This is where we normally talk about films, but not today. As of this night, Radio Kurtodrome has returned. It’s currently hosted at Live 365 and you can listen to it by clicking this text. It’s not easy to find a space where you can stream your music legally, but Live365 seems to be a good place (they even pay the artists for the airtime, it seems).
As Radio Kurtodrome in its current form is so fresh it still has the new car smell, the programming is still unclear. Right now, there’s a looping playlist, but maybe there’ll be special programmes soon. The playlist is occasionally interrupted for one commercial (unless you’re a VIP listener).

CURRENT PLAYLIST
1. Marina & The Diamonds – Are You Satisfied? – The Family Jewels
2. The Herbaliser – The Blend (Feat What What) – Blow Your Headphones
3. Enon – In This City – High Society
4. Amatorski – Come Home – Same Stars We Shared
5. 4Hero – Les Fleur – Creating Patterns
6. Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #2 (Laïka) – Funeral
7. Battles – Atlas – Mirrored
8. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Mr You’re on Fire Mr – Pin EP
9. Bloc Party – Talons – Intimacy
10. Rainer Maria – Ears Ring – Ears Ring
11. Justice vs. Simian – We Are Your Friends – Bugged Out Classics
12. Simian – Never Be Alone – We Are Your Friends
13. Pills – Rock me – Rock me
14. Krause – No Guts, No Glory – No Guts, No Glory
15. Little Boots – Meddle [Tenori-on Piano Version] – Little Boots EP
16. Soap&Skin – Spiracle – Spiracle (single)
17. Grandaddy – He’s Simple, He’s Dumb, He’s The Pilot – The Sophtware Slump
18. Yonderboi – All we go to hell – Splendid isolation
19. Memory Cassette – Asleep At A Party – Call & Response EP
20. Moloko – Where Is The What If The What Is In Why? – Do You Like My Tight Sweater
21. School of Seven Bells – Windstorm – Windstorm
22. Blonde Redhead – Here Sometimes – (preview track)
23. Air – Cherry Blossom Girl (radio mix) – Cherry Blossom Girl
24. Ladytron – He Took Her To A Movie (Bertrand Burgalat remix) – 604 Remixes
25. Headless Heroes – To You – The Silence Of Love
26. Quickspace – They Shoot Horse Don’t They – The Death Of Quickspace
27. Stars – Your Ex-Lover is Dead – Set Yourself on Fire
28. Everything Everything – Schoolin’ – Schoolin’
29. The Gentle Waves – Sisterwoman – Swansong For You
30. Fuck Buttons – The Lisbon Maru – Tarot Sport
31. Sleigh Bells – Beach Girls – 2HELLWU CD-R (2009)
32. The Knife – Bird – The Knife
33. Squarepusher – My Red Hot Car (Girl) – My Red Hot Car [Single]
34. Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse – Little Girl (featuring Julian Casablancas) – Dark Night of the Soul
35. Stereolab – Margerine Melodie – Margerine Eclipse
36. Yo La Tengo – Periodically Triple Or Double – Popular Songs
37. Zombies – She’s Not There – The Decca Stereo Anthology (Disc 01)
38. Kate Nash – ‘Caroline’s A Victim’ Tapedeck Revised Remix – Foundations
39. Neon Neon – I Lust U – Stainless Style
40. MC 900 Ft Jesus – The City Sleeps – Welcome to My Dream
41. Lis Er Stille – Styrke – The Construction Of The AmpTrain

Today, as the final entry for German Week, DV serves you Die Mörder Sind Unter Uns. It was either that, or one of a handful of other classics I could think of. Lotte Reiniger’s animation classic Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed is one I’ll save for a later day, Gert Fröbe (you know, Goldfinger) was also a good choice – preferrably Es geschah am hellichten Tag, a German classic which was later remade as The Pledge (starring Jack Nicholson). As is so often the case, the remake couldn’t stand up to the original.

