Four decades ago, The Young Gods reconfigured rock music using the new technology of sampling in a manner no one else had thought to. In a rock and pop world dominated by Anglo-American orthodoxies, they proposed something huge and avant European in origin. The Young Gods created a new, elemental energy using the dead matter of the rock and classical music they sampled as fossil fuels—they rediscovered fire, a fire that raged through their first two albums, “The Young Gods” and “L’Eau rouge / Red Water.” The formula was simple—drums, voice, samples—but what they wrought was revolutionary, post-postmodern.
Although they enjoyed massive critical acclaim, it was with 1992’s “TV Sky” that they enjoyed the global recognition they deserved—heavy MTV rotation, a hit with “Skinflowers” and the likes of U2, Bowie, and Nine Inch Nails singing their praises in interviews. This success, however, represented a test of the group’s artistic integrity. They could easily have ploughed on through the 90s in a formulaic, industrial vein but, as Treichler explains, “It’s always about breaking the formula. When you have a formula, it’s good to challenge yourself and write something else. The first three Young Gods records were based on sampling and the surprise element it can bring to the sound, these sharp changes within a millisecond jumping from classical to cabaret, heavy metal. That was our trademark, maybe a cliche. So for 'TV Sky,' the fourth album, we decided to restrict the palette—no more violins, just guitars—then later we were influenced by the electronic, ambient scene—and then later playing the guitar live. Challenge brings forward so many new ideas.”
This has been the true success of The Young Gods—recording and exploring on their own terms, be it covering the songs of Kurt Weill, exploring fresh ambiences on “Music for Artificial Clouds,” the subtly inflected blues jazz tendencies of “Data Mirage Tangram,” or most recently, their extraordinary take on Terry Riley’s “In C,” which they used as a launchpad into new musical ideas of their own birthing, touring to rapt audiences across Europe. In rock terms, The Young Gods are anything but ephemeral—their curiosity, their energy remains undimmed since they first emerged from Fribourg in a shock attack on dull norms in 1985.
Tickets are CHF 40 in advance and CHF 45 at the door.

Website
kaserne-basel.ch/en/events/the-young-gods

Where
Rossstall, Kaserne Basel
Klybeckstrasse 1b
4057 Basel

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