I mean, hear one Grauzone song, and you'll never hear another song exactly like it by them.. which is great, but also a pity, as I was first introduced to them via the song "Eisbär" from a German early 80s rock vinyl comp I picked up years ago. I loved the song. Very beaty and stark. The vocals were snarling. And the vocal-less chorus was nothing but a large melee of dissonant sharp guitar stabs along with arrows of bloopying synth noise followed by a singular mocking synth line in alternation. Possibly one of the greatest "choruses" to a song ever. (If it weren't for the new-wavey accents, this song would easily be penned as a precursor to the weirder side of Pixies, easily.) So imagine my slight disappointment that this song was just one moment on the CD, and not just an example of an entire slab of similar goodness.
So, yeah, Grauzone isn't a band full of "Eisbär"s. Although it does sound like they inspire a band with every song they write. "Hinter den Bergen" and "Ich lieb sie" pretty much invented Fischerspooner's backing tracks.. twenty years before the fact (for better or worse.) "Ich Und Du" sounds like it invented the punchy jangly Flying Nun "indie sound", whatever you want to call it. At the same time, the band will play wooshing sounds and echo their vocals over a guitar line doing a 50s style doo-wop ballad type hook, like "Marmelade und Himbeereis". This band just refuses to be pigeonholed. Yet, after a listen to Die Sunrise Tapes, you know it was distinctly Grauzone. The way they tackled a different genre every song is peculiar but indeed slightly consistent after all. Less is more. Vocals are echoed. There's barely anything crowded on this album.
I'm very tempted to compare Grauzone to Swell Maps, only if we allow the "Nikki Sudden" side to succumb to the "Epic Soundtracks" side here, and allow a full compromise between the two's different aesthetics.. also minus any punk angles. It really takes a few listens for this CD to stick, but this is still a goddamn great CD... soo yeah.
If hippies from the early 70s from (then) West Germany can be called "Krautrock", then this band certainly qualifies. It certainly fits into the early 80s mold of bands that subtlely and succinctly bridged the experimentation from the 70s.. Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, Einstürzende Neubauten, possibly Fehlfarben, of course Kraftwerk (who just never quit, is all), and others.
― donuty! donuti! donuté! (donut), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 06:35 (eighteen years ago) link
― Baaderonixx le Belge (Fabfunk), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 06:45 (eighteen years ago) link
― donuty! donuti! donuté! (donut), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 06:46 (eighteen years ago) link
― donuty! donuti! donuté! (donut), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 06:47 (eighteen years ago) link
― Baaderonixx le Belge (Fabfunk), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 06:51 (eighteen years ago) link
― donuty! donuti! donuté! (donut), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 06:53 (eighteen years ago) link
"Combien de Temps" wasn't the first single, unless it was a remake like "Der Weg Zu Zweit" and I don't know about it. Wasn't the first solo single "Sweetheart"? I like "Sweetheart" quite a bit, but then I don't like any albums up until "My Place" and "Engelberg", which I think are okay.
― Pangolino 2, Tuesday, 12 July 2005 12:17 (eighteen years ago) link
― Pangolino 2, Tuesday, 12 July 2005 12:24 (eighteen years ago) link
― Baaderonixx le Belge (Fabfunk), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 12:36 (eighteen years ago) link
― Pangolino 2, Tuesday, 12 July 2005 12:48 (eighteen years ago) link
And Nikki Sudden is living in Berlin now.
― Guymauve (Guymauve), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 16:36 (eighteen years ago) link
― Pangolino 2, Tuesday, 12 July 2005 16:51 (eighteen years ago) link
― Guymauve (Guymauve), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 17:01 (eighteen years ago) link
― Baaderonixx le Belge (Fabfunk), Tuesday, 12 July 2005 17:40 (eighteen years ago) link
― Pangolino 2, Tuesday, 12 July 2005 20:13 (eighteen years ago) link
"Eisbar" has gotten a lot of coverage miles -- Prisonshake, Giddy Motors and Sightings have all done that song, pretty good considering it's a tune about a polar bear.
― Brian Turner (btwfmu), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 00:42 (eighteen years ago) link
― william (william), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 01:04 (eighteen years ago) link
greatest song ever! sometimes!
― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 01:53 (eighteen years ago) link
― donuty! donuti! donuté! (donut), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 01:59 (eighteen years ago) link
― phil-two (phil-two), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 02:53 (eighteen years ago) link
― Gerard (Gerard), Thursday, 21 July 2005 18:51 (eighteen years ago) link
― Hydrochloric Shaved Weirds (Bimble...), Saturday, 23 July 2005 08:07 (eighteen years ago) link
still good.
― Spinspin Sugah, Monday, 18 June 2007 23:45 (sixteen years ago) link
heard 'Ice Bear' in a bar for the first time last night
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNgddDcwGJs
glad there's a thread
― Milton Parker, Thursday, 9 February 2012 21:32 (twelve years ago) link
you heard Eisbar for the first time ever, or it was the first time you heard it played in a bar?
great song
(first time I heard it was on Optimo's How to Kill the DJ)
― dmr, Thursday, 9 February 2012 21:40 (twelve years ago) link
just heard it for the first time ever, I don't know all that much about music
my friend just sent me this in response:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5Mh9dK8fC0
Starter was a minimal synth group from Switzerland that featured Claudine Chirac from Grauzone, Francis Foss and Jet Harbour.
― Milton Parker, Thursday, 9 February 2012 21:44 (twelve years ago) link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knut_(polar_bear)
― geeta, Thursday, 9 February 2012 22:03 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/grauzone
― wiki weimar germanyu (Call the Cops), Friday, 10 February 2012 13:11 (twelve years ago) link
An overdue revive to note both a regular version of the album
https://wrwtfww.com/album/grauzone
...and a fancier variants with live tracks
https://wrwtfww.com/album/limited-edition-40-years-anniversary-box-set
...are now both out.
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 27 March 2021 17:42 (three years ago) link
Ooooooh, nice.
― emil.y, Saturday, 27 March 2021 17:44 (three years ago) link
^This (the fancy one) was delivered yesterday, what a great package! Poster is included twice, which is nice :)
― willem, Friday, 2 April 2021 07:59 (two years ago) link
https://thequietus.com/articles/29782-grauzone-reviewNice review with some appropriate context
― willem, Friday, 2 April 2021 08:08 (two years ago) link
Very much enjoying the WRWTFWW reissue of 'Grauzone'. The liner notes emphasise how much the band were listening to The Cure at the time, and this always sounded very likely.
Belated recognition today for Stephan Eicher, who has been awarded the Grand Prix Music 2021 for his 'unmistakable voice'. This award is presented by the Swiss Federal Office of Culture and is worth 100,000 Swiss francs.
https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/-unmistakable--stephan-eicher-awarded-swiss-music-prize/46634342
― Portsmouth Bubblejet, Thursday, 20 May 2021 11:50 (two years ago) link