Spät-Europa (Late Europe) was the second in Asmus Tietchens' series of four albums for Sky Records (links to the other three below). It took the succinct economy of Biotop to extremes, with no less than 20 tracks lasting between two and three minutes in a variety of styles, to create a kind of compendium of avant-garde synth-pop.
Despite being the first Tietchens album I ever bought, Spät-Europa took me the longest to get in to. It is meant to be his most accesible album (although I might be more inclined to give that to Litia), and it does have zippy little melodies in spades alongside darker-hued material; I reckon it's because there's just so much of it that it took me a while.
Regardless, there's tons of timeless creativity to enjoy between the bookends of the choral overture and the piano with electronic whine that memorably closes the record. Some of the most immediate highlights include the endearingly daft samba of Lourdes Extra, the quickly-souring earworm of Schöne Dritte Welt and the Roedelius-waltz gone dark swirl of Wein aus Wien. There's at least half a dozen tracks that would make great sci-fi themes, like the pounding Ausverkauf, nervous-sounding Passaukontrolle and the Gary Numan-like Größenwarnung. Try it all on shuffle and see what catches your ear.
pw: sgtg
Previously posted at SGTG:
and featuring Asmus Tietchens
I have almost all his stuff, but I've never really been to get into him that much. Don't dislike it, but he just hasn't really hit me yet. Maybe one day.
ReplyDeleteA few or more of these tracks remind me of Residents instrumentals, circa 1980.
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