DAF – Das Beste Von DAF

Ask anyone about German pop music, and chances are you'll get the same responses: Kraftwerk, Krautrock, Rammstein and maybe the evil purveyors of the 'Winds of Change', The Scorpions. One name you're unlikely to hear banded about is D.A.F. (short for Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft ”“ the German-American Friendship), whose emotionless Teutonic electronics and harshly sung German lyrics sat uncomfortably with the early 80s electro scene. This album compiles the best material from the band's prime, 1979-1984, in which they released five albums.At a time of post-punk subversion and anti-iconoclasm, the band's dark disco anthem 'Der Mussolini' must have sounded even more sinister than it does nearly 30 years on. It's here that the band really hit their stride, its motorik beat and stabbing synths sounding like a thoroughly pissed-off Kraftwerk, while singer Gabi Delgado-López all but orders the listener to "Dance the Adolf Hitler, do the Jesus Christ". Other songs, whilst often dancefloor-friendly, tap into a bleaker, almost gothic vein; 'Rote Lippen' (Red Lips) and 'Ich Will' (I Want) are both gloomy excursions into Joy Division-esque minimalism, while tracks like 'Sato-Sato' demonstrate exactly where The Faint got all their ideas from.'Im Dschungel der Liebe' (The Jungle of Love) is a rare display of the band’s sense of humour; the dispassionate vocals are seemingly at odds with the half-heartfelt lyrics, while a lone glockenspiel stutters across the mix, spending the entire song attempting to find the right note. Similarly, 'Der Räuber und der Prinz' (The Robber and the Prince) is the album's most human(e) moment, an almost bouncy "pop" song, albeit one that features an allegorical lyric about homosexual love between the classes. 'Alle gegen Alle' (Everybody Fights Everybody), meanwhile, matches relentless bass and militaristic drums to a disturbingly intoned lyric about "Our gear...so black, our boots so beautiful", as background voices scream "Heil!" in the background. Quite frankly, it makes the first Suicide album sound like a sunny stroll through the park.Unlike Born Bad Records' recent BIPPP compilation, which explored a cross section of the French electro scene from the same era, Das Beste Von DAF is an extremely difficult record to digest, let alone enjoy, in one 70-minute sitting. Nonetheless, like BIPPP, it’s a fascinating look at the product of a cultural scene which seems to have remained an underground phenomenon practically ever since its inception. 55%DAF on Myspace