#80s ndw

[anemoiawithatouchofobsession]

the next time soneone says German sounds aggressive, show them this specific part from German NDW/pop-rock singer Juliane Werding's version of Mike Oldfield's "Moonlight Shadow" :

~

Am Himmel zogen wilde Wolken, Hell war der Mond, und die Nacht voll Schatten Lief dir nach, und konnte dir nicht folgen Hell war der Mond, und die Nacht voll Schatten Und wenn mich die Erinnerung quält, Such ich dich in der Dunkelheit Du lebst jetzt in einer besseren Welt An dem anderen Ufer der Nacht...

~

(The wild clouds passed by in the skies,

the moon was bright and the night full of shadows

I ran behind you, but couldn't follow you,

the moon was bright, and the night full of shadows

And when your memory plagues me,

I'll search you in the darkness

You're living in a different world now,

on the other side of the night...)

~

(if you havent noticed yet, yes i'm german - indian by ethnicity, german by upbringing - and idk I would love to post a little more indian and european 80s stuff on here once in a while. not too much - that's not what this account is for - but once in a while if it matches the aesthetic)

[c-40]

A-T-4 138 Saâda Bonaire You Could Be More As You Are

More orientalism this time from Bremen, the Salford of Germany. Two tracks from Saâda Bonaire's only release, the Dennis Bovell produced single You Could Be More As You Are, were compiled with along with 11 unreleased tracks in 2013. The US comp got a lot of hype and there is no shortage of writing about them on the internet. The article below is pretty comprehensive

[randomvarious]

Falco - "Der Kommissar" 1981 Synthpop / Neue Deutsche Welle / Pop-Rap / New Wave

I think something that's lost on a lot of people when it comes to hip hop music is, really, just how quickly it managed to spread after scoring its first ever hit in 1979, with The Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight"—which was also, remarkably, just the second song that the genre had ever released up until that point. There seems to be a general presumption that the music largely remained within the confines of the New York-metropolitan area, but as I'm about to show you, that notion is actually pretty false.

See, what I think most Americans have never really come to realize is just how deeply seismic of an event the release of "Rapper's Delight" was on a global scale. It was a modest hit in its home country, reaching #36 on the Billboard Hot 100, and it did prove to a lot of New Yorkers who frequented the hip hop parties that this hobby of rhyming rhythmically and extemporaneously over extended disco-type breaks could actually be successfully metabolized into dollars, which people originally had their doubts about. But where "Rapper's Delight" actually performed much better commercially was in Europe: it went to #5 in Austria; #3 in the UK and West Germany; #2 in Belgium, France, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland; and #1 in the Netherlands and Spain.

And for Europeans who were hearing that song in 1979 and 1980, with all its pervasiveness, the fact that it sounded pretty much unlike *anything* that they'd ever heard before, and that rapping was also easily replicable, there was no doubt that "Rapper's Delight" was going to then end up inspiring a whole lot of different musicians to try their hand at something like it too.

So, while we largely tend to think of some of hip hop's earliest records as being made solely by New Yorkers (actually, the Sugarhill Gang were impostrous nobodies from New Jersey), that's actually pretty shortsighted, because some European acts were quick to start incorporating it into their own music too.

And such was the case with Austrian pop sensation Falco, who released his country's first known hip hop record in 1981, with "Der Kommissar," which also served as his breakout single, managing to not just top the charts in German-speaking countries like Austria and West Germany, but the ones in Spain and Italy too. Now, "Der Kommissar" is certainly not hip hop as we've come to know it; there's no DJ or record scratching, or a sampled or re-created beat; and first and foremost, it's a Neue Deutsche Welle (German new wave) tune. But there is clearly a lot of rapping on this record, and there's little doubt that the sudden Euro-popularity of "Rapper's Delight" is what initially sparked that fuse. I mean, this is before Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five even released "The Message" in 1982, mind you—another very early hip hop cornerstone. That's how early we're talking here. So, pretty fascinating when put into that context, no?

Now, maybe if you're an American, you're far more familiar with the 1982 Anglicized cover of this song by UK band After the Fire instead, as the video for it received heavy rotation on MTV, which then led to significant radio airplay, and then eventually a peak at #5 on the Hot 100. But Falco's German-language version is the one that came first.

And while Falco's only really rippled in the US, managing to reach just #74 on the Cash Box chart and #10 on the Billboard dance chart, the success of After the Fire's version appears to be what actually helped propel it into a very minor US hit in the first place. And that's just sort of funny, right? Like, the only reason that your record's even selling a little bit in such a huge market as the US' is because some other band who covered your song in English the following year is getting almost all of the limelight for it? That's a fun dynamic, huh? But Falco would still end up making *serious* inroads in the US a few years later anyway, with his terrific chart-topper, "Rock Me Amadeus," which also happened to have a bunch of rapping in it too.

