Niveau weshalb warum ♪♪♪½
Deichkind (Germany)

For 15 years the German Deichkind is the hybrid between Deutsch-rap and The Prodigy. Since their original producer Sebi Hackert died in 2006, the remaining trio drifted further and further from their hip hop roots and has emerged as an overwhelming party band which's the arena in Germany turns into a swirling mass. Funnily enough, the band does not seek depth, detail or subtlety in the music but shows, as already noticeable on their previous record from 2012 (Befehl von ganz unten) an increasing delicate sarcasm in their texts. With Niveau weshalb warum they deepen it even further by chosing one clear theme and ridicule that mercilessly for thirteen songs.

This central theme is everything that has to do with social media and how we let our lives be influenced by that. This is obvious in single Like mich am arsch where the 'Like'- culture and Facebook addicts get a hefty slap. And over a silly Super Mario tune. Mehr als lebensgefährlig cuts in the comparison we make determine our opinion, Der Flohmarkt ruft about second-hand trade, Porzellan und elefanten about gossip culture through online media and Grandma gibt handtasche the endless stream movies that is poured out upon us. With a wink Deichkind holds up a mirror. Side note is that the manic rock-rap electro machine never stops. Leaving you exhausted at the end. Deichkind supplies with their sixth record a tasty and pounding soundtrack for the network generation.

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Tænker Du Vi Danser ♪♪♪½
Marie Key (Denmark)

The title of the new Marie Key album (Thinking we dance) of a lyric by The Residents: “finally she new the answer / all her life she was a dancer / but nobody ever played the songs she knew” (from ‘God in 3 persons’). This could easily relate to Marie Key’s reflecting often on her own uncertainty and lack of faith in her own abilities. She can not dance, and she can not figure it out how to love. Building an image as a vulnerable and easily awkward little girl she stole our hearts with the two previous albums. Marie Key is an anti hero. But with this new album she lifts herself out of her shell and shows a much more positive and lifely version. The album has a much lighter tone then the previous ones and breaths a zest for life. Marie takes life as it comes in a positive way: “Tonight there is nothing to think over / We hang out while the city sleeps / Small lights illuminate the top / And we have forgotten about tomorrow / One night there 'so wonderful / And people can see we two have got something / If you want we can just sit here / If you want we can go for a drink / If you want we can find the country bar / If you want we can just tuck away from here”

Marie has a heart that beats and she wants to tel lus about it “I wake up with these no good shitty thoughts / I wake up in the middle of the night with a heart that beats / it should knock the beats and money and children / but the banks for the freaks on the other side of the door / gasping for breath, look around me / but the shadows disappear into nowhere.” (Hjerte der banker) On the album she and producer Andreas Sommer perfect her melodic synthpop style laced with hints of jazz and hiphop. By adding horns to the songs it sometimes gets the feel of a white-soul album. An art form that has been somewhat forgotten in Europopmusic since the eighties when Matt Bianco, Curiousity kills the cat and the Style Council were popular. Key gives her own geeky twist to that genre and succeeds in staying totally herself. Key learned to dance and love and signs the (somewhat short) album off with a tender and touching reflection on exes (Dit sekund): “but there was no other / I would rather have met you right there / that we gave each other /my heart will never forget you and me.” Marie waits no longer for another to play the songs she can dance to. She makes them herself.

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Imperferzione ♪♪♪♪
Meg (Italy)

We had to wait a very, very long time for this third album by Italy’s princess of altopop Meg. Imperferzione is the third work in about eleven years of activity alone after her depart from rapcombo 99 Posse. This time, the desire for independence is total: the album was recorded through Musicraiser with longtime collaborator Mario Conte This third installment of Meg solo finds us meeting an artist that shows us full expression of her talent. Meg takes us on an urban adventure where the city lights up and becomes a one twinkling fantasyworld. She keeps the beats simple but effective, almost like a metronome that is the basis for her voice and other sounds. Over it she sprinkles pieces of harpsounds and fanfare.

