Sach O kicks it P.L.O. style, buddha monks with the owls.
At first glance, you’d think there couldn’t be a more politically inconvenient time to bump Baader Meinhof. A conceptual album by Auteurs front man Luke Haines; the record is essentially a first person account of a radical leftist student group of the same name that operated in various forms out of Germany from the 60’s to the 90’s. While their car-bombing of ex-Nazi statesmen who found their way into the West-German government isn’t likely to push people’s buttons, their affiliation and sympathy with the more radical aspects of the Intifada and PLO can hit a little too close to home as rockets land on both sides of the Gaza strip. I’m not here to talk politics though, (if you must know my stance it goes along the lines of “fuck those in power on both sides for playing politics with civilian lives”) I’m here to talk music and Baader Meinhof like Public Enemy, The Coup and Rage Against the Machine is a band that simplifies politics for musical purposes but still has something worthwhile to say.
Released as Brit-Pop peaked and began to stagnate into a sad retread of the British Invasion, Baader Meinhof sounds totally alien to the scene. An off-kilter mix of Indian Percussion, funk licks, drum breaks and punky lead guitar, the album’s eclecticism is startling. A studio project in the truest sense, each instrument benefits from extreme separation and a spacious mix gives the record a fidelity and warmth absent from most Britpop which seemed intent on plastering albums with walls of ringing guitar. These cinematic sounds set the stage for a loose narrative involving rich German university students and their assassination attempts, highjacked flights to Somalia, heinous plots to wipe out women and children, regrets, loses and vengeance over a traitor. Intense stuff presented with all the flair of a Hollywood thriller but also sung more than little tongue in cheek. After all, as man better known for his Kinksian descriptions of English life, Haines was about as close to the PLO as fellow 90’s name-dropper Method Man making it hard to take his words at face value. A product of a pre-9/11 world, Baader Meinhof discussed terrorism and the issues surrounding it in a way that seems impossible or at the very least loaded for western artists in the aftermath of the WTC attacks. Lines like “do it for God, do it for Allah” referring to suicide missions would be chilling if they weren’t delivered with campy gospel backing vocals over grungy fuzz bass. Equally groovy is “Mogadishu” which somehow manages to turn what was surely a horrifying skyjacking into a laid back jam extolling the beauty of the perpetually war-torn Somali capital as presented by a Lebowskiesque Captain Mamoud. The most poignant moment though is “there’s gonna be an accident” where the protagonist kills off a Government official only to realize that he’s gone too far and can’t turn back. When’s the last time you heard a song about THAT?
As an unapologetic leftist and pacifist (shit, there goes my promise to keep politics out of this) Baader Meinhof can be an uneasy listen at first. No matter the irony, Luke Haines’ lyrics can come off as a promotion of terror to achieve ones aims. But stick with the record and the lyrics reveal emotions spanning the gamut from violence to regret, raising interesting points about radicalism both eastern and western. Baader Meinhof treats its subject with respect and intelligence reminding us that “terrorist” can be applied to anyone the government disagrees with and while I’m hoping for Peace in the Middle East, I’m bumping this record too.
Download:
MP3: Baader Meinhof-“There’s Gonna’ Be An Accident”
MP3: Baader Meinhof-“Mogadishu”
