Die Wave Pictures sind die hardest working men des Indie-Pop. Neben sechs regulären Alben veröffentlichten sie seit 2008 auch noch unzählige Singles und EPs sowie komplette Cover-Alben von Bruce Springsteen (sehr empfehlenswert, allein wegen dieser großartigen “Bobby Jean”-Version!), Songs:Ohia oder Kollaborationsplatten mit Hefner-Mastermind Darren Heyman. Für das Frühjahr ist bereits das nächste Gemeinschaftsprojekt, diesmal mit Stanley Brinks (Ex- Herman Dune), angekündigt, das den schönen Namen “Gin” tragen und auf, I kid you not, “gin coloured vinyl” gepresst wird.

Wir haben den Wave Pictures heimische Indie-Bands vorgespielt und waren doch recht gespannt / überrascht, was welchen Anklang fand:

Ja Panik – Nevermind


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o8fXW2vhGY[/youtube]


I like the clanging guitar chords that start this off. It’s a great opening, raw and noisy, then it cuts back to just a guitar chug and the voice. It’s very dramatic and simple at the same time. It is unpretentious but still emotional. I like the voice and I wish I could understand what he was singing. I’m afraid I don’t understand German, but when I listen to this I wish I could. It sounds great. The long intro reminds me of early Billy Bragg: the stuff with just electric guitar and his voice. It has a great guitar sound. Totally classic. This is the sound of an electric guitar plugged straight into an amp, with no effects pedals. It has a lot of treble and a fair amount of reverb on the amp. It’s a good sound. After a very long wait, the band comes in, but only for a brief and surprisingly intense section. I like this a lot. It is bold and original. I only wish I knew what he was saying!

Sleeping Policemen – High Skies


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85gSmtt12bA[/youtube]


This has a nice light sound, with chugging dry drums and soft voices. It reminds me, in the nicest way, of listening to John Peel in the 1990s. I think it has a lovely feeling: the memory of summer days, the light fading away. However, if I was to criticise it I would say that in my opinion the arrangement is a little over-cluttered. The many numerous overdubs and instruments and multi-tracked vocals don’t add anything, but they obscure the song. I also feel that the guitarist should throw away his effects pedals. That said, this is a very charming and sweet piece of music. I would enjoy dancing to this in a club, and it would sound great in the soundtrack to a movie.

Mikrofisch – The Kids Are All Shite


Soundcloud-Link


This is kind of funny. It makes me smile. It’s not really funny enough to be memorable though. I do enjoy the cheap keyboard sound. I wouldn’t really want to listen to this again, though. It’s sort of like a student joke. It’s OK. It’s not as funny as it hopes it is.

Kidd Kopphausen – das leichteste der welt


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb8Hvz8bjas[/youtube]


I don’t really like the power-ballad-meets-indie style of this, and the voice sounds a bit too angry, whilst the music sounds like it requires a more wistful, thoughtful delivery. It also has some extremely ugly and un-natural sounding chord changes in it. However, if the lyrics are good, then this is really acceptable. But since I can’t speak German I don’t really like anything about it. The backing is altogether too arranged. It sounds to me like it is trying too hard. It isn’t cool. It is embarrassing when he sings ”rock and roll”, because this doesn’t rock at all.

Blumfeld – Verstaker


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK3vcahVMAw[/youtube]


This floats along nicely enough, but without being able to understand what he is saying, it isn’t interesting to me. If I could speak German, I might really love it. This is certainly not the fault of Blumfeld! But without being able to follow the lyrics, I find this very boring to be honest.


Alle (German) Blind Date – Folgen:
* Plattenhören mit Eddie Argos (Art Brut)
* Plattenhören mit Laura Marling
* Liars über Fehlfarben, Blumfeld, Tocotronic
* Bleached über Tocotronic, Chicks On Speed, Die Heiterkeit, Ja Panik und Jolly Goods
* Adam Ant über Tocotronic, Ja Panik, Blumfeld und Fehlfarben
* Team Me über Tocotronic, Ja Panik und Die Sterne
* Yeasayer über Seeed, Fehlfarben, Blumfeld und Die Sterne
* Maximo Park über Tocotronic, Die Sterne, Ton Steine Scherben, Ja Panik
* Smoke Fairies über Ton Steine Scherben, Tocotronic, Blumfeld, Ja Panik
* Hot Chip über Die Sterne, Fehlfarben, Justus Köhncke, Tocotronic, Blumfeld, DJ Koze
* The Stranglers über Die Sterne, Tocotronic, Blue Angel Lounge etc
* Die Sterne über Ja Panik, Chuckamuck, Ecke Schönhauser etc
* The Levellers über Hans Unstern, Ton Steine Scherben, Blue Angel Lounge, Die Sterne
* We Were Promised Jetpacks über Tocotronic, Ja Panik, 1000 Robota etc
* The Walkabouts über The Walkabouts über Tocotronic, Ja Panik, Hans Unstern etc
* Los Campesinos! über Tocotronic, Blumfeld, Ja Panik etc
* Troy von Balthazar über Tocotronic, Fehlfarben, Kante, Ja Panik