Originally self-released in 1981 and recorded a couple years earlier, Spacebox was a solo project from bassist Uli Trepte, who had spent time previously in German jazz bands as well as Krautrock legends Neu!, Faust, and most notably Guru Guru. The CD reissue comes housed in a generic cardboard box to mimic the similar packaging of the original LP. Backed by some musicians from the ethno-jazz group Embryo, Spacebox combines psychedelic improvised rock and jazz in a unique way. Though there are nods to Opal-era Embryo and Guru Guru, on this album the noise level is amped up several notches to create a lot of harsh edges as everything seems to be run through Trepte's array of effects gadgets, the "spacebox" that give this project its name. Skronky squalls of sax and guitar and Trepte's distorted vocals create a noisy avant rock sound, while the rhythms are cyclical and unconventional; they move fluidly and at times are even funky, even when the group veers suddenly into high-energy freakouts in the middle of several of the tracks. On some of the later tracks like Dapp-Da and Tape Talk, sampled bits of found sound and voices are thrown into the mix to make it even more cluttered. Spacebox is much noisier than Trepte's later material, a harsh, dark, dense work that might not appeal to everyone, but with a fascinating sound that's quite unique. ~ Rolf Semprebon, Rovi

1		Zonk-Machine
2		Sue Ist Ein
3		Ich Bin Suchtig
4		Dapp-Da
5		Sing Sung Song
6		Tape Talk
7		Bassomat

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