Torsten Kauke

Torsten Kauke (born August 13, 1967 in Seeheim-Jugenheim ), known as tvuzk ( own spelling ) or Torstn Kauke ( own spelling ), is a German musician, comic artist, music and art blogger and cultural impresario from Offenbach . He is part of the artist group KiX and was co-editor of the underground comic magazine of the same name in the 1990s. Kauke is the singer and guitarist of the band Superstolk and is also involved in numerous music projects. He runs the Unpop Media label and has been the operator of the Waggon event venue on Kulturgleis in Offenbach since 2009 , which was awarded the City of Offenbach's Culture Prize in 2016 .

Career

Kauke began to express himself artistically in his youth. From the beginning he followed the political and ethical principles of the do-it-yourself movement in his work , according to which he still works today. He composes, writes, produces and designs his publications himself and mostly publishes them himself. As an artist, Kauke works with multimedia, besides making music he draws, paints and writes and works on film and theater productions. Primarily, however, Kauke appears as a musician. His work is deeply rooted in the fanzine , home recording and cassette culture and he consciously avoids the cultural mainstream . Originally strongly influenced by punk and new wave , the musical self-taught and multi-instrumentalist (guitar, bass, vocals, keyboards, electronics) processed a wide variety of influences from the mid-1990s, including jazz , electronic music and experimental music of all kinds.

At the age of 15, Kauke founded his first band Radowu with his school friend Ondrej Bartos in 1982 and published their first tapes with them . From 1984 he published his first solo works under the pseudonym tvuzk . Together with his brother Carsten “Raul CO” Kauke , he founded the band Glück Gluck Glück in 1985 , and from 1987 onwards they operated under the names Asozialsky and Hatsch and gained their first live experience. With the projects of the early years of his work, Kauke published an unmanageable number of tapes in small and very small editions. Asozialsky and Hatsch also produced the video film The Great Rock'n'Kohl Schwindl in 1988 . Carsten Kauke, who always works and publishes under the pseudonym Raul CO Kauke , is still active as a video artist and brother Torsten is involved in the productions as an actor and voice actor.

In 1989, Torsten (guitar) and Carsten Kauke (bass) formed the punk band Kaktuxxe ( original spelling ; spoken: cactus) as visual artist with the second guitarist Stefan Duris, the singer Manutchehr Ghassemlou , the drummer Florian Dröse and the comic artist Michael "Rautie" Rautenberg ). At the beginning of the nineties, the Kaktuxxe were among the figureheads of the Hanau punk and music scene, alongside acts such as UFD , Reverend Schulzz and Robsie Richter . They released several records and played concerts all over Germany. In 1995 the cacti broke up.

From 1989 Kauke began his journalistic activities. Together with Carsten Kauke, he published the fanzine The Inner Pig - magazine for social decline . In contrast to most other fanzines, only a minor part of the weaker self was about music. In the very personal magazine, characterized by a Dadaist sense of humor, the Kaukes wrote on a wide range of topics, some of them bizarre, ranging from the Beatles to Helmut Kohl, to Nogger -Eis and the rabbit Fleischmann . A total of 38 self-published editions appeared up to 2001, as well as the anthology The inner pig dog , which the Dreieck Verlag published in 1996. Kauke was one of the leading representatives of the fanzine scene in the Rhine-Main area. In the nineties he also ran the tape label Schweinhund Tapes , with which he published over 50 tapes by various artists.

In 1990 four of the Kaktuxxe musicians - the brothers Kauke, Ghassemlou and Rautenberg - joined forces with the artist Jörg Ritter to form the artist group KiX , and the artists have been working together on various projects to this day. KiX were mainly active in Hanau in the 1990s , where the artists also lived, sometimes together in a shared apartment. The collective worked multimedia. The central point of reference of their work was the comic magazine KiX , but the members of the group also played together in a number of bands and made a number of short films and some radio plays, which they called "acoustic comics".

The first issue of the KiX Comics was published in 1990. From April 1991 the KiX booklet appeared regularly in 29 editions until 1995, as well as some special issues and anthologies, in the specially founded publishing house KiX Multimedia . In addition to the comics by Rautenberg, Ritter, Ghassemlou and the Kauke brothers, the magazine also published early works by artists such as Klaus Cornfield and Hannes Neubauer . The makers of the magazine transferred the attitude of punk to the medium of comics. The Offenbach Post highlighted the “bizarre ideas” and the “provocative style” of the magazines, which are “teeming with macabre and black humor”. The KiX comics "impress with the power of the pictures" and are "sometimes so wacky that not all comic sellers include them in their range", Ullrich Mattner stated in 1992 in the Frankfurter Rundschau . KiX was an influential underground comic, despite sometimes low sales, and “shaped and celebrated a seemingly amateurish stick figure culture characterized by absurd humor, which today is often and gladly imitated”, as the Free Comic Tag magazine stated in 2013.

