Notorische Reflexe – Next Stop
From Notorische Reflexe – S/T
Released on Rebel Rec., 1985, Germany

In our opinion, one would definitely be right by defining Notorsiche Reflexe as a « Neue  Deutsche Welle » act. Though the expression quickly became hackneyed after some songs sold by the marketing guys as « NDW  hits » took over Europe’s music charts in the early-1980’s – like Trio’s Da Da Da or Nena‘s world-famous hit 99 luftballons –  it was first used by journalist Alfred Hilsberg in 1979 to designate a blossoming scene of post-punk and experimental german bands. By 1980, Hilsberg would considerably help the development of this underground scene by founding his own label, Zickzack, on which he would release the work of groundbreaking experimental artists such as Palais Schaumburg, Siluetes 61 or Xao Seffcheque, as well as « commercially-successful » NDW bands like Einstürzende neubaten… A very interesting man, and we might talk about him more sometimes, but for now, let’s get back to Notorische Reflexe.

More than a band, Notorische Reflexe was what we would nowadays call a « multi-media » collective as they would throw performances as well as direct experimental films and, of course, record music, between 1982 and 1986. Apparently they even had an underground hit with Brejnev Rap, featured on both the self-titled album and a 7 inch.

The album is much more playful than what our introduction seems to foretell : exploring a wide variety of recording technics (and most notably, sampling), the collective puts together a strong set of tunes with a sour sense of humour. Ranging from super weird to almost « pop », some of them totally kill it on the dancefloor !

Maybe not the most obvious one when it comes to make people dance (also check Das Afrikateil and the Wisp for some epic metal-dance bangers), Next Stop stands out thanks to the high level of pressure it puts on the listener thanks to the martial drumming, the mental tape manipulations and the bonkers saxophone solo ! We’d like to see this song as an invitation to discover more from this really good album from this transnational collective, but that’s only up you !