K.M.F.D.M.

K.M.F.D.M. are a unique band. According to their first album's sleeve notes their name stands for "Kein Mehrheit Fur Die Mitleid" which roughly translates as "No Pity For The Majority" and this is exactly their attitude. However, according to the K.M.F.D.M. Enterprises newsletter the band don't actually mind what K.M.F.D.M. is considered as meaning. In fact they even offer you the option of making up your own so if you can create better names than the one's I've already heard ("Kill Mother Fucking Depeche Mode" and "Kylie Minogue Fans Don't Masturbate"), I or K.M.F.D.M. Enterprises would like to hear from you.

K.M.F.D.M. started out as Sasha Konietzko, En Esch, Nainz Watts and Jr. Blackmale. However, Sasha and En Esch were the fore figures of the band and they have stayed throughout the bands history. Their first album was released in Europe during 1987 titled What Do You Know, Deutschland?. It was issued on the Skysaw label but there was little success for the band with only minimal sales of the album.

Their musical style was fresh and up front. To coin a phrase it was "in yer face" and uncompromisingly they attacked the usual conventions of music making and upheld an approach to music that hackers held to computer systems.

This early material is basic, unusual and Germanic in convention and it took some time for the public outside of Germany to catch onto just what they were doing. Sasha, En Esch and Nainz returned in 1988 with Don't Blow Your Top and the K.M.F.D.M. army marched on into new territories (Jr. Blackmale was now just helping out in the studio with Nick Head). The famous US Wax Trax label picked up on the new album and released it stateside.

If you've heard the first album then upon listening to Don't Blow Your Top you instantly become aware of the fact that the same samples and sounds are being used again. In fact on closer listening you can notice exactly the same rhythms, beats and sequences appearing once again in some tracks. This has since become a K.M.F.D.M. trademark with similar sounds and sequences being used over and over again and all five of their albums contain similarities. However, it's not remixing - it's recreation in the true sense of the word.

K.M.F.D.M. are unconventional combining electronics with dance and rock sounds with an intensity heavy enough to sink a battleship. Attacking various styles of music they tear it apart and re-form it in their own unique way.

Their next release UAIOE was a real contender in the popularity stakes. Now down to just Sasha and En Esch with Morgan Adjei, Sigrid Meyer and Rudolph Naomi helping out the album began to attract a lot of attention. Nick Head was on hand again to help with the mixing stage. The album was released by Strike Back records in Europe and it has recently been reissued along with the single "Virus". Once again the cover artwork was drawn by "Brute" who has drawn or conceptualised every fabulous K.M.F.D.M. cover. For those wishing to hear what K.M.F.D.M. is all about this is your best bet for a clear introduction of their style(s). Two excellent singles were taken from the UAIOE album - "More And Faster" and "Virus" although only the latter was made available in Europe.

Next came the Naïve album which in some ways was a retreat back to a more Germanic style with some tracks containing German lyrics. Once again two singles were taken from the album in the form of "Naïve" and "Godlike". With the Naîve single there was a collaboration with the group My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult - K.M.F.D.M. remixed the Thrill Kill Kult's "Days Of Swine And Roses" whereas the Thrill Kill Kult remixed K.M.F.D.M.'s "Naïve".

Between this and the next album K.M.F.D.M. released a single in the USA and Europe titled "Split" which was rather disappointing although favourable remixes of it did turn up on the forthcoming "Vogue" single. More recently and far more accessible to the UK public has been the album Money and the single "Vogue" released through a new licensing deal to Transglobal. The album was heavily promoted and fared well in terms of sales. The music heavily attacked religion, drugs and commercial vogues. It held a more solid and thus more accessible sound which was partly responsible for its success.

K.M.F.D.M. state that they always have a message in their songs even in simple terms like "Rip the system", "Govern your soul" and "Now is the time/get on the right side". In a quote from the Excessive Force newsletter, "You don't have to be extra smart to figure out that 'the right side' does not mean a political right wing position, neither does 'I will pray" mean I will sit down and pray to 'God'".

The single "Vogue" was released at the same time as the album but it took a while for the follow up "Money" to reach the public's outstretched hands. Unfortunately the UK was on the sharp end of the B.P.I.'s (British Phonographic Industry) laws and the "Money" single only came out as a four track CD single. However, on Wax Trax, the US was treated to four remixes of "Money" and three remixes of "Bargeld" on a combination of 12" and CD single.

Sales obviously weren't holding their own as the next single "Help Us - Save Us - Take Us Away" was only released in the USA via Wax Trax. The five(!) remixes were backed by two remixes of "Bargeld". Around this time (late 1992) K.M.F.D.M. toured America.

Their latest single "Sucks" was released through a new licensing deal in Europe via Big Life records. Once again the single featured fabulous cover artwork by Brute and the single promised much more than what it actually attained. The single including its lyrics do epitomise K.M.F.D.M. so although it only contains four mixes of one new track if you can obtain it I advise you to take a listen.

According to issue two of K.M.F.D.M. Enterprises' "Excessive Force" newsletter we can expect a complete video compilation and a cassette compilation of early material very soon. Excessive Force also sell K.M.F.D.M. merchandise including T-Shirts, stickers and magnets. New merchandise is expected soon. For more details contact K.M.F.D.M. Enterprises, P.O. Box #44, 2524 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60614-2389, USA.