While I was checking twitter for the umpteenth time today (yesterday...), procrastinating trying to come up with a theme for this week, I found out that today (yesterday...) is World Music Day. So I thought "ah well, that's a theme there" and figured we could all share some music from our countries. Great idea, wasn't it?
Only then I realized that I don't actually listen to German music. I could spontaneously name at least seven countries on three continents whose musical output I like and consume more than Germany's. Our music scene is sadly overrun by sleep-inducing "indie" bands, who I can't get into no matter how good the lyrics are. There are a few mediocre rock bands, and mediocre other bands, but very few that suite my (admittedly somewhat odd) taste, and even fewer I'd actually recommend to others.
But ah well, here goes. Three current(ish) German bands I actually listen to.
To reaffirm stereotypes, let's start with a Lederhosen-wearing brass band ;). Considering I'm not from Lederhosen-country, and hence somewhat despise those stereotypes, you can bet these guys are really good for me to include them :P. I think they're all classically trained, but play everything from updated Bavarian brass, to Balkan, to reggae (as Oly Popoly and the Holy Moly Fistfucking Band, playing songs like "I like the battyman", because they're awesome), to rock to... other stuff. They also happen to be hilarious.
LaBrassBanda - Des Konnst Glam
To crush stereotypes, Dancehall (or variations thereof) is a huge over here, mostly thanks to these guys. They have a knack for writing songs you just can't not dance to (I've just had a little bedroom dance party while looking for videos).
Seeed - Music Monks
And finally my favourite, sadly incredibly unsuccessful, singer, Thom.. He was the frontman of one of the best German rock bands of the 90s, but his solo efforts never quite took off (I think he's mostly doing soundtrack work nowadays). I stumbled over him 'cause I got the CD for teh cheap and the cover looked like I might like the music. It ended up being completely different than what I had expected, but it is still one of the most mesmerizing albums I ever encountered.
Thom. - Love is Real (with a video that drives home just how quickly topical content becomes outdated)
thom. - Love Is Real on MUZU.
... and that gives you an entirely wrong picture of what kind of music I listen to, but...
ANYWAYS. Your turn, share a few songs from your country with us, will you? (Preferably stuff you listen to, not stuff you feel like you ought to recommend).
I am super pumped for this theme (good choice) although since my current playlist has no Canadian music on it I guess I must go scrounging.
ReplyDeleteGood choice for the topic ^_^ i thoroughly enjoyed the brass band one. I imagine it would be fun to watch one of their performances.
ReplyDeleteI don't listen to a lot of local Filipino bands so this is goign to be challenging for me. I'm so out of the loop when it comes to the music scene here -_-'
I love how all of us start with "erm, I don't actually listen to bands from my own country" xD
ReplyDelete@Ruben I've heard they're a great live band, unfortunately they mostly play down south, so I haven't had a chance to catch them yet. (the rest of Germany kind of hates Bavaria, so it's a bit hard for a Bavarian band with Bavarian lyrics to catch on up north...)