music

It is a special thing for a musician or a band when its music is instantly recognizable. For the band AnnenMayKantereit, singer Henning May’s deep and rich voice is just that: instantly recognizable. Upon first glance, it is surprising to hear such a tone emerge from such a young man. When May’s voice is combined […]

Over the past twenty years, German pop singer Johannes Oerding has slowly but surely built an impressive career. His last five albums have all broken into the top five of the German album charts, earning him a number of gold and platinum record awards. And he has helped to mentor the country’s next generation of

Punk rockers often find themselves being criticized (wrongly, in my view) for not knowing how to play their instruments. These criticisms can be due to any range of reasons such as the use of “simplistic” chords or a preference for noisy, dissonant sounds. But post-punk band Turbostaat will likely not find themselves accused of these

The indie electropop band Euroteuro may be familiar to anyone who follows Viennese rock music. The brainchild of Peter T., the group is a collective making charmingly straightforward and uncomplicated music. And as a solo live act, Euroteuro has toured with fellow Vienna musician Voodoo Jürgens. This art and music collective stands out in a

If you are not already familiar with the Düsseldorf rockers Broilers, then buckle in! Part of the fun of listening to the band is that they have been around for quite a while. To date, they have released eight studio albums and it is easy to hear how they have developed, grown, and – dare

Picking a name for a band can be a difficult task. It can imply certain things, such as the sound or style of the group’s music. So much like the band names Jethro Tull refers to an entire rock group and not merely an individual, German rockers Jennifer Rostock are a quartet and not a

So many of today’s female pop singers do not have it easy. They often use (or need) provocative costumes and lyrics to grab attention. Or they have to show off with overly technical vocal runs to win over listeners. But German singer Lotte has a far more honest approach. She simply does not need the

The Hamburg-based indie rockers Tonbandgerät are in a unique position. The group has so far been able to find that fine line between being too hard and edgy that you turn off indie or pop fans. At the same time, they have avoided being too soft or one-note. Indeed, the group is a mix of

To be any sort of creative person and to share your innermost thoughts with the world takes a lot of guts. You open yourself up, immediately, to criticism and commentary. To avoid this, or rather, to provide some buffer from this, some choose to adopt a pseudonym or publish anonymously. For musicians, their band often

If you are not yet familiar with the German indie pop duo Schnipo Schranke, now is the time. Although the pair have gone their separate ways musically in 2019 after only a few years together, they are gone but not forgotten. With clear vocals delivered over steady, angular rhythms, the duo released two solid albums.

What is old is new again. And, really, do classics ever really go out of style? While Jupiter Jones is not quite “old” in any sense, the band was founded in the early 2000s and spent more than a decade releasing albums and gigging across the German-speaking world. After calling it quits in 2018 as

During the 1980s and the early part of the 1990s, the Hamburger Schule was a unique music movement based in the northern German city. It was indie. It was punk. It was intellectual. And, most notably, it was in German. But by the late 1990s and into the 2000s, a new generation was taking over.