Unhinged. Urgent. Dark. Regret. Raw.
The rain won’t stop. My heart’s broken and I’m too late for him. So I head to the Späti and buy a German beer. I sip on it thinking about love, conflict and dreams of reconciliation. Spätkauf translates literally to ‘late purchase’ – Spätis are the offies of East Germany – scattered all over cities like my hometown Berlin. They are open all night for a late-night purchase – booze, backy and normally a cheerful, (normally) man behind the counter. The only place to go when you feel like you’ve lost the love of your life and you can’t see the future anymore.
1. Le Chiffre – Aware
2. Sister Chain & Brother John – Let me Ride
3. Bilderbuch – Bungalow
4. Erobique – Easy Mobeasy
5. DAF – Als Wär’s das letzte Mal (Boys Noize Remix)
6. Kollektive Turmstrasse – Sorry I am Late (The Blaze Remix)
7. Justus Köhncke – Was ist Musik
8. Dominik Eulberg – Braunkehlchen
9. Justus Köhncke – Timecode
10. Le Chiffre – It ain’t easy
11. Sister Chain & Brother John – Dive Bar
12. Wanda – Va bene
13. Le Chiffre – Life Love No Regrets RAW
Some notes on the tracks/ Lyrics matter more to me than your average
(1), (10), (13) Le Chiffre is an old friend of mine and these tracks are unreleased, although you can find his soundcloud. https://on.soundcloud.com/K9ehG
(2), (11) I first met/heard the unhinged fund sounds Sister Chain & Brother John in 2005. They were part of a music scene I fell in love with as a teenager and when I moved back to Berlin. They were punky and positive. Last year, I tried to sing (2) at my friend’s wedding, as another unhinged wedding guest draped herself over the father of the groom.
(3) You call me up and ask me how I am/ I call you up and ask you how you are/ you call me up and you say you’re way too late/ you’re far too late. I’m really sorry if I don’t understand all that/ You’re really sorry when you see me go/ Then you call me up on my HANDY (AKA mobile phone), And you’re sweet again like candy….
Vs 2.
Uh, I need power for my batteries/ There’s no power in my batteries/ Baby lend me your charger/ Come on, please lend me your charger/ I need power for my batteries/ There’s no power in my batteries/ Baby lend me your charger/ I need more power… https://lyricstranslate.com/en/bungalow-bungalow.html
(4) Hamburg artist – worth checking out the epic ‘Urlaub in Italien’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBhXiReDmkU
(5) urgent, intense tune. Lyrics: “Hold on to me/ As tightly as you can/ Kiss me / Please do not leave me/ Hold on to me/ Hold on to me/ Kiss me, my dear/ Kiss me, my dear/ As if it was the last time…” – all the way to a final climax.
https://lyricstranslate.com/de/als-wars-das-letzte-mal-if-it-was-last-time.html-0
(6) Turmstrasse is near my parent’s flat. Title says it all. Pushing.
(7) In this night I am not afraid/ this night, as you dance with me/ Now we are where the lies stop/ This is the truth, this is the world/ We are together, and not alone/ A song can be a bridge/ With a rhythm and a tone/ Let’s lose ourselves in illusion/ What is music?
https://en.muztext.com/lyrics/justus-kohncke-was-ist-musik
(8) named after a sparrow-like bird, the Whinchat. Sorrowful, mechanical. The least ‘me’ song, but sometimes these tracks are necessary
(9) I’m imaginging this as morse code, and me not being able to make out what you mean. The breaks in the song sound like an argument, but you make it through.
(10) just all the lyrics.
(11) some more unhinged goodness
(12) “…I’m the goddess of mayhem / I’ll tell you what to wear and how to do your hair/ and kick out all the nothings from the bed that we share / all I wanted was not to have a rerun/ all I wanted was to set the past right/ all I wanted was to be taken by surprise… I cannot afford to lose ya / but still it is so/ and it is so… so ten years ago.”
(13) Everything is just a bit “sausage” (which translates more like ‘everything is just a bit pants’)/ Everything just doesn’t really matter/ everything just feels a bit like a fad, everything just feels a bit too close… You get more scared/ you get more lonely/ it gets more gruesome/ you become more childlike/ you become more farcical / and more touchy… and despite all of that everything still needs to move forward, it still needs to move forward… You see everything a bit too black/ I see everything a bit too white/ you’re unhappy but only twice a year/ and if it stays like that then that’s wonderful…
(13) thanks to Nicolas Mönch for the wisdom.