Punkt

Together, Harald Sack Ziegler and F.S. Blumm have created several great albums of low-key albums combining a penchant for warm and sometimes playful melodies on organic instrumentation mixed with flourishes of electronics. In addition to working as a duo, the two each have rather prolific solo careers. Blumm just released his excellent Zweite Meer last year and in addition to his solo work, Ziegler has collaborated with everyone from Mouse On Mars to Joseph Suchy and Marcus Schmickler (aka Pluramon).

Punkt is a collection of Zieglers work gathered from long out-of-print vinyl and cassette only releases spanning almost two decades in the making. None of the tracks have ever been released on CD before, and they get the deluxe treatment here, remastered with new artwork. Those looking for the almost childlike wonder that permeates the music created by Sack Und Blumm may find themselves a bit flummoxed with Punkt. A spastic journey through goofy electronic pop that brings in bits of tons of different genres and an almost dadaist sense of humor in places, the release has much more in common with the bizarre Maxi German Rave Blast Hits 3 by crazy electronic weirdos Bodenstandig 2000 (who also happen to hail from Germany).

Listeners without a short attention span need not apply to this release, as twenty two tracks clock in at under forty total minutes and even if you don't like the sound of one piece, there's bound to be something come along shortly that's different. "Lied Der Königin" opens the disc with Ziegler singing in overblown falsetto over surf-rock inspired sounding instrumentation while "Ungeheuer" is a subdued piece that sounds inspired by Simon And Garfunkel (sans the bizarre ending). From there, you get lo-fi carny pop ("Schokolade"), plunderphonics-style pop ("Entenquak," "Teenage Lover"), pop-punk ("Mine Is The Time") and saloon-style singalongs ("Gross Genug"). To say the very least, it's a completely weird ride, with toy instruments, melodica, drum machines, guitars, and a slew of other instruments all contributing to the scatterbrained madness. Equal parts frustrating and hilarious, this one's definitely not for everyone.

(from almost cool music reviews)

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