Kinder-Klons, Uwe Linke, Gefährliche Klons - The Kinderkram Tapes - Lost Tracks & Live (Cassettes 198X), Germany

The Gefährliche Klons (The Dangerous Clones) were a NDW band formed in the city of Marburg during the late 70's by the core duo of Uwe Linke and Exo Neutrino. They had many different Clone disguises and started to do their own music experiments inspired by Der Plan and the Geri Reig principle combining primitive electronic sounds with demented acoustic tunes and melodies while also using toys and other lost and found non-instruments.

These recordings are from an obscure collection of overdubbed NDW tapes I found at some point years ago. Too bad we can't see the original covers but chances are very small that we will ever see them. I couldn't find any information on these presumed cassette releases, not on Discogs nor on the Tape-Mag. In any case these recordings mostly collect the solo works by Uwe Linke who also did the Markenzeichen XY project as well as Kinder-Klons. A couple of these Kinder-Klons tracks were also collected on the extensive compilation cassette 40 Funkuchen that was released by Dutch cassette label Trumpett (from the small town of Heiloo), but some tracks are unknown.

Lastly I added an unknown live performance by The Gefährliche Klons from another one of those dubbed cassettes which now completes all the leftover material I have by them. However, it would be truly amazing if someone could provide some other unknown cassettes from their own Wir Wollen Nur Dein Bestes Bänder label.

Get all the leftover tunes HERE

Die Dancing Chromosomes - Was Ihr Wollt -1985- (Cassette, Refiuti Records), Germany

Ever since Mutant Sounds posted their first cassette Kleine Gelben Tierchen (Little Yellow Animals) in 2007 I tried tracking down the second Dancing Chromosomes cassette. Finally after more than a decade here it is...

The Dancing Chromosomes were a NDW and New Wave band from Munich that consisted of Ralf Bremer, Philipp Meyer and Christian Türck (& Fraenk S. and Peter Spies). (Members of honor: Lutz Möller, Steffen Haller). They released two cassettes in the early eighties and ran their own cassette label called Refiuti Records.

On this second cassette Was Ihr Wollt the band continues where they left off with the first one, although in a slightly less minimalistic way. Some light-hearted rock 'n' roll inspired tunes are interspersed with synth experiments and darker new wave songs with melancholic atmospheres.

The Dancing Chomosomes were not absurdistic like many of their NDW peers, but they focused more on their song-writing. Some of the tracks contain certain Sehnsucht love theme's that resemble Dutch minimal synth act The Actor. Their less serious tunes also remind me of Bavarian home-tapers Fit & Limo or the mysterious Tenk Ric Snach project I posted some time ago. All in all there is an elegance of the music on display through mood and emotion.

Another essential tape from 80's Germany, the Munich DIY scene and the missing piece of the Dancing Chromosomes discography. Maybe some labels are brave enough to reissue them one day!

Get it HERE

The Clone - Psycho Delicts -198X- (Self-Released, Cassette), Germany

Here is another obscure tape by the blog's favorite absurdist and disruptive Kassettentäter recidivists Die Gefährliche Klons (The Dangerous Clones). This particular recording comes from an obscure source of overdubbed NDW cassettes I got hold of a long time ago. The Gefärhliche Klons were formed in the city of Marburg during the late 70's by the core duo of Uwe Linke and Exo Neutrino. They had many different Clone disguises and started to do their own music experiments inspired by Der Plan blending primitive electronic sounds with demented acoustic tunes and melodies while also using toys and other lost and found non-instruments.

Even though this material was copied from its original source during the 80's and consequently somewhat less high in audio fidelity without any cover artwork, chances are slim that an original of this will actually surface, so I decided to share this anyway. Moreover, Psycho Delicts by "The Clone" might be one of the most balanced, intricate and serious music efforts I've heard by the Klons so far. It's as if finally a German Krimi series goes absurdist Neue Deutsche Welle and the special police unit is trying to catch a mysterious mob of dangerous clowns equiped with cassette decks and casio keyboards who are roaming the music underground and leaving an idiotic soundtrack as their only trace. Obviously undermining the success story of the police. Quite reminiscent of the neurotic and paranoid subversive world of The Cop Killers: a conceptual Italian Sci-Fi fueled anti-authoritarian and fugitive home-taping project that was created a.o. by mail-artist Vittore Baroni in the early 80's.

The short Psycho Delicts cassette doesn't really like to compromise, yet it's unquestionably humorous while containing some real musical depth. Conceptually indeed similar to some of the creations by The Residents, Der Plan or even Blacklight Braille.

"Was tu tust kann nur zur Selbstzerstörung führen."

Get it HERE

Markenzeichen XY - Da Kommt Die Braut -1983- (Cassette, BestesBänder BB5), Germany

We continue our April fool's journey with another rarity from a far away galaxy of the Neue Deutsche Welle universe. If I'm correct Markenzeichen XY was the first solo release by Uwe Linke from the city of Marburg. He was a delegate of some of Germany's craziest and wacked out Kassettentäter groups of the 80's which he formed with his partner in crime Exo Neutrino called Die Gefährliche Klons (Dangerous Clones) or Different Klons or FunTastiClones or MicroClones etc. I posted their very first cassette some time ago.

