with the re-release on cd of mekanik kommando's it would be quiet in the woods if only a few birds sing as well as the very first publication of the blue bananas 10inch thirty years after its inception, tonefloat is paying homage to a highly underrated historic period. the trip goes all the way back to 1979, a seminal year for dutch music. amsterdam has, by then, turned into the focal point of the post-punk-influenced ultra-movement and the minny pops into its figurehead formation. it is in this phase of departure that multi-instrumentalist peter van vliet teams up with bassist and singer lasika panyigay to form mekanik kommando. founded in nijmegen, the group develop a personal script which immediately distinguishes them from the amsterdam-scene: serious yet playful, eccentric yet accessible, dark but highly diverse.recorded at home, their debut full-length it would be quiet in the woods if only a few birds sing, contains some of their most memorable material. even though traditional song structures have mostly been discarded in favour of a free-form approach, there is something catchy about stand-out pieces like "microbes" and "white soldier", which rely heavily on the mechanical pulse of a rhythm machine and the razorsharp staccato of peter van vliet's bass. while "birds" marks their closely observed entry onto the scene, culminating in a contract with emi, the tracks from their 1979 cassette-demo are never officially released.
tonefloat is now making these early works available for the first time as a 10inch under the name of blue bananas. more rough, edgy and avantgardistic than the band's later work, all tracks seamlessly flow together into a charmingly lofi and colourfully psychedelic sonic quilt with remarkable references to follow-up formation the use of ashes.
the mekanik kommando releases are out as a limited edition of 475 copies on clear vinyl 10inch (blue bananas) in custom printed pvc sleeve, and a mini album cardboard sleeve cd (it would be quiet in the woods if only a few birds sing). the album can be ordered directly from the tonefloat store.
Mekanik Kommando - White Soldier by Tonefloat Records
