Who the F@(K is ZEITMAHL?!? - Kinda Connections from my Sorta Dark Past | MUSIC is not a GENRE - Season 2 Episode #4

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I don’t like not knowing things. Which of course means I’m in a constant state of inadequacy. The more I learn, the more I realize I know WAY less than I think I do, than I want to, or than I ever will. Still I take comfort in chipping away at that Olympus Mons of mystery, shining my pinlight into the Mariana Trench of missing things. Finding one wispy fact in the vast haystack of ignorance. I’m sickening myself with these metaphors.

Just like two weeks ago, I kept coming across this week’s album every time I’d leaf through my collection, and I’d pass it by because I had no idea what it was or what to do with it. And just like two weeks ago, I decided to go for it. As follows….

Zeitmahl is a band. Shok is apparently the person whose band this is. He/they have been around since 1990, doing electro industrial goth rock. He/they are still making music. So why do I have this particular album? I have a vague memory from way back then, driving to a friend-of-a-friend’s house. The house was HUGE. The recording studio was HUGE and better than many of the professional studios I’d seen. The dude – whose real name he gave then but I absolutely don’t remember – was … chill, unassuming, and eager to share his music. I went because … I don’t remember other than my friend and I were/are both music heads, and I wanted to connect with other creators in the techno field – the music I was doing at the time. I remember realizing that it was time for me to shift into another kind of music, because I was not interested enough in the very solid music Shok played me to get that good at it myself. Soon after I’d start down the long road to ROCK, that would end in me … returning to electronic music.

So this is a connection … kinda, in that we were both Philly suburb dudes of a certain age doing our own music. It’s an influence … sorta, in that it further solidified my desire to be in a full-on rock band. It’s a mystery solved … kinda, in that I still don’t know much of anything about this band or the dude behind it. What does make me happy is that he’s still out there – and THAT is the real connection. Because we’ve both been doing our things regardless of how others define success … sorta.

As for the album I have, I think it’s their first. It’s from 1992 and I gotta say I loved relistening to it. It’s goth, techno, rock, pop, industrial, hip-hop, funk. It’s got scant lyrics but what’s there is diverse – social commentary, relationship stuff, anger, psychology. It sounds like … Philly to me. Music from a place where people listen to all kinds of stuff and find cool ways to put it together. It’s so me. This is the single from the EP I wrote/performed/recorded/produced the same year this album came out. More straight up pop techno rock, but you get the connection:

NICK - “Reflections”

If ANYONE knows anything about this, hit me up. I did find and friend Shok on Facebook, so maybe that will lead somewhere. Any music you know or have that pulls out vague memories you didn’t realize actually meant something to you? Discuss dammit!

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