German American Friendship

DAF, the German American Friendship, is a myth, a bold duo that shaped the German music landscape in the 1980s with precise drumming, electronic sounds and piercing spoken word. Their music is a dark and driving imperative that inevitably captivates the listener.

Everything that has been said about them. Pioneer of techno they should be ,EBM Not least, they are considered as forefathers of electropunk But with a cool smile they remain silent about any attempt to historicize it: the German-American friendship, or DAF for short, is a myth.

The German American Friendship, or DAF for short, is a myth.

What we know: between 1980 and 1982 are within a very short time four albums of them appeared that changed the history of music worldwide. And DAFs International reputation is certainly not based on their name, friendship was Gabi Delgado-López and Robert Görl namely never out of place – their expressions are always hard, their gazes piercing and they come across with a precisely staged coldness, when in fact there is so much heat within them.

In the shadow of Ratinger Hof In Düsseldorf, DAF was initially founded as a quintet between Fehlfarben, The Plan, Lunch Break and Co., but then followed a conceptual approach that, in addition to Delgado-López and Görl did not allow any other young gods. From then on they operated as a duo. With precise, classical jazz-trained percussion, the legendary Korg MS-20 and a fetish-laden militarism in spoken word form, they created four albums within a very short time, which can certainly be described as substitute for sex, drugs and violence can understand.

Showed this half with productions Conny Planks and on the other hand with live recordings first album The Small and the Evil still rooted in original punk, DAF designed with Everything is Good, Gold and Love and Forever a triptych of leathery, sweaty hedonism. With the records that are now being released by Grönland, DAF boxT he duo quickly became the musical figurehead of the Rhine region in the early 1980s, and internationally too: DAF, along with Kraftwerk and Can, were among the pioneers of electronic music from Germany.

Along with Kraftwerk and Can, DAF were among the pioneers of electronic music from Germany.

And they were always fashionable. Sequencers, synthesizers, confident drums and the sharpest staccato spoken word – this alliteration is only broken by the concept of a uniform. Hardly any other band has managed to design their own look so confidently from the start, or even make it the subject of their work.What are you wearing tonight? Worship your haircut.Well, and then:Dance the Mussolini.

The martial nature of DAF is only broken by their attitude of refusal, which invites you to follow them into the darkness, to surrender to Gabi Delgado-López's swinging movements, even though he seems to be dancing all by himself - and perhaps it is this contradiction that makes the duo so immortal.