Grauzone - Raum (Vinyl)

Grauzone ‎– Raum (Vinyl)
Label: We Release Whatever The Fuck We Want Records ‎– WRWTFWW043
Format: Vinyl, 12", 45 RPM
Country: Switzerland
Released: 06 Dec 2019
Style: Minimal, New Wave, Post-Punk, Coldwave

Grauzone’s best-kept secret and underground mega-gem from 1980. The four-track affair includes the full title track sourced from the original reels, as well as a club-ready rework by Naum Gabo (Jonnie Wilkes of Optimo and James Savage) with help from Dennis Young of Liquid Liquid, and an extended edit by legendary Frankfurt DJ Ata (Robert-Johnson club, Playhouse/Klang/Ongaku labels). The 12 inch vinyl is cut at 45rpm and comes with a never-seen cover art by band member Stephan Eicher and a handmade Xerox hype sticker.

Initally released almost 40 years ago on the beloved compilation Swiss Wave - The Album (Off Course Records) alongside the band’s massive hit "Eisbär", "Raum" is the biggest Grauzone track people have yet to discover. An über-infectious New York style bassline played by Christian "GT" Trüssel and frantic drumming by Marco Repetto blend with Martin Eicher’s hauntingly hopeless lyrics and Claudine Chirac’s saxophone escapades to personify post-punk heaven and all its wonderful anomalies. It’s disco with an edge, experimental pop music full of fear and loneliness, it’s The Cure infused with proto-techno and Swiss art chic. Or maybe, it’s simply one hell of a song that will make you dance and shout. It’s good!

Further on the a-side, Naum Gabo’s rework takes Grauzone to modern dance floors with a thumping track and bounce-inducing groove on which Liquid Liquid’s very own Dennis Young adds magic in the form of marimba, Roto Toms, and EBowed guitar. The energy is electric, the sound is huge, a club banger with extra heart, ready for sound systems of all kinds.

The b-side features Ata Macias’ fabled extended version of "Raum" (first released in 2010 via Live at Robert Johnson) that Stephan Eicher described as "the perfect Grauzone edit" (and it is!), plus a straight to the point radio edit of Naum Gabo’s rework.