Thursday, October 15, 2009

Eisbrecher



This band's invariably one of the first bands that German students in the United States will have access to, since, for whatever reason, Eisbrecher has achieved some measure of the success that Rammstein's had abroad. Ironically, Eisbrecher isn't at all as popular or well-known within Deutschland, most likely as a result of both their style and the way they portray themselves. Eisbrecher is Neue Deutsche Härte in the same tradition as Rammstein or OOMPH!, and so much of the same theatricality and aggressive attitude is heard within Eisbrecher's songs. I'd say that Eisbrecher can be useful to the beginning German student because of their very clearly enunciated (if sometimes disturbing or offensive) lyrics, but after a time they quickly become monotonous and tiresome, since there's little variation between albums. Eisbrecher's suitable as part of an introduction to German music and to the language in general, but in reality little more than that.

2raumwohnung


A group founded in Berlin, 2raumwohnung is very recent, having only been founded in 2000. Their female lead vocalist instantly calls Sheryl Crowe to mind, and their songs are often dreamy/ethereal in nature. That having been said, they're still very much a pop band, so don't expect anything too psychedelic or cerebral: they aren't The Olivia Tremor Control.


Dieses Lied heißt "36 Grad":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBCKpyvzH4o

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Sportfreunde Stiller



I've never been a fan of Sportfreunde Stiller to any real extent, although I do like a few songs from their So Wie Einst Real Madrid album (Wilkommen im Club zum Beispiel.) They hail from Munich, and only having been formed in 1996, they're pretty contemporary. They usually have a pretty chilled out sound compared to more consistently energetic bands like Die Toten Hosen or Die Ärzte. Their lyrics tend to be much more clearly enunciated than some bands, so they can be an excellent introduction to German language music, if you're ok with 90 percent of their material having to do with football (soccer to Americans).