Sprung Aus Den Wolken 1981 - West-Berlin

Unusually long-time-coming reissue of the debut EP by Neue Deutsche Welle first-wavers, Sprung Aus Den Wolken, a relatively overlooked act who came up at the same time as Einstürzende Neubauten, released via ZickZack and even had a song feature in Wings of Desire but never really seem to be on the tip on anyone's tongue. Neither as aggressively physical as Neubaten or feral as Malaria!, SADW played more true to their name (meaning: jump from the clouds), a more ghostly arrangement of dubby bass, impressionistic electronics and dreamstate vocals that might well feel more on-point for 2024 than it did back in 1981. If this was post-punk or industrial, it was the kind conceived in its truest form, open-minded, open-ranged, and unafraid to step off the edge. Alongside the 30-or-so minutes of the original EP, we also get a host of unreleased material that helps round out that theory, presenting a range of sound that helps tie the past to the future, reistanting the free-ness of krautrock forebearers like Faust or Can in the context of a kind of proto-electronic music. It's frequently raw and loose-limbed, qualities that on release may have felt formative but now seem astute, forward-thinking, and at times, even visionary. If you're here for precision and fidelity, perhaps keep walking. But if you favour the sound of the future standing on someone's feet, pull up a chair. You might wanna get comfortable. There's ideas for (future) days here.