If you want to talk about the very own subject waters on which the native Saxon Roger Baptist sails as a crunchy vocal cord captain named Rummelsnuff, a brief synopsis of his current album “Äquatortaufe” is basically enough. It begins with an ode to the reliability of the Berlin subway, which he rushes through the black throat of the capital as a spark-spitting “Yellow Dragon”; continues with trashy, electrified sailor romance, which is evoked, for example, by an adored “boatswain” who grabs beer and the piano to the chugging beat of his diesel engine; and then fans out into a colorful thematic bouquet of songs in which Rummelsnuff grants money-hungry investors a “Berlin ban”, praises the physical results of weightlifting and the routine work of garbage disposal or an a cappella homage together with his vaudeville-like warbling mate Christian Asbach sings on the sauerkraut.
With such an abundance of old-fashioned Freddy Quinn reminiscences, exhibited muscle fetishism and songs of praise for “simple people” or the most German of all vegetables, the suspicion could arise that someone has lost himself in the unfortunate combination of brownish homelessness and body cult . A look at the cover of “Equator Baptism” is enough to invalidate it. Explains the decidedly gay way in which Captain and Maat pose there in their bright red glowing sockets with their dumbbells, much more than words can.
As playful as it is provocative
Admittedly, not a few Rummelsnuff songs, and above all the leaden heaved up electropunk early work, are based to a certain extent on that playful and provocative handling of the Teutonic, rumbling links-two-three-four aesthetic that was already used in bands like Rammstein or Ljubljana has caused some confusion (and fundamentally wrong appropriation from the right). The element that is just as funny in everyday life as it is in solidarity and affirmative, which shimmers out from under the rough surface of these songs, created with the cheapest means, remains unaffected. The growling captain, despite all the left twist, he’s still on course towards the heart area.
hype snuffFriday, June 24, 9 p.m., Munich, Kranhalle, Hansastraße 39