Biography
Robert Görl, a Munich-born German drummer, electronic musician, and vocalist from 1955, first earned recognition as co-founder of the trailblazing electro-punk and Neue Deutsche Welle band DAF. What began as an industrial noise ensemble eventually stabilized around the duo of Görl and vocalist Gabi Delgado, whose minimalist sequencer-based sound and overtly sexualized presentation helped establish the foundations of EBM and industrial dance music. The pair achieved their greatest commercial success with the 1981 album Alles Ist Gut before parting ways the following year, though both pursued solo projects and staged periodic reunions across subsequent decades. Görl reemerged during the 1990s as a techno producer, issuing acid-inflected works such as 1996’s Watch the Great Copycat while collaborating with Pete Namlook and Karl O’Connor, who records as Regis. Following Delgado’s death in 2020, Görl mined unreleased early-’80s DAF recordings and issued Nur Noch Einer in 2021.
Trained in jazz drumming and initially pursuing classical studies, Görl turned toward punk rock and experimental sounds, launching DAF (Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft) alongside vocalist Gabi Delgado in 1978. The group, initially situated in Düsseldorf and featuring additional members from Der Plan—another outfit in which Görl participated—delivered its 1979 debut Produkt Der Deutsch-Amerikanischen Freundschaft as a collection of free-form improvisations. Mute’s inaugural album release arrived in 1980 with the half-live, half-studio Die Kleinen und Die Bösen, coinciding with the band’s relocation to London; that same year Görl contributed drums to Robert Rental’s single “Double Heart,” also on Mute.
Reduced to the Görl-Delgado core, DAF moved to Virgin and delivered its most successful and influential album, Alles Ist Gut, in 1981. Gold und Liebe followed the same year, and Görl performed drums on the Eurythmics’ single “Belinda.” During the sessions for 1982’s Für Immer the duo disbanded, after which Görl issued his English-language solo debut Night Full of Tension on Mute in 1984, featuring guest vocals by Annie Lennox on two tracks. A later reunion produced 1986’s 1st Step to Heaven, a more polished synth-pop effort likewise sung in English.
After withdrawing from music for several years to study Buddhism in Asia following a severe car accident, Görl returned with the 1991 synth-pop single “Electric Marilyn” before shifting toward harder, faster techno. Beginning in 1993, Munich’s Disko B label issued a series of his EPs, culminating in the 1994 CD compilation (Psycho) Therapie and the 1996 acid-techno album Watch the Great Copycat. Working with Pete Namlook as the duo Elektro, Görl explored territory ranging from ambient to hard trance; he also appeared on Harthouse as a member of the trio Heat. The 1998 release Sexdrops, co-produced by British techno artist Regis, preceded the fully self-produced Final Metal Pralinées in 2000. DAF regrouped for the drum-machine-driven Fünfzehn Neue D.A.F.-Lieder in 2003. After another split, Görl released the solo single “Seltsame Liebe” in 2006 and served as drummer for electro-pop band Client, later issuing the darker, more experimental techno album Dark Tool Symphony in 2007.
DAF reconvened for its 30th anniversary in 2008, issuing the single “Du Bist DAF” in 2010. In 2018 the remix album Reworx appeared alongside Görl’s The Paris Tapes, a set of previously unheard instrumental demos from the late ’80s. Soon after Delgado suffered a fatal heart attack in 2020, the pair having already planned fresh DAF material, Görl recorded the single “Ich Denk An Dich” with producer Sylvie Marks. He subsequently reworked sequences from DAF’s early London rehearsals into new songs, resulting in Nur Noch Einer, credited to Görl and DAF and released by Grönland Records in 2021.
Trained in jazz drumming and initially pursuing classical studies, Görl turned toward punk rock and experimental sounds, launching DAF (Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft) alongside vocalist Gabi Delgado in 1978. The group, initially situated in Düsseldorf and featuring additional members from Der Plan—another outfit in which Görl participated—delivered its 1979 debut Produkt Der Deutsch-Amerikanischen Freundschaft as a collection of free-form improvisations. Mute’s inaugural album release arrived in 1980 with the half-live, half-studio Die Kleinen und Die Bösen, coinciding with the band’s relocation to London; that same year Görl contributed drums to Robert Rental’s single “Double Heart,” also on Mute.
Reduced to the Görl-Delgado core, DAF moved to Virgin and delivered its most successful and influential album, Alles Ist Gut, in 1981. Gold und Liebe followed the same year, and Görl performed drums on the Eurythmics’ single “Belinda.” During the sessions for 1982’s Für Immer the duo disbanded, after which Görl issued his English-language solo debut Night Full of Tension on Mute in 1984, featuring guest vocals by Annie Lennox on two tracks. A later reunion produced 1986’s 1st Step to Heaven, a more polished synth-pop effort likewise sung in English.
After withdrawing from music for several years to study Buddhism in Asia following a severe car accident, Görl returned with the 1991 synth-pop single “Electric Marilyn” before shifting toward harder, faster techno. Beginning in 1993, Munich’s Disko B label issued a series of his EPs, culminating in the 1994 CD compilation (Psycho) Therapie and the 1996 acid-techno album Watch the Great Copycat. Working with Pete Namlook as the duo Elektro, Görl explored territory ranging from ambient to hard trance; he also appeared on Harthouse as a member of the trio Heat. The 1998 release Sexdrops, co-produced by British techno artist Regis, preceded the fully self-produced Final Metal Pralinées in 2000. DAF regrouped for the drum-machine-driven Fünfzehn Neue D.A.F.-Lieder in 2003. After another split, Görl released the solo single “Seltsame Liebe” in 2006 and served as drummer for electro-pop band Client, later issuing the darker, more experimental techno album Dark Tool Symphony in 2007.
DAF reconvened for its 30th anniversary in 2008, issuing the single “Du Bist DAF” in 2010. In 2018 the remix album Reworx appeared alongside Görl’s The Paris Tapes, a set of previously unheard instrumental demos from the late ’80s. Soon after Delgado suffered a fatal heart attack in 2020, the pair having already planned fresh DAF material, Görl recorded the single “Ich Denk An Dich” with producer Sylvie Marks. He subsequently reworked sequences from DAF’s early London rehearsals into new songs, resulting in Nur Noch Einer, credited to Görl and DAF and released by Grönland Records in 2021.
Albums
Singles
