Populläre Mechanik
Populaere Mechanik started around 1980 as a group of people who began making music in the second half of the sixties beat, garage, psycedelic. With the advent of punk in the 70ties they found themselves in the situation of being too old for punk and to young to go on playing rock music like punk never happened. So they had to look elsewhere and found inspiration in jazz, avantgarde and electronics. One big influence was Conrad Schnitzler and his Zodiak Free Arts Lab where some of the original mechanics got their first whiff of freely improvised sound.
The name Populaere Mechanik comes from the German edition of the technology and science magazine Popular Mechanics. The US issue was translated even the name was translated literally and in result is very odd sounding. It was read like a science fiction magazine because most of the articles like how to build a infrared remote control for the doors of your double garage where far away from life in post war Germany. Logically by the time when the standard of living reached that point, the magazine vanished. But it had the same optimistic feeling towards the future like the music and arts of the sixties. In the magazine where articles like how to build your own electronic organ and eventually - when the first mechanics started soldering their equipment Populaere Mechanik stuck as the name of the band. During this period one single and two tapes have been released. In 1984 the project came to a halt when some of the key figures found jobs outside Berlin.
Twenty years later the remainders of the Populaere Mechanik started meeting with friends and colleagues in a little cellar under the old Tempelhof airport. The place was in use as practise room for bands for a long time. There were enough instruments and amplifiers left over to make all sorts of noises. The bandwidth of those involved reaches from people with musical training to complete novice. The last category found their ideal tool in an old EMS synthesizer and a strange arrangement made out of a slide guitar and some thrown away stomp boxes. There are no rules for the weekly meetings. Just start playing as long as an idea carries and after a break start something new. The method and the result are not so different from what Populaere Mechanik did in the 80ties. So, when it came to playing live, the old name was revived.
Kunst als Waffe
1891 wurde John Heartfield geboren
Die Friedenstaube, aufgespießt auf einem Säbel, Hitler mit einer Wirbelsäule aus Goldstücken, das Hakenkreuz bestehend aus vier blutenden Beilen - John Heartfields Bilder gegen Krieg und Faschismus wurden weltberühmt. Zeitlebens nutze der Künstler seine Arbeit als politische Waffe. Vor 115 Jahren wurde der Erfinder der Fotomontage geboren.
D-Radio Sendung
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