All good choices, but Die Mörder sind unter uns (literally “The Murderers are among us”) has a little extra, not in the least its readily availability on DVD (it’s out on Region 2 as well as Region 1). It also tackles post-war Germany, something we haven’t mentioned in this week’s reviews – apart from a brief mention with Goodbye, Lenin (in which a mother from Eastern Germany wakes up after several years of coma and can’t be exposed to severe shocks, which may be somewhat difficult given that the Berlin Wall has been demolished).Die Mörder sind unter uns is also tied with history, the film was made in 1946 and is officially the first post-war movie. In the background of the action, you can actually see the city of Berlin in ruins. Die Mörder sind under uns lives on a rare edge between reality and fiction.

The film begins in 1945, just after the war. The first image we see is that of a destroyed street. People wander around, aimlessly. Among them a drunk man (Ernst Wilhelm Borchert), despised by his neighbours. A little later a young woman enters the shop downstairs, it is Susanne Wallner (Hildegard Knef), just returned from a concentration camp. She’s ready to return to her old apartment, but not only is it in awful shape after the bombings, it’s also inhabited by the drunk man. He is quite hostile towards her and accuses her of being one of the many who fled the cities during wartime. She doesn’t tell the truth, which only tightens the scene. It also reveals the leitmotiv of the film: guilt. Guilt because of what happened and anger towards those who did awful things during the war and acted as if it never happened. As one Posterman says during the film: “The war is over, things are different now.” Die Mörder sind unter uns is an accusation against those people, as the German dvd obviously declares: as you enter the dvd menu, you’ll hear a voice scream out: “But I’m innocent!”

The drunk man appears to be surgeon Mertens, so disgusted by what has happened during the war he lost the ability to do his job. The screaming patients remind him of the screams of war victims, especially the occasion where several Polish men, women and children were executed on Christmas Day because of an uproar by some men. Mertens pleaded with his superior not to execute the women and children, but to no avail. If it hadn’t been for the festive day, he might’ve even been punished for this weak behaviour. Not much later, the German soldiers are celebrating Christmas under a decorated tree, while dozens of bodies lie outside.

Susanne Wallner succeeds step by step in getting Mertens’s life back on the rails, but the surgeon doesn’t tell what has happened. But when Mertens bumps into his former superior, he’s disgusted by how that man is enjoying his wealth, hardly aware of the many people who have to live in a ruined city. Mertens swears he’ll have revenge on the ‘murderer’, the question is whether Susanne will be in time to stop him…

Die Mörder sind unter uns is the easiest film to watch and I’m not talking about the slow pace the film sometimes has. But the guilt and the ruins weigh heavily on the fllm and doesn’t make it the most enjoyable movie out there. Still, you’ll be glad to have watched it after 81 minutes. Stylistically, it benefits from Germany’s many pre-war classics: there’s still an expressionist feel to some of the film (especially in the scene where Mertens confronts his former superior – as you can see on the poster at the top of this article), but it’s mixed with the neo-realism that became popular just after the war.

The extras on the German disc offer a couple of newsreel clips, the first about the meeting where the American and Russian allies allow film company DEFA to produce their first post-war films. Sadly the German disc doesn’t have any subtitles, so if you don’t understand German and would like to see Wolfgang Staudte’s film, I’ll have to refer you to the Region 1 disc. If you’d like to see a side of the war’s aftermath you rarely get a chance to see, this film should be high on your list.

I’ll give this one 8 out of 10, which is better than I’d originally rated the film. I would’ve left you with a trailer, but couldn’t find it. Instead, the first sequence of the film is available on YouTube, so here’s that instead…

And that is it for German week… “The End” or, as they say in Germany, “Ende”. Yes, all things have to come to an end once. Apart from sausages, they end twice. Or as Stephan Remmler (the former singer of Trio) used to sing in 1987: “Alles hat ein Ende, nur die Wurst hat zwei.”

Germany is one of those countries that like to censor their films. It seems almost odd then that there are German dvd companies that release video nasties on dvd, with a label warning the film is not for sale in Germany. The German-speaking territories have produced quite a number of directors wanting to bring more gore to the screen. Nekoneko has more over at the Litterbox where the nasty Nekromantik is dissected.

