Description
“If there’s a fire, we’ll take care of ourselves!
With these words, the Leipzig punk band with horns 100 Kilo Herz ends their second album Stadt Land Flucht. Between clear left-wing political statements, this time there are also personal themes, all wrapped up in the familiar sound of crisp punk rock and catchy melodies on saxophone and trumpet. The album was recorded and edited in the winter of 2019/2020 at a time when right-wing terror in many parts of Germany and the failure of democratic parties in Thuringia provide a very bitter and highly topical backdrop to the themes on Stadt Land Flucht.
The opener Drei Jahre ausgebrannt, which also serves as the first single, can probably be described as a pure punk rock and 100-kilo heart song. Criticism of society and its classic everyday racisms and sexisms, which are repeatedly excused as jokes or misunderstandings.
The second song, Tresenfrist, takes us directly into less ‘classic’ territory. It takes a critical look at excessive alcohol consumption, a problem that is rarely addressed, especially in the punk scene (and is perhaps important for this very reason).
This alternation between familiar but newly conceived and less obvious themes runs through the entire album. Between critical views of society as a whole and small society(s) (Drei vor fünf vor zwölf, …und aus den Boxen …But Alive) and observations of interpersonal relationships (An Ampeln, Der Späti an der Klinik), there are completely new points of departure, both musically and lyrically, in the themes the band addresses here. Something like a will should be mentioned here in particular. Musically, this is probably the catchiest piece, but in contrast, the lyrics describe a funeral. Träume (Reprise) is also the first ballad with lyrics that are also untypical of ballads.
The song Nur für eine Nacht takes us back to the villages. Rodi, the band’s singer, says: “Although the chorus says” and so we drift from town to town”, it’s all about the villages. We grew up there ourselves and know the feeling of getting a lot of strength from music for an evening and then having to go back to everyday life and fight the old battles, including against the local fascist structures. Now we ourselves have often stood and still stand on stages that we sometimes know from the past. Sometimes we are told that we are helping people. But there is always the feeling of leaving them alone again when they drive away.” From all these different songs, the band has managed to record a coherent record that only logically leads to the finale of Scheren fressen and Wenn es brennt. Both offer another full musical and political plank. The former is supported by Planlos singer Pino and is a reckoning with AfD and Pegida, while Wenn es brennt (If it burns), the record’s finale, offers a dystopian view of a totalitarian state and the frightening consequences of this.
Tracklist:
1. Three years burnt out
2. Bar deadline
3. Three to five to twelve
4. Träume (Reprise)
5. An Ampeln
6. That’s an end
7. Just for one night
8. Der Späti an der Klinik
9. …und aus den Boxen …But Alive
10. Something like a will
11. Scheren fressen feat. Planlos
12. When it burns
