The Wirtschaftswunder

The Wirtschaftswunder are European post-punk history. Formed in Limburg in 1980, the multinational band consisted of Czech-born guitarist Tom Dokoupil, Canadian keyboardist Mark Pfurtscheller, German drummer Jürgen Beuth (also in Die Radierer) and Italian singer Angelo Galizia. After their DIY Milestone "Salmobray", the band was signed to Polydor. Contrary to the aims of the record company, who planned to make a huge NDW act out of the band, the new (and more expensive) ways of record production just showed how special this band really was. A financial flop and artistically one of the strangest and most wonderful major debuts of all times.

Between 1979 and 1983, the idea that pop music can be fine art and vice versa was a revolutionary one (with David Thomas of Pere Ubu as the Che Guevara poster boy). The border crossings which ensued had little to do with the “Break on through” rallying cry of the Woodstock generation. The fabled “other side” had long since disappeared beyond the border. If anything, a new territory was emerging, one with different rules and laws which would be explored on “The Wirtschaftswunder” – today, the record still sounds more effective in dislocating and dissolving boundaries than anything that esoteric literature or LSD has to offer.

https://thewirtschaftswunder.bandcamp.com/music
https://www.tapeterecords.de/artists/the-wirtschaftswunder