And here the recently announced “Most underrated minimal synth artists” thread. :D
Now there has already been a “cheapo item” thread in the past, but I think the bands mentioned in there weren’t really being seen as the ones essential to the genre, but rather as the ones which are quite nice compared to the bit of money their vinyl costs.
So here comes my candidate: Mr. TOMMI STUMPFF from Germany, whose first release under his own name was the “Zu spät Ihr Scheisser” LP in 1982, year that also saw him collaborate with Silvia on her only album. As many will know, the latter got re-released by Genetic Music on CD not too long ago.
To my knowledge, Tommi failed to appear on ANY one of those countless NDW compilations, and thus neither managed to win favour with the newly emerged NDW crowds, nor with his old punk fans from his KFC days who felt that he had abandoned them musically.
Still, it’s all there in his work, it’s synths only, sparse, to the point arrangements combined with the charasmatic voice of a rebel, sombre, aggressive and at times rather cynical lyrics. Some of his songs are even in French (he’s half French if I remember correctly).
Tommi Stumpff stopped making music in the early nineties and only very recently resurfaced.
all IP artists / records… only a selected audience seem to really understand and appreciate them… the rest follow the lies and rumors they have read on one or another stupid forum or heard other people saying what they had heard from other people et cetera… we know who you are…
You’d be pleasantly surprised to know that one track by Tommi Stumpff is on the very nice “Verschwende Deine Jugend” 2CD compilation”: “Ich will gewinnen”.
I’m indeed pleasantly surprised that at least he made it to a contemporary compilation. They could have also saved him a spot on New Deutsch, IMHO.
Still, it is completely beyond me how he could have dodged all the ones released in 1982-1983 - virtually anybody able to breathe could get on a compilation in these days. And they’re not all just Nena and Markus, despite its name “Rock in Deutschland Vol. 3” for instance features artists like Der Plan, Pyrolator, Kein Mensch, 1. Futorologisches Kongress etc.
Wave:
Gestalt, Move(IT), Neutral Project, Red Temple Spirits, Modern Eon, Trop Tard, Flue, Deafear, Complot Bronswick, Weimar Gesang, Sombre Septembre, Message(FR), Echo Prism, Siekiera, Mittageisen, Tanit, End of Data(or basicly any of the brilliant bands from Rennes, FR circa 80-84).
Synth:
Nagamatzu/Andrew Lagowski, Victrola, Bal Pare, Peche Mortel, Q4U, Mark Lane, Schleimer K., Edward Ka-Spel, Ian Elms, Reseau D’Ombres, Portion Control, Nohmask, Bugger West, Arte Moderno.
[quote author=“falck”] They could have also saved him a spot on New Deutsch, IMHO.
HAH! I was actually going to check the New Deutsch comp, as Tommi naturally belongs on there. So, thanks for sparing me of the exersise
@Wierd: Some very nice bands on that list! Haven’t heard of half of them tho - let’s start at the beginning, shall we? Tell me about Nagamatzu and Peche Mortel?
ahhh..Peche Mortel and nagamatzu (esp the first 2 cassettes) are up there as my all time faves along with Neural Circus….perhaps pm and nag are so underrated because they were only k7 releases…also the orgelvaerk comp k7 from Neeköln…brilliant rural svensk synth…: )
Nagamatzu has been in a few comps and they have a 12” as well. I forget the name.
Paul Kelday is way up there with these people.
Early Attrition and the like were making great music around the same time.
Dino oon and konrad kraft, the Beautiful Pea Green Boat, bushido… etc etc…
Good to see Schleimer K get a mention. Almost no one mentions them.
Portion Control are active again, producing new releases. Their backcatalogue was released in a beautifull 5CD box. But their music is not as good as it was.
Shoc Corridor. They released a few very good records and then disappeared.
I have to say i pretty much agree with Wierd’s little list.
And Neural Circus could go for any price and I’d still think it’s undervalued. Well, perhaps a trade for that new Damien Hirst skull would do it some justice.
Genocide seems pretty underrated to me, or perhaps it’s just not so rare. Der Künftige Musikant also comes to mind.
Getting back on Tommi Stumpff. I read an interview with him a couple of years ago ( done by Jurgen Teipel for his research for the “Verschwende Deine Jugend” book) in which he said that he wasn’t interested in rereleasing his solo backcatalogue as he was no longer interested in music nor looking back at the past, focussing all his energy on his succesfull internet bussiness. Which sounds all fine until you think about the Silvia rerelease by Genetic….
Now…judging from the credits on the back side of the Silvia LP (just reading them again: “music and texts: Tommi Stumpff, synths: Tommi Stumpff, produced by: Tommi Stumpff and Rainer Assmann”), it surely rather looks like a Tommi Stumpff album to which Silvia happened to sing along. She only gets credit for having co-written the text of one song.
Quite frankly, I have no idea how large Silvia’s part in this really was.
But anyway, I think this shouldn’t be important.
Tommi Stumpff changed his mind, I saw flyers on the net advertising live performances, I read something about an Internet album he released in 2005, so he himself seems to be interested in his music again.
Even if he’d say everything he ever did was complete rubbish, he’d remain my candidate.
