Supersempfft
Metaluna
2023 Bureau B

The avant-garde Kraut ensemble Supersempfft laid the foundation for their techno-tropical pop music in 1979 with their debut album Roboterwerke. In 1981, they followed up with the album Metaluna, which is now being honored through a re-release on Bureau B. The group, consisting of Dieter Kolb, Franz Knüttel, and Franz Aumüller, fused global influences, experimental sonic landscapes, and surreal lyrics into a unique sonic cosmos. Metaluna stands out with its meandering sequences, unconventional rhythms, and psychedelic songwriting that remains groundbreaking even decades later. After their first album, Kolb and Aumüller's love of reggae and dub took them on a transatlantic trip to Trinidad and Tobago under the false assumption that all the islands stepped to the Jamaican style. Any momentary disappointment was soon dispelled by the liveliness and optimism of calypso and soca, and a life affirming experience at carnival left them awestruck and inspired. Back home, they began work on Metaluna, a wild combination of roving sequences, tropical rhythms, squashed brass and yearning vocals which sprints, skanks and soars through ten triumphant tracks. Amid the metallic beats and interplanetary idents lurk sublime melodies and soulful motifs, psychedelic songwriting reminiscent of Barrett, Beefheart, or Brian Wilson at their best. In their dubbier moments, Supersempfft sound like Lee Perry jamming on an alien console, with wild panning and delirious FX suggesting a sound clash on a distant planet. Meanwhile the arcade exuberance, vocoder gospel and space age ballads predate the sweltering synth-pop of The Knife, Hot Chip, and Ariel Pink by a full two decades, setting a bar that their successors still fail to meet. Innovative, experimental yet still heavy on the hooks, Metaluna is both a jubilant expression of its creators' tastes and a masterclass in mercurial pop -- a success of self-expression which proves once again that the best bands play for themselves.