Who or what is ...    ?

Here's a question that doesn't get asked very often - not least from inquisitive journalists: Why is it that we feel we have to know every last little drop of information about the those who fashion the music we know and love?
In all likelihood, it's a moot point, but it's something worth considering when you listen to the debut album from VoomVoom.

Who are they?
Well, that's easy enough: a basic internet search soon reveals that they are the acclaimed 'Vienna-Munich Connection' (Compost-Records.com) of Peter Kruder (he of Kruder & Dorfmeister and Peace Orchestra, and the trio's Vienna leg) and Christian Prommer and Roland Appel (Trüby Trio and Fauna Flash). The trio's more recognised monikers are easy to discern:
languid, leftfield electronica; jazzy beats; a ray of drum'n'bass; and deep house.

But what of VoomVoom?
Allmusic.com describes their sound as ‘minimal groove’, The Face said they were ‘banging, and bass heavy’, while the aforementioned Compost website - and it should know a thing or two - says the boys concoct some of the ‘hottest, uplifting grooves’. The much-missed Jockey Slut once described one of their 12-inches thus: ‘The Future Sound Of London getting down and dirty with Dread Flimstone, 4 Hero and the Scissor Sisters. A must have, in short’. DJ Hell described, succinctly, one of their twelves as a ‘superhit’.

Thus far, this eye-catching collective have released three 12-inches on Compost (Baby³; Ginger & Fred; Poppen), all sounding vastly different from anything they’ve done before or anything you’d expect them to make. Their album, Peng Peng, soon to be released on !K7, is another detour on planet leftfield.

So what else is there to know?
Well, the idea of VoomVoom came into being at the wedding of Compost’s Michael Reinboth in 1998, that much we can tell you. However, their reasons for being are plentiful and depend on who you speak to. According to Christian they are “three lonesome souls, with no friends, who have the same interest in experimental dining”. Peter’s account is a little more prosaic: “We were always talking about our studios, new technology, new ways of producing certain sounds and most of all we enjoyed each other’s company.”

What can be said with the utmost confidence, though, are their motivations. Bored of the rigidity of most electronic music, they deigned to create an album that was so fantastically free of tired generic definitions, that even those who moderately dipped their toes onto the world’s greatest adult playground - the dancefloor - would find something to get them excited.
This broad spectrum takes in techno, house, electro, dirty disco, sweeping orchestral symphonies and even a touch of blissful downtempo. It’s a thrilling, heady, soulful and instinctive mix.

“There were no rules and no bad taste for starters,” states Christian, helpfully.
“It (their music) is a beautiful girl on the beach. Her eyes talk to me, but there is a secret around her and I try to find out what it is all my life,” says Roland, less so.
“I call it 21st Century tech-soul,” Christian decides.

We should also inform you, Peng Peng is laced with a very alluring humour. Not in any wacky or contrived way, rather in the manner it pokes fun at many of the electronic purists. You want proof ?

Just look at the respective explanations for their mysterious name.
Christian: “The name comes from a secret knights gang that was active over 1000 years ago, The Voomantanians. It was one of the key secrets of life, like the Holy Grail.” Interesting, what about Peter? “Legend has it that Roland Appel was a big Kiss fan in his teens. Not knowing how music was created then, he was certain the music was made by recording the sound of the engines of motorbikes. A well-known promotional poster of Kiss on four big choppers cemented that theory.”
Get it? Nice. And last, but by no means least, what about our Kiss fan, Roland? “The mother is deepness and love, the father is humour and sex.” Confused?
Don’t be, just drop the needle on the record and head to the nearest dancefloor.

And sorry, we don’t know what their favourite sandwich fillings are.

(text by !K7 Records)