Optimo’s JD Twitch has been enlisted to oversee a compilation of German post-punk produced and released between 1980 and 1984.
Titlted Kreaturen der Nacht, the compilation pieces together 16 tracks ranging from classics to rarities with a focus on Germany’s independent post-punk scene in the first-half of the 1980s. You can hear the compilation’s opening track – ‘Amanita’ by Leben Und Arbeiten – above.
"Although we had a small underground scene, it was very vibrant," explains Gudrun Gut of Malaria!, one of the bands featured on the compilation. "Bands like Die Haut, our first band Mania D., Malaria!, we organised gigs ourselves, hung around together in a handful of clubs like Risiko or Dschungel and went to gigs at SO36. West Germany had other regional scenes too: Düsseldorf and Köln around Der Plan and the Ata Tak label and there was the Hamburg side with Abwärts. Germany didn’t have a real music industry like the US or UK back then."
JD Twitch adds: "The compilation is not designed to tell a definitive story of what was going on in Germany in this era; it is more an arbitrary collection of records I adore from a specific era with a specific attitude that hopefully together sum up some of the musical undercurrents in Germany at that time."
The physical release includes a number of rare and unseen photos as well as interviews with some of those whose music features on the compilation.
Strut will release JD Twitch Presents Kreaturen der Nacht on November 9 in CD, vinyl and digital formats. You can pre-order it here.
