Faced with five discs of 14 symphonic works by 11 composers from the former German Democratic Republic, the general listener might well throw up his/her hands in dismay. After all, the most famous names here, Hanns Eisler and Paul Dessau, have received scant recognition outside the former East Germany, while names like Goldmann, Geissler, Katzer, and Weiss will be completely unfamiliar. And yet even the general listener cannot deny the extrinsic interest of the symphonies produced by a state that now exists only in the dustbin of history.
Inspired by Punk and Post Punk, vibrant scenes dedicated to independent self-actualisation by means of sound circulated on self-distributed cassettes, in the 80s the cheapest and fastest medium, were developing not only in the FRG but also in the GDR (=DDR). The artefacts from that era tell of a stance of refusal in practice, and of the possibility to charge up on a high level, in spite of everything. "Magnetband" features 14 exciting experimental-electronic pieces from the GDR that originally have been released between 1984 and 1989 on cassettes only.