Well, here’s a new one on me, I thought I’d at least heard OF most all the early goth type new wave bands of the 1980’s even if I hadn’t heard them, but the Swiss outfit Mittageisen somehow eluded me. Eldergoths might be familiar with the name "Mittageisen" as a track from the first Siouxsie & the Banshees album. I’m sure this group was far more known in Europe than they ever were in America; but a remastered retrospective of their music 20 years later is an interesting document of a band that seemed to have a lot going for it. There are 19 tracks on this two CD set, 6 of which are previously unreleased.

So what is Mittageisen’s sound? Well, kind of a blend of what was happening at the time – guitars and synths, Bauhaus, The Cure, Brian Eno, Kraftwerk, Wall of Voodoo, Ultravox, that kind of thing. The rhythm comes courtesy of a drum machine. Maybe one thing that held them back from becoming a known entity in the U.S. is that they only sing in their native tongue, not English. Apparently they were said to have very expressive lyrics, but that’s lost on most of the American music-buying public, our phobia of foreign language being what it is.

For the most part, the music is set in a dark pop song format. Some tracks exhibit a more experimental tone than others, veering off into oblique sonic terrain. Considering what kind of music was happening at the time, this is pretty interesting stuff. Not earthshaking, but eclectic nonetheless. Very minimal-expressionistic and underground. The kind of cult band that would have been great live on a double bill with a group like Cabaret Voltaire. Apparently in their time they received a fair amount of radio play in Europe, European radio being far more progressive than what it is in the U.S. They even had a dance hit with a song called "Automaten" which is on this compilation. (You’ll be reminded of SNL’s "Sprockets".)

I don’t know if there’s any U.S. distribution for this 2 CD set but it’s well worth checking out. The 2 CD set comes in a tri-fold digipack with a 24 page booklet, band info and photographs as well as song lyrics (in German, I believe, maybe Swiss, not really sure). Nice quirky cover illustration too. Your best bet is to visit the label website (mital-U) and order a copy. When music from a "lost" cult band like this comes along you owe it to yourself to scoop it up as quick as you can because you never know how long it will be around for. Even though you can find the video for "Automaten" on YouTube, you’re not going to find this CD on Amazon or iTunes. There were only 500 copies of this limited edition made, so you might not want to dawdle. Recommended.

Swiss female electronic artist Raffaela F. (previously with rock-wave band Micro Kids), aka Toini, is back with a remix cd following her full length album "Amble". "Electronic Busicuits" contains 6 remixes by skillful producer/remixer/Dj Marco Repetto. I don't remember whether he's swiss or italian (I might have met him once) but he is the guy behind the Axodya and Inzec labels, who also performs with Terra Cava Soundsystem and formerly with punk (and beyond) bands Glueams, Grauzone (check this out, it means "gray area"!), Eigernordwand, Suonatori. He's got records out on acid/techno/house/trance labels from all over the world, including Generator (US), Rephlex, T&B Vinyl (UK), Spacefrogs, Trigger, Superstition, Deli-Rium, Essex (Germany), Kromode and Minus Habens' sub-label Disturbance (Italy), El Buho (Switzerland) and of course his own two Swiss labels. He is also part of the Paris-based international TNC network (www.tnc.net), a new-media event label dedicated to digital culture & lifestyle who was also behind the worldwide internet/tv y2k Hacking Millennium Party... Anyway, after spinning at loooots of raves (I remember his name on many of bills from the time I lived in Switzerland), playing with bands, releasing and producing music, this talented musician had to do the remix thing and he sure did good. "Electronic Biscuits" is experimental electronic mixed with minimal techno and hi-pass filtered vocals in the style of Kirlian Camera's recent techno journeys (but less apocalyptic and claustrophobic) and with influences that range from the Detroit style and stuff like Jeff Mills to the more experimental, freaky, weird and wired things out there... Vocal loops and far-away hi-freq vocal parts, drum machine sounds and driving kicks, vocoder sounds, synthetic pads etc, it's all there, all you need is the lights and a heavy-duty amp! ;-) Unfortunately I don't have "Amble" here with me and I can't remember how it sounded, but I think this is totally different stuff, proof that a good remixer is able to give songs a whole new life by turning them into autonomous compositions, which is what I think should be the goal of every remix (not like some other producers who think they can just sync a 4/4 tekkno kick sample and the remix is well and done!).
PS For those of you who're into dadaism/situationism, I found out with great surprise and pleasure that Mital-U has some interesting information on their site about that.