68/en
Inhaltsverzeichnis
The songs
- Wer ist wir?
- Ein neues Lied
- Inkompetenzkompensationskompetenz
- 1789
- Der Mensch
- Artgerechte Haltung
- Entfach Dich!
- Für immer Glück
- Gegen kann jeder
- Im Leben nicht das Ende
- Revolution 7 von 4
- Schlaf schön
- Stehenbleiben
- Telos
The record
“68” is the title of the band's third album. After the first studio album Bild dir eine Ausstellung and the live album from the TU Chemnitz film club, Solche Mittendrin, comes the band's first STUDIO album, recorded at Larox Studios. This noticeably improved its sound quality, and we thank Hilmar Habrom for the many lovely hours and the spectacular result.
The track list is unusual: it was developed around events of 1968, specifically from 1 to 13 April. The short explanations from the booklet:
| 1 April 1968 | The “Sankt Pauli Nachrichten” first appears. Today a cheaply produced smut magazine, in 1968 the newspaper reflected a broad spirit of rebellion: social criticism and nudity. SPN and “Konkret”: Stefan Aust was editor-in-chief of both at the same time. An apparent contradiction. The magazine's present-day depoliticisation leads to the “Lullaby”. This refers to Sven Regener's unspeakable 2005 taz interview opposing politics in music. In a way, the singer resembles the Sankt Pauli Nachrichten. Sleep well. |
| 2 April 1968 | Arson attacks on department stores in Frankfurt. Many see these attacks, whose substantial property damage was largely caused by the sprinkler system activating, as the beginning of the RAF. To many, the deliberate use of violence as an argument seems a qualitative change in the events of 1968. Yet the oldest conflict-resolution strategy of all — archaic physical violence — may be effective, but it is not new. “Revolution 7 of 4” is about how not every revolution is one merely because it is called one. |
| 3 April 1968 | Premiere of “2001: A Space Odyssey” in New York. With this film, Stanley Kubrick created a milestone of cinema, regarded as the greatest science-fiction film of all time. The German Lexicon of International Film describes the masterpiece as a technical utopia and speculation in cultural philosophy on an overwhelming scale. The song concerns the strange symbiosis between artists and audiences, that wild round of giving and taking. You're welcome. Thank you. |
| 4 April 1968 | Martin Luther King is murdered in Memphis. Few people have inspired the world like the preacher from Atlanta. His nonviolent protests and rallies, his imprisonments, and his continuing attempt to change a brutal, inhuman system without becoming like it himself remain a beacon of humanity. Species-appropriate living means standing up, because the ground cannot be a home. Standing, seeing and shouting out anger. As a human being. In species-appropriate living. |
| 5 April 1968 | The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia adopts its Action Programme. The inspiration of the Prague Spring remains undiminished. Although the programme came late and merely enshrined freedoms already practised in everyday society, it was a signal that ultimately led to the crackdown. Yet the protests against the invasion also showed that a new society in this country had come of age. Revolution. Like 1789. |
| 6 April 1968 | The only referendum in the GDR. The vote on the new GDR constitution was unique in a way, since that constitution abolished referendums as a security risk for the social bureaucrats. Freedom also means accepting other opinions, and sometimes nonsense. Let the chaos in! Competence in compensating for incompetence. |
| 7 April 1968 | Combat at Khe Sanh ends. The battle was one of the largest and surely the most senseless of the Vietnam War. Even if Nixon had a sand table in his office and received daily explanations of the slaughter, the battle remains a warning about the utter senselessness of war as a principle. In wars, victims lead to victims and ever more victims. Onward, onward? Or stop, and take your time rather than your life. |
| 8 April 1968 | The 16th German Sociological Congress in Frankfurt addresses “Late capitalism or industrial society?” Theodor W. Adorno and Ralf Dahrendorf debate the future of a society that in 1968 seemed more divided than ever. The question of “we” is one of humanity's fundamental questions, as is the recurring attempt to answer it with “Who are we not?” What remains is a lonely “I”, whose heart finds no home but knows where it is not at home. Who is we? |
| 9 April 1968 | The Ottilie Springer Chair is established at Brandeis University. In 1968, Axel Springer was an unparalleled focus for the discontent and criticism of progressive forces. On 9 April he endowed a chair in contemporary Western European history at the Jewish Brandeis University near Boston. He gave a moving speech on the importance of Jews in German intellectual life, and protests accompanied the ceremony. The world is diversity. Anyone can be against things. |
| 10 April 1968 | “In the Heat of the Night” wins five Oscars. The Academy Awards, postponed by two days because of Martin Luther King's death, were dominated by this film, in which a Black and a white police officer in the southern United States overcome their mutual prejudices and solve a case. Inspiration that crosses boundaries and sets oneself and others alight can sometimes change something. So: Ignite yourself! |
| 11 April 1968 | The assassination attempt on Rudi Dutschke. Probably the most combative figure of the student movement was also one of its most intelligent. Complex in his arguments — too complex to be understood by the wider society whose solidarity he kept invoking. A focus for hope and hatred. An idol, the personification of a process. And behind it, a person who doubts, loves, makes mistakes and still keeps searching. Injured as a media construction, and feeling the pain as a human being. |
| 12 April 1968 | The Beatles return from Rishikesh. John Lennon and George Harrison, the last Beatles still there, return from India. They bring 48 new songs, written during the seven weeks between meditation sessions. |
| 13 April 1968 | Oskar Negt, Frankfurt: “Anyone who leaves the safeguarding of freedom to the state, its representatives, major institutions and powerful organisations is the victim of a fatal illusion: believing in the viability of a democracy without democrats.” It carries on. |
The price
The price of EUR 11 was set through a democratic vote involving over 100 people, each free to name a price between EUR 7 and EUR 14. The resulting round figure also shows that democracy does not necessarily lead to chaos. :-)
Our description
Thirteen songs about sensitivities and insensitivities: the idea of the human being who refuses, and cannot be made, to accept things as they are. Fast music, straight to the point and onward. Thoroughly conceptual, about wanting things to be different. Meta-revolutionary.
Other descriptions
Stadtstreicher 12/08: Clear
Solche: 68 (release date: 6 December 2008)
Category: Other
A year would not be complete if Solche let it pass without releasing a record. Right on time for St Nicholas Day, the two musicians from Chemnitz slip a little revolution into unpolished boots. Why beat around the bush? “68” is not only a satisfying listening experience; its clean acoustic numbers once again impress with lyrical barbs and clear thoughts. It is no accident that Solche are allowed to play in libraries too. After all, they are far more than merely the local acoustic alternative to loud bands from the linguistic rubbish dump. Chemnitz can be proud of this city's only — and, please, very first — student band whose members are not actually students. “Stehenbleiben” and “Artgerechte Haltung” must become anthems at student parties in 2009 — if any still exist here away from the university canteen.
MH
On 6 December 2008, the Chemnitz acoustic rock band Solche released its new, third album. Known above all for unusual concerts, for example in the Chemnitz city council chamber, and extensive tours of Russia with performances in Yakutsk and on Moscow's Red Square, the band presents “68” as a reflection on the human being who refuses to accept their situation. Rather than settling for empty phrases, the lyrics expand the boundaries of language and develop new perspectives through changes of viewpoint and verbal acrobatics. This fits the minimal yet driving music of this two-person band.
