Silence…..Waiting to Attack
Fledermaus 303 emerged in 2021, the title a tribute to the Roland bass synth that the inlay would have you believe was used at least once on every track. An iconic bit of kit, especially if you’re into tweakin’ and tweetin’ acid resonance, but in this day and age, it’s a device with little creativity left in it. You could say the same thing about Rudy Ratzinger. Whilst not quite descending to his early-10s nadir, there’s still too many clumsy song titles (Squeal Like A Pig, I Am Coronaer), undeveloped ideas and a general feeling of ‘Will this do?’.
The fact that the majority of the album is in German is something of a relief, as I’m spared having to know what most of these songs are about. The nearest we get to a hook is the unsubtle opening number Nazi Tabernakel. Sure, Nazi’s might be a valid target and have been since the 1930s – they’re just a really obvious target. Mid-album, there’s a slow march Nein Nein which I confess I did return to a few times, but the remainder is heard-it-before-don’t-need-to-again. To be fair, the German scene is full of artists who essentially repeat the same album every few years, but that gambit requires a modicum of real songwriting talent to pull off. A concept-driven artist like Wumpscut can’t get away with that.
Versions: The album was released in various CD, LP and downloadable forms. No box sets any more. If you want the obligatory job lot of remixes, you’ll need to check out DJ Dwarf 21.
The following year gave us For Those About To Starve, with Rudy electing to deliver a 4-track EP, doubled up to 8 thanks to the ‘instrumentals’, which might appeal to those listeners who don’t care for gravel vocals but won’t serve much value to the committed fans. Amongst these four, however is some of the strongest :W: output for years. Justin Kohlenklau has the instant appeal of a very-slightly-cheesy hook that could have been drawn from a low-budget horror flick but serves our purposes here.
Kühlwalda will satisfy those with more serious electro-industrial tastes of the angry-man-meets-angry-synth-school. Scared Half To Death revives the concept of a child voice providing a thing layer of innocence whilst the synths fire off salvos in every direction, and Nullum Crimen Sine Lege is timely reminder that Rudy can still do that slow-and-reflective thing, even if it’s no classic.
Versions: CD, 12″ vinyl and even minidisc (?) versions were released, even if many people would settle for download or stream these days. The remixes are on DJ Dwarf 22.
Giftkeks arrived in 2023, another EP consisting of four new tracks with an instrumental double-up. As is common with releases on odd-numbered years, it’s more cerebral than the more upbeat material from the previous year. This adds some value to the instrumental versions, as the lyrics are the weakest link here – German or English, the most notable text is the song title Draw Your Terminal Breath, as it’ll conjure up unwarranted memories of a certain Monty Python tune even if this song is devoid of any comedy content.
The staccato stabs of Silent Running are the high point musically, the other three tracks mainly serving as a showcase for Rudy’s sound design talents. A valid technical and textural exercise, but nothing that’s likely to win over new supporters – the existing :W: devotees will be happy enough that this prolific project, whilst lacking the raw anger of times past, at least still knows what all the knobs do.
Versions: It’s not Rudy without various obscure editions – CD, vinyl and minidisc on offer once more along with the easy option of download or stream. Remixes? You’ve guessed it – DJ Dwarf 23.
If you think this is the end of the story though, think again. There’s plenty of material that was released outside of the main album series. Indeed, almost every note he’s recorded is available somewhere. And that’s where we’re going next.
3 thoughts on “Wumpscut – A Listener’s Guide”
I really wonder how someone who can make such fantastic music lacks the ears and insight to know when he is producing utter garbage…last 5 albums, minus about 2 tracks.
Nice review 😉
Hey, this is such an awesome review.
I agree with almost every word of it. Also, Iv’ been going back to W albums often at some points in my life and was recently thinking how I would write the full story of his music myself. No need to do that anymore…
Big fan of early days Wumpscut, but all the remaining of his catalogue although obviously less cutting edge still remains close to my heart somehow. There is indeed 2-3 good songs per album which is already something, right.
I’d like Rudy to know that his catalogue as a whole does accompany the life of people like me, even though I think he failed making money out of it, the point here is that I may play some of his music in my head any day.
Cheers
I was hoping this article had info on where the sample from Funeral Diner came from…. I was watching season 3 episode 18 of X-Files, and they used the same sample…. I assume Wumpscut used it first…. But pretty cool in any case.