Hans Platzgumer - Tod der CD!
More by Hans Platzgumer:
The Death of the CD.
2008. No more bellyaching about the decline of a kind of music industry that we never wanted anyway! Now is the time to celebrate something we demanded more than 20 years ago: The collapse of this system! The end of the Compact Disc!
In 1987 Hans Platzgumer, a 17 year old punk from Austria, released his first record: a noisy, straight in-your-face statement called "Tod der CD!" (Death To The CD!). In so doing, the kid established a conspirative society of CD-enemies with whom he waged his romantic adolescent fury against the slick new currents threatening to drown vinyl in its lacquered undertow.
Today we face the downfall of the CD's reign. The evil bastard is threatened with extinction and merely vinyl and downloads will survive.
For two decades there have been thoughts about re-releasing "Tod der CD!" whose status has solidified into that of a legendary and rare gem. But hell, there was no way to re- release it on CD. The time just wasn't right to come back with this issue, to say nothing of the venue. But now, with the CD reaching near-obsoletion, it is the perfect moment to bring back that lovely old vinyl in readily consumptive & trashy mp3 format. Low resolution of course.
"Tod der CD!" was produced with a hard-edge "lo-fi"noise-attitude in the mid-80s. Years later this very lo-fi-movement became a genre unto itself, embodying the free spirit of the then uncorrupted "independent" ideology of making and distributing music oneself. Now and once again the genuine D.I.Y appeal can be revived; and the 16 mp3s comprising Hans Platzgumer's first masterpiece, replete with distorted 4-track-recordings, weird sounds and bad lyrics finally shine again.
For those who care to acquire the original artwork (cover, in-sleeve and poster), the "Tod der CD!"-LP will be accessible in rarity stores and at vinyl fairs. To all others: join in, Brothers and Sisters! Enjoy the bargains of a sellout world! Point your browser to iTunes or whoever your favourite mp3-monger might be. All you need is a few cents. Celebrate the new era with these crackling vinyl sounds of eras bygone. Stop the weeping. Quality is dead. Now bring the noise!
Didi Neidhart/Hannah MacKenna/Hans Platzgumer