Despite the breezy popfeel Meg also has a point she wants to make with ‘Imperferzione’. The nine songs are all anthems for tolerance: “today I noticed, today I noticed / that what made me die with you  / is your irresistible imperfection / and if I love you, I love you because you know the love just loves imperfection”. The World is an imperfect place and instead of trying to make it perfect Meg celebrates this imperfection. Of the three solo-albums this is her best one to date and worth getting noticed abroad. Especially if you’re into female sound artists like Björk. Imperfection my ass…Meg nailed it.

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Biste Mode ♪♪♪
Mia. (Germany)

The previous two records of Mia. showed an ever finer and unique balance between rock, electro and pop. Mieze Katz and her associates got an almost perfect control of their ability to make jumpy but well-written pop songs that take root both live and on record. For reasons unclear to me, the band let this go with their new album and they clearly want to make the turn towards a more electro-punk sound. On the songs where they're really get a grab on this it’s fine. It sounds like Mia signed a pact with various techno deejay's and hit the studio. The problem is that the band's apparently not quite brave enough to make the total switch. And so there are also some songs that are a shadow of what Mia. has to offer. As if the band is actually itself a little bit done with the traditional guitar-bass-drums structure.

But not to overthrow the fans there are some fillers put on Biste Mode. The effect is that the contrast with newer songs like Nein! Nein! Nein !, Speedo and Berg und tal is even greater. The songs in the old style now sounding a bit faded and the new songs far too loud and hard. Is it all lost then? No, it’s not all bad, the band is too professional to let that happen. There are certain songs where the band again know the balance to find such Nach Gestalten and Vieleicht bleib ich, with the dark Du wirst vermisst as highlight. However, it is too thin a basis to convince to the extent which they did on the last two records.

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Rojo es peligro ♪♪♪
NudoZurdo (Spain)

Leading figure behind Spanish act NudoZurdo is Leo Mateos. This is his/their fourth album, aside from several side projects like the recent Aquarius. I had to backtrack a bit through their old stuff that ge tan idea why this album was received rather bad in Spain while I thought it was an intriguing set of 10 organic songs. Their debut album from 2001 shows a band that shrugged against the popular alternative popsound that was popular at the time. Apparently Leo Mateos became more and more interested in synthesizers and software and the possibilities they opened him to unleash his most personal experimentation.

This changed the sound of the band into something that, on this new album, can only be described as ethereal pop. Something that at first listen is extremely delicate and light. The intriguing part is that everytime you feel a sort of threat, like a thunderstorm on a hot summer day. The album title means translated ‘red is danger’ and this veiled threat is presented to you in an almost elusive manor. Still, somehow you feel you have to listen, that there is a hidden warning, a message somewhere. Since spanish is not our native language we can lean into the sound of Leo’s voice as part of the whole gloomy atmosphere of the album. But be warned the warm, dark blanket that ‘Rojo es peligro’ provides can be a suffocating experience.

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Chin. Ind. Spec. Rest. ♪♪♪
Aafke Romeijn (Netherlands)

The landscape of popmusic sung in Dutch seems to consist mostly of creative rap&rhyme, radio friendly male singers and Dutch cabaret. Luckily the Dutch girls aren’t to shy to experiment and mix electro, cabaret, folklore, beats, ballads and everything in between into one tasty stew. Roosbeef, Eefje de Visser and Nynke Laverman are examples of that and now Aafke Romeijn joins them with a first album in Dutch. Her debut ‘Stella must die’ was still in English but Miss Romeijn found that Dutch was a better language for her sound. For the non-Dutch, the cryptic title means Chinese Indonesian Speciality Restaurant and is the shortened version for these diners listed in the phonebook. Just so you know. For the album Romeijn serves up a dish of songs handling themes anger, autism, loneliness and frustation. “Anger is an important force for me” she told a Dutch magazine in an interview.