Which means it’s another day off for me and time for a video… quite fittingly enough it’s anti-establishment band Atari Teenage Riot (led by Alec Empire) whose “digital hardcore” assaulted your ears in the late nineties and early naughties. One of the band’s EPs was once forbidden in Germany because of the track “Hetzjagd Auf Nazis!” and the subsequent Nazi symbols (which are forbidden in Germany). Quite odd given that the band was very much against the Nazis. Maybe it had something to do with their left-wing political tendencies. And so, conform with our forbidden theme, here’s the video for “Revolution Action”, which was marked too violent for television. Not for DV though…

Forget about the “spaghetti western” (Ennio Morricone never liked the term anyway), no European country loves western more than Germany. Pretty odd for a country that never really made westerns… what Germany did do was reinventing stories of existing westerns. Because of the success of Django, the Germans were quick to rename every Italian western “Django”, whether a character called Django was present or not.
The most interesting film here is Preparati la bara, a western starring Terence Hill. This film is released in Germany under two titles: one is an intact version which is called Django und die Bande der Gehenkten, the other version is cut to pieces and seems to have been made later. By this time, Hill had become famous for the movies in which he co-starred with Bud Spencer,which is why Hill’s character occasionally wonders where “the fat one” would be hanging out. Spencer, you may have guessed, had nothing to do with this film. Preparati la bara was re-edited, not only cutting the violence out but also adding extra comedy bits. And so the Germans managed to make two new films out of existing footage…watch Django und die Bande der Gehenkten by all means, but if you ever spot Joe, der Galgenvogel stay away from this re-edited monstrosity.

So did the Germans make any westerns themselves? Hardly any. The best example is the film adaptations of the Karl May novels, starring cowboy hero Old Shatterhand and his Indian pal Winnetou. Aimed at a young audience, the films were adventure films rather than westerns, just like you’d probably never answer Bonanza if someone would ask you “Name a typical western”. The film adaptations were made by a name that has popped up before: Harald Reinl.

A more typical (albeit modern) western has been made in Germany, even though a lot of people haven’t heard of it. Time for DV to change that then… Deadlock was made in 1970 by Roland Klick. A quick IMDb search will show you Klink isn’t very well known and a lot of his films feature violence. Deadlock has plenty of that too.

It is a weird little film, it starts with a gangster staggering through the desert’s heat, before falling over… exhaustion, we can only guess. A shabby guy drives past, notices the guy and his suitcase. He opens the suitcase, notices it’s brimful of money and does the only decent thing: he takes a rock to crush the guy’s skull. But just as he’s about to hit the gangster, the gangster’s body starts sliding down the mountain. Afraid to spill any extra effort and pleased by the fact the gangster didn’t even react to his body’s sliding down a hill, the shabby guy grabs the suitcase and drives off. Remorse eventually hits him, but not in the form Samaritans would like to hear: he drives back to the gangster, this time with a better weapon, only to find the body is gone. The very next moment he notices there’s a gun pointed towards himself… looks like the gangster wasn’t so dead after all.

What follows is very much a typical western. Sure the horses have been traded in for trucks, but the essential flow of a western is still there. Some settings even reminded me of Django, that most essential western. The characters even have typical western names…our shabby protagonist is Charles Dump, nicknamed “The Rat’. There’s the “Old Killer”, the “Young Killer” (named Kid), the “Girl” and her mother (whose name I won’t mention here, something to do with being raised to have manners etc.).

Mascha Rabben, as “The Girl”, may have gotten a less excitng part (essentially it’s sois belle et tais-toi), but she gives a lasting performance. She’s probably not very known. The only names you may have heard of before are Mario Adorf (as Charles Dump) and Anthony Dawson (as the Old Killer).

Will the Old Killer manage to track down his Kid companion? Will there be bloodshed? Will the Girl’s looks save her? How many people will leave Deadlock alive? All these are questions I won’t answer. I’ve already told you of that rarest of things, a real German western. A Sauerkraut western, if you please.

