S.Y.P.H. - PST! / S.Y.P.H. (1980/1981)

S.Y.P.H - A German band somewhere between Punk, Avantgarde and Neue Deutsche Welle. Founded in 1977 by Harry Rag (Peter Braatz), Uwe Jahnke and Thomas Schwebel in Solingen, Germany. Thomas Schwebel hit upon the idea of naming the band "SYPH" because it's a dirty name. Harry Rag added the periods to make it look like an acronym and confuse people. S.Y.P.H. was then translated into "Saufender Yankee Prügelt Homo" (Drinking yankee beats queer). After 1986 it stood for "Save Your Pretty Heart" 

When Schwebel said goodbye to play with Mittagspause, the band was joined by Uli Putsch and Jürgen Wolter. This new formation stayed - more or less - stable until 1981, but had many changing guest musicians, including Holger Czukay from Can. In return S.Y.P.H. played with Czukay on his LP On The Way To The Peak Of Normal. Uwe Jahnke also appears on the Wobble/Liebezeit/Czukay EP "How Much Are They?". 

The band paused in 2003 and is now active again. [discogs.com]

The word "krautrock" hardly means anything to me, and it seems to make as much sense as calling all rock made in France as "frogrock"; "outrock" is equally opaque to my ears, and I confess I'm frequently left without words to describe some forms of rock-based music. There is something undescribeable about S.Y.P.H. While they may at first sound like your regular NDW band with some strands of art-rock and a little more sophisticated noise input than usual, their incursions into abstract sonics and the occasional use of concrète-like tactics would draw them closer to so-called industrial scene. Czukay's familiar contributions on horns, bass and percussion will attract fans of Can, and also make this a more palatable experience for less abstract-inclined listeners; but behind his rhythmical acupuncture layers of uncanny and self-contained noise constantly emerge, drawing us into territories rarely covered by the kraut posse. S.Y.P.H are one of those bands that challenge all labels -- a headache for critics, maybe, but a treat for listeners. Steve Kanaly

PST! (1980)

1. Euroton (0:52)

2. Einsam In Wien (Lustlos) (5:32)

3. Moderne Romantik (3:01)

4. Lametta (3:50)

5. Modell (1:47)

6. Alpha & Vieta (1:35)

7. Nachbar (3:15)

8. Regentanz (8:43)

9. Stress (6:45)

10. Do The Fleischwurst (4:26)

Bass - Jürgen Wolter 

Drums - Uli Putsch 

Vocals, Guitar - Harry Rag 

Guitar - Uwe Jahnke 

Horn, Percussion, Bass, Harmonica - Holger Czukay 

S.Y.P.H. (1981)

11. Die Deep (1:18)

12. Haenschen Horror (1:11)

13. Laemmerschwanz (1:57)

14. Nachbar (Long Version) (13:39)

15. Satarasch (2:52)

16. Little Nemo (18:03)

Bass - Jürgen Wolter

Vocals, Guitar - Harry Rag , Uwe Jahnke 

Drums - Uli Putsch 

Horns, Percussion, Bass - Holger Czukay 

Both albums originally released on LP by Pure Freude. 

CD release in 1998 by Captain Trip

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