Vic Sine – Affentanz – Incendiarymag

I’d better say straight from the off that this recording is very German.

Vic Sine – Affentanz

I picked this CD up at the (now legendary in our own minds) Chronic Heist/Appie Kim gig. Its called Affentanz (Monkey dance) and it’s homemade look attracted me. Sometimes artwork just doesn’t do it…

I’d better say straight from the off that this recording is very German. If you don’t like that particular brand of intensity, then I suggest that you look elsewhere. The first song, Liebe und Anarchie seems to take the riff of Sonic Youth’s Youth Against Fascism and turn it into a DAF – inspired German nursery rhyme. Oh, Christ I’ll stop with these comparisons…

Suffice to say there are plenty of DAF, Czukay and Conny Planck moments here. But when has that ever been a bad thing? The second track, Keine Trane is a belter, possibly their best; a demented voice yelps some nonsense over a thumping backing track that brings the Soft Cell song Sex Dwarf to mind. It is incredibly sleazy stuff.

Affentanz is funny in a Conny Planck way though, all burps and squeaks, aided and abetted with some high-eighties camp keyboards. From now on, things get decidedly more hard-edged. Macht Musik is exactly that, and Rote Fahne Schwartze Fahne is classic Germanic industrial stuff with a hint of Cluster at times. The remix of Wirtschaft (no, like you, I’ve never heard the original so I can’t judge) is a spaced-out techno track par excellence with some form of space invaders game happening somewhere within the maelstrom of the song. A shame it’s over all too quickly.

Next we have Der Neue Man which sounds like DAF borrowing Numan’s keyboard sound. For those who like that sort of thing, it is highly recommended. The CD finishes with Die Freudlose Gasse which is a funny, belly-aching stomp held together by statement (sung in a slightly blase manner) "Wehr gehen die freudlose gassen?" Indeed.

Now, if you can track this CD down (and I assume it won’t be easy) you won’t be disappointed.