Foyer Des Arts – Die Unfaehigkeit Zu Fruehstuecken

I was lead to believe that this would be of no interest to people in this scene, but I must argue - this album has a lot to offer in it's eccentric little way. It opens with "Ein Elvis-Impersonator Auf Dem Wege Zu Sich Selbst" - a fairly atmospheric piece of music with distant guitar like early COCTEAUs, and vocals like BOWIE at his most tense all crawling along at a dignified pace. "Schimmliges Brot" comes next altering the atmosphere for a bright jolly little ditty which is quite catchy, using a minimum of samples to MAXimum effect while Mr. GOLDT offers some of his stranger voices. "Familie Und Gewaltanwendung" has a tight little electronic drum pattern for Max to speak his madness over in light voices and corrupt growls. "Kaiserschnitt" has a sort of 60's flavour reminding one a little of THE BANSHEES' version of "Dear Prudence" in some ways. "Unter Meinen Fingernägeln" is closer to MAX's solo work, only a little more subtle (could this be the influence of GERD PASEMANN?) - there's a lot more to this track than seems obvious on first listen. "Das Leben Ist Ein Jeansshop" is another pulsing rhythm - not heavy or hard, but compulsive with lots of sounds adding to it, some obvious, some not so. "Die Toten Augen Von Deutschland" opens to a quite conventional medium-paced structure, soon becoming a lot more complex - you begin to hear why FUNFUNDVIERZIG release BOURBONESE QUALK as well as these - there's a certain similarity there. "Wir Verstaatlichen Simone" is another delicate piece based around a continual drum box sound - it's a sort of BOWIE-type Rock at it's most subtle. "Heavy Metal" is a lot larger sound, again like something by BOWIE, this time from his "Scary Monsters" era. It's hooky stuff, even though I cannot understand the German language. It also reminds me a lot of "Topless" by HOWARD DEVOTO. "Ein Haus Aus Den Knochen Von Cary Grant" is a smooth little piece of music with some great harmonic backing vocals. There's some great synth sounds in there, honed to gleam, yet anything but bland! "Das Kubakleid" reminds me a little of a LUXURIA with DAVID SYLVIAN at the vocal helm. "Gleichzeitig? Das Kann Ich Nicht" is another of their more quirky things with MAX proving himself once more to be a dexterous vocalist. A fairly minimal piece of music which still manages to experiment by a sudden and very neatly spliced reversal of percussion. "Mein Lila Reisebügeleisen" has some great chittering guitar sounds over an otherwise deceptively thin rhythm with tons of subtle electronic effects to it. "Sing Mir Ein Kleines Arbeiterkampflied" is another quirky thing with a drugged brass section. "American Snackbar Veniece" has a strong BOWIE flavour to it again with an interesting musical arrangement - some toothy guitar albeit used with a light hand. "Die Heilung" is a brief, minimal thing. The next two tracks are live recordings, the first - "Die Haschjule" recorded in Berlin during 1984 has a very different ambience although it's musically as good as anything else on the album - makes you wonder how just two people managed to get such a full sound onstage. The next track is "Deutsche Omis/Das Seniorenlied" was recorded in München in 1983 and reminds me a lot of MAGAZINE (back to DEVOTO again) circa "The Correct Use Of Soap". "Lustig Gehts Im Tale Zu" has a Country & Western taste to it, although it's far, far better than this. It has one of those mid-Eighties semi-New Wave Pop Chart success sounds, which is fair enough to me. "Envy" wraps up the album with a fairly solid, fast moving Rock piece. If I were to compare it once more to MAGAZINE it would be to "Philadelphia" with a hint of BEEFHEART!
A good album and one the rest of the world obviously missed. Well worth seeking out.

Originally reviewed for Soft Watch.