Titus writes:
This is a slightly unusual story about a band that
was formed as long ago as 1980, but who have had two distinct styles.
In its early days, this German band was linked to the avant-garde Neue
Deutsche Welle (German New Wave), but since the mid nineties FSK have
been associated with Techno & House music, recording in Uphon
Studios, Weilheim, Bavaria. The band is Freiwillige Selbst Kontrolle
or F.S.K. as they are generally known these days, and their name
translates as “voluntary self control”.
From
the mid eighties, influential DJ John Peel loved this group right up
to his death in 2004, with six sessions recorded. They put their own
distinctive take onto a famous song called ‘My Funny Valentine’ and
since this was recorded as part of a session in 1992, John played this
track on or around February 14, each year. FSK were influenced by the
indie British music scene at the time. They were signed to Zickzack
records, whose owner was German music journalist and punk rock fanatic
Alfred Hilsberg, and they more often than not, played their music with
David Lowery of Camper Van Beethoven. This guy just happened to have
his own studio in Richmond, Virginia.
The
band’s members consist of Thomas Meinecke, Michaela Melian, Wilfred
Petzi, Justin Hoffmann, Carl Oesterheld and as I said above, on
occasions David Lowery. Meinecke, Melian, Petzi and Hoffmann were all
contributors to the German underground magazine ‘Mode und Verzweiflung’
(fashion & despair). I won’t painstakingly go through each
single/EP/LP they made because they equate to PLENTY, but one is
particularly worthy of mention from 2006. FSK were one of 29 bands to
contribute to ‘Silver Monk Time – A Tribute to The Monks’ which was a
compilation album about the German-American band, released on the Play
Loud label. The album was also a soundtrack to the film ‘Monks – The
Transatlantic Feedback’.
Some
band members of FSK are, as a generalisation, linked to the arts.
Thomas Meinecke as a novelist, Michaela Melian as a Professor at the
University of Fine Arts of Hamburg, Justin Hoffmann as Director of the
Wolfsburg Arts Society and Wilfred Petzi as a photographer. You read
previously that the band made six Peel Sessions, and all have since
been released on Strange Fruit Records. JP penned the sleeve notes for
FSK’s 1987 LP ‘Continental Breakfast’ and said “ Thomas Meinecke and
Michaela Melian once explained FSK’s philosophy to me over a bottle of
wine. Something to do with all of pop music having been already
written & performed, leaving deconstruction and reconstruction as
the only course forward. Not sure that I’ve got that absolutely
right, but the results that you can hear are most entertaining”. Peel
also noted in 1992 that the band had done more sessions for his Radio
One programme than any other non-UK band.
Personally
I find FSK a most entertaining band, both in their former guise and
current one, and the track I have requested lex to play is perhaps part
of their greatest ever work. It could be described as tongue-in-cheek
slant on any non German, wishing to learn that language, and is called
‘I wish I could sprechen sie Deutsch’ (which may be found here). Some misguided folk seemingly
used to insist that the Germans have no sense of humour – nonsense,
FSK and this track are genuinely funny!
