After the near-apocalyptic shrieks of
Ein Produkt
,
DAF
toned down just a touch, but only just, for
Kleinen und die Boesen
. Coming out on
Mute
as the album did, it helped not merely in establishing the group's cachet, but the label's and, in turn, the whole genre of
experimental electronic
music in the '80s and beyond. The cover art alone, with the group's name boldly printed white-on-black in all capitals, next to part of a Soviet propaganda poster, practically invented a rapidly overused
industrial
music design cliche. At the time, though, the group was ironically the most
rock
they would ever get, with bassist
Chrislo Haas
and guitarist
W. Spelmans
joining
Robert Goerl
and
Gabi Delgado
(aka
Gabi Delgado-Lopez
). The first half of
Kleinen
was a studio recording with
Krautrock
-producing legend
Conrad Plank
, who did his usual fantastic job throughout. The beats are sometimes hollow and always ominous, treated with studio touches to make them even more so, while the squalling, clipped guitar sounds often make nails-on-chalkboards sound sweet in comparison.
Delgado
's husky vocals and
Goerl
's spare-but-every-hit-counts drumming on
"Osten Waehrt Am Laengsten"
are particularly strong, while the electronic rhythms of
"Co Co Pino"
(
's vocal trills are a scream) and all-out slam of
"Nacht Arbeit"
can't be resisted. The live side, recorded at London's
Electric Ballroom
, is even more all-out most of the time, starting with the complete
noise
fest
"Gewalt,"
and then shifting into a series of short, brusque tracks.
pulls off some blood-curdling screams (and
some fairly nutty harmonies as well -- check the opening to
"Das Ist Liebe"
) over the din. The musicians themselves sound like they decided to borrow
Wire
's sense of quick songs while cranking the amps to ten; the resultant combination of feedback crunch and electronic brutality is, at times, awesome to behold. ~ Ned Raggett