Camouflage Fabric Textures

The German synth-pop trio Camouflage was officially formed in 1984 by vocalist Marcus Meyn and keyboardists/programmers Heiko Maile and Oliver Kreyssig. The group took first place in a radio-sponsored song contest in 1986, and before long, their debut single, "The Great Commandment," was scaling the German charts. Their full-length debut, Voices and Images, was released in 1988, reflecting the group's classic new wave synth-pop influences, but most of all Depeche Mode. 1989's Methods of Silence began to broaden Camouflage's sonic palette, yet the Depeche Mode sound still remained at the forefront.

By the time of Spice Crackers' 1995 release, Camouflage found themselves dealing not only with changing times on the part of their key inspirations – Depeche Mode having long since grappled with rock motifs on albums like Violator and Songs of Faith and Devotion – but with the shift from electronic pop being pop, to being a quieter concern amid the aboveground explosion of techno in Europe throughout that decade. Spice Crackers feels like a reaction to both changes in many ways, a chance for Camouflage to find their own identity as well as see how to roll with the times – and what's striking is how they predated some future developments elsewhere as a result. (It says something that the bass-heavy introduction "X-Ray" might have appeared on Depeche's Ultra, for instance, even though that album was two years away from release at that point.) There's a self-referentiality to the field that's almost amusing in its apparent po-facedness – calling one song "Kraft" and the one immediately after it "Electronic Music" is almost too much – but the exquisite instrumental "Ronda's Trigger," arguably the album's best song, celebrates things more effectively, a classic electronic dance number in the best way, propulsive and serene at the same time.

The German synth-pop trio Camouflage was officially formed in 1984 by vocalist Marcus Meyn and keyboardists/programmers Heiko Maile and Oliver Kreyssig. The group took first place in a radio-sponsored song contest in 1986, and before long, their debut single, "The Great Commandment," was scaling the German charts. Their full-length debut, Voices and Images, was released in 1988, reflecting the group's classic new wave synth-pop influences, but most of all Depeche Mode. 1989's Methods of Silence began to broaden Camouflage's sonic palette, yet the Depeche Mode sound still remained at the forefront. Oliver Kreyssig then left the group, leaving Maile and Meyn as a duo augmented by several studio musicians. By the time of 1991's Meanwhile, Camouflage had garnered a not insignificant following on college radio; the album moved still farther away from synth-pop and incorporated greater instrumentation…

To mark the 30th anniversary of the album, the band opened up the archives to assemble a special bonus edition including a wealth of rare and unreleased recordings.
Camouflage entered the synth pop game when most people had already moved on, which spelled trouble for their 1989 sophomore album. The total absence of acknowledged humor in Camouflage's material contrasted sharply with the vibrancy of the ensuing decade, and the album's widening addition of violins, saxophones, and guitars couldn't prevent the band from being forced into a prematurely outdated pigeonhole. In hindsight, this was the LP's biggest problem. "On Islands" and "One Fine Day" were sweet, multi-textured pop that swayed like a hammock strung between industrial pylons…