BORIS BLANK NEVER LEARNED TO PLAY AN INSTRUMENT OR READ MUSIC. FOR HIM THE WORLD – WHATEVER HE HEARD, BE IT A MOTOR OR A CLOCK – WAS STILL MUSIC.
When his duo Yello started recording, the sampler hadn’t even been invented. Blank diligently recorded his ‘found sounds’ directly onto tape loops. Alongside machine music cornerstones Africa Bambaata, Kraftwerk and Gary Numan, the wider influence of Blank’s music is immeasurable.
Through pioneering tracks such as THE RACE, OH YEAH and BOSTICH impacting as hip leftfield dancefloor anthems and world-wide hits alike, the Swiss duo’s combination of music, video, art and humour has left a lasting impression on pop, house, techno, electro and the myriad sub genres proliferating to this day. Yello’s unique influence can be heard somewhere in the music of avant pop purveyors Pet Shop Boys, Metronomy, Peaches, The Knife, Björk, Lady Gaga and the KLF.
Over the years, Blank has recorded many ideas which have never been publicly released. New album ELECTRIFIED is a compilation of 58 of those unreleased pieces. It also contains new recordings written this year, but the highlight for many will undoubtedly be the rare album ROTE FABRIK, taken from the 1977-83 archive, and which offers a fascinating insight into the creation of Yello albums SOLID PLEASURE and CLARO QUE SI.

For more information, visit Boris Blank’s ELECTRIFIED Kickstarter page here.