The guitar was invented in Spain. It is played all over the world. In Germany with a particularly vibrant energy. Point of culmination: The Pure&Crafted.
Guitar music from Germany has had to withstand the challenge of hip hop and techno since the 90s. Capital Bra, Deichkind and Modeselektor on one side, the Lassie Singers, Die Sterne and Die Nerven on the other. Still in the top positions are the heroes of German indie guitar, Tocotronic. They literally wanted to be part of a youth movement 28 years ago, as they sang in their so titled song.
But at the grassroots, things are rumbling like they haven’t for a long time. Artists like Temmis, Power Plush, Shelter Boy, Zimmer90 or Beachpeople stand for a young generation of musicians who search for a new inwardness between indie tradition, new wave references and songwriting – in a very rousing way.
Genre dogmas would only limit them. They play guitar under neon lights and sit around the campfire with the computer. They sing mostly in the lingua franca of pop music, English. The musical inspirations also come from the English-speaking world. The dreampop of Beachpeople or the wimp-pop of Power Plush don’t care about an original German tone like in the Krautrock of the 70s or the Neue Deutsche Welle of the 80s. No extra attention is necessary, they are already global. Overemphasized body language and irony are not their cup of tea. Confident and sincere, they remain at eye level with their listeners and celebrate the collective spirit of the indie scene.
And then Drangsal steps onto the stage of Pure&Crafted and washes away all the quiet nuances with its exalted dramatic force. Quite uncool and therefore great.