Deadlock is out on DVD in Germany. The music is once again by Can and adds a lot of extra mystery. It may even be the best reason to watch the film for. Maybe that’s why the film was also dubbed “psychedelic western” and why Jodorowsky likes it so much. The film was recorded in English, so there’s no need to take that German-English dictionary out of your bookshelves if you feel like watching it. The DVD contains an interview with and a documentary about director Klick (as well as an audio commentary by the man), but what is even more special is “Die Chance”, a documentary about Klick’s national search for a girl to play the role of Jessy (The Girl). It’s not often you get to see such an extra for a movie made in 1970.

I leave you with the trailer, but watch out as it contains some spoilers. Ardent westerns fans shouldn’t be too surprised though. Still, if you just want to get a feel of the film, watch only the first two minutes of the trailer.

P.S. And let’s end with some schlager music, it wouldn’t be German week without it. Here’s Gitte telling us about her love for the only kind of man she’s attracted to: “Ich will ‘nen Cowboy als Mann”.

Today at DV Nekoneko takes care of the next entry in DV’s German week and it’ll be about the arthouse film. Here the German market shouldn’t be underrated. In the middle of the nineties the European film was on the verge of becoming extinct. European film companies that weren’t already bankrupt were bought by American companies… Euro cinema, once so vibrant in the 70s and 80s, was about to be declared dead. European films were either bland or bad copies of American cinema. People felt the many different languages of Europe were to be blamed. Weirdly enough, this didn’t seem to apply to American films. Apart from the UK, how many countries have English as their mother tongue?

In my opinion, a couple of things happened in the nineties that are worth mentioning. The biggest claim to fame should go to Thomas Vinterberg and Lars von Trier, whose Dogma 95 was exactly what was needed at the time. Sure, it might’ve looked like a strict series of rules, but the main underlying message was: if we don’t have the giant budgets American films have, let’s be creative.

In Germany, there were enough directors who didn’t want to call it a day either. In the last fifteen years, German films often had the little extra lots of other European films didn’t have. Just think of Lola Rennt (Neko’s choice), Der Untergang (reviewed by Deeopey here), The Edukators (reviewed on DV as well) and Das Leben der Anderen (rightfully awarded several prizes). Also worth a mention was Goodbye Lenin, which managed to give a light tone to Germany’s history (Eastern Germany coping with the downfall of the Berlin wall).

Anyway, as this means I’ll have the day off, let’s listen to some music… yesterday we mentioned Klaus Kinski, so our video has to be this hit by The Passions. If only so we can mention the film star was not Kinski. As quoted from the Passions’ site: “Contrary to popular belief, the German Film Star referred to in the song is not Klaus Kinski, Curd Jürgens, Jürgen Prochnow or even Marlene Dietrich. In fact he was neither German nor a star but a certain Steve Connelly, aka Roadent, one time roadie for the Clash and the Sex Pistols. However, he did appear in several minor German films.”

Steve ‘Roadent’ Connelly’s part that must’ve sparked the song must have been in the series ‘Der Joker’, the other two entries in his filmography were directed by one Wolfgang Buld, a name you may be familiar with if you read this site. Yes, he’s the director of Gib Gas, Ich Will Spass reviewed a couple of weeks ago. It is a small world after all.

Jawohl, it’s German week here at DV. The entire week Nekoneko and I will be going through all things Deutsch. Of course, any German readers don’t have to worry… we’ll try and tackle German week with a bit more grace than others. Coming up later this week: westerns, arthouse, gore and krimi.

But now, by way of an introduction, we go back a couple of weeks when I reviewed the German film Gib gas, ich will Spass. The music phenomenon that was Neue Deutsche Welle was mentioned here, but – as there was no way of fitting it into the review – one of the best known German songs was omitted. Here now, the video (albeit in a somewhat altered format – nothing like widescreen, eh) of Trio‘s “Da Da Da”.

P.S. For those who can stomach more, here’s Trio performing Anna, lass mich rein live on German television. It’s not often you see someone eating during a performance.

The dark night of the soul is the place in a person’s life, marked by a sense of loneliness and desolation. This metaphor is also an album title, a collaboration between Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse. But not just them: the couple invited a bunch of other musicians along for the vocals to the songs. And they also asked for a contribution from director David Lynch. Lynch created a book full of Lynchian pictures to go along with the album.

