Current Music from Germany  Popcast #12/2024

This Month with music by:

Public Display of Affection | The Mad Express
Anna Erhard | Radicalis
Emma Lee M.C. & Roccwell | Ill Adrenaline Records
Jichael Mackson | Ilian tape
Soft Violet | Alien Transistor
Author: Ralf Summer
Speaker (English): David Creedon
Speaker Female Voice-Overs (English): Louise Hollamby Kühr

Unbridled, arty and unconventional, minimalist, dabbed and clever. Public Display of Affection have blended the art of art punk with the ghosts of guitar pop and trip hop, always carried by Madeleine Rose's exciting but rarely agitated, sung, warbled vocals, which at times reveal the influence of Coco Rosie's Bianca Casady. Also known for their wild live shows, on Expressions Of Obsessions, their first “proper” album, they've managed to capture that energy (as they say) and deliver an intense experience whose measure far exceeds the sum of their (flawless!) lyrical and musical skills.
 
A living example of harmonious (no pun intended) German-American collaboration without barriers and customs: Rapper Emma Lee M.C. from Harlem, Munich producer Roccwell and record label Ill Adrenaline from New Jersey are united by their love of classic hip-hop, with jazzy samples, those pappery bass drums and the stumbling, multi-layered snares. It's a sound that never really disappeared and still sounds fresh and bold today. From today's perspective, it was a musically trend-setting, relaxed time full of fruitful experiments. On the relatively short Chocolate Bars, the two demonstrate a sure feel for the genre, and of course provide all the instrumental tracks for the up-and-coming rappers at the next block party.
 
Soft Violet lays out her glittering electro on a “steely surface” on her album debut Sterner Stuff, a dazzling, demanding, scratchy work. She doesn't let it get her down; on the contrary, she transforms pain and negativity into an enraptured puzzle of small-scale techno and big thoughts. Self-confident and playful, the multi-instrumentalist announces the matriarchy in French, English, Armenian and German. The visual artist behind the project, Veronica Bernuthian, sports an impressive catalog of exhibitions and was a founding member of the pioneering Munich post-punk band Friends of Gas as their guitarist, although she had to part ways with them last year due to unacceptable behavior towards her.  
The sunny disposition (“went to the spa with my ma forgot my swimsuit had to wear a bra”) and creative spirit of Swiss Berliner Anna Erhard are at the center of the action on her new album Botanical Garden, a collection of fantastic, always slightly crazy pop-folk earworms. The cute mini-stories of the nine songs, their lovingly constructed arrangements and the imaginative instrumentation take the astonished audience into the imperfect universe of their creator, an artist who has mastered every little corner. The producer, musician and songwriter Pola Roy, is a very well-known musician in Germany, the former drummer of the German hit machine Wir Sind Helden. A tour of Great Britain has already been booked for next year, where they have been able to build up a considerable fan base, which is a rarity for a German act.
 
Munich-based producer and DJ Boris Steffen aka Jichael Mackson (also known to some as Monaco Jam and Sista Bob) has been a fixture on the German electronic scene since 2003, with releases on Pastamusik, Phictiv, Liebe*Detail and Akufen's Musique Risquée label. His sunny approach to the possibilities of electronic production are always a guarantee for dynamic tracks, but on Wait For It, his debut album (after all these years!) he shows the full spectrum of his skills. From meter-thick ambient surfaces to bouncy house and experimental glitch thunderstorms (on, for example the track X-Mas Card), you can look forward to an all-round successful work that lives up to his technically high standards.