GRAUZONE needs a muthafuckin thread..

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.