WAW: Air -Playground Love

Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft (D.A.F.)

DAF is an influential electropunk / Neue Deutsche Welle band from Düsseldorf, formed in 1978 as a five piece band and one of the most influential 80's bands from Germany who found success outside their home country. The band started as a five piece in the late seventies and featuring drummer/synth player Robert Görl and vocalist Gabi Delgado-Lopez who also continued to release as DAF after the original line up disbanded.

Gabi and Robert met for the first in Düsseldorf, Gabi sang in local punk bands and Robert was finishing his formal musical training. Along with Wolfgang Spellmans, Ludwig Hass and Michael Kemner, they released their first album in Germany called Product der DAF on Warning Records. It was a riot of synth and tape powered heavy metal. The name stands for Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft or German-American Friendship - which at the time the band formed was a shot at DSF, the East German German-Soviet Friendship organization. They later moved to London where they made their England debut at the Marque club with The Fall. Shortly after they signed to Mute records.

An early Sounds review summed up their early music: "If DAF has an onstage duel with Throbbing Gristle, there would be no-one left alive on stage to announce the winner."

After releasing their first Mute single, "Kebabträume", Conny Plank asked to produce them and by this time, they had been reduced to a duo. After releasing their first Mute album, Die Kleinen und die Bösen, and second single, "Tanz Mit Dir" they embarked on a tour that encompassed Austria and Germany, with some London dated mixed in the middle.

A change of record label, to Virgin, saw the release of their second album, Alles Ist Gut, and a single, "Der Mussolini"/"Der Räuber Under Der Prinz", which charted in England. In interviews, they claimed to not target anything or anyone specific while creating lyrics to be taken as a parody of words and phrases floating around in the public media. "Sato Sato" and "Der Mussolini" are both examples of songs written around Delgado-Lopez's fascination with the sound of a particular word.. In 1985, the band released their commercially most successful single "Brothers" and the band disbanded soon after.

The pair have also released solo work over the years, Robert Gorl released one album on Mute, Night Full of Tension, and two singles, "Mit Dir" and "Darling Don't Leave Me" with Annie Lennox.

"DAF was the kind of band that had a very severe, minimalistic concept in music. We were a two piece that only sung in German. We restricted ourselves by using electronics, acoustic drums and vocals. It was concentrated power, the more minimal the better. Eventually, after three albums, we realized that we had reached our limits. The question was, 'Are we going to continue and maybe repeat the whole thing again, or should we stop and do something completely new?' DAF was a band that never wanted to look back. I'm still good friends with Robert, but when you work with someone for five years you get into a routine of exchanging ideas. Suddenly you discover that you're saying the same things you said two albums previously. For me it's a very normal thing. I wish a lot of bands would break up after two or three albums." Gabi Delgado 1983

Gabi Delgado-López died in 22 March, 2020, due to heart attack. Sources may vary about his death place, while some say he died in a hospital in Portugal, while Deutschlandfunk say he died in his birth place of Córdoba. He was 61.

Instant Hit: Ian North- Sex, Lust, You

"Sex Lust You" was the b-side song from Ian North's EP Rape of Orchids which was released in 1982. It was written and produced by Ian and released on Neo Records. In 2006 Ian's album My Girlfriend's Death as well as the Rape of Orchids were reissued through the repressed label.

Blue Zoo

Blue Zoo was a short lived British New Wave music group whose original band name was Modern Jazz, and who released a single "I Shoot Sheep" in 1980. Band members were: Mike Ansell on bass, Matthew Flowers on keyboards, Pete Lancaster on trumpet, Andy O on vocals, Tim Parry on guitar and Mickey Sparrow on drums. Tim Parry later went on to become a producer.

Blue Zoo had one hit single. In October 1982 "Cry Boy Cry" charted and reached number 13. It stayed on the UK Singles Chart Top 40 for eight weeks. They released an album Two By Two - sometimes written-as 2x2 or 2By2 - in 1983.

Instant Hit: Dalek I Love You- Horrorscope

"Horrorscope" was the last single release for the British group Dalek I Love You which would disband soon after it in 1983. The single was released on Korova and as 7" version it was backed  by "These Walls We Build" while the 12" version included the instrumental version. The song was performed Keith Hartley, while the artwork was provided by Ian Wright. The song appeared on their self titled second studio album which was reissued in 2007.

 

Instant Hit: Rah Band- Messages From the Stars

The fictional studio group orchestrated by Richard Hewson, known as Rah Band, dropped "Messages from The Stars" in 1983 under Catfish Records. This electro-funk journey featured enchanting female vocals and spacey dub elements, embodying the signature style of Rah Band. The track experienced a resurgence when it was reissued by Sonoptix in 2011, offering listeners eight different remixes to enjoy.

Instant Hit: Soft Cell- Torch

"Torch" is one of my favorite Soft Cell songs that was released back in 1982. The backing vocals were provided by the female singer Cindy Ecstasy who also provided vocals on the extended version of this song which appeared on Non Stop Ecstatic Dancing. Produced by Mike Thorne, "Torch" was originally issued on the Some Bizzare label in the UK.

 

I Start Counting

Pop experimentalists I Start Counting favored English artiness with a sense of fun. Unlike many other electronic groups from the 80's, I Start Counting never settled into a single formula; the band continued to tinker with its sound, shifting effortlessly from light to dark, accessible to avant-garde.

 

I Start Counting was formed in the early 80's by David Baker and Simon Leonard. In 1984, the duo was signed by Mute and released its debut single, the quirky "Letters to a Friend". "Letters to a Friend" easily distinguished itself from the glut of synthesizer-laden records from the mid-80's with Baker's distinctly British talk-sing style and the psychedelic feel of the keyboards. The follow-up, 1985's "Still Smiling", was hailed as another instant classic from the band. This single release emerged in April 1985. "Slight but sweet, delicate intelligent electro-pop with melody and depth," They managed to produce the mini-LP Translucent Hands by the end of 1986. The final single to be taken from Translucent Hands was a rigorous rework of "Lose Him", which appeared a year later, in January 1988, and featured samples from the legendary rubber movie Bound In Latex, as well as sampled cameos from Cary Grant and Tony Hancock.

Typically contrary, "Million Headed Monster" was the next single, in May 1989. Backed with "Listen" the former's pop thrills contrasted with the more experimental sounds of the latter. A final, full length LP 'Fused' appeared in June 1989, and provided an innovative blast of avantgarde House contrasted with ambient soundtracks and a perfect pop palette blended in-between.

From an interview with Baker

"What we try to achieve is changing all the time because what we enjoy is listening to changes. Usually, if we've just done a pop song we want something different for the next one. It would be more commercially sensible to stick to one thing and decide we were going to be completely electropop or a dance band or completely weird, but I think we'd just get bored if we did that."

In fact, the duo were about to undergo a rigorous change of identity. The name I Start Counting was laid to rest, and Barker and Leonard chose another, Fortran 5, with which to continue their musical explorations.