Who has heard of Die Welttraumforscher ? Not me, not you. So we should be thankful to Staubgold for sharing one of their songs with us via the label’s Tempo Technik Teamwork. The song was the highlight of the comp.

A few months later comes a good surprise since Staubgold is releasing a compilation of tracks taken from the 27 years-long history of Die Welttraumforscher. Yes, you read it right… 27… And few did pay notice to their work. A shame which this CD will, I’m sure, will correct. 

Die Welttraumforscher is a band from German-speaking Switzerland; they got together in Zürich in 1978, releasing since then 29 collections of songs on every imaginable format. From the numerous songs available, Tim Tetzner picked 21 “standards”.

Although they always stay in the realm of pop, the variety of the material is very surprising. Home-recorded beauties, influenced by Bacharach or Barrett, these songs are sometime presented in the purest, simplest form of (weird) pop format, but quite often they are accompanied or even vamped by very cheap (and good) psychedelic proto-electronic arrangements, or some sampled sounds or other sounds from unknown origin.

The quality varies throughout the Cd, but there are some real gems to be found. Not least the very aquatic Sommer unter sternen –the track that featured on the Staubgold comp-, the very short but beautiful Weit bei den sternen, the Nick Drake-influenced folky, naïve pop song Sweet bird. Or Unser erstes jahr, a track sounding like a little ditty for children. Or the symphonic, motorik, electronic Katakina. Or the magical Kleines mädchen, a song of spring and of beautiful young women. This is Neil Armstrong is another great moment, naïve lyrics, simple guitar melody, cheap synth, it’s another jewel in the crown of DIY pop. Less good, but still enjoyable: Mira II, a song from 2004 but which seems to have been written and recorded by some obscure electronic band from the 80’s.

There is a second Cd included, with remix from Felix Kubin, Mouse on mars or Barbara Morgenstern, but it’s pretty dull, with the notable exception of the very short remix done by Harald Ziegler. Also included are two videos of tracks that are not included in audio format on the comp. One is rather punk, the other more electronic pop oriented.

When I heard the track on Staubgold label’s comp, I knew Die Welttraumforscher was an interesting band. This release confirms my intuition. I really recommend you to check this out, you won’t regret it.