Well, maybe you do. In that case: Sorry for yelling at you.

My point is: Moguai (Recklinghausen represent!) released a version of RMB’s first hit REDEMPTION today and I can imagine there are a bunch of younglings who don’t know the history of that track and the people who made it.

And frankly, they are missing out. So lemme tell you something about them.

RMB is short for Rolf Maier-Bode, who started that project on his own. Later he was joined by Farid Gharadjedaghi and RMB stayed a duo till the end. There has always been a bit of controversy among the RMB fans about how much of a team effort it really was though, but I don’t wanna get into that. If you wanna know more about this topic, feel free to do some research, but this is really only about the music and the music was great!

The first RMB releases came out during the good ol’ days of the early 90s, when Techno was so hard, loud, weird and fast, it would give modern day EDM kiddies and the people who listen to what calls itself Techno today, a heart attack. Not everything that was produced these days really holds up. Not even with nostalgia. But RMB’s output was and still is top!

One of their trademarks have always been melodies and sound layers that nobody else would come up with. Seriously, even on their first album, the 1995 release THIS WORLD IS YOURS, which is their hardest, loudest and fastest album, is so much sound design happening, it’s amazing! I remember hearing their stuff on the radio (Yes, back then a 150bpm rave banger could get some serious airplay) or MTViva or my shitty little ghettoblaster. Suddenly my mind was blown, blown I say, when I actually listened to it on a really good stereo (inherited from my cousin. I still have it! It’s probably older than me and still works! #QualityShit) and heard all the little details that I missed before. According to Maier-Bode, his plan was to fuse the rawness of the contemporary rave sound with the melodies of Jean-Michelle Jarre and dammit, did he succeed!

On THE WORLD IS YOURS you can find the original version of REDEMPTION, which was their mainstream breakthrough. It stayed for 16 weeks in the German Top 100, nine of them in the Top 40, peaking at #19. It comes with a catchy organ melody and a hard bassdrum. One could say it’s one of the lesser RMB tracks in terms of finesse and sound design, considering how straight forward it is, but calling a track like this “lesser” might give you a good hint at the greatness that is about to hit you.

The 2nd single from that album, LOVE IS AN OCEAN (9 weeks in the German top 100, peaked on #23) is indeed a bit more playful IMO, but is topped by EXPERIENCE (FOLLOW ME) (15 weeks in the top 100, up to #12!). This track has everything! A fast beat (with a less aggressive bassdrum), gentle female vocals, uplifting pianos, Acid sounds and at some point weird screeching noises that shouldn’t work with the melody, but totally do! Sadly the last single from that album, PASSPORT TO HEAVEN, was a bit of a bomb, spending only 5 weeks in the charts with the highest rank being #66 in its first week. But it’s actually one of my favourite tracks from that era, with its Al Pacino sample, the slightly sinister mood and the really awesome back-then-we-didn’t-use-to-call-it-a-drop drop.

The album also contains the fan favourites CHAKKA CHAKKA and MATISSE (which samples the Astrid Lindgren classic RONJA RÖVERDOTTER) and in conclusion, THIS WORLD IS YOURS takes the crown for the greatest German Rave album of the 90s. That’s a scientific fact and not just my opinion. (Citation needed)

However their real masterpiece was their follow up album WIDESCREEN. I usually refer to it as the 2nd best electronic music album of the 90s. Please don’t ask me what the best is. I usually use “The 2nd best” as a diplomatic umbrella term for “I don’t know if it’s fair to call it the best, but dammit, it sure qualifies for it”. 1998 was a very big year for all shapes of electronic music. Some of the releases of that year include:

• Air – Moon Safari
• Fatboy Slim – You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby
• Massive Attack – Mezzanine
• Madonna – Ray Of Light
• UNKLE – Psyience Fiction
• Propellerheads –Decksandrumsandrockandroll
• Goldie – Saturnz Return
• Faithless – Sunday 8PM
• Vengaboys – The Party Album

Just kidding about the last one, but this is really just a quick glimpse at some of the great stuff that came out that year. I’m sure there is much more.

And then there is WIDESCREEN.

In the three years since the release of their first album, the sounds that the kids danced to changed even in Germany. (I really recommend listening to the first 12 or 13 MAYDAY compilations to get a good overview of the rave music evolution, but that’s a different topic.) And WIDESCREEN is so completely different than THE WORLD IS YOURS, it’s amazing.

