CD Odyssey Disc 1745: KMFDM

It’s been over 10 years since I reviewed an album by this next band. I took a break from them in between, and only recently began adding their records to my collection. As a result, while this next record came out almost 20 years ago, it is new to me this year.

Disc 1745 is…Hau Ruck

Artist: KMFDM

Year of Release: 2005

What’s up with the Cover?  There are bands that have better album covers by KMFDM, but not many. The stylized graphic novel feel you see here is their stock and trade and they do it well.

This is one of the better ones, as we see a fierce woman, fresh from stabbing some suit wearing dude who – we must assume – had it coming. Disagreeing with this assessment are the cronies drawing their pistols on Assassin Lady, intent on avenging their boss. Something about the look of this woman makes me not like their chances.

How I Came To Know It: For a good 10 years my local record store has had a slowly depleting collection of used KMFDM albums. It’s where I bought my first two (“Angst” and “Nihil”) back in the day and of late I’ve been going in and nabbing a new KMFDM album – unheard – whenever the mood strikes me.

It is pretty picked over at this point, but it has been a fun experience.

How It Stacks Up: I have five KMFDM albums, with plans to get at least two more, although the plans are a bit unclear, I admit. I’m just as likely to not do that. Of the five I do have, I put “Hau Ruck” in at #4.

Rating: 3 stars

KMDFM is like ACDC. Not the music, mind you – their industrial metal vibe is very unlike ACDC. They are like ACDC in that all their songs sound vaguely similar to each other, but you don’t mind, because they are all good.

KMFDM specializes in driving riffs and synth-derived power grooves, overlaid with dystopian anarchistic lyrics that shout out FTW for all who would listen. This includes any unfortunate neighbours living beside the person playing it. Don’t judge me too harshly for playing it loud in my car. This stuff naturally carries and sounds best loud.

“Hau Ruck” is more of the same (see “ACDC” comment above) and that suits me just fine. It is the third record featuring their reformed lineup with longstanding member Sascha K, as well as core “second wave’ members Lucia Cifarelli (vocals) and Andy Selway (drums). This second iteration of the band (starting in 2003) has some differences from the nineties version of the band, with a bit less white noise and a bit more groove. A lot of that is the arrangement decisions, and the hard driving groove is the everpresent aspect of the band that makes them so Goddamned awesome through the ages.

Hau Rock’s opening two tracks are also its best. “Free Your Hate” gets us started with a classic “F U” track from the masters of that particular message. The music is pure aggression, getting the blood pumping with an oppressive opening riff, juxtaposed with an electronica dance mix feel. The main lyrical refrain of “the beatings will continue/until morale improves” lack originality, but the sentiment aligns well with the song’s vibe.

The title track comes next and is the album’s best. “Hau Ruck” has an inexorable and menacing build, hitting you like a pickaxe glancing off a boulder – the embodiment of an unstoppable object colliding with an impervious groove.

The rest of the record is great to varying degrees, although it never matches the intensity and creative power of the first two tunes. “Professional Killer” comes close, with an awesome synth riff that demands swirling arm movement and a complete surrender to the demands of the dance floor. Also good for driving, although obviously not while dancing. Safety first when rucking out, dear readers.

Lyrically, “Hau Ruck” does not inspire, but you don’t listen to KMFDM for the poetry. Accept that the lyrics are just part of the descent into the industrial maelstrom of sound, with a few provocative phrases that are suitable for singing along in the moments where the tune allows (or demands). Shout out “Ready to Blow” along with the band, exclaim “hau ruck!” in time with the beat and feel connected amid the disconnect. It’s rebellious, compulsive and therapeutic all in one, and exactly what this stuff is for.

Best tracks: Free Your Hate, Hau Ruck, Professional Killer, Ready to Blow

CD Odyssey Disc 553: KMFDM

This next album comes with an insert where you can mail away for more albums, as well as an invitation to write for a free catalogue of band merchandise by sending a Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope (this used to be called a SASE) to them.  How quaint.

