La Dusseldorf--Viva---A Very Very Powerful Motorik and a case for Telefunken.....

I have been listening to the first two La Dusseldorf albums for the past week. They are an experimental electronic group from Dusseldorf, Germany from the 1970's, and two of the members were in the group Neu! Klaus Dinger wrote the songs. I won't use the stupid term given for this type of music. I'd much rather call it Telefunken, which is a name I saw on the back of Viva. I like the way that sounds, stylish and cutting edge. And funky. Actually, in reality I think it is the name of German company that produces very high-end microphones.

Gonna set my soul on fire.....

I bought Viva, the 2nd album, a few years ago, and it, like its eponymous predecessor basically took my world by storm. Though I listen to all types of music, some of the more highly lauded electronic groups just don't grab my interest. But La Dusseldorf plays some incredibly audacious music. When this music first came out it must have been even more eventful, because when listening to this today its very evident how influential these guys have been to bands I am very familiar with. And not just electronic music, but rap, punk, and movie soundtrack composition. What I mean to say is, when I first heard them I felt I had been here before, but of course, that was not the case at all.

But to be clear, a jazz group might attempt to emulate Ornette Coleman, but the results might turn out a little different. La Dusseldorf is that sort of special. There are imitators, but I don't know of anyone who could do this better. People more schooled in electronic music would probably have a few names for me, of course.

First of all, I was immediately struck by the upbeat, almost joyful demeanor of the songs on Viva. I don't want to overgeneralize, but there is a lot of glum electronic music and certainly when I became a music fan, there was a lot of obsessing over people becoming machines and machines becoming people. This music has an organic looseness and funkiness to it that is extremely appealing.

Secondly, without trying to overstate things, repetition in electronic music is not an uncommon thing.
Throughout these records, the music changes in inventive and artistic ways. The songs never gets boring, even on the lengthier numbers, and the music is downright swaggeringly aggressive in places. I am always surprised and disappointed when the album seems to end so abruptly.

Thirdly, and most significantly, are the drums! The drums and percussion playing here are simply otherwordly. I'm not talking about John Bonham lengthy drum solos. Great drummers have subtlety in their game, Hans Lampe and the Dinger brothers bring It in La Dusseldorf. They have that propulsive drive in the music, "motorik" as it is described, and the contrast between the vivid steady, trance-inducing beat and the music constantly swirling around it, which creates something profound. The beat is definitely the difference maker in this music, what sets it apart.



The 20 minute Cha Cha 2000 which originally must have been the entire vinyl side 2, is apparently an electronic music classic. I like it and I am a person who generally is not a fan of songs dragging along. Between punk rock and doing half hour blues jams in somebodies basement for half an hour made me a  proponent of tight editing. It's a hell of a lot nicer to listen to than say, Freebird, which is actually much shorter than this. I mean has anyone ever heard anyone make a sarcastic request for Cha Cha 2000 at a rock concert?

This was again, a situation where I completely underestimated the quality of this music. Though by no means a unknown band, the critical praise they get is completely deserved. So good that I was compelled to open my big mouth about it. Check out the glammy electro perfection of White Overalls which at first listen reminded me of The Clash!



So Viva is my feel-good album of the week. Check it out. And I still like the name Telefunken, so I'm sticking with it.