Once upon a time when every German workers’ dreams came true in the German Democratic Republic, where citizens were so perfectly defended by the inner security service that every seventh one was an informer. It was so democratic that the media was totally controlled by the communist state, and any private publishing was illegal. In Karl Marx-Stadt (aka Chemnitz) there was a really underground new wave electronic experimental label klangFarBe run by Frank Bretschneider from 1985 till 1989. It published only 8 cassette releases.

A double compilation LP with AG Geige, Kriminal Tanzkapelle, Frank Bretschneider and Stein Im Brett

will be released soon by Mannequin Records (Germany)

You can download a Karl Marx-Stadt underground V/A tape from the 80s

and there is a film about AG Geige.

Bretschneider today run Raster-Noton. It is meant to be a platform – a network covering the overlapping border areas of pop, art, and science. It has been emerged from the fusion of Rastermusic, founded by Olaf Bender (AG Geige) and Bretschneider (also was in AG Geige) in 1996, and the sublabel Noton, which was run by Carsten Nicolai (aka Alva Noto). It realizes music projects, publications and installation works. The common idea behind all releases is an experimental approach – an amalgamation of sound, art, and design, which is not only apparent in the music, but also visible from the artwork and cover design. In music the label’s aesthetic focus is on rhythmic, minimal electronic music alternating between playful pop and introspection.