However, the band also included a website and an email, which was pretty forward thinking for 1995.

Disc 553 is…. Nihil

Artist: KMFDM

Year of Release: 1995

What’s up with the Cover?  This is a rare KMFDM departure from their usual artist, Aidan “Brute” Hughes.  This cover is instead by Francesca Sundsten, and depicts a frumpy looking woman, with a fly over her head.  She looks like some kind of farm matron who has just caught you tipping her cows.

How I Came To Know It:  As I noted when I reviewed my other KMFDM album (“Angst” back at Disc 539), my friend Patrick put me on to these guys recently, and Sheila bought both records for me for my birthday in June.

How It Stacks Up:  I only have two KMFDM albums.  I prefer “Angst” to this one, so “Nihil” slips to second.

Rating:  2 stars, but almost 3

For the second time in only fourteen albums, the Odyssey decides I should listen to more industrial ‘club’ metal from the mid-nineties.  KMFDM are the masters of this sound, and “Nihil” is another example of how well they know their genre.

This is the music that would have made a rave in the mid-nineties worth attending.  Attention modern rave holders; it is more fun to stay up all night if the music is danceable.  Please stop dub-stepping.

As with “Angst” the message on the album isn’t terribly complicated, speaking vaguely of rebellion and sex.  When read outside of the music the lyrics seem a bit juvenile.  Consider this from “Beast”:

“My youth is wasted – I’m evasive and vague

I’m a headless beast – I’m a subtle plague

I’m a cheatin’ liar – I am naked terror

I hurt – I wound – I’m a fatal error.”

Not terribly inspiring, but fortunately themes of rebellion and sex are foundations of rock and roll and so it totally works in the context of the song.

“Nihil” is music where you can get the revolution out of your system without actually having one (there is even a song called “Revolution” although I’m not sure exactly why based on the vague lyrics).  Even the album title is a word that seems pregnant with purpose, but actually fundamentally represents negation.

For all that negation, “Nihil” has lots of energy, even if it isn’t going anywhere.  The driving guitar riffs and accompanying electronic back beat appeal to the subconscious mind. If you are frustrated and need a release but you’re not sure exactly what is bothering you, this music is a perfect salve.  Get out on the dance floor and sweat it out and let the words help draw the frustration out of you in the process.

Overall, I found “Angst” to be a better collection of KMFDM’s work than this one, but “Nihil” did have its moments.  “Juke Joint Jezebel” has a fallen church choir feel to it and would be great to dance to.  It sounds familiar enough that I think I probably did back in the day.  I also liked “Disobedience,” which had some elements of Faith No More in it, a sort of staccato rap over top of powerful riffs

However, while it is overall pretty good, it didn’t have enough going for it to be anything more.  In fact, after two complete listens today I took a break and walked to work listening to a Flying Burrito Brothers album instead, which I preferred overall.

Yet when I went to the gym later, I put “Nihil” back on.  I listened as I ran furiously on the treadmill.  Of course I got nowhere, but it felt good afterward – kind of like this record.

Best tracks:  Juke Joint Jezebel, Disobedience, Brute

CD Odyssey Disc 539: KMFDM

The Odyssey continues with no remorse and no regret.  Kind of like a Metallica song, but different.  I’ve been at this over four years now, randomly working my way through all the music in my collection.  I’ve got at least another four years left but it as we all know, it’s the journey that counts.

Disc 539 is…. Angst

Artist: KMFDM

Year of Release: 1993

What’s up with the Cover?  A creepy, square-jawed man gropes a large breasted woman.  Meanwhile a different large breasted woman – this one much more severe – looks on with an expression of…horror?  Rage?  Frustration?  I know – angst!  That certainly makes sense given the album title.

All of KMFDM’s albums feature this angular, modernist art style by a guy named Aidan “Brute” Hughes.  I love his stuff, and it really suits KMFDM’s music, although I wouldn’t hang it on my walls.

