Gute Laune, Ungerecht Verteilt

I love hardcore and punk. Those are my two favorite genres and the vast majority of records I won can be classified as one or the other. Or both, depending on your definition. However, if we played the “Which record would you pick to listen to if you were stranded on a deserted island?“-game, I‘d probably pick the first album by German indie band Kettcar. I love the band‘s entire catalogue, but the first LP is still my favorite. A couple of months ago my wife told me that Kettcar were going to release a new record and go on tour to promote the album. One of the tour stops was only half an hour from where we live and since our son is now at an age where he loves spending a night or two at his grandma‘s, we bought tickets right away. Dinner and a concert will forever be our favorite kind of date night. 

Gute Laune, Ungerecht Verteilt (Good Mood, Spread Unjustly) was released online before the actual tour, but I didn‘t want to listen to the new songs before I got the vinyl. The concert itself was a lot of fun. They played a bunch of new songs, which went over pretty well because apparently I was the only one in the audience who hadn‘t listened to the new songs before, and all their greatest hits. 

The album is good, but I have to say it‘s not their best material and so far I haven‘t heard a real hit. I‘ve had this experience with other records by this band, so I‘m not too fussed. Even if the record doesn‘t click, I always have their back catalogue. I really like the artwork though. 

Limited Tour Edition on Yellow and Green on Grand Hotel Van Cleef

Ich vs. Wir

After missing out initially on the last release by my favourite indie band from Germany, I made sure I got in the game with this one right away. I ordered the deluxe pre-order edition months ago and was anxiously waiting for it to arrive. And the LP doesn't disappoint. The last LP had to grow on me a little bit, but this one hit home right away. With every record Kettcar has become more pop and less indie, but the lyrics are as good and politically minded as back when some of the members still were in one of German's finest punk bands ever ...But Alive. Great record that has already received a lot of play these last few days.

Zwischen den Runden

Happy belated new year, everyone! Holidays mean travel time and seeing family and friends, so things have been a little slow at the beginning of 2017.

Before travelling, I finally found some time to check out this new local record store that I had found about a few weeks ago. The city I live close to is pretty small, so a brick and mortar record store opening there is pretty exciting. I didn't have any high hopes to find anything good there, because punk and hardcore are such small niches in the broad spectrum of music, but I was pleasantly surprised when I went through the shelves in the store. The selection of indie, punk and hardcore records was definitely better than I had expected.  As far as hardcore is concerned the records were mainly represses of classics, but that's not half bad. Maybe it's something to build on. I bought two records, which were two more than I had anticipated. The first pick up is the latest record of my favourite German indie band. It was already released four years ago, but I never managed to grab a copy. It's just as well though, because now I snagged the deluxe edition. LP, bonus 7", lots of extra goodies, all of which come in a beautiful box. Sadly, this LP isn't as good as the previous ones. Or maybe I just have to give it some more time and it'll grow on me.