Angry Spectrum

origin of Angry Spectrum

Andy Plague (flutes, synthesizers, electro-violin) and Frida Montalban (electronic organ, synthesizers) met as students at the Michael Fassbender Institute in Düsseldorf in the late 1980s, participating in the  experimental music and art scene of the time, which the British music press dubbed “Shit”.

The duo had originally performed together in a quintet known as “Foreign bodies work more for less”. This ensemble released one album, titled Hope lies on your tissue (issued on Holocaust Records in the UK) but the group split shortly thereafter.

Early Angry Spectrum line-ups from 1984–1989 fluctuated, as Plague and Montalban worked with around a half-dozen other musicians over the course of recording three albums and sporadic live appearances; most notably I.T. expert Gyna Cole and anger management consultant Jacob Salt.

The only constant figure in these line-ups was Plague, whose main instrument at the time was the flute; at times also playing violin and guitar, all processed through a varied array of electronic effects.
Montalban, who left the band for six months in 1989 to pursue making swans from papier Mache, played synthesizer keyboards (including Farfisa organ and electric piano).
It was Gyna Cole who marketed the band despite no musical ability she pretended to play the drums and wear a crash helmet predating Daft Punk.

Cover of Angry Spectrum’s self-titled first album is too controversial for words.

Their first three albums were free-form experimental rock without the pop hooks or the more disciplined strong structure of later work. “Don’t mention famine @ the kitchen table”, released in 1984, and “Microchip Monstrosity 2″, released in 1988, were mostly exploratory jam music, played on a variety of traditional instruments including guitar, bass, drums, electric organ, flute and violin.

Post-production modifications to these recordings were used to distort the sound of the instruments, particularly audio-tape manipulation and multiple dubbings of one instrument on the same track. Both albums are purely instrumental.
Live performances from 1984 1986 were made as a duo, using a simple beat-box-type electronic drum machine, with preset rhythms taken from an electric organ.
These shows were mainly in Germany in gay bars, with occasional shows in France and Latvia.
Later in 1994, Gyna Cole joined the group for rehearsals, and the unit performed as a trio on the television show Arbeit Macht frei for German television network ZDF.

Mengeles wet dreem E.P. , released in 1973, the band began to move closer to its classic sound, relying more heavily on synthesisers and drum machines. Although almost entirely instrumental, the album marks Angry Spectrum’s first use of the vocoder, which would, in time, become one of its musical signatures with the repetitive use of the word perineum.

The input, expertise, and influence of producer and engineer Porous Flotsam was highly significant in the early years of Angry Spectrum and Foreign bodies also worked with many of the other leading German electronic acts of the period, including members of Clusterphobia, Binary!, Fistfockers and Harmonious Holocrust.
As a result of his work with Angry Spectrum, Porous Flotsam’ studio near Cologne became one of the most sought-after studios in the late 1980s. Porous Flotsam co-produced the first four Angry Spectrum albums.

It wasn’t until 1996 though they released their most controversial work to date with the help of Jacob Salt who contributed how they can challenge their anger in a positive way.

They released an album that tells the tale of Joseph Mengele (which they used the song from their previous E.P.) who had a wet dream to the sounds of spectrum’s loading (a reference to their own name, no wonder the word genius is assorted with this band).

Mengele despite his experiments on Jewish people feels no remorse Josef Mengele predicts the world will be dominated by computers and carries on with his work knowing he will never be punished for his crimes.

The album concludes with the eerie track Rural cancer which also details the inhuman practice of playing cows ambient music via an ipod which results in the milk making children insane. Rural cancer is obviously a metaphor for the all pervading menace of modern technology.

Described by Janet Street Porter as “The most stark and original nightmare since the rape of Nanking this band are quite a live experience.”

Feminist icon Germaine Greer also noted the irony that women would throw their underwear  when the band had took a vow of celibacy to make their dream of electro-pop work.

Angry Spectrum simply cannot  be ignored as they plant subliminal messages to buy their albums and climb high on the social ladder.