Secret Selector Selections #2: Klaus Boss

Details: Published on Friday, 02 September 2011 09:22

K-L-AUS BOSS specializes in music, he only uses this kind of style, when he chooses it

Once I had this tune in my brain. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da daaaa-da. I couldn't get it out, and I was going crazy. I called up pretty much every person I know with knowledge of 80s music, funk, oldschool hiphop and whatever else I thought it might be.

After around ten phone calls, most of the people I had spoken with were going crazy as well. We're talking "I have 5.000 records and 250GB music" type people.

Klaus Boss finally picks up the phone. "Hey man, what's up?" "I'M GOING CRAZY WHAT'S THIS TUNE? Da-da-da-da-da-da-da daaaaaa-da". "Oh. That's George Michael: I want your sex". "Really? I was going crazy because of George Micheal?" "Yep."

That's pretty much Klaus Boss. The human discoteque. He specialises in house and techno, but I'm pretty sure you could play him anything and he'd tell you what it is, who sampled it, who the engeneer was, which movies it's been in and anything else you didn't know you needed to know.

Needless to say, I was pretty anxious to hear what strange and wonderfull sounds he would bring for this second installation of Secret Selector Selections.

I wasn't disapointed!

He kept to his area of expertise, but damn, did he find some unbeleivably bad tracks.

By bad, I mean good. Let's check it:

Liaisons Dangereuses - Peut Etre...Pas (1981)

This is an outspoken and great example of the darker realms of the Neue Deutsche Well phenomenon with a twist of the Minimal Wave sound too.

This piece was taken from the groundbreaking and only ever 1981 album from Liaisons Dangereuses which also featured the big club hit ‘Los Niños Del Parque’.

This song broke down a lot of musical and cultural barriers as it appealed to a widespread global audience . Over the years it has been sampled by Jeff Mills, Carl Craig and their mums - it’s that great!.

THE MOVER - Invite The Fear

It was so very hard for me to make up my mind of which The Mover production to include on this list.
I finally decided on ‘Invite The Fear’ which thoroughly embraces the deepest visions of Marc Acardipane - Godfather of Hardcore Techno.

At first it might come across as an entirely dystopian premonition of the future but it also contains those distinct elements of hope known from many a Detroit Techno classic.

Acardipane was a true visionary and unleashed futuristic music under countless monikers and rightfully deserves to rank up there alongside Aphex Twin.

Jim Goad - Let's Hear It For Violence Towards Women

The next one will surely raise an eyebrow or two.

I first heard this sound collage and monologue at a friend’s place one late morning many years ago. What always fascinated me about this piece was Jim Goad’s ability to use his oral accentuation to enhance the fairly repugnant subject and thus making the message come across all too clear and vividly.

It’s hard to tell exactly whether this was intended to be humouristic or morbidly serious, taking the relation to Boyd Rice into consideration.

Despite of the context it always fascinated me how the perception can be so dramatically altered - it’s not what you say, it's HOW you say it.

Aqua Regia - Pump up the LEDs to Red Take some Drugs and shake your Head

Long before there was Aphex Twin, there was Irdial Discs which I regard as one of the first experimental Dance music labels to emerge from the UK.

The twisted mind of Akin Fernandez, Irdial Discs boss and purveyor of some of the most forward thinking music out there may not have gained widespread recognition but like Irdial stately put it: ‘In your hearts, not the charts’.

Edgar Froese - Maroubra Bay

I've always had a soft spot for bombastic synthlines and this is definitely no exception. On a lighter tip compared to what I previously selected but yet equally relevant and intensive.

This majestic 17 minutes piece by Tangerine Dream co-founder Edgar Froese excels in all things subtle and meditative with a perfectly timed dramaturgy.

Did you like these tracks? Why not check out the other Secret Selector Selections? Or check out some of my own latest selections.