A new Golden Diskó Ship album is like a new book by a favorite author. You can always trust the exuberant creativity of mastermind Theresa Stroetges, but what exactly she mixes together in her universe, delineated by the coordinates of electronic music on the one hand and pop on the other, is once again a surprise on Oval Sound Patch.
It has become catchy, and anyone who is not yet familiar with her work will find this a good starting point. It's an album about moving forward, change and the future. Although she hasn't lost the playfulness of her earlier albums (this is the fifth), these new six lovingly composed tracks feel mature and anthemic. An album like a bundle of sunshine.
The return of rock! After the relatively experimental comeback album Die Gruppe, which was a rather introverted, contemplative story, Ja, Panik show on Don't Play With The Rich Kids that they can still play guitar riffs, shouted slogans, organs and brass sections. The quartet around the Viennese all-round artist Andreas Spechtl is in excellent form and looks to the future. The mocking view of a destroyed world has given way to a pleasant fighting spirit, as the antifa anthem Fascism is Invisible (Why Not You) proves, for example. It's great that they’re still around.
Weißt du, da kämpft
wer eintausend Kämpfe in mir drin
Und
Keinen einzigen kann
ich gewinnen
[You know, someone is fighting a thousand battles inside me And I can't win a single one] Ja, Panik, “Kung Fu Fighter”
On Twists (A Visitor Arrives), Kreidler's decades of work on the blurred boundaries of minimal postmodern pop, kraut dub and upbeat man-machine groove conclude another stage of their journey into the interior of music. Like the Well-Oiled Machine so beautifully described by Golden Diskó Ship, the album goes on a journey without an exact destination and with changing tempos; they don't tell scandalous stories, but tell of conditions, paths and ideas. It's all about the journey!
Toechter have always been a little different. But with their second album, they have succeeded in emancipating their narrow chamber pop concept to create their very own design of beautiful pop music full of enraptured melodies, echoing voices and a sky full of violins.
Katrine Grarup Elbo, Lisa Marie Vogel and Marie-Claire Schlameus once again use their string instruments (violin, viola, cello) as the starting point for the compositions on Epic Wonder, but this is less obvious in the final mix and leads to a much more balanced, mature and elaborate overall impression of their work.
Overlong, instrumental compositions that work towards a brilliant denouement in epic breadth are the trademark of Berlin post-noise rockers Zahn. The trio, led by Einstürzende Neubauten tour keyboardist Felix Gebhard, show less of the bone-dry math metal of their debut on their second album Adria, instead focusing on versatility, from the dabs of surf guitar to the ever-present walls of keyboards that lend the highly structured tracks an emotionality that sets them apart from the competition.
