Les Vampyrettes

12" Black Vinyl

Les Vampyrettes are something of a kinky nerd’s preserve; a one-off project by two of contemporary German music’s most feted minds, operating far beyond their usual paradigms in a singular sort of minimalist gothic sphere that basically sounds like nothing else; part mechanical clockwork backing track, part doubled-up and slowed down vocal narration that’s way too high in the mix. The result still sounds entirely singular and for our money remains one of Conny Plank’s most brilliantly inimitable if barely-known creations.

‘Biomutanten’ is the one you really need here, featuring Can’s Holger Czukay growling in processed, low-pitch voice over nerve jangling alarms, webs of insectoid percussion and plasmic electric guitars, rendered with the spatial suss of Conny’s Studio.

‘Menetekel’ follows farther down that murky path into netherworlds of swampy textures and sepulchral reverbs, conveying a sort of dungeon like air that’s both cartoonish and fetishistic, and an outlier example of krautrock’s finest minds on the mooch.

TRACKS:

• 1. Biomutanten ..... 04:03
• 2. Menetekel ..... 03:43