Form
Die Form is a French music formation, originally founded in 1977 as a BDSM live act, consisting of Philippe Fichot and his partner Éliane P. The sound ranges from minimalistic electronic in earlier works to gloomy apocalyptic moods to complex melodies in later works.
The form is counted among the pioneers and avant-garde of electronic music . In addition, Die Form is also considered a representative of industrial music of the 1980s, as some albums and side projects musically extended into this genre. In the history of the band, different musical styles and directions have been experimented with. The music remained purely electronic. In addition to unusual sound collages, Fichot's photographic work was also part of Die Form's total work of art from the start. This is where Fichot's preference for the bizarre and morbid becomes clear. Thematically, Die Form deals with sexual-erotic ideas of humans, but not from a voyeuristic, but rather from a psychological point of view. Fichot once said that Die Form was a project that was looking for “eternal beauty”. You can find a strong connection between the band and sadomasochism, fetish , but later also death and mourning .
history
The work of Die Form can be divided into four different phases: While songs such as Sex by Force or Masochist were initially industrial and experimental , at the end of the 1980s the soundscape turned into electronic and poppy.
At the beginning of the 1990s, the project was inspired by the triumphant advance of techno , the album Confessions with the all-time hit Silent Order should stand for this style menu: danceable, technoid and yet playful. Shortly afterwards, the style of the project changed again.
With Suspiria de Profundis , the first part of the so-called Trilogy of Passions , songs like Cantique have adopted a style to which the band has remained almost consistently to this day: calm, melodious, classically inspired and almost theatrical. The Trilogy of Passions (Suspiria de Profundis, L'âme èlectrique, Duality) should represent the breakthrough for Die Form.
You can also see radical changes in the group's live performance. The first live shows were bribing with brutality and violence, but this changed more towards S / M and fetish, only to suddenly offer a butoh show to a stunned audience (from Trilogy of Passions) . From the album Duality , it was time again for new accents on stage: Less butoh, but still expressive performances by her dancer and singer Éliane P.
The form have inspired countless bands, in addition to their albums released a dozen of cassettes. At the end of 2005 the photo book The Visionary Garden was reissued.
In addition to Die Form, numerous side projects exist or still existed, for example Electrode or DF Sadist School . Her music is distributed through her own label, BainTotal .
In 2007, Die Form could be seen live in Germany for the first time after eight years of absence from the stage. On March 17, 2007 Die Form was exclusively at the Dark Dance meeting in Lahr / Black Forest and presented their new show. They also played a special concert at the Leipzig Bach Festival on June 15, 2007. On January 24, 2008, an album with Die Formschen Bachinterpretationen was released.
The form was played for the first time at Whitsun 1996 at the annual Wave-Gotik-Treffen in Leipzig . Also in 2009 Die Form performed at the Wave-Gotik-Treffen.
Due to the demand for the initial work, especially the cassettes, a retrospective of this creative episode was published in early 2010 on the Vinyl on Demand (VOD) label. The 6-LP box Chronology contains many individual pieces from the early days and numerous side projects (Eva-Johanna Reichstag, DF Sadist School, Krylon Hertz etc.).
Discography
- 1982: the doll
- 1983: Some Experiences with Shock
- 1987: Poupée Mécanique
- 1988: Archives & Docüments (the 3-LP-Box was indexed on December 29, 1999 based on the accompanying book )
- 1988: Photogrammes
- 1990: Corpus Delicti
- 1991: Archives & Documents 2
- 1991: Ad Infinitum
- 1992: Confessions
- 1994: Suspiria de Profundis
- 1995: L'âme èlectrique
- 1996: Vicious Circles: The Best Of
- 1997: Duality
- 1998: Histories I&II (Greatest Hits)
- 2000: Extremum / XX
- 2001: The Doll II (Re-Release)
- 2001: Some Experiences With Shock (Re-Release)
- 2001: Corpus Delicti 2 (re-release)
- 2001: AKT - Sideprojects & Experimental Collection
- 2003: Archives & Documents 3
- 2004: InHuman
- 2006: ExHuman
- 2008: Bach Project
- 2009: Noir Magnétique
- 2010: Chronology - The Bain Total Years 77-85
- 2014: Rayon X
- 2017: S (p) lit / Fluxus (together with Mama Baer )
- 2017: Baroque Equinox
Between 2001 and 2002 the complete discography of Die Form was remastered by Trisol . Apart from the ones listed, the other albums only differ in terms of bonus tracks and are therefore not listed again.
