Jörg Thomasius – Acht Gesänge Der Schwarzen Hunde (2022)

Bureau B’s exploration of the latter day GDR’s tape scene is probably far from complete and yet has already brought a wealth of wonderful, wondrous music back to light. Jörg Thomasius made his name from the mid-1980s onwards with a series of tapes, mostly in collaboration with other artists. However, Acht Gesänge Der Schwarzen Hunde (Eight Songs of the Black Dogs) brings together solo productions that were made between 1980 and 1990 and seem to quote the familiar at the same time as they idiosyncratically distance themselves from it: Thomasius unceremoniously invented dub, wave, noise, industrial, musique concrète, New Age music and other styles on his very own terms. Kristoffer Cornils