Influences: Roman Flügel

Synth Pop in its earliest form. I always loved the very beginning of the song when you hear the Arpeggiator in the back and the strings presenting the first theme. In general it’s a great example of the perfect match of synthesizers, electronic percussion and ‘classic’ band equipment. Listen to that little breakdown at 3:00, I guess back in 1980 it was almost a visionary outlook of what would happen with electronic music in the future.

I tried a little breakdancing around 1983 and that track became my perfect soundtrack. Being still a kid back then I didn’t have a clue about the original by Gil Scott-Heron. What kept my attention was the sound. Pure Roland 606/808 bliss and fantastic synth lines.

What an irresistible groove! And it goes on for almost 10 minutes. Prince is actually singing along with Sheila and was responsible for the whole production. I remember I used to play drums along to that song a lot and I guess that’s how I learned to keep a steady beat.

It’s funny to see how I got rid of the ‘funk’ for a while listening to EBM between ’86 and ’87 before finally getting into Acid House and early Techno. I went to see à;GRUMH playing live not only because of their music but because of their live show. They used to show some very bizarre porn movie scenes on a big screen and spit at each other.

Pure ’90s rave hysteria. I still totally enjoy that kind of ‘free spirit’ use of samples that was common back then, and I was wondering for some time where those four guitar notes actually come from that are played through from beginning to the end. The answer to this problem is given in my next choice.

Certainly not taken from their best album but that track reminds me of the fact that buying and listening to vinyl had a big impact on my perception of music because you couldn’t just get your favourite track. That’s why you still can discover some gems besides the nerve wrecking hit ‘de do do do de da da da’ here. And yes, I think Fierce Ruling Diva had that album too!

I should never forget how important techno from Detroit was back then. And I still love it until today.

A very sad song sung by a controversial character. The fact that it had a release on Warp was some surprise. I still love the sound, the atmosphere and even the artwork.

This is how I found out about sampling around 1982 since I was wondering how they made the animals sing. From then on I was dreaming of having one of these machines but I could not even afford a Commodore C64 home computer. I had to wait another five years before I became a proud owner of an Ensoniq EPS 16plus after washing cars for a couple of weeks during summer holidays.

I guess if I had to take one record to a solitary island it would probably be one with the music of J.S. Bach. Glenn Gould as a pianist made me start having piano lessons again after I stopped playing around the age of 16. I saw him in a TV documentary in 1992 on the 10th anniversary of his death and was blown away by the intensity of his performance.