Maxis and EPs
- 1984: Heart Of The Monster EP
- 1988: Face to Face, Vol. 1 (split LP with Asmus Tietchens )
- 1990: Savage Logic (MCD)
- 1992: Tears of Eros EP
- 1994: Silent Order (Re-Versions) (Remix-MCD)
- 1994: Rose Au Coeur Violet EP
- 1996: Phenomena of Visitation (MCD)
- 1998: The Hidden Cage / Spiral (MCD)
- 1999: Rain of Blood EP
- 1999: Automatic Love 2 (split MLP in saw form with NUNS)
- 2000: Deep Inside (MCD)
- 2003: Zoopsia (MCD)
- 2008: Her [t] z frequency
- 2014: curiosity
- 2017: Psychic Poison
Books
- 1995: The Visionary Garden
- 2005: The Visionary Garden 2: Mémoire (s) d'un œil mécanique (published by Ultra Mail Prod.)
Side projects
- D.sign - project with Philippe Fichot, Éliane P. & Marc Verhaeghen ( clinic )
- 1988: D.sign (MCD)
- DFsadist school
- 1990: Les 120 Journées de Sodome (Die Form Side-Project 1)
- 1991: Bacterium (split CD with Etant Donnés)
- 1995: The Visionary Garden (Die Form Side-Project 6)
- 2005: The Visionary Garden (re-release incl. 1 video track, only available with the photo book of the same name)
- Societe Anonyme - Die Form Solo Project
- 1991: SA 123 (Die Form Side-Project 2)
- Sombre Printemps
- 1991: Ambient & Film Music (Die Form Side-Project 3)
- 2011: Ambient & Film Music 1 + 2
- electrode
- 1993: The Operative Machine (Die Form Side-Project 4)
- Ukiyo - The Form and Aube
- 1994: Ukiyo (Die Form Side-Project 5)
- THE FORM ÷ FINE AUTOMATIC
- 2015: Vol. I + Vol. II
- THE FORM ÷ MUSIQUE CONCRÈTE
- 2015: Cinema Obscura
- Cassettes - as Die Form or under pseudonyms
- 1977: unreleased
- 1978: K.01 I (2 different covers)
- 1978: K.02 KRYLON HERTZ I (C.20, and re-issue C.30)
- 1980: ENDLESS K7 1: FINE AUTOMATIC Caddy Musak
- 1980: ENDLESS K7 2: FINE AUTOMATIC Freezer Musak
- 1980: ENDLESS K7 3: FINE AUTOMATIC Flipper Musak
- 1981: ENDLESS K7 4: DIE FORM Disabled Landscape
- 1981: K.04 Virgin Flavor
- 1981: K.05 KRYLON HERTZ Smuggle Death
- 1981: K.06 'Eva-Johanna REICHSTAG & DIE FORM: Memorial 78–79
- 1982: K.08 FINE AUTOMATIC (C.60) (re-issue from the endless cassettes)
- 1982: K.10 CAMERA OBSCURA 1
- 1982: K.11 CAMERA OBSCURA 2
- 1982: K.12 CAMERA OBSCURA 3 & DIE FORM Final Edition
- 1982: K.14 Le Plomb des Cartes / La Loge Infernale
- 1983: K.16 MENTAL CODE Flexible Music Vol. 2/3
- 1983: K.19 Excisions (3 different covers)
- 1983: K.20 Archives & Documents 1
- 1985: K.22 Du coeur humain
- 1985: K.25 Red Action (co-production BT / TM, other side by KOSA)
- 1985: K.27 FINE AUTOMATIC / DF SADIST SCHOOL OrgasMechanism
- 1985: K.28 GRAPH 4 Messe Basse (one side cassette, poems soundtrack)
- 1985: K.29 HURT DF SADIST SCHOOL (one side cassette)
- 1987: K.30 Archives & Doküments 2 The Doll (C.50) (re-issue of the first LP / 1982)
- 1987: K.31 Archives & Doküments 3 Some Experiences With Shock (re-issue of the 2nd LP / 1984)
- 1987: K.32 Long Live Death (C.50)
- 1986: KX X.ACTION (SADIST SCHOOL 1.984) [Changed to K.33 around 1988]
- 1986: KF Fetish 1 (C.50) [Changed to K.34 around 1988. Most tracks were later re-released on the releases of Archives and Documents on CD and LP]
- 1986: K.04 Virgin Flavor 2 C.60 (re-issue, total remix extra-track)
- 1986: K.14 Le Plomb des Cartes / La Loge Infernale (C.90) (re-issue, total remix extra-track)
- 1989: K.35 Flexible Music vol.1 (guest: DZ LECTRIC)
- 1998: Limited Documents Vol. 1 (including unpublished tracks from 1982–1986, limited edition of 300 copies with an original photo)