8 Tracks: Of Berlin Sounds With Tim Gane

Music

Tim Gane is a member of Berlin based trio Cavern Of Anti-Matter. Their forthcoming album will be released on February the 19th and is titled Void Beats / Invocation Trex. Beyond this he is also a member of Stereolab. We caught up with Tim to query his tastes. He introduces his eight tracks as follows:

"I've lived in Berlin for nearly 11 years now and many people claim to hear a Berlin influence in the new stuff i'm doing with C.O.A-M. In answer, I always say 'I don't know' or 'I don't think so' but maybe there is something bubbling underneath. Perhaps to try to find out for myself I've compiled 8 tracks I like all of which come from Berlin and make up part of these mythical and historical Berlin Sounds."

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LISTEN

Hildegard Knef - Friedenskampf Und Schadenfreude

I didn’t know her music before arriving in Berlin but she is a real icon here and in the whole of Germany. This track is from the early 70’s and has a very nice Gainsbourg / Egberto Gismonti vibe to it i think. A great arrangement from Hans Hammerschmid too.

Hildegard Knef - Friedenskampf Und Schadenfreude

I didn’t know her music before arriving in Berlin but she is a real icon here and in the whole of Germany. This track is from the early 70’s and has a very nice Gainsbourg / Egberto Gismonti vibe to it i think. A great arrangement from Hans Hammerschmid too.
Agitation Free - Ala Tul

Seminal Berlin Krautrock / Kosmische Music band and one of the first to make this new kind of music in the whole of Germany. There is a noticeable north african vibe to a lot of the tracks and they still stand out amongst the whole scene.
Manuel Gottsching - Niemand Lacht Rückwärts

Manuel formed Ash Ra Tempel with Klaus Schulze in 1970 and was one of the key players in the Berlin new music scene. He later went solo and recorded the ridiculously influential E2-E4 LP in the early 80’s. This is sequenced electronic track from his mountain of private tapes.
Gunter Schickert - Kriegsmaschinen, Fahrt Zur Holle

Günter is my favourite of all Berlin artists and i have had the pleasure to play some concerts with him here. He still sounds absolutely fantastic and just plays with a guitar and echo boxes. He’s very different to Manuel Göttsching and other echo/delay guitar players though, with a very spidery sound, staccato,urban and quite aggressive sometimes. none of that blissed out stuff here!
Die Tödliche Doris - Tanz Im Quadrat

The first time i visited Berlin in 1986 I was taken to an amazing bar that was just opened on a corner of a street and stocked with beers from a supermarket and didn’t seem to need any license.. It was strangely decorated with hanging dolls from the ceiling and i thought it would be amazing if we could do something like this in London. The bar was run by the band Die Tödliche Doris (The Deadly Doris) and their whole integration of Art/Anti-Art andMusic/Not Music was very impressive to me.They even released 2 separate LP’s that if you played together
would make a 3rd LP.
T++ - Anyi

Real name Torsten Pröfrock and coming out of the artists and DJ’s connected to the Chain Reaction Label and the band Monolake. I really love his stuff and the rhythms in particular, quite a bit invocational. Someone told me he has stopped making music under this name now.
Conrad Schnitzler - Auf Dem Schwarzen Kanal

Conrad started the Zodiak Free Arts Lab (or Zodiak Club) with Roedelius in 1969 and formed the band Kluster with him and Moebius shortly after.He also played in the 1st line up of Tangerine Dream but it is more in the role of a sonic artist that he became in/famous in Berlin. Made tons of influential and experimental records and tapes in his career and this is one of the more “pop” inspired tracks from the late 70’s.
Einsturzende Neubauten - Hoer Mit Schmerzen

I managed to see them play all the first gigs they did in London and the memory is still seared into my brain. Just totally outrageous and incredibly empowering. Guitars,drills and banging sheets of metal. Wonderful!