Pankow

Pankow emerged from the Wax Trax! roster of industrial acts as a European duo headquartered in Florence, Italy. At its foundation stood multi-instrumentalist and sample manipulator Maurizio Fasolo alongside German vocalist Alex Spalck. The project cultivated an outlook that was unrelentingly dark and nihilistic while veering into scatological territory at intervals. Its initial domestic outing arrived in 1988 via the EP Freedom for the Slaves. The following year brought Gisela, the group’s debut full-length release, which featured a rendition of the Normal’s “Warm Leatherette” alongside the notorious track “Me and My Ding Dong,” a piece that recast the spirit of Chuck Berry’s “My Ding-a-Ling” in updated musical terms. After “Me and My Ding Dong” received a remix treatment and anchored the subsequent EP Pankow Show You Their Dongs, the band ended its association with Wax Trax!. Pankow returned in 1991 through the live anthology Omne Anima Triste Post Coitum, issued by ROIR and bearing the English rendering “All Animals Are Sad After Coitus.”