"Gothics" - a time before the word goth had even taken shape -
believed in the do-it-yourself punk ethos that anyone could pick up an
instrument. Gray clouds were starting to form and in the unlikely city
of Hamburg, a brazen and haunting gang of five women formed Xmal
Deutschland. As any true punk would, Xmal Deutschland's members Caro
May, Rita Simon, Manuela Rickers, Fiona Sangster and Anja Huwe, started
the band despite any previous musical experience.
The "Schwarze Welt" seven-inch was released on the local punk label,
ZickZack, in 1981 and introduced the band as an unsettling swarm of
intensity. There's an urgency in it's repetitive dirge, a swirling mania
that persists on the b-side with
"Die Wolken" and "Großstadtindianer" whose crude synthesizer noises
escalate in tension. Most of all, Huwe's uniquely venomous German vocals
quickly became embedded in the unbridled and burgeoning scene of
glamorous gloom.
Punk's independence from the stiff grip of tradition allowed the band to
find solace in anti-establishment art and music, far from the
conventions of the past. With their peacocked hair and thick kohl-lined
eyes, Xmal Deutschland's music retained both a restlessness and
delicacy, transcending any confines of the "Neue Deutsche Welle"
movement (much like their colleagues and friends DAF and Einstürzende
Neubauten) with the release of the "Incubus Succubus" single in 1982. It
instantly became a post-punk classic. The guitar's buzz ransacks
through the melody as the ghoulish primitiveness of Huwe's voice teases
that maybe, just maybe, she is the nightmarish creature of which to be
aware. The b-sides, "Zu Jung Zu Alt" and "Blut Ist Liebe," keep strict
militaristic dance beats as they teem in agitation.
That same year, the band performed in London as support for the Cocteau
Twins; it was the platform they needed to ricochet into the arms of the
ripped fishnet masses. Early Singles (1981-1982), is a map of the
foundational move- ments of Xmal Deutschland, just seconds before
takeoff. Bonus tracks on
the compilation, "Kaellbermarsch" and a gritty live version of "Allein,"
further accentuate their fusion of toughness with the quixotic
decadence of atmospheric synthesizers.
The band's pursuit of something greater is palpable with this release, a
reflection of a time that introduced accessibility to new means of
making music following the onset of punk.
English