Alexander Hacke Is A God

The list of amazing bands he was in during the 80s is insane -- P1/E, Spring Aus Den Wolken, MDK, Crime & The City Solution, Sentimentale Jugend, and of course Einsturzende Neubauten. All this before he had hit his 20s. Plus he went out with Christiane F. Who's with me?

IMO he's responsible for at least three unimpeachable stone cold classics: the genre defining P1/E single, eternal mutant funk classic "Ai Ackam La" (seriously the best industrial funk crossover bar none), and my personal favorite "Health Dub" by Christiane F. beyond insane dubbed out corroded tape loop disco. I can't really speak for his more recent solo stuff, anybody want to vouch? There's also some synth and tape loop recordings he made when he was 15 that I've been trying to get hold of.

Health Dub

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZprKbQSe94k

20) Alexander Hacke - Sanctuary (13.07) (2005)

This is the coolest love-song of the decade. It is the title-track of an album which saw Hacke, bassist for a certain industrial band who enjoy pneumatic drills, travel the world in search of collaborators. Results varied, but this was the clincher, the centrepiece: an ode to his girlfriend Danielle which just happens to be a dark-as-fuck 13-minute industrial nightmare. Oh but it’s so goddamn catchy. He assembles an army of instrumentalists and electronics experts (one of whom has already has a track in this list; any guesses? Clue: he is Australian, slightly fucked in the head, and has no compunctions about exploring paedophilia in song…how those crazy industrial types get around eh?) to assist him in this devotional quest. If I was Danielle I’d be pretty chuffed at the results. The build-up alone is 5 minutes of mounting programmed dread, hovering sonics, screaming percussive synth-beats. Then Hacke starts singing his dirge. Dirge? Love-song? Yeah, it’s a love-song; it’s a trip deep into Hacke’s soul, where he battles all sorts of inner demons, sings in all sorts of discordant harmonies, finds some really pretty funky hooks, and gives a spoken-word monologue about how ‘we’ll spend each day…keeping rrrrats…where they belong’. When he says they’re going to be together forever, he bloody means it. It really is rather sweet, the extent of his passionate mania. And finally, that fade-out, totally austere in its ominous finality, sounding like the exit music of a fallen angel. Happy Valentine’s Day, sweetie.

-me, a few months ago

Cool, I'll be sure to check that out.

Whenever I think of this guy I think of him on the Ende Neu tour and how, post-intro, Blixa would hand over the start of a song to him with a respectful "and now, maestro...". He looked formidable.

Wow, Health Dub is amazing.

what volder veldeke said. plus this -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LXDeywsgx0

So good. It's all about Japan Japan on that Borsig single though. Completely warped avant club music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27x2rpG4X_g

I'd love to hear those Alexander Von Borsig tapes from when he was like 13. There's something on youtube from some super ltd bootleg and it's really good primitive synth stuff.

I can only find the demo version of Sprung Aus Den Wolken - Ai Ackam La on youtube, which is still pretty good but misses the utterly devastating bassline of the Berlin 80 version. Just so ridiculously funky. I need to find a copy of their first album.

yes, i love "japan japan" but i heard "hiroshima" about a decade before so i guess it stuck with me more. i love the naivety of it.

the first sprung aus den wolken album is so good. i included "ai ackam la" (berlin 80 version) on a mix i did a few years back - http://www.optimo.co.uk/goodies/

I recently rediscovered one (kinda shitty) mid-80s album from Sprung aus den Wolken - think Hacke was long gone by then

Love that guy, I think it was watching the Liebslieder documentary that sealed the deal for me, seeing the Borsig footage of him as a teenager and also the part where he takes the camera crew up into the watertower where EN made field recordings, he stamps his foot on the ground grinning like a little boy at the incredible sound.

I think there's some Borsig stuff on one of the EN Musterhaus archival cd's, should have another listen.