Ton Steine Scherben - Tarot-Inspired German Rock Legends

The 70’s/80’s rock/punk/folk band Ton Steine Scherben will no doubt be familiar to those of you who are German, or perhaps living in a German-speaking country. For me however, they were totally unknown until my musician friend, the incredible queer indie-punk Maybecyborgs, introduced me to the band - and I’m in love!

Earlier I wrote a blog about the Mike Batt tarot album that I randomly found at an Edinburgh vinyl music sale, inspired by the Major Arcana. This idea for writing an album is apparently not as uncommon as I first thought, however there are/were definitely some people doing it better than others (sorry, Mike), and Ton Steine Scherben were one of them. 

                                             

Originally a political anarchist folk band, they performed at fundraisers and supported great political movements in the 70’s. The band also boasted one of the very few openly gay, mainstream singers - the incredible Rio Reiser (very fucking cool indeed). 

Their 1981 album IV (sometimes referred to as the Black Album) is a gripping and sometimes bizarre album that combines post-punk, folk and pop into trippy and obscure themes inspired by the Major Arcana tarot cards. Have a listen to Jenseits von Eden (East of Eden) - their song inspired by the Wheel of Fortune card. Yes, it's a little dated in that 80's rock sense, but Rio Reiser's raw, passionate vocals are fantastic.

              

It’s even more fascinating to me that the band all took on new roles as songwriters and musicians - for example, their drummer Götzner wrote a song for the band for the first time, after they gave themselves over to pulling cards for making decisions for the album. What a random and creative approach!

Rio Reiser passed away in 1996, leaving behind some incredible music. I’ve heard that in Germany he’s pretty much a rock staple, perhaps even a bit cheesy to some people. I’ve been touched by his path in life - coming out as gay, becoming politicised, forming a band, supporting leftist political movements with his music and then becoming a tarot obsessive. In a nutshell, that has been my own path (albeit on a much more underground scale!), and I’m a little transfixed by this guy’s life and music. I hope he's doing a tarot reading for Freddie Mercury somewhere in another realm right now!

The good news for me is that I’m off to Germany next week, and finding a copy of this gorgeous double LP is at the very top of my to-do list. For now, a youtube playlist of the full album will have to do for us, my chickens!

If you have any interesting anecdotes about Ton Steine Scherben, or if you know of any tarot-inspired artists from any era (underground current musicians very welcome), please post them in the comments below or email me. I’d love to hear from you!

The Tarot Cat is a tarot-reading DIY musician based in Scotland. If you liked this post, please sign up to the blog by email (top right of the page) for more tarot-music revelations and interviews!

Kitty links : Book a Tarot Reading - Twitter 

Mike Batt's 'Tarot Suite' - a bizarre 70's Tarot Find!

So my dears. As you know, I’m interested in what happens when tarot and music come together, and I have a bit of amazing synchronicity to share with you. A few weeks back, me, my boy Lukasz and my best friend Julia (who was visiting Scotland from Manchester) were doing the LGBT Pride march in Edinburgh across the City, enjoying some sunshine and queer empowerment (albeit with a dreadful hangover), and we somehow strolled right into a vinyl music fare directly after the march. Being Edinburgh, the beautiful summer turned to horrendous torrential rain within minutes, and we needed shelter. As always, I was desperate to buy some big old vinyl; I finally bought that Marianne Faithful record that’s been on my wishlist since 1997, and THIS big old tarot treat which I paid a fiver for, Tarot Suite by Mike Batt (1979, EPC). I had no idea who he was then and am still confused (although a quick Wikipedia peek reveals that he created The Wombles theme music. Respect!)....

