Staggering drums, catchy hooks, an unmistakable lead voice - Giant Rooks do everything right in the indie pop boy band game. After a long time of touring through Europe and the USA, the boys have finally released new music since 'Morning Blue'. With 'Bedroom Exile' (released in two different versions) and 'Bubble Gum' they release new music since their debut album 'Rookery' and show us that they haven't forgotten their craft.
'Page 99' is the second single from Kati von Schwerins upcoming album 'Welcome Back Home' and describes the emotional dissonance that can arise in friendly or family relationships. Sometimes you wish or expect more initiative from the other person and are ultimately shocked how little effort and empathy is brought in by the other side, while you yourself constantly try to meet the other with love.
Genesis P-Orridge was the founding person of Coum Transmissions in 1969, Throbbing Gristle in 1975, Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth and Psychic TV in 1981. Andrew McKenzie started The Hafler Trio (together with Cabaret Voltaire's Chris Watson) in 1982 and since then released all his work under this moniker and collaborated with William S. Burroughs, Autechre, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Nurse With Wound and Jónsi from Sigur Rós, to name a few. And he constructed the first kit Dreamachine in 1989 together with Brion Gysin. The impact and influence of these pioneers of the industrial underground,visionary thinkers and open minds, anti heroes of the misfits and the outcasts is hard to underestimate. On 'Dream Less Suite', the first new album by The Hafler Trio since 2016, Andrew McKenzie unearths, resurrects and completed recordings he made through the years with Genesis P-Orridge. This 2LP features soundtracks to unfinished films, live performances and the real versions of tracks you know and love, released for the very first time and mastered from the original reel to reel tapes. Expect the unexpected and be prepared for the unprepared.
Born out of a single improvised recording session with a lone Violinist, 'Telepath' is a startling album of future electronic music, resulting in an LP of unique and timeless tracks that reimagine a classic sound for an endless future.
Kastrierte Philosophen were an indie band that released eleven albums in the eighties and nineties. Permanent members and at the same time masterminds were Katrin Achinger and Matthias Arfmann, who were also once a couple and married. The band's range of music was always amazing, combining Velvet Underground coolness, shoegazers, spoken word, rave, electro, minimal pop, chanson, reggae, new wave, dub, genius dilettantes, lyrics in German and English (as well as Spanish and French).
The city of Heidelberg claims to be the "cradle of German-language Hip-Hop. "The impact of this scene influences all of Germany," Mayor Eckart Würzner was quoted as saying when the application was submitted a year and a half ago. According to this logic, without Heidelberg rap pioneers like Advanced Chemistry, there would probably be no groups like the Beginners. And indeed, the Beginners named their last album "Advanced Chemistry" as a mark of respect.
The new single 'Rainbow' of Mad Romeo combines the strengths of the two lifelong friends that are now the band’s last original members, Nikko Weidemann and Bymski. Weidemann’s sharp, sophisticated pop sensibility shines in the way he expertly balances a sharp staccato melody in the verses with a chorus hook that is both instantly memorable but avoids cliché. One listen to the single’s B-side shows just how much Bymski’s decades-long production experience can transform a piece of music. Where the B-side is a funky pop jam, the new version is a focused study in Bymski’s ability to enhance a track with elements from the electronic music tradition. The result is one that can only come from a trust that was cultivated over a lifetime of music-making together – a hybrid pop song that remains timeless no matter how the duo decide to present it.
'Yield' is KUF's fourth album, which presents a shift in focus. Less weight on the vocal core – lots of new integrations of sampling, synthesis and band action in different constellations. This diversification of sources pulls the conceptual stops out and yields a dazzling array of magical instrumentalism. Bold. Catchy. Flourishing.