This is another record I like.
It’s called “De Reklamation” by German band Wir Sind Helden. The basic idea seems to be a fairly loving recreation of the sound of early 80s cusp-of-pomposity new wave (or Neue Deutsche Welle if we’re being pedantic), i.e. not a million miles from what The Killers are supposed to be doing, except I can’t stand The Killers and I really like this lot. Part of it is down to the language barrier – it is entirely possible, in fact likely, that to a German speaker WSH’s lyrics include stupidities on the scale of “I got sold but I’m not a soldier” but of course I can’t tell. Anyway the tunes are fine – I put chop-and-bop hit “Guten Tag” up here as an MP3 a while back; the rest of the album doesn’t quite match its glee but that’s made up for by portentious slowies like “Denkmal” where the singer sounds sexy in a sort of hot-headed righteous student protester way. The whole album makes me think of the first time I went to Germany, when I ate in an ugly yet striking pizzeria with the country’s biggest Fischer Z fan.