This is Entertainment: A Supplement

Selten Gehörte Musik - or: They Travel by Cabs

One final item I thought might be worth adding...

Here's a mix I did a few years ago, originally posted on my old blog and circulated to a handful of friends as a "Stuff You Might Have Missed" mix. Because, yeah, it was the sort thing that (I gather) received only a little attention back in the mid-late 1990s -- all of it largely forgotten now and way the hell out-of-print. It's a mix of the sounds that issued out of the Liquid Sky Cologne/Elektro Bunker scene, back before the city of Cologne became broadly identified with the minimal techno sound pioneered by Wolfgang Voigt and the Kompakt label. Responsible parties involve LSC manager and Air Liquide member Dr. Walker, Khan, Thomas Thorn, and Frank Heiss; each of them recording or performing under a number of aliases or in varied collaborative combos.

By and large it's a funkier and dirtier sound than most associate with the Cologne techno scene, often heavy on looped breakbeats, 808 punchiness, some nice bass action, with some 303 acid thrown in for good measure.*  The main reason I repurposed and reposted it in relation to the previous "This is Entertainment" series is because a good bit of it -- especially the Dr. Walker material -- always sounded to me like it was deeply indebted to the "Virgin years" output of Cabaret Voltaire. All of that, plus a couple of excerpts from a series of live "soundclashes" between Walker and Holger Czukay of Can.

::: Enjoy :::


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Liquid Sky Cologne, 1995-1998

tracklist:

01.  Dr. Walker & Holger Czukay – "Silent Planes"
      Vermona – "Native Something on a Phuckin’ Nice Trip at the 42 D.P. Cologne"
02.  Peirrot Premier – "Continental Traffic Jam"
03.  4E – "Career Counceling"
04.  Pierrot Premier – "Pain-Killer Pilot Plant, Pt. 1"
05.  4E – "Warm Leatherette"
06.  Global Electronic Network – "Untitled 1"
07.  Dr. Walker – "Uzi Funk"
08.  Dr. Walker w/ Thomas Thorn & Frank Heiss – "Nuttin but an ‘E’ Thang 2"
09.  LoFi Junkiez (aka Frank Heiss) – "Men or Miece"
10.  Dr. Walker – "They Travel by Cab"
      Dr. Walker & Holger Czukay – "Liquid Skies"
11.  4E – "Blue Note"

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* Seemed like there was some majorly retentive gearhounding going on with this bunch. CD releases sometimes came with track-by-track breakdown listings of equipment & components used. And I vaguely recall that Dr. Walker was featured in some European edition of Keyboard magazine on more than one occasion.