German new wave funk and disco – Mixed by Munk

First-wave American disco might have been comprehensively strip-mined by sample-hungry DJs and producers looking to flex their crate-digging credentials, but Mathias Munk Modica and Kapote of the German label Toy Tonics have hit upon a rich and unlikely source for their recent edit compilation Teutonik Disaster.

As Munk tells it, before the early 80s, German-language pop was dominated by conservative, schlocky schlager. However, the advent of bands like Kraftwerk and Can heralded a flourish of experimentation characterised by myriad artists mixing up disco, punk and funk into a deeply idiosyncratic sound with a DIY ethic.

Most of the releases that appear on Teutonik Disaster were pressed in the hundreds rather than the thousands with out-there artwork and equally bizarre titles – Die Hetereos’ Monogamie, Kannibalismus unserer Zeit is a particular stand-out.

Teutonik Disaster was released as a compilation 2002, but its latest iteration sees Munk and Kapote dust off these curios and tweak them into DJ-friendly edits with beefier drums and extended play-times. The accompanying mix sits somewhere between the two, comprised mostly of originals with a couple of Kapote edits thrown in for flavour.

Telling the difference isn’t necessarily easy, which is in itself a testament to the timeless quality of the joyfully weird source material.