German Music

I listen to a lot of German (as in the language, usually from Germany and Austria) music, because there is a lot of very good German music. I figured I'd occasionally share my favourite releases, provided there's some interest.

You can follow my ongoing Spotify playlist.

2018 albums I love:

Lary - hart fragil

Lary is a very talented singer who jumps around between futuristic R&B and neo-soul. It's all very artsy.

Drangsal - Zores

According to Wikipedia, Drangsal makes new wave, post-punk and indie-pop. I once described it as The Cure x 80's Nena. Whatever it is, it's great.

Jedem das Meine (Youtube)

Haiyti - Montenegro Zero

Haity's is one of Germany's freshest new artists. She's one of those internet-bred artists who's sound hovers around somewhere between hip hop, R&B, pop and dancehall.

Bahama Mama (Youtube)

haiyti sunny drive by - YouTube (Youtube)

Isolation Berlin - Vergifte Dich

A cool rock band and current critical darling. Serotonin is one of my favourite songs of the year.

Serotonin (Spotify)

Curse - Die Farbe Von Wasser

After some misguided pop escapades, Curse, Germany’s original answer to Common and one of Europe’s best rappers, returned to distributing keys over soulful beats that combine modern influences with a golden era foundation.

CURSE - WAS DU BIST (prod. Hitnapperz) - Offizielles Video (Youtube)

 

Some of my favourite songs of the year so far:

Echteste

Shindy - Affalterbach (prod. by OZ, Nico Chiara & Shindy)

Juju - Hardcore High (prod. Krutsch) [Official Video]

Swiss-German:

Pronto - SIDE WALK

Frisch Usem Ei

 

Doesn't look like her facebook page is updated often, so I'll have to remind myself to check out Juju's album when it comes out. I'm into Nura's song as well. Thanks for the discovers once again!

 

Nura's album is out and very nice. It's a real spring/summer album.

Juju has a couple of more singles out and the album releases on June 6th.

They used to be a duo actually, called SXTN. Together they kind of turned the sexist German rap industry and fandom on its head.

Nura performed "Ich Bin Schwarz" (which means "I Am Black") live at a gigantic, free anti-racism concert in a town that had been overrun by Nazis demonstrations at the time and it was one of the greatest things I have ever seen.

 

That Pronto song I posted is one of my favourite songs of the year period. It really fucks with my head because he switches from Swiss to English so incredibly frequently that my brain can barely follow it without reading along, which is funny because that is also kind of how I talk, except I add German and Dutch too, haha. It sounds awesome though, plus his rap voice and flow are so perfect.

 

LISA WHO - Ein neuer Beginn (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)

 

A rock band, for a change:

 

New Juju single/video @Petit nain des Îles

 

Richtig gutes Zeug

 

The Tua album is pretty incredible.

 

To celebrate the end of the political career of one of Austria’s and Europe’s biggest charlatan‘s, here‘s one of my favorite Austrian songs of all time and Europe‘s most compelling answer to Ice Cube‘s It Was A Good Day.

 

New Juju with the awesome Dilemma sample @Petit nain des Îles

Album is out now.

 

Oh sweet, I'll put it on next week. Appreciating the recent resurgence of that sample next to Tinashe's Ooh La La and Twice's Fancy

 

I think you’d like Tua’s album too.

 

One of Germany’s biggest current rappers put out a new song, which mixes German and Turkish as well as a a variety of genres. This type of corssover is not new in Germany. There’s even a local sub-genre that mixes R&B, rap and as well as Turkish genres, which is sometimes referred to as Habibi’n’B or R&Besk

 

Pretty wild video.

The following is all non-rap. I especially like the first one, which is by a new band that makes like 80's inspired dream pop or "blue-eyed soul".

 

Some news: thread favorite Juju recently had the number one hit in the country with Vermissen. I probably posted it but if not:

Also, this EP by OG Keemo is great:

 

I'm very excited about the Max Herre album that's coming out later this year. He's the former frontman of legendary German rap group Freundeskreis (think A Tribe Called Quest). Unlike many other frontmen however, he has never stopped being relevant, both musically and commercially. His musical influences are very diverse, which has always been audible.

 

Thees Uhlmann, punk band frontman turned novelist and singer-songwriter, has put out a new album and it’s excellent.

 

My top 15 German albums of the decade

15. Gerard - Blausicht (Hip Hop)
14. Fler - Air Max Muzik 2 (Hip Hop)
13. Eko Fresh - Freezy (Hip Hop)
12. Chakuza - Magnolia (Hip Hop)
11. Prinz Pi - Rebell Ohne Grund (Hip Hop)
10. Max Herre - Hallo Welt! (Hip Hop)
09. Megaloh - Regenmacher (Hip Hop)
08. Tua - Tua (Experimental Hip Hop/Pop)
07. Curse - Die Farbe Von Wasser (Hip Hop)
06. Joy Denalane - Maureen (R&B/Neo-Soul)
05. Casper - Lange Lebe Der Tod (Experimental Hip Hop)
04. Rola - 12:12 (R&B)
03. Drangsal - Zores (New Wave)
02. Samy Deluxe - SchwarzWeiss (Hip Hop)
01. Lary - Hart Fragil (Pop/Alt R&B/Neo-Soul)

Here is a playlist with one song from each of them:

My favourite German albums of 2019

Tua - Tua (Experimental Hip Hop/Pop)
Nura - Habibi (Hip Hop/R&B)
Juju - Bling Bling (Hip Hop)
Samy Deluxe - Hochkultur (Hip Hop)
Shindy - Drama (Hip Hop)
Thees Uhlmann - Junkies und Scientologen (Rock)
Max Herre - Athen (Hip Hop)

 

Highly recommended.