Teenage Panzerkorps- Gleich Heilt Gleich 7"
SKT-001
from aquarius records:
Ahhh, the Teenage PanzerKorps, a band which actually features Glenn himself (under the name Edmund Xavier) in its ranks and doesn't sound at all like you might think, nothing like Thuja or Tomes or Dead Raven Choir or any of that Jewelled Antler stuff. It's raucous, droney, arty rawk with a German singer (a 40-year old punker going by the name Bunker Wolf here). Bunker and Xavier and joined by drummer "Catholic Pat" Toves and Boy True on bass (quite possibly actually Jason Honea, who's a member of the Knit Separates with Glenn). Loud (or at least distorted), not too fast, and Teutonically snotty: the whole thing clocks in at under 10 minutes, with titles like "Burma Crawl", "Chinese Machine Gun parts 1 and 2", and "Get Out Of My Shadow!". It references '80s downer artpunk (The Fall, Factory Records stuff I guess or maybe some of Savage Republic's tracks), '60s garage with fuzz organ, and the hardcore bands Boy True and Catholic Pat used to play in. Noisy breaks, abrupt edits, and poppy grooves are all important to Teenage Panzerkorps' sound, but it's Bunker Wolf's accent and delivery that stands out the most. No fake German here like Zeigenbock Kopf! Then there's Glenn. He proved in his old band Mirza's more loud, scree-filled moments that he can do the aggro guitar thing, yet his sensitive side is still in evidence here, so his 6 & 12 string guitar parts here betray an indie-pop influence as pretty as what he's come up with in such outfits as The Birdtree, The Knit Separates, Blithe Sons and even Thuja (with whom Teenage Panzerkorp at least share a partly improvised approach). An interesting blend of inspirations/expertise to be sure. Limited to 300 copies, each one hand numbered in silver ink!
from dusted magazine's still single column:
Vinyl reissue of this Pink Skulls CDR, recorded in 2001 and long since unavailable. It?s Glenn Donaldson and a handful of other Jewelled Antler collective members (Thuja, Skygreen Leopards, Mirza, etc.), all playing lo-fi fake early ?80s German DIY punk/noise/pop under pseudonyms and fronted by a German guy by the name of ?Bunker Wolf.? Seven fractious, frenzied bursts here, dolled up in exactly the right way to emulate the past. To me it sounds like the Dead C. circa Vs. Sebadoh, a band at the snapping point, all trashed out and trying to tear the skies down. Pretty awesome, and gets better with repeat listens. Numbered edition of 300.
from the siltblog:
I heard a snippet of this as a 3" cdr a few months back & was intrigued. I didn't catch any info about it other than they were called Teenage Panzerkorps & ya gotta admit, that's a pretty rad name. Tank battles on the Russian Steppes.....good times! You find someone who you can discuss the Battle Of Kursk with, the strengths & weaknesses of, say, the German PZ III J vs. the Russian T 34 (M42 to be precise) & we are talking many steins of Pilsen my friend. Sigh.....uh, what was I talkin about? Oh yeah, so I was stoked when I saw this listed on the Aquarius site. I'm sure there are those of you that'll somehow-inexplicably- be offended by the band's name & perhaps even by the sleeve art. Mein Gott, beendet es nie? Please.....go listen to a Vetiver cd & leave the rest of us alone. The grownup's want to play now. Thank you. So the rub on this project is that it's a byproduct of the Jewelled Antler Collective & some German buds along for the ride, released on an upstart label outta RI. I dunno, the website says (among other things) something about "early Neubauten" but how early are we talkin about? Pre Zick Zack? I don't hear Neubauten so much as I hear a faint resemblance to that P.L.O. 7" from the early 80's. And it sounds like outtakes from a Savage Republic recording session (also checked on the site). Actually more than anything it resembles a Lichter side project 7", "lost" somewhere between the Bridge & the Them Rhythm Ants ep's. Let's call it IP 2.5. You know what? I was just shootin from the hip when comparin that stuff, then I just went & played'em all back to back (to back) & it holds up pretty well! I knew I was good, but shit, that's damn near dead on. So yeah, cool stuff. To me it's less the clang from a German bunker circa 1980 than the dissonant rumble out've a subterranean utility tunnel in LA the same year but you can't have everything. Where would ya put it?
from Terminal Boredom:
Originally released as a 3" Cd-r on the Jeweled Antler label spin-off Pink Skulls, this pup makes it to vinyl (300 of them) a few years down the road. The noise here is a German named Bunker Wolf fronting an art punk sludge pile that sports a very nice Savage Republic-style geetar on top of Can-like primitivism. Pretty fucking tasty meal here. Hopefully more of this will make its way off the aluminum to the plastic as I would like to hear more.(SSR)