Treblinka - Ihmisyyden Taideteos? EP

Label: Hataapu Records; Year: 1988; Format: 331/3 7" EP

Back in 1988 I remember having this EP on a tape after having bought it to play this over my friend's cheap little cassette player terrorizing the unassuming citizens of suburban Zurich, Switzerland. Saturdays or Sundays we'd buy a few beers and sit on a bench mostly by the train station blasting loud hardcore punk from around the world, but quite often from Finland as we both loved bands from the dark northern country. I haven't listened to this one in decades but somehow yesterday while on my lunch it popped up somewhere online and I figured why not pulling it out of my 7" boxes today to review it for my blog. It's a great little platter and it's a shame that Treblinka from the city of Vaasa on Finland's west coast didn't release more records as this is their one and only release except for songs they contributed for the Waasa Comp. EP as well as the Stop Vivisection Comp. LP. I guess one could say that they were one of the short lived bands that spearheaded the next generation of great Finnish Hardcore Punk bands. It must be said that by the late '80s the classic Finnish hardcore punk sound changed stylistically somewhat as well hence other influences having seeped into the worldwide punk scenes over the years were absorbed and more predominant. Still, the Finnish language is so unique that records from Suomi have always fascinated me and this EP is no exception. All eight songs are strong and there is no filler to be found on this EP. Influenced by UK bands such as Anti-Sect, Amebix or Hellbastard I would say that Treblinka's sound was slightly metallic, yet at the same time melodic and played very tight. The echoey vocals combined with a sharp back up unit lead by a loud bass guitar are forever enshrined in my memory as the sound of good times way back. Definitely a gem from the land of a thousand lakes. 

Hans-A-Plast - S/T LP

Label: Re-Force Records; Year: 2005; Format: Vinyl LP

Timing is everything they say and was also the title to an album by Chris DeBurgh. But don't you worry I am not at the point in my life to review Chris DeBurgh records, at least not yet. Timing is right to review Hans-A-Plast's first LP originally released in 1979 on Lava Records. I have been meaning to pull this one from my shelves for quite some time now as the band has been mentioned so many times on my favorite German speaking podcast "Und Dann Kam Punk" that it basically begged to be reviewed. And so it happened that this week Annette Benjamin who fronted Hans-A-Plast was a guest for said podcast hence everything I wanted to ever know about the Hanover band was answered, or at least most of it (Link to podcast for German speakers at the bottom of this entry). What I found most fascinating about the interview with Annette is that she hasn't lost her wit and sense of humor one single bit. Now in her early sixties she talked about her formative years and how she ended up joining Hans-A-Plast as the last member of the original line-up. Born in Braunschweig and not far from Hanover in Northern Germany Annette had a somewhat unhappy childhood and at the sweet age of seventeen she decided to take matters into her own hands and via Amsterdam she ended up in London in 1977 where she spent several months. She was lucky enough to experience the punk rock explosion firsthand, and in early '78 she struck gold by seeing X-Ray Spex live on stage. According to Annette it was a life-changing moment in the sense that after having seen Poly Styrene on stage Annette knew what she wanted to do in her life, yep you guessed it right: she wanted to be a singer in a band. After having returned to Braunschweig fate was very much in her favor as she met Hans-A-Plast during a gig in a small venue in Hanover. Annette was singing in a different band during said gig and because Hans-A-Plast were initially a quartet with drummer Betty also taking up singing duties, the band approached Annette whether she would like to be their lead singer, and the rest is history. Things moved quickly from there onwards and in September of 1979 the band entered the studio to record their first full length. When I say that this record should be in the Top 50 of the best Punk records ever then I not only mean it, but I have reasons as to why I think so. First and foremost up to this day unfortunately too many people still think that Punk records either having been released in the UK or the United States are the non plus ultra and nothing beyond is of importance, very wrong. Secondly, punk rock took a while to develop and depending on the geographical location things might have been moving slower, but not necessarily in a less interesting way. Whereas in 1979 punk in London might have been forgotten to a degree, in Hanover that was certainly not the case. The thirteen songs on this record are all brilliant in their own way as they just scream youth and loud abrasive rock'n'roll. The three women and two men in Hans-A-Plast were simply put very gifted songwriters, capable of writing funny and edgy songs having taken clues from the '77 punk explosion as well as the more angular sounds of post-punk while backing it with socio-critical lyrics dealing with sexism or police brutality as well as issues as simple as having fuck all to do on a Friday night in 'Rock'N'Roll Freitag'. It really is not a surprise that the album sold in the thousands and was reissued as early as 1980 on Hanover's No Fun Records selling again in the thousands. The band toured extensively through Germany as well as Austria and Switzerland, and went on to release two more LPs until they split up in 1984. Spontaneously Lost Kids from Denmark came to my mind today as a comparison and I think that either band wouldn't disagree with said comparison. Do yourself a favor and get this LP, no matter which pressing. Grandiose Platte!

Link to Podcast interview with Annette (in German): https://www.audible.com/pd/Podcast/B08K56W8WJ