Forgotten Treasure: Die Dominas “Die Wespendomina” (1981)

Sometimes the best music comes from rare German 10”s that posses eye-catching artwork, bizarre facts and unique collaborations. Other times, not so much. In the case of Die Dominas, we get an incredibly surreal and experimental record from a one-time-team-up between Manuel Göttsching (uncredited), friend Rosi Müller and designer Claudia Skoda.

These girls, connected to Kraftwerk through the fashion world, were one day handed a piece of paper with two particular chords written by members Ralf Hütter and Karl Bartos. Being unable to decipher the notes (Sub Domina and Domina Seven), they took it back to Manuel with hopes of hearing how it sounded. After showing them and providing a brief explanation of how to use some of the instruments in the studio, he sneakily recorded the girls as they jammed out and fooled around.

Manuel spent the following day remixing the results, which gave birth to this quirky, dreamy, seemingly-unselfconscious dominatrix-themed Krautrock classic. Ralf and Karl were so surprised and delighted by the final product, they ended up making the cover art!

Die Dominas - Die Wespendomina (1981)

Note: You may also want to look into Maurizio’s M-3 release, where he and Carl Craig each sample this track into their own beautiful brand-new contexts.