{"product_id":"roboterwerke","title":"Roboterwerke","description":"\u003cp\u003eAfter introducing us to the techno-tropical pop of \u003cstrong\u003eSupersempfft\u003c\/strong\u003e via an essential reissue of their stargazing sophomore LP \u003cem\u003e‘Metaluna’\u003c\/em\u003e, those surefooted folks at Hamburg’s Bureau B beam back a couple of years to bring us the Hessen outfit’s outrageous debut.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe collaborative vehicle careers through the cosmos like a high-performance clown car, disguising daring chord progressions, technical innovation, and a heap of hooks behind its cartoon chassis, and taking us lucky listeners along for the joyride.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOperating at the unlikely nexus between creative studio and sixth form common room, and fusing all the expertise of the former with commercial disinterest of the latter, \u003cstrong\u003eSupersempfft\u003c\/strong\u003e served as the multidisciplinary moniker for a trio of childhood friends whose separate skills combined perfectly for their high-concept high jinks.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe prodigious musical talent of Dieter Kolb, augmented and elevated by Franz Knüttel’s electronic innovation, provided the ideal medium for Franz Aumüller’s wacky world-building, which made up the lyrical thrust and visual flair of the project.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e‘\u003cem\u003eRoboterwerke\u003c\/em\u003e’, both the name of this 1979 LP and the revolutionary drum machine created by Knüttel, tells the story of a mellow tuba-toting frog (apparently an avatar of Kolb), who is technologically transformed by a mad scientist (a Professor Knüttels, as it happens) into a star-surfing superhero.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSo far, so far out - especially considering the lurid, lysergic lunacy of the comic book cover art – but this slapstick silliness also serves as sleight of hand, a daft disguise to keep these sublime sounds away from the squares.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe titular opener offers an astral ascent, its cinematic sequences sweeping between Berlin School technique and an electronic apache, setting the scene in a galaxy far far away.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s always cocktail hour somewhere in the cosmos, and “\u003cem\u003eWe Found Out\u003c\/em\u003e” finds our heroes lounging on a Venusian beach, tapping their toes to a bobbing bassline and indulging in interplanetary exotica ideally zoot-suited for the YMO crowd.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSupersempfft\u003c\/strong\u003e serve their third style in as many songs with two-part tone poem “\u003cem\u003eFantasia \u0026amp; Pipedreams On A Lilypad\u003c\/em\u003e”, a pastoral idyll which echoes gently across a lake.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnchored by Ali Schadeberg’s lyrical acoustic fretwork, the piece drifts between the softer fringes of prog and the psychedelic folk of Shuggie Otis, celebrating amphibian autonomy on a sunny day.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis calm comes to an abrupt end via the hydraulic funk of “\u003cem\u003eLet’s Beam Him Up\u003c\/em\u003e”, an oddball pop masterpiece turbo-powered by the wild and wonky rhythms of \u003cem\u003eRoboterwerke\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe B-side opens with the widescreen synth-pop of “\u003cem\u003eI’m Gonna Make You Big\u003c\/em\u003e”, a sky-scraping combination of rubberized bass, electronic gurgle, and open-hearted croon which makes the following year’s ‘\u003cem\u003eMcCartney II\u003c\/em\u003e’ sound ordinary.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIts modulating vocals soon segue into the seesawing sequences and rolling robo-funk of “\u003cem\u003eBe A Man You Frog\u003c\/em\u003e”, a digital dreamscape that gradually unspools into the heart of a wormhole.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGiddy and glorious, space-age calypso “\u003cem\u003eSupersempfft\u003c\/em\u003e” foreshadows the group’s follow-up LP, while “\u003cem\u003eOut Of Time\u003c\/em\u003e” is a delirious disco hustle about intergalactic flight on a giant butterfly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAll of which leads to the tuba-infused “\u003cem\u003eThe Best Thing Is To Get High\u003c\/em\u003e”, an impish ode to altered states that brings this journey to a perfectly playful close.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDon’t be misled, there’s no amount of sensory boosts, terrestrial or otherwise, which can compete with the creative talent oozing through these grooves.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bureau B","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50455048290635,"sku":"2205274","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50455045570891,"sku":"2205264","price":19.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/test_d385d5d9_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727187781","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/de\/products\/roboterwerke","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}