Inspired by The Residents and the legendary Hamburg based NDW band Der Plan they started to create their different musical groups of Clone incarnations as well as recording many solo projects. They founded their own cassette label called BestesBänder or Wir Wollen Nur Dein Bestes Bänder (We only want your best tapes). The music was heavily inspired by non-musicianship, the usage of found objects, toys and primitive electronic instruments and synthesizers. The mysterious Clones (or maybe just Exo Neutrino alone) also published a record during the 80's called Unpop under the moniker Lustige Mutanten. It was a 7 inch single inside of a regular LP sleeve containing lots of different demented little tracks. It's still a great album in my opinion, at least it had a big influence on me when I found it as a teenager.

Markenzeichen XY's Da Kommt Die Braut (There Comes The Bride) also displays a collection of short tracks in the typical absurdist clones style. It's a wonderful short tape with the information nicely written all over the cassette box. Maybe there was some inlay or side publication to it displaying the track titles, but I don't have it, so all tracks are untitled for now.

In any case this is a great NDW tape again that was released in the scarce quantity of 111 copies.

More Dangerous Clones stuff still to come!

Get it HERE

Bodenpersonal, Tumorbeus, Siedlerheim ‎- Westhafen Plassette -1981- (Cassette + 7 Inch, Kompakt Produkte), Germany

About a year ago a couple of hundred of tapes from an old collection came into my hands. Most of them were self-recorded copies of existing albums, mostly vinyl, that someone had been copying throughout the 80's. The majority of the music on these cassettes did consist of weird new wave, experimental and industrial music. I started to devide the tapes into different sections, the exact recorded copies of albums I put away in one box and the unknown cassettes without any written information on them I stored away in another box to examine. I also threw away dozens of tapes that were poor in quality and had nothing to do with underground music in general. Even now I still have some bags left with the unknown cassettes. I still have to listen to them and figure out what is on there.

In-between all of this stuff there was a self-made series that consisted of overdubs of rare NDW cassettes all with typewriter style titles and tracklisting. Because of that information I could luckily connect this one here to its original: a release I had been looking for over at least a decade. Thus, the digitization of this is somewhat less sharp sounding because I had to use a copy as source. Nevertheless we should be very happy that someone copied this rarity in 1981 for us to hear today! It doesn't seem likely this will surface any time soon in any sound quality (also with regard to the collectors who do seem to have this).

The Westhafen Plassette (Platte und Kassette) is a true relic and highly important item of the West-Berlin underground music scene of the early 80's. Released in a scarse edition of only 200 copies this three-way split release, that consisted of a 7 inch vinyl and a cassette, compiled three underground groups hailing from Berlin: Bodenpersonal, Tumorbeus (Read: Tumorboys), and Siedlerheim. It came out on the obscure cult label Kompakt Produkte from Berlin. The music consists of some of the purest experimental minimal synth and DIY new-wave music in the tradition of the grey and wall-divided Berlin music underground of the time:

Bodenpersonal with their Zufallsprodukt Eines Langweiligen Wochenendes (Chance product of a boring weekend) was recorded in a factory in Berlin in 1980 and consists of great minimal synth and DIY-music improvisation. 

Tumorbeus create such abstract synthesizer driven atmospheres that the music almost becomes techno-like, mindblowingly ahead of its time to say the least. I really wonder whether they did more music in those days. They also remind me a bit of the Studio 12 bands from Haarlem, The Netherlands from the early 80's with bands like Nexda and Cargo Cultus. 

Siedlerheim seems to be the more traditional NDW group, but also ventures into electronic experimentation. They have more structured tracks with vocals and even incorporate the occassional saxophone burst. Maybe their sound is actually the most representative West-Berliner sound of the time. An energy that was also captured strongly in the Berlin Super 80 film, that gathered underground music and performance video's recorded on Super 8 Film by different artists from Berlin during the 80's (I will add that video below. Update: the video has been removed). Both Bodenpersonal and Siedlerheim have been re-released more than a decade ago by the great WSDP label specialized in rare NDW cassettes. Some of the tracks that are on the Westhafen Plassette were also compiled by WSDP, just not everything.

The Westhafen Plassette is partially a musical time-document but it also displayed its avant-garde vision of futuristic musical possibilities beyond the political barriers of the bleak urban landscape and society of Berlin at that time. It stands closely next to many other important underground bands from Berlin of the time like Kompakt Produkte peer band Thorax Wach, Notorische Reflexe, Die Tödliche Doris, Sentimentale Jugend, Malaria!, Einstürzende Neubauten, An Die Schwarze Kunst, Sprung Aus Den Wolken and many more. Both in instrumentation and energy very strong. Those analog machines in combination with this urgency to experiment really resulted in some of the greatest music in general it seems.

