Scrabbling at the Lock is the first of two albums by Dutch

Dutch people

The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...

 punk

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 band The Ex in collaboration with avant-garde

Avant-garde

Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....

 cellist Tom Cora

Tom Cora

Thomas Henry Corra , better known as Tom Cora, was a United States cellist and composer, best known for his improvisational performances in the field of experimental jazz and rock...

. It is also the first of The Ex's studio albums to feature the work of then Dog Faced Hermans

Dog Faced Hermans

The Dog Faced Hermans were a four-piece band whose style could be described as anarcho-punk incorporating folk and noise influences as well as unorthodox instrumentation.-History:...

 guitarist Andy Moor

Andy Moor (The Ex)

Andy Moor is an experimental musician, best known as the guitarist of the UK band Dog Faced Hermans and the Dutch punk collective The Ex. He was also a founding member of Kletka Red and along with Isabelle Vigier and Yannis Kyriakides created the experimental music label Unsounds.Moor was born in...

, who would remain in the band ever since. With the interplay of two guitars

Electric guitar

An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...

, bass

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

, cello

Cello

The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...

, and more prominent female vocals, Scrabbling at the Lock marked a turn toward melodic song structures that incorporated elements of free improvisation

Free improvisation

Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the logic or inclination of the musician involved. The term can refer to both a technique and as a recognizable genre in its own right....

 in The Ex's music.

Single

The Ex recorded two versions of the Hungarian folk song, "Hidegen Fújnak a Szelek" ("Cold Winds Are Blowing"), one with Tom Cora and one without. The Coraless version appeared as the third 7" in The Ex's 6

6 (The Ex Album)

6 is a collection of six singles by Dutch musical group The Ex. The singles were available in record shops, and also through a subscription with a new one being issued every two months throughout 1991. Each of the singles explored different facets of The Ex's musical relationships and interests,...

singles series released the same year.

Track listing

1. "State of Shock" - 6:05
2. "Hidegen Fújnak a Szelek" - 3:17
3. "King Commie" - 3:28
4. "Crusoe" - 3:29
5. "The Flute's Tale" - 4:02
6. "A Door" - 5:05
7. "Propadada" - 4:19
8. "Batium" - 3:52
9. "Total Preparation" - 6:19
10. "1993" - 2:26
11. "Fire and Ice" - 6:05
12. "Sukaina" - 2:51

Personnel

• Terrie (guitar)
• G.W. Sok (vocals)
• Luc (bass)
• Andy (guitar)
• Katrin (drums, vocals)
• Tom Cora (cello)