Death Disco Radio’s 1st Anniversary features DJ Hell (Gigolo label boss) for an unforgettable mix. DJ Hell (real name Helmut Josef Geier, born in Munich on September 6, 1962) has been responsible for many of the big records to come out of the Electroclash or German Squelch scene that emerged in Berlin in the mid-nineties. He is seen as the musical initiator of the 80s Revival movement later known as Electroclash popularizing the music from his hometown Munich from the mid to late 90s. In the summer of 1977, Hell bought his first punk record – The Damned’s DAMNED, DAMNED, DAMNED (1976) – and found himself immediately hooked on the music’s febrile energy and raw, instinctive power. By 1978, Hell found himself playing records in a local nightclub. “It was a club for hippies,” he later recalled. “They really hated us.” But Hell’s night became a popular draw and he graduated to the club’s weekend slot. With Disko B, Hell began to explore a dark, almost gothic strain of techno. Tracks like “Motherfunk” were brooding affairs that borrowed the hard, minimal feel of Jeff Mills or Robert Hood and invested it with a sense of baleful, barely restrained violence. On “Totmacher” (lit. “Dead Maker”) he blended film noire soundtracking with deep, punishing grooves. As the name suggested (MUNICH MACHINE was originally the title of one of Giorgio Moroder’s mid-’70s projects) the album saw Hell plundering computer disco with tracks such as “For Your Love” and “Berimbau” being little more than thinly-disguised pastiches of classic Moroder/Donna Summer workouts. However, the album also contained credited cover versions including an intriguing version of The Normal’s “Warm Leatherette” (also covered by Grace Jones) and an electronic reworking of “Suicide Commando” by obscure Hanover guitar band No More, a single which Hell had played non-stop during his early career as a punk DJ and which, symbolically at least, brought Helmut Geier’s musical trip full circle. In 2006, DJ Hell was involved in an German Intel promotional campaign involving five renowned demogroups (Andromeda Software Development, Conspiracy, Fairlight, Farbrausch and mfx), who were set out to create promotional videos using short soundclips by DJ Hell. [1] DJ Hell’s Hit single Keep On Waiting was produced using samples as a basic track from a song titled Blurb by a New York based group known as Intense Molecular Activity. IMAs 4 track EP was released in 1980 on an independent label. Less