In late 2012 Gut followed I Put A Record On with the dark and abrasive electro outing Wildlife. Neither record betrays any trace of artistic insecurity, but making and releasing music under your own name can certainly be a stressful procedure. “As an electronic artist you’re there all alone, I do everything. A full album is like, ‘Oh boy.’ A lot of stuff goes into the album from myself,” she explains.
As a means of alleviating these pressures, Gut has followed up both albums with a collaborative record. In 2010 Gut and fellow German electronic artist Antye Greie (aka AGF) released Baustelle (under the name Greie Gut Fraktion) and she recently completed an LP with Hans Joachim Irmler from German cult rock band Faust. “Afterwards I need to have some feeding with other people. I love doing that,” she says of her collaborative work. “If I would have a band it’s easy, but I don’t. Rather than having a band I work with different people.”
Gut clearly has no interest in returning to artistic territory she’s already comprehensively explored. “When I work on something with a lot of emotion and effort I mostly move on then, because I did it already.”
This sentiment explains the diverse array of projects she constantly involves her in. For example, Gut with Irmler seems like a rather incongruous pairing, but that’s precisely what prompted her to seek him out. “This was interesting for me to do because I’ve never done it and I couldn’t really imagine how it would turn out. Actually it turned out very different from what I expected it to be. I, a little bit, was flirting with the idea to do a cult-rock album, but it’s not.”
Now, if it seems like Gut is suggesting that she enjoys collaboration more than the draining solo experience, there’s definitely something that lures her back to working alone. “I don’t have to discuss anything – that’s great,” she chuckles, before recognising, “I have to discuss with myself and I’m pretty critical. If a bass drum doesn’t sound like I want it or the snare… every detail is discussed with myself.”’
Gut is as inventive as ever on Wildlife, manipulating electronic sounds to create an often disturbing industrial atmosphere. The album also features perhaps the most anomalous recording in her entire back catalogue, a re-interpretation of Tina Turner’s reverberating smash Simply The Best. She explains what lead her to tackling the ’80s anthem. “I wanted to do a cover version so I went through all these weird songs. I mostly had weird German ‘30s stuff, then somehow I found [Simply The Best] on YouTube and I just started doing it and I thought, ‘Oh! I want to do this one.’”
Gut’s croaky vocal and moody arrangement basically excludes any chance of a hearty Jimmy Barnes-style singalong at her upcoming Melbourne gig. In fact, her version shows scarcely any trace of the original’s pillowy mainstream production. “When I finished the album I played it to [my best friend] and she didn’t recognise it at all. She said, ‘It sounds so commercial, it’s really unusual for you to do something like this,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, but it’s Tina Turner,’ and she couldn’t believe it,” Gut laughs.
Evidently, Gut’s determined unconventionality is unwavering and her career output continues to inspire experimental musicians all over the world. In 2001 the sustaining influence of Malaria! was represented with the Versus EP, which features a crop of young artists covering Malaria! originals. One particularly well-loved track from this release is Chicks On Speed’s version of Kaltes Klares Wasser. “It was a really important thing for them and for Malaria! too,” Gut says of the cover. “It was great, in Germany it was a chart success. So that went really well for both of us. Chicks on Speed were not famous before that,” she reminds.
More recently, when Gut was in the Peruvian capital of Lima presenting at a music conference, she was surprised to discover how far the music of her iconic former band has spread. “I was in Lima in November 2012 and it was so strange because there were so many Malaria! fans there. I couldn’t believe it, I mean, we never had a record out in Lima! They had Malaria! t-shirts, [those] who came to the gigs. That was so touching for me.”
BY AUGUSTUS WELBY
