Name: Early Singles (1981-1982)
Brand: Xmal Deutschland

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

SBR3050lp-C3

Colour

Purple

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: Yes

Format detail

Format Music US

Limited edition

Release date

2024-03-08

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier US

Secre­tly

Tax rate US

Sales:8.875

UPC / Barcode

843563171066

Total Cap

Purple LP

SBR3050lp

Black

Extended format: No

843563171035

Black LP

SBR3050cd

843563171080

Artist

Xmal Deutschland

Genre US

New Wave / Post Punk

Label US

Sacred Bones Records

<p>Xmal Deutschland formed in Hamburg, Germany in 1980 as an all-girl band in the punk circuit. They gained recognition with their first single "Großstadtindianer" and later signed with 4AD Records after a successful UK tour opening for Cocteau Twins. Their debut album "Fetisch" and singles like "Qual" and "Incubus Succubus II" made waves on the UK Independent charts. Despite using German lyrics, they found success internationally. The band went through lineup changes but continued to release albums like "Tocsin", "Matador", and "Viva". However, their last release was the 1989 LP "Devils", which showed a shift towards mainstream pop. Xmal Deutschland disbanded in 1990 after a few scattered live appearances.</p>

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“Gothics” - a time before the word goth had even taken shape - believed in the do-it-yourself punk ethos that anyone could pick up an instrument. Gray clouds were starting to form and in the unlikely city of Hamburg, a brazen and haunting gang of five women formedXmalDeutschland. As any true punk would,XmalDeutschland’s members Caro May, Rita Simon, Manuela Rickers, Fiona Sangster and Anja Huwe, started the band despite any previous musical experience.The “Schwarze Welt” seven-inch was released on the local punk label, ZickZack, in 1981 and introduced the band as an unsettling swarm of intensity. There’s an urgency in its repetitive dirge, a swirling mania that persists on the b-side with“Die Wolken” and “Großstadtindianer” whose crude synthesizer noises escalate in tension. Most of all, Huwe’s uniquely venomous German vocals quickly became embedded in the unbridled and burgeoning scene of glamorous gloom.

Punk’s independence from the stiff grip of tradition allowed the band to find solace in anti-establishment art and music, far from the conventions of the past. With their peacocked hair and thick kohl-lined eyes,XmalDeutschland’s music retained both a restlessness and delicacy, transcending any confines of the “Neue Deutsche Welle” movement (much like their colleagues and friends DAF and Einstürzende Neubauten) with the release of the “Incubus Succubus” single in 1982. It instantly became a post-punk classic. The guitar’s buzz ransacks through the melody as the ghoulish primitiveness of Huwe’s voice teases that maybe, just maybe, she is the nightmarish creature of which to be aware. The b-sides, “Zu Jung Zu Alt” and “Blut Ist Liebe,” keep strict militaristic dance beats as they teem in agitation.

That same year, the band performed in London as support for the Cocteau Twins; it was the platform they needed to ricochet into the arms of the ripped fishnet masses.&nbsp;<i>Early Singles (1981-1982)</i>, is a map of the foundational move- ments ofXmalDeutschland, just seconds before takeoff. Bonus tracks on&nbsp;the compilation, “Kaellbermarsch” and a gritty live version of “Allein,” further accentuate their fusion of toughness with the quixotic decadence of atmospheric synthesizers.

The band’s pursuit of something greater is palpable with this release, a reflection of a time that introduced accessibility to new means of making music following the onset of punk.

Early Singles (1981-1982)

Music US

Discover Early Singles (1981-1982) by Xmal Deutschland. Exclusive LP on Rough Trade with haunting vocals and atmospheric synthesizers.