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CD
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MEGO 070CD
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"'When I was young, I was embarrassed by everything. But now I'm so old that I can't be bothered anymore.' Embarrassed by what, Ostermayer? Lyrics that wallow in explicit sexual content? Or by an unrestrained rage at God and the world that a 47-year-old is supposed to have gotten over by now? Or maybe even by a craving for the sounds of the 'cheap' instruments of your village-tavern social life? When Fritz Ostermayer says 'kitsch', it means 'the craftsmanship of emotionality' which was developed in the Baroque era but continues to survive as a submerged aspect of culture: in the banal hits of the 60s, in the simple three-chord pop song, and not least in the sentimental electronic dramas of the German forests and fields that appear in Kraftwerk ('Ohm Sweet Ohm'), Cluster, and Harmonia, right up to the kitsch-laden pieces of a Schlammpeitziger or Ulrich Schnauss. The point is that certain harmonic progressions and melodic lines can produce specific effects, that euphoria can be a psycho-physiological construct in just the same way that melancholy is, and that a good songwriter can play this keyboard of the emotions just as a highly talented dictator does -- or, for that matter, that terrorist of sentiment, Lars van Trier. 'Two years ago when I performed on a boat in Paris, after the gig a young waitress said to me in charming Frenglish, 'I think, you like the work of Pierre Henry.' When I gladly agreed, she added, 'And you like kitsch as well.' No doubt about that either, I have to admit. 'Then I know which kind of music you are doing -- kitsch concrète.' So, unknown mademoiselle, merci for this wonderful title!' Kistch Concrète also features guest contributions by Martin Siewert, Franz Hautzinger and others."
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