In addition to his work as a draftsman, editor and co-editor of KiX Comics , Torsten Kauke was also involved in some of the KiX bands. From 1990 to 1993 , he (vocals, guitar) and Carsten Kauke (vocals, bass) formed the pop punk band Fishkicks with Kaktuxxe drummer Flo Dröse . After a few live performances and the release of a tape and a 7 '' EP, the Fishkicks broke up. Another KiX band was Holly Golightly , in which besides Torsten Kauke on bass and Manutchehr Ghassemlou on drums, Kaktuxxe guitarist Stefan Duris and singer Stefanie Wilkenloh also played. Holly Golightly were active from 1991 to 1995. They released a tape and a 7 '' EP.

From 1993 Kauke and his brother Carsten formed the performance duo The Rabbit . In self-sewn rabbit costumes made of terrycloth, the two performed numerous, mostly freely improvised appearances in which they held up a critical mirror from the rabbit's point of view to “the people”. The rabbits published a tape with radio plays.

In 1995 Torsten Kauke started the electro-punk project Superstolk 2000 . Initially started as a solo project, Kauke was supported by various musicians over the years, including his brother Carsten. In 2005 Jörg Ritter joined the band as a permanent member, which has since operated as a duo. The two changed the name of the project to Superstolk (also: The pop group Superstolk ). Kauke plays the guitar and sings at Superstolk, Ritter contributes electronic beats. Superstolk perform throughout Germany and have released numerous records, many of them on Kauke's own label Unpop Media , but some on labels such as Rustikal Records and Knorz Records .

In 1996, Kauke, now a student at the Hochschule für Gestaltung (HfG) in Offenbach, triggered a regional art scandal with one of his works. As part of a campaign by the HfG and the municipal garbage disposal, students from the university provided the municipal garbage trucks with works of art. Especially by Kauke's contribution - the picture showed parts of a depiction of Jesus and the sentence "Machs Mull Mini Müm" - conservative and Christian circles felt provoked. Subsequently, the action , which was headed by Professor Manfred Stumpf , was discussed controversially. The works of art were removed from the garbage trucks and auctioned for a charitable purpose.

Kauke is active in various long-term music projects. In addition to Superstolk , these include the electro duo tb or not tb ( original spelling ) with his wife Bea Dietz and the improvisation project Material intimidation with the Offenbach musician Oliver Kaib. He also composes soundtracks and soundscapes for short films, performances and stage presentations by numerous artist friends.

Kauke is the operator of the music label Unpop Media , which since 2007 only publishes music projects in which he is involved. Most of the artwork for the unpop releases is designed by Kauke himself. The covers of the releases are partly handmade, artistic packaging in limited editions, and some of the CDs and cassettes come with booklets that he designed.

Torstn Kauke presents Unpop is the name of a blog on which Kauke not only documents and archives his own work, but also the history of punk and independent culture in the Rhine-Main area. He also runs various blogs on which he publishes comics and drawings.

Kauke has been the operator of the wagon at the Kulturgleis in Offenbach since 2009 , an event location supported by the Social Plastic Association. In this role, Kauke and his colleague Georg Klein are responsible for a wide-ranging cultural program. In addition to concerts, readings, performances, exhibitions, film events and various digital culture events are part of the wagon's program. Kauke offered over a hundred artists from all over the world the opportunity to present themselves live. In 2016, the wagon on the Kulturgleis was awarded the Offenbach City Culture Prize.

Biographical and personal life

Kauke spent his youth in the community of Erlensee near Hanau. In Hanau, he attended the Karl-Rehbein-Gymnasium , where he passed his school leaving examination in 1988. Kauke studied German at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt and visual communication at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Offenbach. He lives with his wife, the artist Bea Dietz, and a son in Offenbach.

Publications (selection)

Discography

solo

as Torstn Kauke

• 2003 17 questions to the world (Kix Multimedia, CD)
• 2004 5 additional questions (Kix Multimedia, Digital EP)
• 2004 Retrospect one - Songs & Tracks 70-02 (Unpop Media, CD)
• 2014 Sound Waves (Unpop Media, CD Box Set)
• 2015 Eight Dubs (Unpop Media, Tape)
• 2016 clear round (songs left lying around 2002-2009) (Unpop Media, CD)
• 2018 Pay attention because time flies (Unpop Media, booklet with comics, drawings and photographs, including download code for a digital album)

as tvuzk

• 1990 16 socially critical songs & ballads (bastard tapes, tape)
• 1990 Poems for Peppermintgirl (bastard tapes, tape)
• 1991 Assholes (bastard tapes, tape)
• 1993 Out of Hell and into Heaven (Schweinhundtapes, Tape)
• 1993 1967 (bastard tapes, tape)
• 1995 Honey Honey And Other Unreleased Golden Classics (Maljugin Music, Tape)

