Anyone who has been listening to Popcast for a while will be familiar with the introduction featuring “spotlights on studios and clubs between Kiel and Weilheim”. While it's unclear why Kiel is mentioned, there is one band from Weilheim in Upper Bavaria that is indispensable to the German music scene: The Notwist. Their music combines grounded indie pop with an impressive talent for catchy melodies and musical daring in electronic experiments and unusual arrangements. Just a few months after releasing their collection of obscure tinkering, Magnificent Fall, their tenth studio album, News from Planet Zombie, is now being released. Despite the consistency of their mainly analogue musical style, they remain unpredictable in their creative approach. Sometimes, the framework of a delicate folk song becomes a glorious space anthem; at others, their intelligent guitar pop erupts in unbridled cascades of noise. In general, the project led by brothers Markus and Micha Acher responds to a chaotic environment with warmth and generosity, a quality that may be attributed to their production method: the album was first conceived collectively and then developed with the full line-up in their own studio.
The motto of the Cologne duo Urlaub in Polen must be 'always forward'. They carry a suitcase full of slightly blurred memories of 1970s music, taking them to distant lands. Having collected, swirled and restacked a variety of Objects, Beings and Parrots, they are now proud to present the impressive outcome: their modern Krautrock not only celebrates their cosmic journey, but also invites the most famous highwaymen from the worlds of rock and electro to join them. However, they have the wisdom not to overload the songs, some of which are quite long. There is always room for new, clever musical references, and the repetitive structure of the tracks is often used as a creative framework for subtle hints of psychedelic folk or bone-dry funk.
At the start of his career, Sascha Ring — co-founder of the Berlin techno party label Shitkatapult — specialised in club music. However, that was several decades ago, and his interest has since shifted from rhythms and beats to innovative sounds and sound design. This is reflected in the music of Apparat, his solo project (he is also known as part of the duo Moderat with Modeselektor), which now includes several film scores. His talent for large-scale arrangements and larger-than-life gestures is evident on his new album. With its vulnerable vocals, delicate pianos and array of synthetic keyboard instruments, A Hum of Maybe has become a sparkling pop masterpiece, unfolding an overwhelming power, especially in its quieter moments.
The Sufi Dub Brothers, Ashraf Sharif Khan and Viktor Marek, have always been known for their incredibly dynamic live sets, which is why it takes them a while to record. Compared to their 2020 debut, which took ten years to create and was released just in time for the pandemic, they have easily doubled their working speed. While one might assume this is due to routine, this is not at all reflected in the ten new tracks. The largely improvised-sounding tracks, with the sitar of Ashraf Sharif Khan and the beats and samples of Viktor Marek always in the foreground, come across as energetic and fresh. The Return of the Sufi Dub Brothers thus establishes their hometown of Hamburg as the epicentre of electronic Indo-pop, which is culturally interesting for curious Western listeners, although it can take some getting used to.
Female rappers were all the rage last year. With their explicit lyrics, sparse, fast techno beats and aggressive self-confidence, they turned the tables and embraced sexual clichés that had previously been the domain of men. This latest incarnation of feminism finally enables women to engage in dialogue on equal terms and on their own terms. Stripped of its reins, the patriarchy had little musical response—C-word rap is entirely a woman's domain, and male attempts at imitation only served to expose them further. The Berlin duo 6Euroneunzig (the price of a cocktail at happy hour, according to their backstory) are among the most successful representatives of the genre. This is partly because their worldview offers much more than partying and sex.
