{"id":1646,"date":"2025-04-28T15:07:14","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T13:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.talmusic.com\/?p=1646"},"modified":"2025-05-23T10:58:21","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T08:58:21","slug":"tal-37-the-crippled-flower-forming-haze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.talmusic.com\/?p=1646","title":{"rendered":"TAL 37 \/ The Crippled Flower \/ Forming Haze"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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TAL 36
The Crippled Flower
Forming Haze<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recordings 1985\/86

MC plus free DL
Release: 2 May 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Buy <\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
bandcamp<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Edition of 110 copies, hand-crafted cardboard packaging, incl. insert

Worldwide distribution:
MORR
Forced Exposure
Bommkat<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Philip Elston, voice
Nina Ahlers, synthesizer
Stefan Krausen, drums
Jochem Simons, guitar
Stefan Schneider, bass guitar, guitar
Heinz-Adolf Tack, drum machine, synthesizer
Simon Taylor, voice on Cascade<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A \u2014
Destiny 4:28
Planet Love 2:39
Chant 2:40
Forming Haze 2:24
Condescending Smile 2:18
Timetunnel Vision 4:10

B \u2014
Medium to Conquer 1:53
Fall 2:18
Time for Change 2:32
Cascade 2:23
Everytime 3:44
Walking Away 4:04
Animals 2:51<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lyrics by Philip Elston. Lyrics for Cascade by Simon Taylor. Lyrics for Timetunnel Vision by Philip Elston and Stefan Schneider. Recorded and mixed in 1985 and 1986 by Heinz-Adolf Tack on Tascam 4-track at Klang der Republik Studio, Kleinenbroich, BRD. Live recording of Animals at ZAKK Du\u0308sseldorf, 13.3.1986. All music by the musicians. Digitization by Stefan Schneider, 2024. Mastering by Detlef Funder at Paraschall Studio, Du\u0308sseldorf, February 2025. Liner notes by Oliver Tepel. Photography by Stefan Schamp. Design by Christa Marek. Thanks to Aimee Lara, Siegfried Fischer, Wolfgang Schulze, Heartbeat Anti-Record Shop,Du\u0308sseldorf (1985-86).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Crippled Flower was a post-punk band from D\u00fcsseldorf – and they arrived late. However, unlike many young, unsuspecting, hairsprayed hopefuls from that time, in 1985 they could sense that the end of their era was approaching. They knew too much to want to take the world by storm. They were four individualists searching their own way. Each of the band members only found their calling after the time that they had spent together \u2013 but that’s exactly what makes The Crippled Flower still seem really interesting today, this static energy that does not discharge, but is simply there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Searching dreamers should sound like that and that’s what they were. Singer Phil Elston, for example, had brought his love of Kraftwerk from England to D\u00fcsseldorf. Even his bandmates found this strange, but they were also entangled in their own longings. This is because the times were still so crazy and these searchers were „on fire“. A fire that glows in the band’s recordings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Listening to the songs today, The Crippled Flower sound like they are hugely at the height of their game; think of Wire, Felt, Scritti Politti or Minimal Compact. The variety of musical themes, as well as different soundscapes, which the band created can only be listened to in amazement. Often, it is only Phil Elston’s Sprechgesang that confirms that this is really the same band. However, it was back in 1985 when, importantly, the catalyst that brought the musicians together – the short lived eclectic record store „Heartbeat“ in D\u00fcsseldorf Bilk – occured. It was there where post-industrial and pop, melodic minimal music and sound attacks awaited those who wanted to discover music by artists and bands they did not yet know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cassette releases. All recorded on 4-Track. The Crippled Flower succeeded in this medium. Firstly, with a cassette just entited The Crippled Flower, working from project-like studio recorded sketches. Four more tracks from the short-lived band appeared in 1986 on „A Heartbeat Rendezvous\u201c. A demo tape submitted to Les Disques du Cr\u00e9puscule, however, did not lead to a worldwide career and so, unfortunately, it was soon over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stefan Krausen moved on to the follow-up project Deux Baleines Blanches with Stefan Schneider, which, in 1994, gave rise to the band Kreidler. Krausen was already drumming with the I-Burnettes on AtaTak and much later he studied painting in Munich. Nina Ahlers moved from D\u00fcsseldorf to Paris to study art, because in the 80s it was still the case that Paris was the destination of choice for those really wanting to become an artist \u2013 and that’s what she did. Her work is characterized by a non-academic minimalism focusing on everyday objects. Stefan Schneider remained connected to music. Only Phil Elston, who helped sabotage fox hunts in England and wrote these observant lyrics about environmental destruction and time travel, seems to have escaped the social-media world. Whether he found Kraftwerk-fulfilment in D\u00fcsseldorf or moved on disillusioned remains a mystery to us. And somehow this also fits in with that peculiar, special band. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Oliver Tepel, K\u00f6ln 2025 (Translation by Philipp Elston)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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TAL 36The Crippled FlowerForming Haze Recordings 1985\/86 MC plus free DLRelease: 2 May 2025 Edition of 110 copies, hand-crafted cardboard packaging, incl. insert Worldwide distribution: MORRForced ExposureBommkat Philip Elston, voiceNina Ahlers, synthesizerStefan Krausen, drumsJochem Simons, guitarStefan Schneider, bass guitar, guitarHeinz-Adolf Tack, drum machine, synthesizerSimon Taylor, voice on Cascade A \u2014Destiny 4:28Planet Love 2:39Chant 2:40Forming Haze 2:24Condescending Smile 2:18Timetunnel Vision 4:10 B […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1654,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-release"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.talmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.talmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.talmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.talmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.talmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1646"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.talmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1671,"href":"https:\/\/www.talmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1646\/revisions\/1671"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.talmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.talmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.talmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.talmusic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}