sprung aus den wolken: s/t

The Berlin project Sprung Aus Den Wolken was part of the "Geniale Dilletanten" movement in the early 1980s, along with Einstürzende Neubauten and Mechanik Destrüktiw Komandöh. The band first released an EP on ZickZack in 1981, followed by further releases on the band's own record label Faux Pas in 1982 and 1983, then on the French outlet Les Disques Du Soleil Et De L'Acier until 1991. The track "Pas Attendre" was part of the soundtrack of Wim Wender's movie Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire) (1987) and thus became an underground hit. Founder of the band Kiddy Citny is also a painter. His paintings of the Berlin Wall have been exhibited around the world and are now in private collections in the US, France, and Japan. Bureau B finally make the long out-of-print, self-titled album from 1982 available again. Carefully remastered, with reconstructed original artwork, numerous photos and liner notes by Alexander Hacke. "How do you feel, Kiddy?" "I feel free!" "A leap from the clouds is the ultimate expression of joie de vivre. Implicit trust in one's own powers, confidence in a positive outcome, surrendering to fate without delay or hesitation, ripping up any restrictive barriers, eyes front, unwaveringly so. That's what it's all about. The ever-changing line-up of Kiddy Citny's group thrived on the liberating anarchic energy of noise and poetry, the spirit of reinvention. We hung out in the West Berlin district of Schöneberg, in bars and clubs like Café Mitropa, Dschungel, and das Risiko, before heading down to the cellar of the Cassetten Combinat in Naumannstraße. Here we let our inspirations run free in wild all-night sessions. Something to remember, something we value and can be proud of: the music. The cassette was our medium, the four-track recorder which had just appeared on the market was a cornerstone of the studio. Our fresh recordings were duplicated in the shop upstairs and slipped into covers we made in the copy shop. Hey presto, a new piece of work, direct from the creator to the people's playback devices, without further ado. Sprung Aus Den Wolken and hip-hop are children of the same generation, not so remarkably similar and yet somehow related. Cousins rather than siblings. They share a symbiosis of music and art, rhythm and color, loudness and light, all combining to underpin the integrity and authenticity of the end product. They were the happiest years of my teenage life in West Berlin, oh how we laughed!" --Alexander Hacke