S.Y.P.H. "Ungehörsam" (Double-CD)

essential recordings 1978-2003

"S.Y.P.H. helped create the apex that united Kraut rock pioneers Can, Neu! and Faust" (Chris Eckman, The Walkabouts)
Hypnotik German punk pioneers S.Y.P.H. present a unique collection of 39 songs charting their 25 year career. Disc 1 floors it with brutal punk shorts. Disc 2 explores their later (nearly psychedelic) rhythmatics. Far from taking a nostalgia trip, listening to 'Ungehörsam' offers a tantalising look at where punk and indie music could have gone. Rather than suffer the implosion of so many punk bands, S.Y.P.H. stepped back, took a sideways look and planted their musical bootprint firmly in the camp of likeminded collaborators.
Essential Recordings by an essential band, this collection covers the finest moments of one of Germany's most impressive collectives. Being one of the first punk acts in Germany, they soon broadened their musical horizons.
Coalitions with Can (Holger Czukay was soon on board as producer) followed, as well as with such diverse artists like Lee 'Scratch' Perry, The Walkabouts and Croatian surf rockers The Bambi Molesters. Lyrics are sung entirely in German. (Could this be why S.Y.P.H. are so scandalously overlooked in the UK?). Harry Rag's voice is a language in itself. A paced out running commentary flows throughout - whether it's on the fierce, anthemic dirges of disc 1, or the mesmerizing, sometimes dubby, explorations of disc 2.
Comparisons are pointless though to lead the way 'Schutzt Die Natur' might recall The Fall, while other tracks on disc 1 might tempt comparisons with P.i.L., or the exposed beats of UK indie-precursors The March Violets.
Disc 2 gets down to business taking in territories inhabited by the aforementioned Kraut rockers, while drawing out throbbing beats akin to Dutch band The Ex and Finnish rockers Circle.
An unexpected joy, S.Y.P.H.'s Ungehörsam is the perfect antidote to the formulaic indie touted and flogged (to death) by the 10,000 bands currently scratching a living in 21st century Britain.