Station 17 - Ausblick (new) 7/10
Station 17 - Werkschau (compilation) 8/10
Both on Bureau B, issued in February 2019
Formed some 30 years ago in Hamburg by music tutor Kai Boysen, Station 17 are something of an ever-rotating colossus, a twist in the fabric of Germany's musical headspace. Boysen was no ordinary teacher though - his key role back in the late '80s was to nurture handicapped, disabled and less fortunate members of the local community, coaxing them into a world of independent experimental music-making that has been translated into numerous recordings over the past years.
With three decades under their belts, the various members, contributors and star guests have amassed something of a superb catalogue, some of which has been assembled on the primer Werkschau. Drawn from releases issued on labels as varied as Mercury, Mute and 17 Records, Werkschau is a blend of mid-tempo NYC funk (Uh-Uh-Uh), insistent industrial-pomp (St Pauli der hat heut Geburtstag), pretty little synth-pop nuggets (Technomuseum 2) and neat rhythmic electronica (Bademeister). In spite of the many different styles on display, Werkschau has been blended perfectly by the outfit's new home label.
In parallel, new guests from the past, present and future lend their creative technical hands to Ausblick, a companion to last year's collaborative Blick album. The likes of Pyrolator, Faust, Ulrich Schnauss and Datashock have joined forces with Boysen's crew to formulate something of an introduction to electronica with tracks that range from the poppy sublime (....And Beyond with Grosskopf and Kranemann) to the downright experimental (Un Astronaute and Dauerglimmer).
The epic Südwesthörn is something of a counterpoint - Schnauss and Station 17 choosing to build up the track into a 10-minute crescendo, quite unlike the rest of the album - while the closing Küsse Den Wind is a sedentary hippy jazz thing that comes straight out of the Krautrock era with Günter Schickert on board.
If you haven't called at Station 17 before, it's really time you did - there's a hefty catalogue just waiting to be investigated.
Station 17 - Werkschau (compilation) 8/10
Both on Bureau B, issued in February 2019
Formed some 30 years ago in Hamburg by music tutor Kai Boysen, Station 17 are something of an ever-rotating colossus, a twist in the fabric of Germany's musical headspace. Boysen was no ordinary teacher though - his key role back in the late '80s was to nurture handicapped, disabled and less fortunate members of the local community, coaxing them into a world of independent experimental music-making that has been translated into numerous recordings over the past years.With three decades under their belts, the various members, contributors and star guests have amassed something of a superb catalogue, some of which has been assembled on the primer Werkschau. Drawn from releases issued on labels as varied as Mercury, Mute and 17 Records, Werkschau is a blend of mid-tempo NYC funk (Uh-Uh-Uh), insistent industrial-pomp (St Pauli der hat heut Geburtstag), pretty little synth-pop nuggets (Technomuseum 2) and neat rhythmic electronica (Bademeister). In spite of the many different styles on display, Werkschau has been blended perfectly by the outfit's new home label.In parallel, new guests from the past, present and future lend their creative technical hands to Ausblick, a companion to last year's collaborative Blick album. The likes of Pyrolator, Faust, Ulrich Schnauss and Datashock have joined forces with Boysen's crew to formulate something of an introduction to electronica with tracks that range from the poppy sublime (....And Beyond with Grosskopf and Kranemann) to the downright experimental (Un Astronaute and Dauerglimmer).
The epic Südwesthörn is something of a counterpoint - Schnauss and Station 17 choosing to build up the track into a 10-minute crescendo, quite unlike the rest of the album - while the closing Küsse Den Wind is a sedentary hippy jazz thing that comes straight out of the Krautrock era with Günter Schickert on board.
If you haven't called at Station 17 before, it's really time you did - there's a hefty catalogue just waiting to be investigated.