The popcast begins gloomily in November, in keeping with the general weather conditions on the German fall. Overlapping images in black and white, rainy and deserted streets at night, young, gloomy-looking men, alone and in black, almost shouted vocals consisting of self-critical, semi-ironic phrases, the creaky straight bass typical of post-punk and a slightly out-of-tune synth that boredly plods along: Isolation Berlin don't shy away from clichés, as you can already deduce from the band's name. On their sixth album Electronic Babies, their first for a major label, they once again prove their accuracy in composing nihilistic anthems and their great musical sense for the small details in the arrangement, such as cleverly thought-out guitar interjections, rumbling percussion and, every now and then, subtle and extremely effective electronics.
Do you remember the fantastic duo Gurr? Then you've got a head start, because in this Popcast we present Andreya Casablanca, one of the two members. On her first solo album, See More Glass, she unleashes her inner New Wave icon, with cool, distant vocals, Linn drums and minimalist post-punk guitar. The result is melodic, catchy, slightly garage-y guitar pop, timeless and hit-worthy. Only a small handful of guest musicians accompany her on the recording, the majority of which was done by the artist herself.
Berlin-based Ebru Düzgün has been known as Ebow, a singer and rapper alternating between hip-hop, R&B and pop, since her debut album in 2017. Set apart by the high quality of the production, which is not always a given in this genre in Germany, the loving arrangements burst with glittering synths, brilliant vocals and the tightest raps since Cora E. (early German rapper, ed.), the trained architect is taking content and lyrics to a whole new level. FC Chaya (a youthful word that, depending on the context, refers to either a pretty or a snooty young woman) is a manifesto of queer feminism, a self-confident work of a woman on a mission of empowerment, at the center of which is her own, Ebru's Story (see the fantastic video below), in which she describes her own queer coming out, from the first feelings of being different to moving to another city to be able to be herself, to, ultimately, the acceptance of her family. A powerful narrative for all those who may still have a similar path ahead of them.
G. Rag & die Landlergeschwister are a different story, but still sport a subversive gene. The Munich record shop owner Andreas Staebler aka G. Rag has gathered a wild bunch of brass musicians around him, sometimes up to 16 people, who transform well-known songs as well as folk songs into brass music in an extremely snappy way. Known for their earlier versions of Kraftwerk's The Model or DAF's Der Räuber und der Prinz, they even rocked a few beer tents this fall to free traditional Bavarian brass music from centuries old dust. Time and again, songs by the great Hank Williams find their way into the eclectic repertoire. The often-melancholic tones of the band have an enormous energy, appear perpetually youthful and modern and, refreshingly, show no fear of contact with neighboring genres such as pop or jazz: traditional brass music for better times, as they describe it themselves in their info!
From Cologne comes the electronic soul/jazz quartet Salomea, who despite their deeply relaxed attitude also feel at home in pop and hip-hop. This sounds quite conventional at first, but the band skilfully avoids the cliff of arbitrariness and hides little experiments, genre-busting explosions and surprising sounds in most of the 17 songs and skits, hardly any of which are longer than three minutes. Quite apart from the technical competence of the instrumentalists and the singer who lends her name to the project, Good Life is above all a pleasant, masterful work of art full of positive energy.
