Artists: Various
Label: tapetopia/aufnahme + wiedergabe/Iron Curtain Radio, Berlin
Year: 2026
C-90, hand numbered edition of 100
Cover art: Igor Tatschke
Design: Maik Reichenbach, Laireen & tapetopia
Compiled by Henryk Gericke, Maik Reichenbach, Alexander Pehlemann
Liner notes: Henryk Gericke
Postage & packing not included
‘…The political revolt of punk was succeeded by the aesthetic adventure of post-punk. During the Cold War, dark wave, gothic and industrial also had their equivalents under the unlucky star of the GDR. The title United States Of Melancholia refers to a shadowland behind the perpetually rising façade of construction and to a nationally ingrained melancholy that, in the GDR, seemed to well up from deeper strata beneath an officially prescribed cheerfulness. Therefore, United States of Melancholia shifts its focus to little-known bands and projects that preferred to stay out of the light in the socialist model state—not least because, for them, the sun set in the East.
United States of Melancholia is conceived as a triptych, bringing together different soundscapes within the same genre. Part I reflects the transition from punk to the emancipation from punk rock. Part II compiles songs rooted in a classic understanding of new wave. Finally, part III offers darkly tinged electronic and semi-acoustic tracks. The hand numbered C-90 ‘United States of Melancholia, Part I’ contains tracks by Rosa Extra, Kein Plan, Kein Mitleid, Death Joy, Volkr Zimmermann and others.
United States Of Melancholia is a joint release by Iron Curtain Radio and the tapetopia series. The ICR and the tapetopia series release Eastern Bloc sounds from the 1980s. tapetopia focuses on cassette editions from the GDR, using original layouts and track lists that were never released on vinyl or CD, but were often regarded as cult classics within subcultural circles and viewed with suspicion by official circles. ICR also turns its attention to the so-called “actually existing socialist” brother countries…’
(Henryk Gericke)