses after dark, vintage fuzz pedal to the metal, slowly burning cigarettes, shiny boots of leather bands. These guys must have had records by Spacemen 3 and The Monks at home too.

The Unwillings also play a cover of Amon Düül II's Archangel's Thunderbird which underlines their neo-psychedelic spirit. Actually, before Krautrock propelled the world into cosmic realms with musical innovation that we could have never imagined, many groups from Germany from the mid- and late 60's already heralded that near future to come. A series like the Prae-Kraut-Pandaemonium provides a great overview of that realm for those who are interested. With the neo-psychedelic revival of the 80's everything kind of went full circle.

Anyhow, as for now, here are The Unwillings for everyone who remains unwilling! 

Keep diggin' holes, long live the underground!

Get it HERE

Survival Instink - Self-Titled -1988- (Tape, Self-Released), GDR

Survival Instink was a project by German musician Bernd Jestram, perhaps recorded together with others, perhaps not. There is a little child singing on one of the tracks on the B-Side. Jestram is one of the important underground musicians from East-Berlin who played in many iconic punk and experimental bands from the other side of the wall surviving the German socialist regime. Among others he played in Rosa Extra (aka Der Schwarze Kanal) which was probably East-Berlin's most important punk band that had formed already in 1979. He founded his own band Aufruhr Zur Liebe in 1984 and later joined another important experimental band called Ornament & Verbrechen. Aside from this he played in numerous other bands and did many solo works. You can find a lot of those bands and related material over at Tape Attack. Obviously none of these bands in the DDR had proper chances of releasing anything so their music circulated on tapes in the underground. They spreaded their common experience of bleakness due to the repressive totalitarian regime as well as the daily derooted alienating feeling of misplacement in a city that was torn apart by warfare and corruptive political powers.

Survival Instink was another nice project by Bernd Jestram, although a somewhat later project from 1988. I couldn't find any information about it whatsoever. It's also not listed on Discogs. It's a very loud (!) lo-fi cassette that contains some heavily distorted cyber garage-punk dedicated to urban dystopia. Lots of raw guitar sounds, manic drum machine clattering, and dark distorted vocals. The music probably appeals to fans of Chrome, Strafe Für Rebellion or Second Layer and even reminds me of equally obscure stuff like the rock era of Salò Mentale or Spalanzanis Töchter.

Get it HERE