Carambolage - same (vinyl rip, 1980)

Carambolage was a German, Berlin based, all-female band active in the late 70s and early 80s featuring Angie Olbrich on guitar, Elfi Esther Steitz on vocals and Britte Neander on drums. They released several records on Ton Steine Scherben's label David Volksmund Produktion. They played fairly stunning female art punk and were connected to the polit-rockers Ton Steine Scherben.

This forgotten album is a little jewel in the avant-punk canon. It starts with "Rampenlicht", an elliptical funk/ lounge/ art-punk exercise, which makes the Young Marble Giants sound like tame kittens. "Tu Doch Nicht So" is more traditional, albeit with a gurgling post-punk/ punk-rock dissonance lurking beneath. "City Grossmarkt" is almost a tribute to the erstwhile hippie anthem, although viewed from the perspective of the post-punk/ dub elastic looping (a la Public Image Ltd. circa Metal Box). "Das Männlein" assumes the guise of the silly snippet, in what is basically a cross between a TV commercial and goofy music-hall. Again, "Je T'aime" is fairly traditional, but they inject a healthy (an oxymoron) dose of angst in it. Another oxymoron, "Die Farbe War Mord" is a constrained electronic freak-out, all the while "Johnny" is a satirical take on the noir/ swing theme. Stepping things up a notch, "Fussgängerzone" is among their most disjointed and spastic moments. Then the Arabic chanting and tribal menace of "22 Rue Chenoise" is also quite neurotic, with "Bretter Bretter Bretter" also being one of their most inventive juxtapositions. In general the album is pure Neue Deutsche Welle oddball nervousness, somewhere between the Slits, X-Ray-Spex and Kleenex.

Tracklist:

A1	Rampenlicht	2:20
A2	Tu doch nicht so	2:35
A3	City-Großmarkt	3:50
A4	Das Männlein	2:15
A5	Je T'aime	3:30
A6	Die Farbe war Mord	3:00
A7	Johnny	3:05
B1	Was hat das für einen Sinn	2:05
B2	Fußgängerzone	3:50
B3	Roxan	5:00
B4	Der Reigen	3:45
B5	22 Rue Chenoise	4:00
B6	Bretter, Bretter, Bretter	3:20

Carambolage - same (vinyl rip, 1980; David Volksmund Produktion)
(192 kbps, front cover included)