go nogo is the name of a psychological test method, which is checking the ability to perform an appropriate reaction under time pressure and to simultaneously inhibit an inappropriate behavioural response. as „nogo“ depicts a taboo in common vernacular, „go nogo“ can also mean taboos get a thumb up. the band project under the same monicker pursues a bastardization of styles which would have been acceptable in the 90s, when experimental artists like björk juxtaposed club and chamber music on one album.
Walking Down Brenton Road at University of Saarbrücken, ca. 1993 Eric Schemer on guitar, Markus Scholl on drums
it was the 90s indeed, when markus scholl and eric schemer played in a classic Indiepop band, walking down brenton road, which was fueled by mtv 120 minutes and alternative nation. they recorded a cd „verve“, which was distributed by rough trade, and toured germany extensively.
after having graduated high school, scholl and schemer went seperate ways, the latter dropped out of music altogether and moved to australia. markus scholl started his first professional steps as a dj, produced down beat and trip hop tunes in the vein of kruder + dorfmeister and headed to austria in order to work for the label vienna scientists. always caught between electronic and traditional instrumentation, he found the ideal combination of the two poles in lcd soundsystem.
Markus Scholl (left) and Richard Dorfmeister (right) at Electricity Festival 2006
infected by the likes of hot chip, the rapture or the juan maclean, the time had come to give it a go with a likeminded production style.
wanting to add a guitar now and then, markus resurrected eric from his musical slumber and set out to release some tracks on their own label emerald & doreen records, which they founded with two italo disco djs from their hometown in 2012.
the comparison with classic new wave acts, such as depeche mode, new order or the human league was not only due to the 80s tinged synth sound, but also to scholl’s dave gahan-ish singing style –the tracks were recorded by bernhard götz who worked for legendary producer frank farian (boney m.) accordingly, the first batch of singles and e.p.s was cherrished by 80s affinicados and the second single „movement“ even found its way into the year’s top twenty of tim sweeny, showhost of NYCs infamous beats in space radio programme.
re-united after 24 years: Markus Scholl (left) and Eric Schemer (right) at KOHI, Karlsruhe, Sept 14 2018
in 2017, go nogo released their first lp „main course“ of which scholl pressed 300 vinyl copies – a dj dream self-fullfilled, even if „the world won’t listen“. When he moved back to germany by the end of the same year, he had already started to write songs for the next long player. taking the tracks to marcel sude, a befriended producer from long ago, that session turned out to be a matter of the (he)art: 10 songs as diverse as if from a 90s release. consecutive gigs in the south-west area of germany followed to promote the album.
hardly half a year later, corona hit the world hard, and markus scholl took the off-time from his regular profession to compose an ode to the side effects of the pandemia. „infodemic“ is self-produced and more experimental sounding than ever. to profit from the prolongued shut down, go nogo decided to release the 10 songs as five singles spread over five consecutive weeks between april and mai 2020. whatever the future holds for the project, go nogo has by now released 3 LPs, 6 EPs 1 Single and there’s been several remixes and compilations too, which are testament to the ongoing evolution of the go nogo sound.