Kopf Zahl Bauch . Harald Sack Ziegler
staubgold 28
2002. cd . dl . lp
"Kopf Zahl Bauch" is Harald Sack Ziegler's strongest and most complete solo release to date, going new ways in sound, but keeping the humorous dada pop style which one of his trademarks. The shimmering mix of cheap electronica, German vocals, weird rhythms, samples and guitars almost always manages to stick to a more or less loose song format which will heavily appeal not only to fans of early New German Wave.
Over a period of more than a year and a half, Cologne based artist Harald Sack Ziegler, partner in Sack & Blumm as well as collaborator with Mouse On Mars, worked on the 11 tracks of this album. Guest musicians Mouse On Mars, Joseph Suchy, Marcus Schmickler, FX Randomiz, Reuber, Blumm, Guido Möbius and Ron Martin contributed to the recording process, not by remixing tracks, but by adding to and finishing the material that Harald gave them.
“Sack und Blumm's Harald Sack Ziegler had already released a couple of hard to find solo LPs before ‘Kopf Zahl Bauch’. But because of its strength and relatively wider availability, this cd eclipses his earlier opuses to become the first essential Ziegler item. All the Dada pop elements of his duo with Frank "Blumm" Schültge found their way on this disc: the toy instruments, the childlike melodies, the odd sounds, the quirky rhythms, the feeling that pop music is an activity consisting of having fun with obsolete objects.
At times Ziegler sounds like a German Pascal Comelade, at others like a Manu Chao immersed in German electronica instead of Latin rhythms (one can only suggest a collaboration between the two after listening to ‘Schenken’). But don't be fooled by these comparisons: Ziegler's style is his own. ‘Kopf Zahl Bauch’ is an album of fresh material, but since it took a year and a half to complete, some tracks had already slipped out on 7" releases. Never mind that; they find a real home here. (…) There is not a wasted track on this gem of awkward kitsch pop. Highly recommended, especially to fans of Felix Kubin, Nova Huta, and the like.” (François Couture, All Music Guide)
Harald Sack Ziegler
Besides his incredibly large discography produced as a solo artist over the past twenty years, Harald Sack Ziegler has released three critically- acclaimed albums with F.S. Blumm as Sack & Blumm, and continuously collaborated with Mouse On Mars, both live and in the studio.
An innovator and pioneer of the '80s German tape scene, Ziegler is a techno-Dadaist composer/pop artist of the highest order, known for his frenetic live shows with toy instruments. His shimmering mix of cheap electronica, German vocals, weird rhythms, samples and guitars almost always manages to stick to a more or less loose song format tending to appeal not only to fans of early German new wave, but also to anyone who has an inexhaustible love for wonky melodies and funky sound bites. A master of many instruments, Ziegler is as likely to whip out a French horn as he is a beat box, and "Punkt" collects more pop/noise/child music insouciance than you can shake a toy flute at.