REDISCOVERED
CARAMBOLAGE
Uncovering the underrated and overlooked
Carambolage (reissue 1980), Eilzustellung-Exprès (1982), Bon Voyage (1984) TAPETE
Carambolage Mk II, with Janett Lemmen far right
8/10, 7/10, 5/10 Trifecta from the overlooked German post-punks
“EVERYTHING changes when you change it,” as ’70s agit-punk band and North Frisia communards Ton Steine Scherben once advised. Frustrated drummer/ percussionist Britta Neander took that to heart and left to form her own band in 1979, recruiting fellow resident Elfie-Esther Steitz as singer, guitarist and keyboardist, and Berlin émigrée Angie Olbrich as bass player. Carambolage – the French word for a pile-up – were part of the Neue Deutsche Welle and one of the scene’s very few all-female bands, building themselves a practice space inside an old grain silo, which was off-limits to the rest of the (largely male) community and pushing forward with their post-punk vision across three albums.