H.P. Zinker's were the brain-child of Austrian wunderkid Hans Platzgumer (who had already recorded a spate of albums by the tender age of 15). In late summer '89, he and Frank Puempel left their native Austria and arrived in New York, where their reputation as spaced-out weirdos preceded them. Armed with tons of guitar effects and a primitive drum box, they formed H.P. Zinker, with an idea as Hans put it, of having crunchy guitar pop songs combined with beautiful, almost classical parts, as well as meeting our special liking for Moshy Heavy Metal. They soon attracted the attention of the newly-formed Matador label and provided the label's first ever release, a 6 track album recorded in one 13 hour session, boasting an intriguing version of a Zeppelin tune (Dancing Days) and their own pop metal classic Sunshine, but long before it was released, they debunked to London as a hard rocking three piece. H.P. Zinker single-handedly invented the punk wave of progressive rock, managing to simultaneously straddle Kraut-Rock, spacey jazz-rock improvisation, lo-fi whisperings, collaborations with Evan Dando amongst others, gentler songs and even New York Dolls style thrash. Pretty incomparable band really.