Welcome

elcome to the Digital Meltd0wn Music Blog. The aim of this blog is to introduce the readers to music that is out of print, commercially unavailable, released under a creative commons license, or with approval by the featured artist. The majority of the music posted here would be considered underground. Don't let that fool you into thinking that the music featured here might be any less enjoyable than that of the mainstream artists you hear on the radio, as this couldn't be further from the truth. Please keep in mind that the majority of the artists that appear on this blog, along with their respective record labels, are not wealthy and need your support. If you enjoy the material that you find here, please support the artists/labels by purchasing their material afterwards. If you are an artist/label that would prefer to have your material removed from this blog, simply leave me a comment, and I would be more than happy to promptly remove the offending post. In addition to running this blog, I also work on a few other projects during my spare time. You can find links to those, as well as a few other important links associated with Digital Meltd0wn in the menu bar above.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Falco - Der Kommissar 12" EP


I mostly shot my load of F artists over at Nothin’ Sez Somethin’ in June & July 2008 doing the ‘What the F?' series, so you’ll have to settle for some more Euro-disco, or maybe it’s rap-pop. After all, Falco was one of the original progenitors of rap-pop.

Falco was born Johann (Hans) Hölzel in Vienna, Austria on February 19, 1957. He studied at the Vienna Music Conservatory in 1977 but left after one semester to pursue a career in music. He moved to West Berlin for a short time & sang in a jazz-rock band. When he returned to Vienna he had begun calling himself ‘Falco’. He began playing bass: in the theatrical rock bands Spinning Wheel & Hallucination Company; the hard rock-punk rock band Drahdiwaberl; & the space-disco band Ganymede. While with Drahdiwaberl, he wrote & performed the song "Ganz Wien" which he would also include on his debut solo album, Einzelhaft.

Falco's first hit was "Der Kommissar," from that 1982 debut. It is a song about drug abbuse that combines rap verses with a sung chorus.

Falco died of severe injuries he received when his Mitsubishi Pajero collided with a bus near the city of Puerto Plata, in the Dominican Republic on February 9,1998. It was initially reported that the autopsy showed high blood levels of alcohol & cocaine (Klaus from American Dad refers to having done cocaine with Falco in the episode entitled 'Con Heir': "Sounds like a disco I used to frequent in Berlin. I did lines with Falco in the men's room. Greedy, greedy Falco.").


He was buried in the Zentralfriedhof in Vienna, Austria. The above picture is from the cover of Austria's largest daily newspaper Kronen Zeitung (The Crown) on Feb 15, 1998, the day after the funeral which was attended by thousands of sympathetic fans. The picture shows some members of the group of rockers "Outsiders" carrying Falco's coffin from the mortuary chapel. They are the same rockers who were seen in the video of "Rock Me Amadeus".

This following poem was recited at the beginning of the funeral. It was written by Christian Ide Hintze, owner of the Schule der Dichtung (School of Poetry) where Falco was a frequent guest speaker. (sorry for the babel-like translation)

For Falco:
James Dean of Vienna
Inventor of the Manhatten Schönbrunner German
57 Chevy assembled in Vienna
Chairman of the Board of the cool speech reform
Principal witness-prince of the eighties
Are you now in your tuxedo with Amadeus
sitting on the lap Maria Theresa?
Air-clearing commissioner of the Viennese districts
At one with the twenty-three
close to the formula of the freeing speed
In your world it’s always:
"Valid for all passports to all Planets"
Every pair of sun glasses want to perch on on your nose, Falco
You are still the little Amadeus under Brillantine
Do we still hear from each other?
Thanks Hans!

Year of Release: 1983
Label: A&M Records SP-12053
Genre: Disco

Tracklist:
Side A -
Der Kommissar (The Commissioner)
Side B -
Auf Der Flucht (On The Run)
Helden Von Heute (alles wartet auf...) (Heroes of today [everything waits on...])

Download: Falco - Der Kommissar 12“ ep
Download Size: 27.3MB (ripped from vinyl at 320Kbps)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

thanks for all the great posts and your blogroll site. take it ez, pat

Crazy said...

something wrong with the link. thx for all funk posts!

said...

Just checked the link. It is working fine. When you go to ifile there is a message "request download ticket". Just click it & download is available. Good luck.

AllyWonderland said...

Falco! Thanks! You're my hero! A lot of people forget that Falco did Der Kommissar first before After the Fire.

A-Mfan said...

Great ep. Thanks for sharing it. I wish he was still around

Muff Diver said...



Link-y still works!

Als klar, Herr Komissar?


Danke Shon!