Bands and projects

with Asozialsky and Hatsch

• 1987 Peter shits in the class register (Red Jacket Tapes, Tape)
• 1987 Free German Youth (Red Jacket Tapes, Tape)
• 1989 Fucking for Fleischmann (Red Jacket Tapes, Tape)
• 1989 The cult of the secret society (Red Jacket Tapes, Tape)
• 2012 The Great Rock'n'Kohl Schwindl (Unpop Media, DVD, contains the 1988 film restored by Kauke and concert recordings from the same year)
• 2018 High school punk 1987-1989 - The very best of Asozialsky & Hatsch (Unpop Media, Digital Album)

with Bum Khun Cha Youth

• 1997 replacement punk (Rock-O-Tronic Records, 7 ″ EP)

with fishkicks

• 1991 Fantape ( bastard tapes , tape)
• 1991 summer 19/90 ( bastard tapes , tape)
• 1992 Rot (Bad Moon Records, 7 ″ EP)
• 1996 fish kick ( bastard tapes , tape)

with Holly Golightly

• 1992 Happy (Kix Multimedia, 7 ″ EP)
• 1994 Flowerbed. (Bastard tapes, tape)

with cactus ax

• 1990 The Kacktusse Archive Volume 1, 1988-1990 (Kaktuxxe self-published, tape)
• 1991 Das Kacktusse-Archiv Volume 2, 1990-1991 (Kaktuxxe self-published, tape)
• 1991 Kacktusse ( bastard tapes , tape)
• 1991 Fight the Nazi Baby (Bad Moon Records, 7 ″ EP)
• 1991 Les Aventures De Mme. Butterfly (Kaktuxxe self-published, tape)
• 1992 Fight the Nazi Baby (bastard tapes, tape)
• 1992 Chicalagazelle (Lalabuh Records, CD)
• 1992 Waitingwewilldie ( bastard tapes , tape)
• 1994 Moo Moo - it's just the Cow (bastard tapes, tape)
• 1999 Kaktuxxe Volume 1 1990 - 1992 (KiX Multimedia, CD)
• 1999 Kaktuxxe Volume 2 1992 - 1995 (KiX Multimedia, CD)
• 2013 Chicalagazelle - 20th Anniversary Edition (Unpop Media, 5 CD Set)

with The Rabbit

• 1994 Funny Rabbit Adventures (Bastard Tapes, Tape)

with Laula!

• 2012 Laulaa (Unpop Media, CD)

with Looplab

• 1997 Looped Labor (bastard tapes, tape)
• 1997 Balcon Elektrique (NoName Tapes, Tape)
• 1998 Promo Tape (bastard tapes, tape)
• 1998 Atomic Loops (bastard tapes, tape)
• 2007 No Vember (Unpop Media, Digital EP)
• 2008 Pitch (Unpop Media, Digital EP)

with material intimidation

• 2014 Kauke / Kaib material intimidation (Unpop Media, CD)
• 2015 ME15 (Unpop Media, CD)
• 2016 Material Intimidation (Unpop Media, CD)
• 2016 Live 2015 (Unpop Media, Tape)

with Microgramma Medium Extended

• 2013 Patchwork / Patchwerk 2002-2013 (Unpop Media, CD)

with No Funny Handtoys

• 2012 Anthology 1990-1990 (Unpop Media, Digital Album)

with super people

• 1995 Otherwise closet (bastard tapes, tape.)
• 1998 What does the world cost? (Knorz Records, 7 '' EP)
• 1999 Everyone has their own closet (Unpop Media, CD)
• 2006 Spectacle Time (Unpop Media, CD EP)
• 2007 LoFi Discothek (Unpop Media, 7 '' EP)
• 2007 Nothing is lost, nothing passes ... (Unpop Media, CD)
• 2010 Froiedich's Kristkind (Unpop Media, Digital EP)
• 2010 Superstolk from Offenbach (Unpop Media, CD)
• 2011 Superstolk Christmas Gala (Unpop Media, CD)
• 2012 Rhythmanalysis? Rhythm synthesis! (Unpop Media, Digital EP)
• 2012 No crisis without finances (Unpop Media, CD)
• 2012 No Crisis Without Finances Extended (Unpop Media, CD Box Set)
• 2012 Kassel (Unpop Media, Digital EP)
• 2014 Super was Super (Rustikal Records, 12 '' EP)
• 2014 Super war Super Tour (Unpop Media, CD)
• 2016 Otherwise, Closet Extended (Unpop Media, Tape)
• 2016 Very Greatest Hits (Unpop Media, CD)
• 2017 Then and When (Live 2006-2016). (Unpop Media, Tape)

with tb OR NOT tb

• 2015 Rorschach (Unpop Media, CD and Tape Set)
• 2016 Baby Bunny Box (Unpop Media, CD Box Set)
• 2016 The Ninth Dimension (Unpop Media, CD)
• 2016 Ghostly (Unpop Media, CD)

bibliography

Kauke published the print editions of his comics continuously under the pseudonym tvuzk .

