Ever since his very first cassette releases on the Cologne label Entenpfuhl in 1993 Jo Zimmermann aka Schlammpeitziger has granted an international audience a glimpse into his own private cosmos.
The musician, illustrator and inventor of song titles that don’t want to end, has a course yet sophisticated humor and has shaped his very own unmistakable style.
Zimmermann has always recorded at home. On “Auf Dem Bett Studio” (trans. On The Bed Studio) for example, which was then renamed as “Auf dem Brett Studio” (trans. On The Board Studio).
Schlammpeitziger | Wuup Wolgawahn
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=uB2X5OkS8c4
To this day he has remained true to the Casio CZ 230 S synthesizer that he got in 1986. Schlammpeitziger coaxes a friendly rumble and his typical web of melodies from this and other synths.
Stolperndes Galoppholz (trans. Limping Gallop-Wood), Erdrauchharnschleck and Konservatives Einzelzimmer (trans. Conservative Single-Room), these are the kind of titles that Schlammpeitziger’s tracks have.
Schlammpeitziger | Antless Boogie
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=A6755aUBQus
And they are by no means randomly selected titles. Far more they are distilled from the mood that the music conveys.
The reverse might be possible too, that the titles send our fantasy on a journey and so create a special atmosphere within the piece. Whatever the case may be, in combination with his titles, each Schlammpeitziger track tells a long and embroiled story.
Schlammpeitziger | Gorschio’s Glimmergoo
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=A6755aUBQus
Much has happened since Jo Zimmermann created the Schlammpeitziger character in 1992. Depeche Mode, The Bionaut, Barbara Morgenstern and Egoexpress have all requested remixes of their work from him.
Schlammpeitziger’s live concerts have a special quality. For his music appears on stage in simultaneous “Irony and holy seriousness”. Jo Zimmermann is no great joker, but in contrast, many of the sounds and solos that he throws into his live sets are positively hilarious.
Schlammpeitziger | Verkleinerte Vergrößerung
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=TlNGCbXnorw
And so one never really knows where one really is. And Schlammpeitziger masterfully manages to sustain this level of suspense throughout the length of his concerts.
His live performances work equally well in clubs as they do on a theatre stage, in a strobe cloud or in front of rows of chairs.
Schlammpeitziger | Rastplatz Rastlos
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=UxO8gLv1X-I
One permanent fixture of these happenings are Ulrike Göken’s videos, an artist who is a Schlammpeitziger band member since 2003. Her films are surprising, experimental, funny and surreal.
Per track there is one film, so they’re like real music videos if you will. Not least of all when Jo does his legendary bobble hat dance and the hall is raging, is it hard for the audience to decide between watching what’s happening on the stage or on the screen.
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Schlammpeitziger – 20th anniversary concert – feat. Ulrike Göken LIVE
Friday, 13 September 2013 | 20:00 CET
Monarch | Skalitzer Str. 134 | 10999 Berlin/Kreuzberg
schlammpeitziger.com | kottimonarch.de
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