Well, maybe not completely different. There are still a few hard, loud bangers, like their biggest hit SPRING, which spent 23 weeks in the German charts and went up to #7 or the follow-up REALITY (14 weeks, peaked at #10). But even they are not as hard and loud as anything on their previous album and deliver an even more refined soundscape.

That goes for the whole album. WIDESCREEN is incredbily well produced and offers a whole variety of styles. Some Ambient, some Trance, a bit of breakbeats, even a bit of Big Beat influenced stuff and a more Tech House-y collaboration with Sharam (Jey). In a perfect world, it would’ve blasted RMB into international stardom. Even in 2023 there is nothing that sounds like it. I could now again pick out a bunch of tracks, but they are all great. Also this is an album that is best enjoyed if you listen to it from the beginning to the end. It’s not a concept album (although a bunch of movie dialogue samples losely tie it together) and as mentioned, that are so many different styles on it, every track sounds unique. It could’ve been a huge mess that is all over the place, yet it’s an oddly homogenous album.

Yeah, I keep repeating myself, but the production. THE PRODUCTION! it’s really one of those aural experiences that benefit from having a good stereo or headphones. (And listening to the CD instead of a compressed YouTube upload or stream.)

Sadly WIDESCREEN is a bit forgotten, despite having two of RMB’s biggest hits on it. As I have recently learned, there was a bit of behind-the-scenes label business trouble going on, causing the release to be delayed by a lot and therefore preventing it from riding the waves of SPRING and REALITY. It entered the album charts on #41 and was one of the very few dance albums in the charts at that time, but it was already gone four weeks later.

Well, fuck.

At least it’s a good excuse for its constant omission from “Best Dance Albums of the 90s” lists. But seriously, you need to listen to it! Even if you won’t really be into it, you won’t be able to deny it’s high quality.

Three years later, RMB released their new album MISSION HORIZON. Again, their sound evolved a bit and this time it’s pure Trance. No, not the cheesy Tiesto-anno-2005 kind. More closer to Paul van Dyk or early Schiller. I am not a Trance expert, so maybe my comparisons might not be too accurate. I do think it’s a good Trance album for people who don’t like what is usually called Trance though. Again, it’s the soundscapes and melodies that make it stand out.

If I would rank all their singles, DEEP DOWN BELOW would be in their top 5. Not just because the video has Udo Kier in it.  But for a mellow-ish club track, it’s one hell of a banger.

A bit later they released a 2nd version of the album. MISSION HORIZON 2.0 has a slightly different tracklist than the 1.0 version. The tracks are in a slightly differen order and some are on it in different versions. The biggest difference is the addition of REDEMPTION 2.0, an updated remix of their first hit. It’s slowed down a bit and of course more on the Trance/Tech House side than the rave beast that the original was. I like it. It’s a good remix.

All in all I feel MISSION HORIZON (either version) is more “controlled”, in a lack of a better word, than both their previous albums. THE WORLD IS YOURS lived from the unhinged craziness of its time’s rave music, WIDESCREEN was a genrebending masterpiece, while MISSION HORIZON is “just” Trance. The album picks a sound early on and runs with it. It’s really not bad. For other acts this would be a career highlight, for RMB it’s a bit weak.

This brings us to their sadly final album EVOLUTION.

It was released digitally with zero advertising in 2009. Back then a “digital only” release was pretty much code for “We don’t care what happens with it, just put it out there.” It still hasn’t been released on any physical media, by the way. Before that it sat unreleased on a shelf for a while. Actually when it came out, RMB had split up already. During the making of this album, some insiders on their official fansite already hinted at a bunch of behind the scenes trouble, including some pressure from the label.

And yes, it’s their weakest album. It’s not bad, but overall has a bit of a B-side feeling. It has some fun stuff, but all in all I wouldn’t recommend newcomers to start with it. That said, it’s always appreciated when musicians have to crank something out because of contractual obligations and it still ends up as a good listen. SYMPHONIC RHYTHM is really cool and I like the guitars on GANGSTER. I would love to have it on CD though. Maybe if the Moguai version of REDEMPTION takes off, we are in for an RMB renaissance, even though apparently Rolf Maier-Bode has moved on from making dance music. His three self-released solo albums are really worth it, if you can find them somewhere!

Below I have embedded a short Spotify playlist with a bunch of personal favourites, including some remixes. However, a whole bunch of stuff isn’t on Spotify, so there are also some unofficial YouTube uploads.

Have a great day!

PF