How I Came To Know It:  My friend Patrick put me on to KMFDM within the past year.  Patrick has good taste in music, and has been the source of many a cool band for me lately.  Don’t rely on the radio haystack to find good music when there are people all around you who can point you in the right direction.

Sheila actually bought this record for me (and one other by the same band) when I hinted broadly to her that it would make a good birthday present.

How It Stacks Up:  I have two KMFDM albums, this one and it’s 1995 follow up, “Nihil.”  Of the two, I prefer “Angst” so it is number one.

Rating:  3 stars but a solid three stars.

When I was younger, and still inspired to go nightclubbing, my favourite hangout was a local place called Scandals, particularly on what they dubbed Alternative Tuesdays.  As I grew older (but still liked to go dancing) I sought out the same atmosphere at another local joint called Evolution.  In both cases, my favourite dance music was a sort of industrial electronica mix that could both shake my groove thing, and also help release some of the pointless rage and frustration that comes as part of this package of experiences we call life.  Although I didn’t know it at the time, KMFDM was very likely one of the bands I was listening to.

KMFDM is a band with members from a lot of countries that has been around for years.  According to the magic of Wikipedia (which is never wrong) I discovered the full band name was originally Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid, loosely translated as "no pity for the majority” but they’ve long since just gone with letters.  Good call – that is a bit long of a band name for anything that isn’t modern indie.

The first word that comes to mind when you put “Angst” on for a listen is ‘energy.’  This album has energy to spare.  A mix of pounding beat, guitar riffs and electronica sounds.  This was the early blend of metal and electronic music, and I personally think it is also the high water mark for this style of music.  It is visceral, and pounding and it perfectly captures the sometimes empty but indefatigable pulse of the modern post-industrial experience.

Metal would later come to rely too heavily on the auditory battery of the double bass (something “Angst” mercifully eschews) and electronica would become increasingly detached, focused more on odd sound and syncopation than songs that have a defined melody (you know, that sound like music). For me, this album and Ministry’s “Psalm 69” are the sweet spot.

The opening track, “Light” is a perfect opener, mixing all those elements, along with some sexy background vocals and a guy singing about KMFDM in a sort of self-promotional way (“KMFDM, doing it again” etc.).

This apparent narcissism is reflected throughout the album, but if you pay attention you’ll see the band takes every opportunity to undercut their own star power, and while calling into question various authority figures and systems, also calls into question themselves.  On “Sucks” they sing:

“We don't have no lyrics, our message is nil

We hate all DJs, they're makin' us ill

Whatever we tell you is meant to be crap

We hate all music and especially rap”

Their message is rarely nil, but instead is often commenting on a whole host of political and social questions, often very pointedly.  They couch what they have to say in angst (there’s that word again) and dance licks, but these guys actually have a lot to say.  I suspect they don’t hate rap or most other music either.

I will say that the messages are often a little too simplistic, and tend to boil down into a “question all authority/oppose everything” kind of vibe.  I don’t think it adds a lot to the topics they raise, but at least they raise them, and give them an emotional outlet.

In fact, when dancing to this type of music I like to slip in a move where I cross my arms crossed over my head, and mimic the poor sods in Orwell’s 1984, forced to hate Goldstein at assemblies under the watchful eyes of the state.  It is the irony of participating with the crowd, and yet recognizing the participation as a reduction to individualism.  In some ways it is this same duality that makes this music work down in the guts, even as it rejects itself.

Regrettably, as great a pony this music is to ride, it only has the one trick, so a whole album of it can start to feel a bit repetitive near the end.  It doesn’t help that despite “Angst”s amazing start, the quality does go down a bit by the time you get to side two.

Still, for turning the music up loud and feeling the power, this is as good as anything in my collection.  For dancing it lets you get down into it and still has enough melody to give your limbs something to do other than shuffle (yes, that is a put-down for you, dubstep).

KMFDM is danceable, energetic and aware of its own ironic self-promotion.  A bit like disco, in that way, I suppose, except totally different.

Best tracks:  Light, A Drug Against War, Blood Evil, Sucks