Search - Workshop :: Es Liebt Dich Und Deine Korperlichkeit Ein

Neue Deutsche Wellen

09/06/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Although the riches of contemporary German music are too abundant for anyone to assess comprehensively, Workshop must be near the top of anyone's heap. Their name is suggestive, as this is a genuinely exploratory group with an their fingers in an unusual variety of pies of, uh, musical experimentation. Whatever, all too often, bands which promote themselves under the banners of free-form revolt are simply too lazy to get a grip on fundamentals. These guys on the other hand keep an amazing number of musical modalities in spin at once, but are competent groove rockers and ass-shakers when they wish to be. They might be compared in this respect with the unjustly obscure Out Hud (new album out soon on Kranky). "Es liebt dich..." is more straightforwardly tuneful and affecting than earlier albums, often keeping a melodic folk melody steady behind the woozier elastications, but it is no less expansive a record. God bless the little label that put this one out Stateside: a couple of Workshop's other excellent albums, namely the 'techno' album, "Talent" and the totally baffling krautrock funk platter that is "Meiguiweisheng Xiang" ARE available as pricey imports, or from Amazon.de Of course, given the wicked way of the world, their eponymous first album -which I'd love to buy- seems unsurprisingly to have been eradicated from existence altogether. You can't win 'em all, I guess."