finetunes.net

December 2007. No more bellyaching about the decline of a kind of music industry that we never wanted anyway! Now is the time to celebrate something we demanded 20 years ago: The collapse of this system! The end of the Compact Disc! In 1987 Hans Platzgumer, a 17year old punk from Austria, released his first record: a noisy, straight in-your-face statement called "Tod der CD!" (Death To The CD!). In so doing, the kid established a conspirative society of CD-enemies with whom he waged his romantic adolescent fury against the slick new currents threatening to drown vinyl in its lacquered undertow. Today- 20 years later - we face the downfall of the CDs reign. The evil bastard is threatened with extinction and merely vinyl and downloads will survive. For two decades there have been thoughts about re-releasing Tod der CD! whose status has solidified into that of a legendary and rare gem. But hell, there was no way to re-release it on CD. The time just wasnt right to come back with this issue, to say nothing of the venue. But now, with the CD reaching near-obsoletion, it is the perfect moment to bring back that lovely old vinyl in readily consumptive & trashy mp3 format. Low resolution of course. "Tod der CD!" was produced with a hard-edge "lo-fi"noise-attitude in the mid-80s. Years later this very lo-fi-movement became a genre unto itself, embodying the free spirit of the then uncorrupted "independent" ideology of making and distributing music oneself. Now and once again the genuine D.I.Y appeal can be revived; and the 16 mp3s comprising Hans Platzgumer's first masterpiece, replete with distorted 4-track-recordings, weird sounds and bad lyrics finally shine again. For those who care to acquire the original artwork (cover, in-sleeve and poster) (and you should), the "Tod der CD!"-LP will be accessible in rarity stores and at vinyl fairs. To all others: join in, Brothers and Sisters! Enjoy the bargains of a sellout world! Point your browser to i-Tunes or whoever your favourite mp3-monger might be. All you need is a few cents. Celebrate with us this anniversary and party into the beginning of a new era with the crackling vinyl sounds of eras bygone. Stop the weeping. Quality is dead. Now bring the noise! Didi Neidhart/Hannah MacKenna/Hans Platzgumer Hans Platzgumer: "Tod der CD!" (1987)