It's nice to post this on the blog since 2019 marks the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. If you would like to dig deeper into the theme of the underground music history of Berlin I really recommend the book Berlin Calling, A story of Anarchy, Music, the Wall and the Birth of the New Berlin by Paul Hockenos (2017).

A long story this time, anyway... could have saved this one for Christmas, but I have so much more to share on the blog... Enjoy! Sturm und Turm!

Get it HERE

Gefärhliche Klons - Reise Durch A Sunday Afternoon -1981- (Cassette, Pop-O-Records), Germany

*Archaic Inventions 6 Years Anniversary Post!*

Gefährliche Klons (Dangerous Clones) were a duo from Marburg, Hessen that consisted of Iggi Unpop (Exo Neutrino) and Uwe Linke. They started their musical project after a visit to legendary German Neue Deutsche Welle band Der Plan. Obviously they also took their name from the band's song Gefährliche Clowns (Dangerous Clowns).

Both members of Gefährliche Klons were very much inspired by The Residents, just like Der Plan was. Der Plan even named their first album after the The Residents concept Geri Reig. The principle that you can get best results with doing the least you can. Gefährliche Klons later also morphed into new incarnations like Little Clones, FunTastiKlons or Different Clones (VOD released some of their music as part of the German Punk Wave Box Set), but this cassette was their first output ever.

Reise Durch A Sunday Afternoon was self-released in an edition of 20 copies in 1981 and was recorded with the minimal tools of a tape-deck, toys, a mouth-harp, a xylophone, guitar and maybe some kitchenware during the course of a Sunday afternoon. It displays how the Gefährliche Klons were even more primitive than Der Plan, lacking even the implementation of synthesizers and other electronically generated sounds. It's a great example of the NDW scene of the early eighties that sometimes even used a non-music attitude in doing music anyway. More punk than punk, since you don't play punk! It reminds me of other German acts like Die Parkhaushänker or Der Ewige Musikant.

On the amazing Tape Attack blog I found a fanzine from 1981 called C.T.Z. Mainz and it includes a little review of Reise Durch A Sunday Afternoon. It's great how you can actually piece together all these different bits of obscure information. On the cover of the cassette you can clearly read that there are 24 different tracks and I started to dissect the tape into those different tracks until I found out it was impossible. So I left the tape unindexed in its two different sides (the dangerous clones got me...)

This is an amazing absurdistic Der Plan-related NDW relic from the early 80's DIY cassette culture. It contains nice primitive music, humor and maybe the best DIY cover of The House Of The Rising Sun ever. An edition of 20 hand-made copies! Don't ask me how I find this stuff, it probably finds me.

Get it HERE

Circles - The Third Cycle -1987- (LP, Einhorn Music), Germany

This is the third and last privately released Circles album that came out during the eighties. Circles is a Frankfurt based late-cosmic- krautrock and NDW band that consists of the duo of Mike Bohrmann and Dierk Leitert. Also they had a side-project called Das Organisierte Chaos. I posted their first album some time ago, but I recommend you to get your own vinyl copy since it has been beautifully reissued lately.

The Third Cycle is the most ambient and cosmic album of Circles. It moves away from the sometimes wonky chaoticness of the first albums and travels to much subtler electronic spaces to drift into. Still the distinctive Circles ingredients are present: Ash Ra Tempel like guitars, kosmische electronics and dark eighties sounds expected from the DIY tape-culture. Actually I think this album is a real classic and we can only hope it gets reissued too. Recently German label Bureau B has also issued a semi-unreleased album by Circles called Structures. I think it stayed somewhat under the radar so I recommend you to check it out.

Highly Recommended!

Get it HERE

Donated by SonicA

D.O.C. (Das Organisierte Chaos) - Same -1983- (LP, Einhorn Music), Germany

So here is the next post within the realm of the kraut-synth duo of Dierk Leitert and Mike Bohrmann. This time it's the first album of their Circles side-project called Das Organisierte Chaos, also released on their own Einhorn Music label. The first two Circles albums have actually just been reissued through Mental Experience records (Guerssen). According to the liner notes of the reissues, Dierk used to live in Amsterdam in the late seventies whilst Mike in Frankfurt. However Circles is a Frankfurt based band which is still active to this day. Musically they existed in-between psychedelic krautrock and the new wave, NDW, industrial stuff from the late seventies and early eighties.

Das Organisierte Chaos has always been described as the more rock or new-wave oriented counterpart of Circles. But basically the musical approach and sounds are the same. D.O.C. had more people involved in the rhythm section, but created a similar amazing mixture of synth experimentation, krautsounds, ambient atmospheres and wave-y guitar textures. I might even think that I like this D.O.C. debut more than the Circles debut from the same year.

It's a nicely balanced album going from rocking extremes to kosmische soundscapes. A real treat serving us the favourite combination of analog synthesizer jams, NDW wonkiness and tripped out krautgrooves.

Get it HERE

Donated by SonicA