oben im Eck

review by Piero Scaruffi:
The album Hyperprism (Wave, 1985), reissued as Oben Im Eck (Mute, 1986), upped the ante by employing samples, besides keyboardist Izumi Kobayashi and vocalist Kaori Kano, to mercilessly deconstruct the song format.
review by Music Brainz:

These were the very early days of sampling when the people doing it seemed like real pioneers — Steinski and maybe Mantronix — intent on making something genuinely new, exciting and subversive out of cut-up old stuff.

I probably haven't listened to this for at least ten years. I'm shocked by how good it is. Lucy came in and asked, "Was ist das?" She liked it too. There are masses of artists featured in The Wire who sound a bit like this, but Holger Hiller beat them all to it. In places he sounds a bit like The Residents and John Zorn (possibly just because of the common Japanese influence).

Label: Mute Records Ltd.
Catalog#: STUMM 38
Format: Vinyl, LP
Country: UK
Released: Nov 1986
Genre: Electronic
Style: Experimental
Credits: Featuring - Moritz von Oswald
Keyboards: Mimi Izumi Kobayashi

Tracklisting:

  • A1 - We Don't Write Anything On Paper Or So Vocals - Billy Mac Kenzie
  • A2 - Tiny Little Cloud
  • A3 - Whippets Vocals - Billy Mac Kenzie
  • A4 - Waltz
  • A5 - Oben Im Eck Vocals - Billy Mac Kenzie
  • B1 - Warm Glass
  • B2 - Die Blätter, Die Blätter...
  • B3 - Sirtaki
  • B4 - 48 (Achtundvierzig) Kissen
  • B5 - Oben Im Eck (Version) Vocals - Billy Mac Kenzie