• The weaker self # 1–38. Fanzine. (Self-published by Torsten and Carsten Kauke, Hanau 1989–2001.)
• KiX # 0–29 (self-published by Rautenberg and Kauke, Hanau; from # 10 KiX Multimedia, Hanau 1990–1995.)
• Kix special volume # 1 (KiX Multimedia, Hanau 1992.)
• Kix Exxtra (KiX Multimedia, Hanau 1992.)
• Insect (KiX Multimedia, Hanau 1992.)
• Religious picture stories (KiX Multimedia, Hanau 1994.)
• Unkopf (KiX Multimedia, Hanau 1994.)
• Stuzzi Cadenti (KiX Multimedia, Hanau 1996.)
• Stuzzi Cadenti Limited special edition (KiX Multimedia, Hanau 1996.)
• The weaker self dog book . (Dreieck Verlag, Mainz, 1996.)
• KiX # 30 (KiX Verlag, Offenbach, 2019.)
• KiX # 31 (KiX Verlag, Offenbach, 2020.)

Online comics

• 2004 sick pop versus punk rock
• 2002 Patinate.lls # 1
• 2003 Patinate.lls # 2
• 2004 Patinate.lls # 3

Web links

• Torstn Kauke presents Unpop Official Homepage.
• Unpop Media Official Homepage.
• Torstn Kauke's electronic homepage Official homepage (until 2006).
• The Kixblog blog operated by Torsten Kauke, which provides many KiX comics for download.
• Patina tells Art blog run by Torsten Kauke.
• Torstn Kauke at Discogs .
• Unpop Media at Discogs .

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b} Janos Erkens: Excellent subculture. Frankfurter Rundschau, January 18, 2016, accessed on May 6, 2019 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Torsten Kauke: Twenty-five years wasted (one vita). presented on Torstn Kauke Unpop, June 26, 2007, accessed on July 30, 2019 . 
3. ↑ Carsten Kauke: Video Theater - The video show by Raul CO Kauke. Retrieved May 7, 2019 . 
4. ↑ Dr. Erwin Lloechner: 1000 years of cacti . In: The weaker self . Fanzine, No. 38 . Torsten Kauke self-published, Hanau December 1999.
5. ↑ Martin Büsser: Foreword . In: Jens Neumann (Ed.): The inner weaker self, dog book . Dreieck Verlag, Mainz 1996, p. 5-6 .
6. ↑ Holger Münch: KIX, the insect and the little witch . In: Hanauer Anzeiger . Hanau August 1992.
7. ↑ ^{a b} Torsten Kauke: A short KIX story. (PDF) on Kixcomics.de, November 2002, accessed on July 18, 2017 . 
8. ↑ Carsten Kauke: The KIX movies. told on Raul CO Kauke, accessed on May 7, 2019 . 
9. ↑ pie: comic artist with bizarre ideas . In: Offenbach Post . Offenbach August 1992.
10. ↑ Ulrich Mattner: Maybe there will even be a Kix radio station . In: Frankfurter Rundschau . Frankfurt December 1992.
11. ^ U-Comix - The artists: Rautie . In: Free Comic Tag Magazine . No. 1 . Splashcomics, Waldshut-Tiengen 2013, p. 93 .
12. ↑ Torsten Kauke: The historical KIX bands. on Kixcomics.de, accessed on July 18, 2017 . 
13. ↑ Torsten Kauke: We are waiting for Kristkind No.7. In: Torstn Kauke presents Unpop. December 24, 2012, accessed July 3, 2012 . 
14. ↑ Torsten Kauke: Superstolk. Career and record. on Kixcomics.de, accessed on May 8, 2019 . 
15. ↑ Superstolk. on Discogs, accessed May 8, 2019 . 
16. ^ Siegfried Scholz: Art for frogs . In: Frankfurter Rundschau . Frankfurt August 28, 1996.
17. ↑ ajw: CDU: denigrates faith . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . Frankfurt August 23, 1996.
18. ↑ Short biography Torsten Kauke. on the homepage of Kortman & Konsorten, accessed on May 6, 2019 . 
19. ↑ Torsten Kauke: Unpop Media - The Label. on the official homepage of the label, accessed on August 3, 2019 .