It sounded great but it wasn’t to be… record company EMI didn’t give its blessing, so when the combination of Dark Night of the Soul had to be released at the end of 2009, the book was released with a blank CD-R. Scribbled on it, this message: “For Legal Reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will.” Ever since, the album may have been floating and streaming on the web (hence “Revenge”, the track with The Flaming Lips, ending up in our Best Of 2009 chart), but no actual release.

And now it’s July 2010. Tomorrow the album will finally be released as it should’ve been. The cd will include a couple of pictures by Lynch, but overall there is still a dark cloud hanging over the cd. Sparklehorse (a.k.a. Mark Linkous) committed suicide earlier in the year and one of the featured artists, Vic Chestnutt, is also dead.

Here is the cd’s tracklisting:
1. “Revenge” (featuring The Flaming Lips) – 4:52
2. “Just War” (featuring Gruff Rhys) – 3:44
3. “Jaykub” (featuring Jason Lytle) – 3:52
4. “Little Girl” (featuring Julian Casablancas) – 4:33
5. “Angel’s Harp” (featuring Black Francis) – 2:57
6. “Pain” (featuring Iggy Pop) – 2:49
7. “Star Eyes (I Can’t Catch It)” (featuring David Lynch) – 3:10
8. “Everytime I’m with You” (featuring Jason Lytle) – 3:09
9. “Insane Lullaby” (featuring James Mercer) – 3:12
10. “Daddy’s Gone” (featuring Nina Persson) – 3:09
11. “The Man Who Played God” (featuring Suzanne Vega) – 3:09
12. “Grim Augury” (featuring Vic Chesnutt) – 2:32
13. “Dark Night of the Soul” (featuring David Lynch) – 4:38

And here is one of the tracks, “Little Girl”, complete with some of the book’s pictures.

The cd Dark Night of the Soul is released in the UK on July 13, the rest of the world can enjoy it one day earlier. There are limited editions out there, so browse before you buy…

P.S. The Avenue takes one week off and hopes to return stronger on July 19. Au revoir!

A year ago we had to explain time and again who Marina was. Fast forward ten months and you’ll find most of her concerts are sold out. Looks like this year we don’t have to travel to Oxford to see her perform (but thanks to Marina we now love Oxford).

Next month “Oh No!”, Marina’s latest single will be out, but the video is already finished. It’s quite cartoonish and it looks like this:

And, as a bonus treat, here’s the making of:

Today a short movie by Marc Druez from France. It’s not unlike early Lynch (pre-Eraserhead). The title is Echelle Noire (which means Black Shell) and it’s five minutes long. The music (or should I say soundscape) is by the band Les Tetines Noires (whom you may know from their Tool-like video
Têtes fards et lombrics). This short film was made in 1995.

P.S. There’s no dialogue in the film, so don’t worry about it being French.

When the cast of a movie is mentioned only by their first names, it can only mean two things: either you’re watching a porn movie or a film with musicians. And a title like “Give gas, I want fun” doesn’t exactly help clarifying which of the two you’re watching. Which may explain why the English title of this film is Hanging Out. Which… come to think of it… may also be a sexual reference.

But no, dirty mind, Gib gas, ich will Spass is not smut, but a music film with Markus and Nena. The former a highly successful pop star, the latter an unknown pop star. And now, a quarter of a century later, the roles seem to be reversed. Because there’s a lot of chance you know Nena from her global hit “99 Luftballons” (a.k.a. 99 Red Balloons), but who is Markus? Think of Patrick Wolf who is accidently teleported to the 1980s and – these teleportations never go great, just watch The Fly – discovers his poppiest of sounds. Mind you, this film was made in 1983, when Germany found its new voice and answer to punk and new wave by inventing the Neue Deutsche Welle (literally New German Wave). Back in 1982, “Ich Will Spass” by Markus might have been refreshing rather than annoying. Make up your own mind because this is Markus’s biggest hit and the title track of the film (as performed in a music show where the average age of the viewer was 56):

