Long before he made seriously fun house music under the name DJ Koze, Stefan Kozalla made seriously fun hip-hop as part of the group Fischmob. In between that, he was also part of the supergroup International Pony, but the true missing link between his early musical activities and the sound that he is known for today is Adolf Noise. Launched in 1996 with EP 1: Wunden, S. Beine Offen (EP 1: Wounds, S. Legs Open; there never was an EP 2), Kozalla put out only two further releases under this alias. Material from records are included in this reissue of 2005’s Wo die Rammelwolle fliegt (roughly, Where the Mating Season Fur Is Flying).
The title track of the second EP Deine Reime sind Schweinereime (Your Rhymes Are Piggish Rhymes) is a boom-bap parody of battle rap tropes, which has become iconic and is relatively straightforward in comparison to pieces like the surrealist »Zuviel Zeit?« and a »Hiddentrack« that surprisingly has not caused any legal drama since its original release. Skits and sketches like these make up most of the record, and perhaps the final Adolf Noise records were little more than collections of outtakes and B-sides not deemed suitable for a DJ Koze release after he had started to make a name for himself as a seriously fun house producer.
But Adolf Noise tracks like the krauty-Balearic »Bäume strahlen Stress aus« (»Trees Exude Stress«), the aptly-titled »Steffex Twin,« the dreamy »Geklöppel B Zwei,« and the Tocotronic rework »Jackpot Remix« breathe the same spirit as his later work while also paying homage to his roots in sampledelia. Wo die Rammelwolle fliegt is a stepping stone in an unusual career, and a treasure trove of unconventional sounds too.entiert den Meilenstein in einer ungewöhnlichen Karriere. Und macht obendrein auch heute noch viel Spaß.