So, ultimately there were two videos that were shot for Falco's "Der Kommissar" and this is the one that was released in the US. It's a very low-budget affair, in which Falco performs in front of a screen that shows footage of police cars traveling with their blue lights on, as he continuously makes like he's running away from them. And the song's about a couple who are on the run from the law—the titular 'kommissar'—so this very literal depiction certainly fits.

And actually, there were a lot more records from outside the US that both incorporated hip hop and also predate the release of "Der Kommissar" too. I came across this very enlightening list recently on RateYourMusic that shows what the earliest known hip hop release is for a bunch of different countries, and a lot of them happen to be from way earlier than you've probably ever thought! 🤯

Evidently, hip hop's been a global phenomenon for a bit longer than many people seem to realize 👀.

More fun videos here.

[nathalie24]

Flieger, grüß mir die Sonne

Grüß mir die Sterne und grüß mir den Mond

Dein Leben, das ist das Schweben

Durch die Ferne, die keiner bewohnt

by Extrabreit

[zero-zoxx-international]

Moses führt sein Volk ins Meer (Moses Leads His People Into the Sea), ca. 1981 by J.G.Wind

[yesisgreat]

[some-triangles]

SOUNDS OF 2024

My ferret wife and I were driving down 82nd listening to KINK FM 102. If you are not familiar this is a radio station that specializes in a particular vocal type - it's a voice that transcends genre, ranging from alt rock to white blues to what I can only describe as the Mumford zone - but the key point is that you will not understand a word the singer is singing. Think Hootie, or Eddie Vedder. Crunched through car speakers it's a sort of audio spackle that tickles the brain with the occasional half-recognizable phrase.

Every six or seven songs, though, they play a classic from the 80s or 90s. On this day we got lucky and it was Major Tom by Peter Schilling. You don't think you know this song, but you do. It's the one where the chorus goes like

Prior to this moment I'd occasionally gotten the "earth below us" bit stuck in my head without having any idea where it came from. Making the connection activated something in my brain and, consequently, in the youtube algorithm, and for the rest of the year all I cared about was Neue Deutsche Welle.

I fell in love with the singer from Trio - no longer with us, sadly. This is a band that you will know from their international hit Da Da Da Ich Liebe Du Nicht Du Liebes Mich Nicht Aha Aha Aha. If you're my age you'll remember this tune from Pepsi commercials, but like Chumbawamba, Trio were a weird art punk band with a fluke chart topper rather than your standard one-hit wonder.

Stephan Remmler was so fucking handsome, you guys. And his tragic Weimar cabaret clown of a drummer. And his mysterious, weirdly femme guitarist.

So I went on a dive. As a whole there is more cod reggae (kraut reggae?) in the NDW catalog than I'm comfortable with but other than that it's a true flowering of DIY weirdness. Start with 99 Luftballons and just keep going... the wall should never have fallen, you guys. RIP to the gulag archipelago but global culture never recovered from glasnost.

Anyway that's what I was listening to this year, except also Kendrick vs Drake happened and suddenly hip hop is good again. You don't need me to tell you about this - there are ten million youtube essays you can watch. I'd just like to encourage everyone to keep an eye on Tyler the Creator moving up as a dark horse candidate for commercial AND artistic success of next year. And that's the really miraculous thing about Kendrick - I can't remember the last time an album I really liked had five songs in the top 10 at once. Because it's never fucking happened before!

Music nerds bouncing off GNX are cheating themselves out of a rare opportunity to like something popular. (Maybe that's why they're bouncing, actually.) But it's undeniable stuff.

Painfully beautiful, and this isn't even what he's supposed to be best at. Pop music is fun and interesting and deep again. You can't relax for a second - even now that Drake has been chased out of rap into the right wing influencer sphere and courtroom trolling, Things are still happening. Christmas day, Tyler smokes Kendrick on his own beat:

And where's Vince Staples? Surely he's got a statement album coming. I haven't even gotten a chance to listen to scHoolboy Q's Blue Lips enough times for the ink to sink in. I've always been a west coast guy where rap is concerned, mainstream or indie, and I've been eating so good...

It's been a great year for me and music, basically. A lot of this has been due to picking up crumbs from Ferret Wife's Kendrick obsession and various other treats she's brought me. From a creative standpoint I've made nothing ambitious but steadily cranking out jingles and silly parodies has made me a better player and singer than I've ever been, and surely there's a sensitive guitar man album in me waiting to come out.

