Kas Product

Formed in 1980, KaS Product were Spatsz from Nancy, France (electronics), who left his job in a psychiatric hospital to work on synthesizers and rhythm machines, and Mona Soyoc from the US (guitar, piano, vocals), who sung in a jazz band before she met Spatsz.

Their first two EPs, Mind Seven and Take Me Tonight, were recorded in a bedroom with a 2-track and released by the label Punk Records. From May to July 1981, KaS Product wrote eleven new songs which are featured on their first album Try Out, recorded at Sunrise Studio in Switzerland.

Produced by the band and Gerard Nguyen, this album was released by RCA in 1982 in France, Germany, Japan and England where the duo performed at venues such as The Embassy, The Rock Garden and The Venue. Synth-heavy, with Soyoc's theatrical American vocals providing a shouting, slanted weight to the tracks, KaS Product could be compared at this time to Suicide or Soft Cell.

After garnering considerable press attention from magazines such as Sounds, Melody Maker, and New Music Express, KaS Product recorded their second album, By Pass in 1983 at Sorcerer Sound Studio, NY (Swans, Sonic Youth, Laurie Anderson) upon recommendation from producer Martin Bisi. Having already established themselves with their frosty combination of claustrophobic jazz and minimalist, disjointed dance rhythms, By Pass finds Soyoc experimenting with even more stark, exaggerated vocals that match the best electro-cabaret kitsch offerings. Could best be compared with works by Lizzy Mercier Descloux, Joy Division, Taxi Girl.

According to Soyoc and Spatsz, the “KaS” in KaS Product came from hanging out in their friends room who was really into German art, including Expressionism and the Bauhaus movement. They noticed one of his books on the floor which had “KaS” on the cover. It's unkown exactly which book "KaS" was discovered in, but the "KaS" logotype is a near facsimile to Dadaist typography experiments employe by German artist Kurt Schwitters in the early 20th Century.

Like KaS Product discovering "KaS", Schwitters named his projects after arbitrary found materials in his environment. He is most famous for Sound Poetry in addition to his collages, called Merz Pictures. "By Pass" cover artwork employs mixed media collage techniques not unlike Schwitters's Merz pictures.

Schwitters composed and performed an early example of sound poetry, Ursonate (1922–32; a translation of the title is Original Sonata or Primeval Sonata).

The poem was influenced by Raoul Hausmann's poem "fmsbw" which Schwitters heard recited by Hausmann in Prague, 1921. Schwitters first performed the piece on 14 February 1925 at the home of Irmgard Kiepenheuer in Potsdam. He subsequently performed it regularly, both developing and extending it. He published his notations for the recital in the last Merz periodical in 1932, although he would continue to develop the piece for at least the next ten years.

"So Young But So Cold" in addition to being a KaS Product track from "Try Out" was a compilation released in 2004 which collected and re-issued rare recordings from the late 70s / early 80s French coldwave projects. The compilation among others released around the same period were responsible for a late 2000s revival of coldwave sounds. 

Color of shirt: White