So he wants fun, our Markus. And he’ll get it in this film as he’s the new boy in school, short trousers but a fast bike. Because rebellion, like a mullet, doesn’t grow in one day. Markus, who plays Robby, has the hots for Tina, as portrayed by Nena. Tina finds Robby silly rather than sexy and has more sexual feelings for Tino, who works full time on a fair and has his own convertible. And a mullet. And – what would romance be without language? – because Tino and Tina sounds cool.Tina convinces Tino to run off together, but when she can’t make it to the rendez-vous spot in time, Tino drives off with another chick. Her suitcase already packed and hoping to see Tino again, Tina convinces Robby to drive away together. Robby, naive enough to think Tina loves him as much as he loves her, gladly accepts. Tina’s feelings towards Tino are addressed in one of Nena’s biggest hits Nur geträumt: “Ich hab’ heute nichts versäumt, denn ich hab’ nur vor dir geträumt” (I haven’t wasted today, because I only dreamt of you). Don’t believe me, here’s the clip from the English dubbed version of the film:

And, of course, the search for Tino will ultimately end in Tina losing her heart to Robby. Seems like a sugar sweet teen flick, how can this be of any value to the cult-loving readership of DV? Well, there are several reasons: no matter how bad this film can be – and believe me, this will be a guilty pleasure – it’s nowhere as embarrassing as Crossroads or most of Madonna‘s output. The director is Wolfgang Büld, who had previously made a couple of documentaries about punk and reggae. Büld had noticed the Neue Deutsche Welle movement was becoming more mainstream and felt like pushing the genre by making a teen flick with the movement’s protagonists in several of the roles. Apart from Markus and newcomer Nena in the leads the film also included a cameo by the band Extrabreit.
Nevertheless, the film is pretty weak in as much as the ‘story’ is flimsy (it’s basically Robby and Tina driving after Tina’s love interest you couldn’t care about) and the jokes are either silly or horrible: one running gag is Tina’s classmate, seen in the clip above, who is always eating meat products. It’s not that I explained it badly, that’s what he does: he mainly boasts about how much he loves eating sausages and how many he can eat. I’ll pause briefly, so you can chuckle at this hilarious concept. A boy who eats fried meat… utter and utter genius! Equally hilarious is having older actor Karl Dall play a handful of tiny roles, in an attempt to make the viewer chuckle “Look, it’s Karl again, ha-ha!” And of course it doesn’t help that it’s a movie that’s mainly made to push the music. In the following clip, Robby and Tina have made it to the airport, just too late to catch Tino. Tina manages to make contact with him and they agree to meet each other in Venice. After this, Nena has to link the fluttering Tina running back to Robby to one of her songs (Ganz oben). The result, complete with a hilarious drunk pilot, looks like this:

Which makes it all the more surprising to see Robby and Tina end up in Venice. While arguing, Robby is abducted by a group of nymphomaniacs (I wish I was making this up) and Tina chases the gondola on foot, with Nena’s Tanz auf dem Vulkan as soundtrack to the scene. But watch at (or fast forward to) 2:47 to spot a surprising cameo…

Admit that this is a cameo you wouldn’t have expected in such a bubblegum movie. Ultimately, Carla Rhode of Der Tagesspiegel reviewed the film best: “I would have like to have fun too, but Nena, Markus and director Wolfgang Büld left me unsatisfied. What did the film attempt to be? A story about runaways, a musical or was it just a handful of uninspired scenes chucked together to fill the voids between songs by Nena and Markus?” Then again, I told you this would a guilty pleasure and it’s up to you whether a couple of Nena songs, Nena’s nude back and a reference to Don’t Look Now are enough to watch a corny movie for 85 minutes. Not that the film pretended to be Goethe. After all, the title is Gib Gas, Ich Will Spass.

3/10

P.S. Büld must’ve liked the experience because, two years later, he made Der Formel Eins Film, an equally corny film promoting Formel Eins (the German Top of The Pops) and featuring a.o. Falco (Jeanny, Rock me Amadeus, …)