DAS KABINETTE – The Cabinet (7-inch, 1983)

If you’re not familiar, Das Kabinette's "The Cabinet" serves to give voice to the classic silent horror film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, which is the story of a mad doctor, a misunderstood monster and a lovely maiden. With lyrics that loosely mirror the original screenplay and music that keeps to the dark, hypnotic mood presented by the film’s groundbreaking expressionism, this song, as playlists will reveal, has become a classic in itself.

The A-side is without a doubt one of the better minimal wave/synthpop tracks to come out of the vast wasteland known as The Eighties. For one, it’s surprisingly lush for this particular genre and time period - with multiple layers of synth, 177 words of narrative lyric, and some dramatic guitar picking towards the end, the band's approach to song writing seems far superior when compared to the simplistic monotone format favored by the majority of their peers. Secondly, a good amount of minimal wave recordings suffer from piss poor production, which is certainly not the case here as all the elements have been properly leveled, resulting in an exceptionally crisp sound and a pleasingly slick presentation. To top it off, this is Das Kabinette's sole recording, instantly qualifying it as a hard to come by collectable and a prized possession for anyone lucky enough to own a copy.

DOT #10 (link removed due to reissue)