Interesting electro/synth-pop/minimal/new wave/punk combo and essential part of the German underground scene of the early eighties and since the mid 1990s more in techno and house active, numerous records were released to date; we're talking about Freiwiliige Selbstkontrolle which were formed 1980 in Munich by Wilfred (vocals, guitar, trombone), Thomas (guitar, vocals, concertina), Justin (electric piano, guitar, xylophone & vocals) and Michaela (vocals, bass + melodica). The band name is a reference to the German motion picture rating organisation F.S.K. (German self censorship institution), which uses the same acronym. Their early records (all on ZickZack Records) gave the band the reputation of being West Germany’s most intelligent art school combo and the debut Stürmer received international attention because it was able to place in the independent charts in San Francisco. Due to the "original musical approach of F.S.K - that is, to electronically underline the dialectic of German song tradition - the people of Munich classify themselves as an 'intellectual ensemble' that makes music for the German intelligentsia". In the beginning the musical influence of punk was still clearly recognizable, because the sound sounded rough and the vocals very harsh. Living in a very americanized country meant to them that they soon, in means of love and hate, started to work out structures of Euro-American heritage in their music. Not only did they so bring back the Texan Blue Yodel to its Bavarian source, they also started to add the occasional cover version of American standards and non-standards to their German repertoire. From 1985 the band was championed by British disc jockey John Peel, recording six sessions for his BBC radio show, and were themselves strongly influenced by the independent British music scene of the time.... Enjoy!
Thanx!!!
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