hamburg Tag

There are some constants in my life over the last couple of years. My parents, my sister, my friends, evening long discussions about the transfer policy of my favorite football club and my love for Northern German punk rock. Next to Turbostaat, Captain Planet are one of those bands that cannot disappoint me. Ein Ende is the name of their latest record. I was traveling the US recently, when I got an email from their label Zeitstrafe (one of the best German punk labels) asking me if I’d be interestedRead More

Last week I was talking about the new video from Farben/Schwarz for their song Vollkontrast and my love for northern German punk. This week I will continue doing so in this review for Eins the debut EP by Farben/Schwarz. When I was a teenager, I spent hours after school in front of our family computer in the basement. At times I was playing video games, sometimes I’d chat to friends via instant messenger services but most of the time I’d listened to music. Back then I got excited easily. IRead More

Sometimes you have to find out via Facebook that some friends from another city have started a label, or have their hands on something like that. I always envy bands coming from the north of Germany. It must be something in the water up north that injects anger and melancholia. I’ve talked about my love for Captain Planet, Turbostaat or Vierkanttretlager on this blog before but I’ll keep going on until the whole realizes how good they really are. While there is plenty of good punk coming from the SouthRead More

It’s been a long time since that song with handclaps and piano graced our radio stations. Boy came out of nowhere and drove everyone (starting from my sister, to my mom and even my grandma would have tapped her feet to that song if she would have been alive then) a little crazy. Once the two adorable girls had taken over Germany, entering the top 10 with their debut gold album Mutual Friends they took the next step and conquered the world. From their debut in 2011 they were constantlyRead More

It was one of the hottest gigs I’ve ever been to. Witnessing Beatsteaks live at Reeperbahn Festival in 2014 was one of the things you probably won’t forget that easily. For those who don’t know Reeperbahn Festival, it’s basically the German/European equivalent of SXSW and it’s getting bigger with every year. The whole thing is centered around Hamburg’s famous red-light district where the Beatles learned their trade, where sex-shops are door to door with great clubs, where stag-dos cross paths with crooks, hustlers and the hip party crowd. There’s noRead More

I highly doubt that there are a lot of people out there who remember what it was like to spend your time outside with your friends instead of inside in front of a computer screen playing video games and stuff? Well I do recall that my father had a friend who was one of the first people I knew who had a computer. Don’t ask me what kind of computer it was, but he always tried to show us some kind of strategy game centered around Napoleon. It was onRead More

Fünf Tage lief nur Coldplay und jetzt komm Mickie Krause Five days of only Coldplay but now it’s Mickie Krause While masses of people run to demonstrations amid fear of a „muslimization“ of the western world, politicians took a very long time coming to a consensus, that this behaviour is not acceptable, especially in Germany, with our history of, well, you know what I’m pointing at. There is a sense of lethargy, of ‚we-don’t-really-care-about-anything-else-than-our-private-life‘, a growing numbness towards more news stories about war, suffering and pain all around the globe.Read More

Conscience separates man from else creatures When gang-vocals turn into gang-growls you know you’re deep into dark territory. The six songs on ‚Barricades‘ don’t offer a lot of condolences for the weak hearted. This is hardcore with a much darker and desperate twist than what has become so beloved by fans of „The Wave“. The guitars are creating a barricade themselves. The noise is deafening. The vocals are merciless, the drums dry as desert sand and the bass is a growling steamhammer. It’s only fitting that the artwork consists ofRead More

THE THINGS I HATE THEY WILL NEVER TURN THEY JUST MOVE INTO ANOTHER CITY It has been some time since I have stumbled across a totally new band that made me dance around the room in celebration. But during one of my ventures deeper and deeper into the youtubesphere I found the video to City by a band called Leoniden. The first lines are just accompanied by hectic drums and more vocals until guitars and synths kick in, paving the way for one of the catchiest choruses I’ve heard inRead More

I’m sure everyone knows these really bad looking posters advertising some big time event in your town. Mostly they are sponsored by big brands, speak about sensational stuff that actually just bores you to death. Even worse are the looks of these ads. A recent example here in Berlin is a concert called „Die neuen Deutschpoeten“ or „the new German poets“. It is sponsored by public broadcaster Radio Fritz – for the younger audience. So when a radio announces a show like that, especially a mainstream format radio, it raisesRead More