In the meantime please enjoy my contribution to this year's Exit 605 Christmas Album.

[damnhattan]

Sweet BOOMKAT review of last time in London DJing at Accidental Meetings label anniversary lil partay at SPANNERS in wherever South Side London you know!

Kinda happy , been putting a lot of work on my DJing Chef's hat:

Madteo wears his DJ chef’s hat for a deadly 2 hour mixtape stuffed with ‘80s synth pomp, disco, and strutting, wigged-out deep house suss for Accidental Meetings.

Absolutely locked in-the-mode, Madteo straight slays with a carousel of street wise soulfood for the feet, racking up $ slices of bargain bin dance music from the ’80s to modern day, all tastier than any haute cuisine. His knack for selections is matched by an ability to blend the flavours seamlessly, ruggedly and judiciously, keeping the platters coming in a hot stream that leaves us groggy and heavily satisfied, like a proper hearty meal. 

He’ll allow bodies in motion to settle into a spicy groove for long enough, before deciding to switch left, cleanse the palate with piquant spikes of broken beats, kinked ChItalo dishes and NDW sauerkraut, constantly hailing US dance music as a gumbo of so many flavours, akin to how Theo Parrish DJ sets do with its Afro-American meets European influences (‘Sawala Sayale’ included for good measure!). In other words it’s NYC Italian thru and thru; oozing with rude art, heart and swagger.

[michelleplayswithfire]

i've been into this lately: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlCHtWGk_ktWxe4INZ2Mld2ChepKIL_SW

i have a little bit of a backstory

some time 12 years ago, i found really good remixes of 80s tracks on a forum that was uploaded "secretly" and i thought they were too good to not share, so i uploaded some of them on youtube, and it so happens it had gained hundreds of thousands of views

found out they're based in germany

some of the songs that on the playlist (the pop chart from around this time in 1983) were remixed by these people and this is how i found out about these songs and i love NDW more than i thought i ever would and i barely know german

i hope you all like them too :)

i also did the current billboard hot 100 chart last night and you can see that here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlCHtWGk_ktXQoqyu0iRHxz0qBoOJAQYl

i'm not over the fact that hozier is almost at #1, I'm soooooo happy :D

[c-40]

A-T-3 275 Innovative Communication

A handful of tracks released on the Innovative Communication label from 1983

Bringing electro back to Germany, Walter Bachauer (AKA Clara Mondshine) and the title track from their stunning album Memorymetropolis

Clara Mondshine - Memorymetropolis

B-side of Robert Schröder's single Skywalker. 1983 was the year the third part of the original Star Wars trilogy came out. Schröder would produce the album Universal Ave. in 1986 under the name Double Fantasy

Robert Schröder - Space Detective

DIN A Testbild  - Going Tutu from their third album https://dinatestbild.bandcamp.com/album/programm-3

[randomvarious]

Falco - "Vienna Calling" 1985 Neue Deutsche Welle / Synthpop

Sweet and catchy mid-80s synthpop tune from Austrian star Falco here. "Vienna Calling" served as his immediate follow-up to the fantastic global smash, "Rock Me Amadeus," but it would also represent just the second and final time that he'd land a hit on the Billboard Hot 100, with this one managing to peak at #18. Falco was a pretty early proponent of incorporating rap into his palette too, but it seems to be virtually nonexistent in this song. 

More fun videos here!

[lettersfromcats]

spotify wrapped

hey kate,

it's been a while! i am sorry for that but uni has been busy. anyway yesterday last week spotify wrapped came out and i thought i could maybe examine mine more closely. see what memories are connected to the music in it and just tell you about my year through the music i listened to.

my top 5 genre this year was Neue Neue Deutsche Welle, which i find really interesting because growing up i loved Neue Deutsche Welle. Nancy Kilpatrick in the The Goth Bible , Neue Deutsche Welle or short NDW is "is a genre of west German rock music originally derived from post punk and new wave music with electronic influences". according to my mom it is the sound of her youth. according to me it is the sound of those 80s music documentaries i love watching. one of the most globally famous songs from this genre is without a doubt this one. however it is probably not the only one you know. anyways i am getting distracted. Neue Neue Deutsche Welle is hard to define but i will try my best for you. it seems pretty similar to the 80s genre, however there sometimes seems to be bigger emphasis on using synth and the vibe of the songs is overall gloomier. whether that is an accurate description or not, you should decide for yourself. what i can say for sure is that to me, this genre has been a huge part of my year. when i would genuinely want to listen to music and not just have something playing in the background this is the type of music i would go for. artists like mia morgan, die tränen and modular were the soundtrack of m 2023. futhermore i wanted to tell you about this genre as it is crucial to one of my favorite memories from this year. as you can probably tell from my brief mentioning of a few Neue Neue Deutsche Welle artists, is that mia morgan is one of them. attending her show together just last month was so much fun and so was finding new artists in the genre. both her support artists were new discoveries, although i had heard of them i had just never taken the time to actually go and listen to them.