(I don’t know who the creepy cover doll person is, but it makes a great Fool image - you can’t see in this light, but it’s got “The Fool’ written at the bottom of the card) : 

Let’s get the music bit out of the way. There’s elements of 70’s disco, prog rock and some songs would make a fitting soundtrack to an early 80’s car chase movie. You can hear The Wombles link for sure at times - I even recognise his voice from the theme tune! At it’s worst, it’s Meatloaf lost in Disneyland, pondering for his lady friend. It’s at its best in strange moments of musical experimentation, when it plays with synthy-stringy movie soundtrack styles and allows dramatic changes to occur in each song (Mike blended different card meanings/images into single songs, for example The Night of The Dead is influenced by The Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, The Devil and The Tower cards. As you can imagine, there’s a lot going on in that song!). Despite my sarcasm here, I love this album’s tarot creativity. I am not a music journalist and my interest in sharing this find is in sharing its simple musical tarot goodness. I might not like the music itself, but I have a great respect for this album’s concept. A lot of work, imagination, creativity and inspiration has gone into this, and I love it for that. 

Mike set out to make an album inspired by the Major Arcana and to work the symbolism and images into songs. It’s the artwork and idea that I love the most, rather than the actual music (we did have a little post-Pride giggle at the music, but hey, I was once described as “an embarrassment to British music”, so who am I to critique?). It’s found a place in my vinyl collection, even if I will just pull it out and smile at the fabulous tarot artwork every now and then. The sleeve is like a mini tarot book, take a look : 

 Mike gives a heads up on the basic (generally understood) 'meanings' of the Major Arcana here, and it’s better than many Little White Books that accompany tarot decks....

I love this part of the sleeve, where Mike explains how he went about making the songs, and he introduced me to this beautiful looking Italian deck made by Gumppenberg (Milan) in 1820 (my deck wishlist is growing again). 

So, will I listen to this record a lot? Nope. But so what? It’s fascinating for me to discover who has been using tarot cards to make music over the years and how they are doing it, and this baby is a little gem.

The Tarot Cat is an underground, DIY, tarot-reading musician based in Scotland. I adore providing tarot readings for musicians, creatives, LGBT+ people and just about everyone who wants to look at something in a creative and interesting light! You can find out more about my approach to tarot or book a reading on my main website. More tarot-music findings are on the way (sign up for email updates in the top right of the page my chickens). Love Ste xx 

Contemporary Music Inspired by Tarot. No Crashing Waves or Soothing Dolphins in Earshot!

When I think about the words “tarot” and “music” in the same sentence, the first thing that springs to mind is meditation music. Dolphins, crashing waves and the oh-so-soothing language of the whale. Nice and relaxing for your tarot readings maybe, but what I’m interested as both a DIY musician and a tarot reader is not what music might be pleasant in a tarot setting, but rather what happens when musicians of all genres get their heads stuck into a deck and allow the cards to inspire the music itself. I’ve started targeting musicians as part of a big tarot-music project, and I can tell you that the results so far are fascinating!

There’s a whole world out there of musicians being inspired by tarot, both past and present (and future, obviously). I’m currently investigating these artists and I’ll be blogging these babies right here over the coming months, so if you’re as interested in discovering beautiful musical Fools as I am, then stay right here!

To whet your whistle, let’s start with two well known names in the music world : 

Robert DeLong’s album In the Cards has been on repeat around here a lot recently. I first came across this guy through a heads-up in the TABI newsletter, and since getting the album I’ve been blown away by the lush pop, intelligent lyrics and the fascinating way that this talented maestro has made a contemporary pop album inspired by the cards. Watch this gem in action!

If softer guitar-pop is more your bag, pop legend Suzanne Vega released an album called From the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles in 2014. It’s a gorgeous, subtle and thoughtful record which has tarot references all over it. Here’s a taster, the beautiful Fool's Complaint :

I hope you’ve enjoyed scratching the surface of some of the tarot-inspired music out there. If you know of any tarot-inspired musicians/bands, or if you’re a musician inspired by tarot, please share links in the comments section or email me and I’ll send you a big non-threatening, cuddly cyber-hug in return.

Creative tarot readings can be ordered here - I'm especially interested in reading for creatives but I adore working with lovely people with all kinds of dilemmas. Miaow!