And anger is certainly present in the pulsing ‘Kalashnikov’: “I am the sword over your head / the dog that bites / and the owner that says he normally doesn’t do that / I am the car whose brakes been tempered with / I’ll take everything that belongs to me / including you”. Evil and angry she bites the lyrics into the microphone. Another song tells the story from the perspective of a frustated teacher that would love to be like the brads she teaches but can’t due to his task of setting an good example (voorbeeldfunctie). Nice detail for this song is that Romeijn is a Dutch teacher herself. ‘Bint’, freely adapted from the classic in Dutch literature by Bordewijk, also is about the rough life on highschool. Romeijn created a diverse album switching styles as easily as a menu in a Chinese take away. From a more dark urban style to intimate piano ballads. Like the ballad ‘Karakter’ written for her father and the fear of losing him. Or the touching closing song ‘A12’ where she sings: “And when I woke up I was wearing your clothes and your name / and I do not know where you are or even when you're gone.” When interested in true Dutch-sung popmusic Romeijn is certainly worth checking. And as a bonus the album features the piano-cover of the hit 'Huilend naar de club' from Dutch badboys Jeugd van Tegenwoordig.

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Endkadenz, volume 1 ♪♪♪½
Verdena (Italy)

With ‘Ho una fissa’ Alberto Ferrari and his two friends thunder into your room. Distorted, grungy and loud. The brutal start of the first volume of ‘Endkadenz’ is as ruthless as it is a bit unsurprising. It is in fact a somewhat mediocre start of an album that gets better and better with each song. Verdena was always a good band within the Italian music scene and with Marlene Kuntz the local flagbearers of grungerock. But both bands also lacked a bit of a signature sound of their own. With Endkadenz Verdena suprises us and truely lives up to the promise that they have been for years with one big gritty bang. The songs suddenly incorporate a feel of symphony and melancholy that is truely European.

Like the alternative rockscene in Spain Verdena moves away from the standard Anglo-america sound. The music is still loud but also mutilayered. Below the ear splitting vocals, distorted guitars and thundering bassline there is a hidden melody and elegance. They dose their wall of sound with necessary breaks and small pockets of air. A song like ‘Sci desertico’, sung in high falsetto voice, has more resemblance with Radiohead then with Nirvana. With excellent songs like ‘Diluvio’ and ‘Vivere di conseguenza’ you hear a band that travelled quitte a distance from oversimplified simple rock and embraces detail. With even an occasional piano and strings to give it an almost Beatlesque popeffect.

Make no mistake, if you’re not into heavy guitarmusic Verdena is still not your cup of tea and a song like ‘Derek’ will certainly scare you away. But with the part 1 of a set of new songs the band from Bergamo present themselves committed to create an album with their own sound that is intended to endure as a new cornerstone of Italian alternative rock in the new millennium.

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Y Orquesta Sinfónica de la región de murcia ♪♪♪♪
Vetusta Morla (Spain)

In 2011, the earth trembled under the Spanish Lorca. The havoc that was left is still not cleared. Many buildings are still threatening to collapse. Also the Conservatory Narcisco Yepes in which a number of the members of Vetusta Morla had followed lessons. To raise money for the restoration the popular Spanish indie rock band joined hands with the Symphony Orchestra of Murcia. Rock and orchestras remains just as magical as a dangerous combination. However, the epic progressive rock of Vetusta Morla seems to work fine for such an exercise. And it does. With an emphasis on the songs of their masterpiece Mapas both the band and the orchestra show respect to each other. And with a reinforcing effect of the music. In total there were thirteen arrangers needed to turn the rock music into an to orchestral version.

The band had given them carte blanche not interfering with the artistic freedom. And the result is amazing and beautifully done. Songs like Los dias raros, En el rio and Un dia en el mundo win even more explanatory power than they already do in the original version. This, moreover, to the surprise of the band themselves. On the DVD (as a bonus on the deluxe version) is easy to see how Alvaro Benito Baglietto and friends sometimes emotionally and amazed respond to the orchestral translation. It is recommended to purchase this edition because of the magnificent Dolby surround sound. The whole adventure was limited to only two evenings in a small theater but thanks to this publication we can now all enjoy it.

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