"this year listening took you places!", is what it says on the next slide of the spotify wrapped and that is certainly true. a little spoiler but the day i listened to the most music in 2023 was the day i was travelling back to ireland after the maneskin concert. so here's a list of all the places i saw this year because of concerts (also funnily enough, the place spotify is saying listens just like me is not included):

luxembourg (twice)

düsseldorf (three times, unfortunately)

dresden

it might not seem like a lot of places, but i am always glad for getting to travel and see my favorite artists in concert and hear my favorite songs.

this was fortunately also the case for my top song kein gott, kein staat nur du by kraftklub ft. mia morgan. this song was already my top song last year (despite the fact it came out 32 days before the spotify wrapped cutoff) so i would say it's real love. i saw kraftklub live only two times this year (one of those times was the show in dresden) and was thus fortunate enough to hear my favorite song live at both of those shows. at one of the shows they brought out mia to sing her own part, at the other this was done by gwen doyln. both times are fond memories of mine.

out of my 5 top artists of the year, i saw 3 of them live this year. kraftklub, 5sos and maneskin. interestingly enough on the little clocks spotify wrapped gave us for when we listened most to our top artists it shows very clearly that i listen most to an artists just after i saw them live. i don't know what to do with that information but i am glad i have it.

lastly, for the little categories spotify gave each listener, they gave me alchemist, so the playlist curator. thus it feels only right to end this blog post with my 23 out of 23 playlist, which includes my favorite releases of the year. i might go into more detail about the songs on that playlist another time, but for now this seems enough.

doreen <3

[vvivvaccious]

It just pisses me off that she so bad with managing her money/ debts . Sure I had it too but damn.... she keeps missing payments and i get the pressure of not helping with the bills when she was the one depending on something temporary like RENTERS . So she went ahead and got a ndw car new couch on A LOAN. Now she can even barely pay the couch that 80% not being used. But I get blamed for not giving monwy. Even if I paid thsi internet bill shed still fucking cry because im bot paying everything. I love being an only child.

[haikuckuck]

Nie davon gehört

Werde ich meinem jüngeren Enkel vorschlagen anzuschauen,falls er es nicht kennt, bei mir war das andersrum,die Verunsicherung , Labilität,das "Quartalsirresein" kam erst ab der Pubertät in mein Leben, zeitweise,periodisch,, und comics , Smartphone, YouTube usw. Fehlte in meiner Kindheit not at all, das gab es gar nicht,ausser Fix und Foxi Hefte kurz mal mit 8 oder so ,ich hatte aber sukzessive damals gaanz andere Lektüre.

Video,film,Zeichentrickfilm,interessiert mich heute noch wenig,,"video killed the radio star..."das ganze "fantasy "zeugs auch ,killt die eigene Phantasie,lenkt vieles fehl,glaube ich..soo dankbar ,dass sich mein Leben in Kindheit und Jugend vorwiegend im Freien in Wiesen, Feldern,Wäldern,an Bächen, Gewässern ,in den Bergen und campend an einem großen See abgespielt hat..und ich die angloamerikanische ( auch NDW ,ja zb.'"blaue Augen,"Ideal und"blue eyes", Elton John, auch!!)Musik der 60 er ,70 er,80 iger intensiv erlebt und aufgesogen habe..

Bluey

Wie seltsam,

ich bin eigentlich zu alt für diese Serie.

Doch irgendwie schau ich sie gerne.

Schaffe ich es doch mit ihr meine Kindheit aufzuarbeiten.

Mir fällt auf, wie viel ich als Kind nicht gemacht habe,

aus Angst ich könnte mir wehtun oder es würde Ärger geben.

Ich bemerke wie wenig ich mir zugetraut habe,

was ich an Abenteuern alles verpasst habe.

So selten habe ich meine eigenen Grenzen ausgesprochen,

schließlich könnte ich andere mit meinen Aussagen verletzen.

Als Kind wusste ich nie wer ich war oder wer ich sein möchte.

Zu oft nur irgendwie im Überlebensmodus gesteckt.

Immerhin lerne ich jetzt mit dem alten Schmerz umzugehen.

Irgendwo hilft mir diese Serie das alles zu verstehen.

[yesisgreat]

[zero-zoxx-international]

Voyage to Inner Allgäu, 1983 by J.G.Wind