Die Kassierer - Physik (2010) (9,5/10)

DIE KASSIERER is a legendary and controversially discussed Punk Rock band from the mining town of Wattenscheid in Western Germany. In fact, the band doesn't take itself all too serious when they sing about excessive alcool abuse, strange sexual practices and completely surreal stories involving aliens, Jesus Christ or famous people like the politician Willy Brandt, entertainer Rudi Carrell or physician Nils Bohr. Behind all the provocative nonsense, the band though also talks about contemporary issues like violence in football stadiums, growing unemployment rates, religious fanatism and more. Many people only look at the surface of the band and take their members for a bunch of stupid unemployed bums which creates a lot of media attention. In addition to this, the humorous band is known for their crazy concerts where they get drunk and undressed. While they attract loads of fans to many festivals, the band got some sort of game bans in different places. I've once heard that the band doesn't have the right to play concerts at a certain location in my home town after the band had shitted on the floor of the backstage area after a chaotic party. If that wasn't enough, singer Wolfgang Wendland was and still is one of the most famous members of the provocative political satire party APPD, the "Anarchist Pogo Party Of Germany“ and later the "Pogo-Partei“ with slogans like "My vote for the trash!“. The band took seven entire years to focus entirely on music again and to record a new album after the catchy „Männer, Bomben, Satelliten“ but the new release „Physik“ was worth waiting for.

As you might guess, the loose main topic of the record are physics but only in a very humorous way because most songs turn out to be about alcool excesses, legendary parties or complete nonsense. Along Fun Punk anthems like "Ich fick dich durch die ganze Wohnung“ ("I'm Fucking You Through The Entire Apartment“), five humorous interpretations of German and international classics such as the German Christmas song "In der Weihnachtsbäckerei“ ("In The Christmas Bakery“) that has become "Wirtshausschlägerei“ ("Bar Brawl“) and short and funny acoustic pieces like "Im Sauerland kann man teleporieren“ ("In Sauerland, you can teleport“), the band also comes along with a few truly fresh surprises.

A zither orchestra accompanies the Folk orientated adventourous tale "Zitronenhai“ ("Lemon Shark“) which is one of the best songs on here. One should also mention the amazing Hip Hop parody with organ sounds and vocals by MAMBO KURT that is entitled "No Future, das war gestern“ ("No Future, That Was Yesterday“) and that talks about a disillusioned young worker who has to go through hard times and some sort of an identity crisis without knowing if he might even get a good job. The amazing "Der Mann, der rückwärts spricht“ ("The Man Who Is Talking Backwards“) is a great duet between a female singer and the regular singer. Musically, this track is a stunning mixture of Jazz and Pop music and could also be an old French Chanson from the sixtires or seventies. This sounds like a humorous German version of SERGE GAINSBOURG and FRANCE GALL – no joke! The two singers are having a conversation before going out at night to meet a couple of friends. The funny thing is that the male vocals have been recorded backwards and if you listen to the song backwards, you discover a quite amusing argument between them without any dumb vulgarities.

The creativity doesn't stop there. The GEORG KREISLER cover "Was für ein Ticker ist ein Politiker?“ (It could be literally translated to "What Kind Of -Cian“ Is A Politi-Cian?“) is only driven by piano sounds and powerful vocals, "Radioaktiv!“ ("Radioactive!“) is a quite melancholic Rock song with a few Lounge elements and "Das Lied vom Kot“ ("The Song Of The Feces“) mixes atmospheric organ sounds that fit to the soundtrack of a Horror movie, electronic samples and a few elements of classic music is also an absolute stunner. The "Drillinstructor-Song“ is even inspired by American military march music.

The more you listen to this record, the more genres and original song ideas you might discover. At first sight, the new record seems only to be filled with dumb vulgarities and it surely also is but instrumentally, this feel-good-release is probably the most diversified and mature record ever made by the band. And don't forget that some lyrics even include intellectual passages beneath the supposedly brainless surface. The tracks are short, experimental but still extremely catchy. DIE KASSIERER turn out to be way more than a gang of four drunk guys who are singing about mischief. Of course, the funny lyrics are only interesting for those who learn German and are already quite fluent in that language if it's not yout mother's tongue anyway. Anybody else could though also appreciate the stunning musical potpourri around the Punk Rock genre. Many people may dislike the attitude and image of the controversial satire band but DIE KASSIERER happen to be musically relevant and undeniably a curious piece of German culture you should judge with a big smile on your face while you switch your brain off. If you are able to get yourself in the right mood, this kind of album may make you forget all your everyday sorrows for a while, help you to escape from reality for one hour or so or have some great time with a couple of friends and that's a well needed quality for many people in the contemporary society. Be courageous and discover this at your own costs now!

(Online August 16, 2013)