Customer Reviews

Die Kleinen Und Die Bosen (Reis)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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This is one rough record...laden with electronic textures, but possessed of the same raw edge as some gritty garage band. The first several tracks are all studio material, a lot of it pretty hostile and punk-inflected. And very minimal, to boot; one track's lyrics simply translate to "I don't want to go to bed with you/I want to get something to eat/And go to bed alone". But from "Gewalt" on, the album shifts into a live set (recorded 'by accident', according to the liner notes) in which DAF go into all-on assault-mode on an audience in London. And just as much as the band doesn't seem to like the crowd, the crowd doesn't like the band, and it leads to perhaps one of the most jaw-droppingly amazingly confrontational sets ever captured on record! This is less a electronic pop group bangin' it out than four Germans engaging in a full frontal sonic attack, and as Gabi howls and screeches like some vicious animal over the distorted backdrop, you get the feeling that you're transported into this likely-nightmarish evening of musical hostility. Nothing quite like it existed before, and nothing would again, as DAF after this album broke down into a two piece with just Robert Gorl and Gabi Delgado, to perform something more akin to 'acceptable' synth-pop. Harsh, acid-drenched (both the psychedelic _and_ caustic varieties), this is one of those amazing landmark releases that, if you're into some difficult listening, will grow on you. Recommended highly for those not faint at heart!

If you're a fan of Devo's "Mongoloid Years," any of Wire's stuff--but especially the Pink Flag phase--and Einsturzende Neubauten, then this record should be a part of your collection.

This is the perfect mix of punk, industrial, and pure comic genius: crunchy minimalist synthesizers, dissonant guitars, and a very hyper vocalist who alternates between barking and screeching the lyrics. When you realize these guys were doing this in 1980 it just makes it that much cooler, too. Audiences must not have known what hit them!

Bought this aulbum for 25 cents in a bargain bin as a gag gift for a co-worker based only on the cover art. Never gave them the thing and it sat around still wrapped for @ a year. Bored one night and finally opened it up and played it. I was totally enthralled from start to finish. An amazing and breathtaking work of art. It pushes the limits of music and sanity, while retaining a keen sense of humor. The all German vocals only add to the intensity. Not for your everyday top 40 listener, but if you're a musician, interested in industrial, early electronic, or experimental music, you simply must check this out. If nothing else you can invite your friends over, have some beers, and say "you're not going to believe this crazy thing". Really though this is one of my favorite recordings EVER!

I think that , DAF may be best thing from Germany after Nietzche . This is a strange door to open all avantgarde music , If you are a musician ,you have to listen it , before you say i make a avantgarde musıc.

Like a previous reviewer, I picked this one up in a bargain bin, for fifty cents. Apparently obscure German synth-punk from the early 80s is not a big seller at Camelot Music.

It's a startlingly unique album. Haphazard disco beats collide with chaotic, mistuned guitar squeals. Ludicrous German lyrics are barked in a frighteningly militant voice (one track translates to: "I'm the sexy Lola/Der Liebling of the fashion/I have a pianola/at home in my drawing room/everybody knows me/but no one can touch my pianola." WTF?). Synths chirp and squawk amidst the din, and anyone who thinks that synths are incompatible with punk rock needs to listen to this album.

There are also a number of more sober, orderly tracks, mostly repetitive, slower in tempo, and heavier on the electronics, but these are less interesting than the aural assaults.

Recommended tracks: "Die Lustigen Stiefel", "Die Fesche Lola", "Co Co Pino".

This second album of the very eclectic German outfit Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft stands as a true industrial classic - it's enormously creative and enormously influential. Taking a few cues from Cabaret Voltaire, this emphasizes the "danceable" side of industrial while remaining uncompromising, and the result is a document of fearless experimentation mapped out and held together by cleverly constructed rhythms.

One of the most ingenious features of the album is the way it presents two sides of the band: a disciplined, technically skilled studio band playing stripped down rockish industrial during the first half, and a much noisier, wilder band, captured live, playing a more forebodingly experimental industrial during the second. The fact that the first half is so controlled will make the second a more nuanced listen, because we know that there are carefully crafted patterns behind the madness.

As for the music itself - it simply rocks. The first seven songs create a sort of nervy, paranoid atmosphere with staccato instrumentation and bizarre, unpredictable vocals that will just as soon rise up to the falsetto level as drop down to low, ominous mumbling. The guitars in particular create this schizoid effect as they stab forth in shrieking, angular bursts, leaving the "melodics" to the squelchy and occasionally harsh synths. "Osten wahrt am langsten" is a stunning opener, building an ominous chant out of a simple synth riff, very tight drumming,low vocals infused with quiet menace, and breaks of screeching white noise guitar - a classic. Other highlights of this first side are "co co pino," with it's decidedly bizarre take on a disco beat, another classic synth riff, and hilarious Spanish-inflected vocal trills, and "nacht arbeit," the most industrial of the first set, complete with militaristic barking and a thumping rhythm.

The moment "Gewalt" begins we know the album is about to get even more insane. I would think of this as a "noise tune-up", as the band tries out some grating sound samples over a heavy rhythm and some groaning machinery. We're then plunged straight into the screaming, the pounding, and the erratic shifts in speed and sound. It's quite an exhilirating set of live industrial, very fierce and unfriendly, much like what the apocalyptic "ein produckt"(DAF's first album) would sound like with vocals. Rarely has such impassioned screaming been captured on record as it has been here - and the band manages to do creative things with the screams, allowing them to melt into moans or wails, or pop up where least expected. Rather than picking out more song highlights, I'll end with this message for experimental music fans: GET THIS NOW. It signaled the beginning of a new era in music.

I've bought this a couple of months ago as it was one of those albums that I had wanted for practically ages. As soon as I put it in the CD player it had to be the most explosive piece of music ( not literally ) I'd ever heard. A volatile singer singing at times silly lyrics to extremely noisy and volatile music in the background. The second half of this record was a lucky accident as it were as the person who was recording it meant to record the whole Wire concert ( which you can find part of in Document&Eyewitness ( which I also recommend )) but set it up all wrong. Just as well, the set is as you can probably tell by hearing it really fierce.

In short, you must buy this album. NOW