Some musicians want stormy applause, others hope for contemplative emotion from their listeners, then there are those who simply want to rock around together. And finally Jacques Palminger: He is obviously always satisfied when he shakes his head in disbelief as much as possible. As part of the Hamburg joke trio Studio Brown and the fake documentary “Fraktus” is still comparatively conventional. With his solo projects, things get a little more remote. This is also the case on his band’s third album Kings Of Dubrovnik: “Dubbies On Top” (Misitunes/Broken Silence) leads, as he says himself, into “musical worlds of experience and danceable feel-good landscapes”. The music is actually pleasing dub reggae. But when Palminger sings along, he sounds like a children’s radio play narrator who has unfortunately lost his mind and is now addressing strangers at the bus stop.
“How could I have forgotten that it’s me who can turn on the sun,” he whispers. “I’m flying like a butterfly and my thought bees are sucking honey from your flower heads again.” It’s about images of men, Franco-Nero fantasies or, why not, abstruse torture techniques (“They’re looking for flour to bread your face”). All of that is miles off the mark in a perfect way. Or just to the point – seen from Palminger’s point of view. At some point while listening, you feel strangely light, relieved of the banal logic of everyday life, sometimes puzzling, sometimes laughing, sometimes dancing. Great. Or as the master of post-post-post-irony says in his self-written info text: “All dub thumbs up!”
From Palminger directly to the next hamburger: Jan Delays new album “Earth, Wind & Feiern: Live aus dem Hamburger Hafen” (Universal) is the recording of the home game with which he celebrated the release of his album “Earth, Wind & Feiern” last summer. And since the somewhat tired fire/celebration gag appears here for the second time, the question gradually arises as to why Jan Delay only jumps halfway up when it comes to wordplay. The titles of his last albums: “Hammer und Michel”, “Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Soul”, “Mercedes-Dance”. yeah Air upward. But that’s not so wild, the live album captures the harbor atmosphere in a big way, the brass sections are in place, the Hamburgers are going wild. And classics like “Oh Johnny”, “Klar” and the guest performance “Türlich Türlich” (Das Bo) are great fun again. Other people are responsible for the somewhat more complex humor. See above.
And now we’ll just stay in Hamburg at this point. lives there too Andrew Dorau. He’s been dancing in his own bubble for ages between huge success (“Fred vom Jupiter”, 1982), niche success (everything after that) and chance success (“Girls In Love” in the French top ten). But regardless of whether his star is shining brightly or not, the man does his thing so persistently that he deserves all-round respect for it. “I’m the one of us two”, the album from 2005, is now being reissued again (Wallpaper Records), and when you listen to it you immediately notice: What Dorau does, no one else in Germany does. Sometimes house beats as a foundation, sometimes home organ hits, several layers of obscure samples, soapy girl choirs and the stupid synth sounds that you know from TV series of the 70s. Right at the top Dorau’s first-grader singing – cleverly enough, he has simply raised the realization “Oh dear, when I sing, I sound like a little boy” to a principle. There are a few real gems to be rediscovered here, including the great “Hinterhaus” (“Aus dem Hinterhaus, aus dem Hinterhaus / den tenants are coming out the front”), as well as “Kein Liebeslied”, written together with Sven Regener, who is a guest in the middle of it lists which, in his opinion, would also make a good song, “e.g. fire, dreams, colors, fences”. A unique album, in the best sense – unmistakable.
Hamburg, by the way: Anyone who, as a subscriber to a southern German newspaper, occasionally asks what kind of music was created up there, should check out the beautiful and still almost brand new book “Sounds of Hamburg – Die Musik der Stadt: 1960-2020″ (Junius Verlag). With great attention to detail, the authors Alf Burchardt and Bernd Jonkmanns have compiled everything in it, from the 60s beat of the black and white years to the electronic rattle of the Present Of course, Dorau, Delay and Palminger also make an appearance.