STATION 17 HITPARADE ALBUM MUTE, PLAYGROUND RELEASE: DECEMBER 3, 2001 REVIEW: JANUARY 10, 2002

Close your eyes. Relax. Listen to my voice. You are now in Hamburg, Germany. You can hear a faint, pulsing beat, and a little girl talking excitedly about... dentists?
At the same time you are standing at the Altonaer Balkong, watching passing boats on the Elbe and the hoisting cranes and factory buildings on the docks at midnight. The moon is a perfect slice in the dark sky.
You are in a club, dancing. Girls with long, blond hair and blue eyes. You are confused, dislocated. You are enjoying it.
You are in the Alsterdorf Institution for the mentally handicapped. Music, wondrous and playful, dadaist and danceable is being recorded here. An arbitrary order is developing in the midst of apparent chaos.
You are listening to a record. It has been recorded by a group of handicapped people. It has been remixed by some of the greatest makers of modern music in Germany.
You are feeling good.

MATTIAS HUSS