Punk and much more: The Solingen band’s debut is a classic. Now it’s being re-released for the first time in decades – alongside a singles compilation.
It’s hard to imagine that there was a time when punk from Germany didn’t have the prefix “fun”. Examples of this are: SYPH around singer and lyricist Peter Braatz alias Harry Rag. The band was founded in Solingen in 1977 and was later part of the Düsseldorf scene around the Ratinger Hof. The debut album SYPH (6 stars), released in 1980, hits the listener with short, intense and brilliantly amateurish punk songs.
There are also German-language texts that move between socio-political discourse and Dada poetry
There are also German-language texts that move between socio-political discourse and Dada poetry – that was new at the time. Songs like “Back to the Concrete” and “Industry Girl” became secret hits in the underground. And that’s just the first side of the LP. With a healthy DIY consciousness and a certain amount of over-the-topness, SYPH deliver a wild mix of sound collages and Kraut jams reminiscent of Can on the second side. A sign that the band neither wanted to be assigned to a scene nor limited to a genre.
For the first time since its release 44 years ago, the album is back on vinyl. The compilation PURE FREUDE SINGLES 1979+1981 (5 stars) presents the tracks of the two singles “Much Enemy, Much Ehr” and “Der Bauer im Parkdeck”, which were released on the indie label Pure Freude, for the first time in more than Available again on recordings in 40 years. There are also three previously unreleased songs from the same era.
You can find out which albums will be released in November 2024 via our monthly release list.