| |
|
|
|
|
|
||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
The Week in Germany: Culture March 16, 2007 Music Roundup: The Sound of Germany This week, German gangsta puppets spit rhymes in Texas, the German Bono keeps rocking, and glitch-pioneer Pole gets cozy on his latest release. Read on for more news and links to free streams and downloads. Puppetmastaz Representin’ D-Land at South By South West
Germany may not have the most foreign acts at South by Southwest this year – a cursory look at the SXSW website reveals about three German acts. Norway, by contrast, sent 18 bands to the annual music festival in Austin this year. Germany is, however, the home of the only all-puppet gangsta-rap crew to appear in this year’s line up; and that must count for something. Puppetmastaz is a sprawling Berlin posse of over a dozen thuggish creatures that seem to have been inspired by Wind in the Willows. The group has opened for the likes of Goldie Looking Chain and now seems out to conquer America. Other groups with a Germany connection in Austin this week include the Berlin-based Canadian provocateur Peaches and the alt-country band Two Dollar Bash. Mark Burgess, the former singer of the Chameleons UK is also fronting his new band Birds, which calls Hamburg home. New Pole record on sale now Stefan Betke, the German DJ and programmer whose malfunctioning studio equipment helped launch an entire genre of techno music known as “glitch”, has a new record available in the United States. Steingarten, released under Betke’s longtime moniker Pole, is more than just the sound of machines breaking. Betke constructs coherent structures out of the sonic detritus that are as pop as they are avant garde. A rendering of King Ludwig II’s fairytale castle Neuschwanstein graces the cover of Steingarten, but this is not necessarily a sign that Betke is preoccupied with specifically Teutonic themes. Rather, the record’s press materials suggest that, like mad King Ludwig when he built his mountain sanctuary, Betke is on a quest to build a “cosy” sonic space for himself. Cosy up to Pole’s latest by checking out this MP3 available for
free download from Betke's label, ~scape: Herbert Grönemeyer: The German Bono Herbert Grönemeyer is the German Bono, according to Deutsche Welle. His new album 12 has topped the German charts, and 800,000 tickets have already been sold for a supporting tour. Grönemeyer is one of the hugest celebrities in the German-speaking world. “Pretty much every German over the age of 35 has a Herbert Grönemeyer record somewhere in their house or in their glovebox,” according to TWIG Editor Karen Carstens. “I have Mensch from 2002!” The album’s chart-topping single “Ein Stück vom Himmel” (A Piece of Heaven) touches on anti-war and pro-environment themes, topics on which Grönemeyer has long been outspoken. Grönemeyer sings in German, which makes him little known outside Germany, but his music is filled with a pathos that transcends language. The language barrier certainly should not stop curious TWIG readers from checking out the free video of his new single at http://www.groenemeyer.de. |
|
More from Germany.info  Newsletters
 Printer-Friendly
Page
Email This Article |
||
|
|||||
|
|||||
